Beverly Gray's Return

 Beverly Gray's Return (1939) by Clair Blank

This is the ninth book in the series by Clair Blank. Unlike the Nancy Drew series, Clair Blank was a single author who wrote all 25 books in the series. The books begin with Beverly's freshman year in college and follow her from there through various adventures, work for the government, and finally as a newspaper reporter. Her "Return" finds Beverly and company preparing to board the Susabella at Hawaii for the return trip to New York. Along the way on their cruise around the world, they have picked up a new friend in Nikki Abbott. Nikki asks for the boat to wait just a bit longer because she needs to run a last-minute errand and she asks Beverly to go with her. They set out for a perfume shop where Nikki had heard she could get a very special perfume made. The girls are asked to wait in a side room while it's being prepared but Nikki thinks it's taking a bit long and goes out of the room to check on things--closing the door behind her. When Nikki doesn't return, Beverly tries the door and finds it locked. And when she finally gets out and gets to the dock, she finds that the Susabella has left without her. Why did Nikki lock her in? How could her friends have left her? Finding out what has happened will take Beverly on an adventure that involves impersonation, royalty, stolen jewels, a kidnapping, and the beginnings of another adventure....

I've mentioned before that Beverly Gray is another heroine that I wish I had met when I was young. I would have loved reading about a detective with my own name! She's resourceful and independent and a good role model for young girls. On the one hand, she's a bit more realistic than Nancy Drew--going to work and living away from home in the big city. But then, I think she gives Nancy a run for her money in the number of close scrapes she has. She also has way more adventures than most of us do in everyday life, but the stories wouldn't be nearly as exciting without them.

This one is quite full--with mysterious princesses on the run from an evil government official from their home country, jewel thieves who are selling stolen property and replacing the real jewels with fakes, the kidnapping of one Beverly's friends when the jewel thieves thinks she's holding out on them over some of the jewels, and a new, unsolved (in this installment) mystery surrounding another girl from their school days who was in an accident and has lost her memory. Of course, the immediate mystery of why Nikki left Beverly behind in Hawaii and how (and why) she fooled Beverly's friends is explained. And the jewel thieves are caught. 

These stories are fairly simple mysteries, aimed at young readers. But they are fun and I always enjoy reading about my namesake's adventures. ★★★

First line: "Why do I have to get up at such an hour?" Lenora Whitehill grumbled as she followed Lois Mason and Beverly Gray to where other the other members of the yachting party were at breakfast.

Last line: We will leave the Alpha Delta girls and their friends at this juncture, but we shall pick up the thread of their story again in "Beverly Gray, Reporter" when they manage to involve themselves in more amazing adventures.
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Deaths = two in a revolution