The American Gun Mystery

 The American Gun Mystery (1933) by Ellery Queen

It's rodeo time in the Big Apple. Wild Bill Grant has brought his cowboys and horses, sharpshooters and bronco busters to town and they're all set to give New York a taste of the wild and woolly west. As an added bonus, real life cowboy and former Western movie star, Buck Horne is on tap to appear. But the show has barely begun before there is bloodshed. As Buck leads a posse of 40 cowboys on a wild ride around the arena, someone takes a bead on the lead rider and Buck falls to the ground, dead. He's been shot straight through the heart and then trampled by the horses in the gang that followed him.

Inspector Queen and his detective son Ellery are in the stands and the Inspector's quick thinking closes down the arena before anyone can leave. Now all they have to do is find the gun. The police force shows up in droves, manages to search every person in the arena as well as every inch of the Colosseum and yet no gun is found. After no progress is made, the Commissioner (under pressure from various sources) declares the venue open for business and Wild Bill starts up his rodeo again. With the same result--his lead cowboy, One-Arm Woody, takes Buck's place at the head of the 40-man posse and sets off around the  arena. And falls dead in the same spot from another gunshot. 

On the spot each time was a camera crew filming the event for the newsreels. Ellery gets hold of the complete film (including portions cut from the film to make the newsreel more compact) and spots the clue that tells him who did it and where the gun was stashed after the first murder. He then challenges the reader to use the clues to find the same answer.

This is not one of the best Queen novels. The setting is clever--a Western rodeo in the middle of New York City. Populating the Big Apple with cowboys and ranch hands and bronco busters and contrasting that with the city slickers, hard-bitten journalists, and steely-eyed members of Inspector Queen's police force works well. What doesn't work well is the mystery itself. Supposedly, we have all the clues we need to reach the same conclusion as Ellery. Well--if you count vague little references, I suppose so. But, quite frankly, the hiding place for the gun is ridiculous and I doubt that anyone having actually noticed the brief little notation that (spoiler in apparent blank space--highlight if curious) the horse refused to drink any water after the shooting really came up with that solution. Add the fact that Ellery is really quite insufferable in this episode--announcing after the first murder that he knows who did it....except he doesn't know who did it. His poor father must have been ready to boot him from the case. I know I was. ★★

First line: "To me," said Ellery Queen, "a wheel is not a wheel unless it turns."

Last line: A silence appropriately enough, that was Buck Horne's epitaph.

****************

Deaths = three shot

Christmas Spirit Challenge & Readathon

 

 

 

Michelle at Seasons of Reading is once again sponsoring her Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge. In short, the challenge runs from November 22, 2021 through January 6, 2022. The books read must be Christmassy in nature--novels, short story collections, books of poems, etc.

 

Three ways to participate:

1. Challenge: Pick a level
      ~Candy Cane: read 1 book
      ~Mistletoe: read 2-4 books
      ~Christmas Tree: read 5-6 books (this is the fanatic level...LOL!)

2. Readathon: read as much (or as little as you want)

3. Participate in both!

Additional levels for watching Christmas movies and reading children's books with your kids--but you must complete one of the main reading levels to fulfill the challenge.

For more details and to join up, follow the link above.

As usual, I am joining at the Mistletoe level for Christmas books and will jump into the Readathon this year as well since I can also count non-Christmas books for that:

1. Spence & the Holiday Murders by Michael Allen (11/27/21) [Christmas] 
2. Murder under the Mistletoe by Jennifer Jordan (11/27/21) [Christmas]
3. Silent Nights by Martin Edwards, ed (12/1/21) [Christmas]
4. The Christmas Card Crime by Martin Edwards, ed (12/5/21) [Christmas]

Mistletoe Level Complete! 

5. Death in High Heels by Christianna Brand (11/23/24) [Readathon]

6. Murder at Feathers & Flair by Lee Strauss (11/24/21) [Readathon]

7. Murder at the Mortuary by Lee Strauss (12/6/21) [Readathon]

8. Still Life with Murder by P. B. Ryan (12/8/21) [Readathon]

9. A Surprise for Christmas by Martin Edwards (12/16/21) [Christmas]

10. Murder in the French Room by Helen Joan Hultman (12/18/21) [Readathon]

11. Murder at Kensington Gardens by Lee Strauss (12/18/21) [Readathon]

12. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (12/20/21) [Readathon]

13. Fan Fiction by Brent Spiner (12/22/21) [Readathon]

14. In the Crypt with a Candlestick by Daisy Waugh (12/24/21) [Christmas-ish--finale takes place at Christmastime and the last death occurs when the victim falls over the balcony and nearly lands on the Christmas tree]

15. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens [read by Patrick Stewart] (12/25/21) [Christmas]

16. Spare Time for Murder by John Gale (12/27/21) [Readathon]

17. The Death at Yew Corner by Robert Forrest (12/29/21) [Readathon]

18. The Clocks by Agatha Christie (12/30/21) [Readathon]

19.

 

 

Reading Randomizer 2022

 

The Reading Randomizer 2022 Challenge is sponsored on StoryGraph by texassizedreads, but it's easily adapted to GoodReads or any spread sheet that you might use to track your books. It's intended for folks who have obnoxiously large TBR piles (over 100 books)...do you think they had me in mind?

The prompts will help you randomly select 24 books (2 per month) from your TBR and work on whittling those piles down. Click on the link to see full details.

January Book 1: Generate a random number (1 - # of books on your TBR) and read the book that appears at that position on your TBR list. The Best "Thinking Machine" Detective Stories by Jacques Futurelle (1/16/22)

January Book 2: Sort TBR list by date (published, I'm guessing) in ascending order. Generate a random number and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Deathblow Hill by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (1/21/22)

February Book 1: Sort TBR list by date (published, I'm guessing) in descending order. Generate a random number and read the book that appears in that position on your list. The Egyptologist by Arthur Phillips (2/6/22)

February Book 2: Sort TBR list by author in ascending order. Generate a random number from 1-50 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Murder Begins at Home by Delano Ames (2/26/22)

March Book 1: Sort TBR list by author in ascending order. Generate a random number from 50-75 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. The Mystery of the Talking Skull by Robert Arthur (3/15/22)

March Book 2: Sort TBR list by author in ascending order. Generate a random number from 75-100 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot by Robert Arthur (3/30/22)

April Book 1: Sort TBR list by author in ascending order. Generate a random number from 1-# of books on your TBR and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s by Frederick Lewis Allen (4/21/22)

April Book 2: Sort TBR list by author in reverse alphabetical order. Generate a random number from 1-50 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Always Lock Your Bedroom Door by Roy Windsor (4/10/22)

May Book 1: Sort TBR list by author in reverse alphabetical order. Generate a random number from 50-75 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Going Public by David Westheimer (5/16/22)

May Book 2: Sort TBR list by author in reverse alphabetical order. Generate a random number from 75-100 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. The Corbin Necklace by Henry Kitchell Webster (5/26/22)

June Book 1: Sort TBR list by author in reverse alphabetical order. Generate a random number from 1-# of books on your TBR and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Murder Gone Minoan by Clyde B. Clason (6/17/22)

June Book 2: Sort TBR list by title in ascending order. Generate a random number from 1-25 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Alfred Hitchcock Presents A Month of Mystery as edited by Alfred Hitchcock (6/20/22)

July Book 1: Sort TBR list by title in ascending order. Generate a random number from 25-50 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories Not for the Nervous by Robert Arthur [ed] (7/22/22)

July Book 2: Sort TBR list by title in ascending order. Generate a random number from 50-75 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. And Left for Dead by Richard Lockridge (7/21/22)

August Book 1: Sort TBR list by title in ascending order. Generate a random number from 75-100 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. The Bad Quarto by Jill Paton Walsh (8/10/22)

August Book 2: Sort TBR list by title in ascending order. Generate a random number from 1-# of books on your TBR and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Slow Dancing with the Angel of Death by Helen Chappell

September Book 1: Sort TBR list by title in reverse alphabetical order. Generate a random number from 1-25 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. The World's Best 100 Detective Stories Vol. 9 by Eugene Thwing, ed (9/12/22)

September Book 2: Sort TBR list by title in reverse alphabetical order. Generate a random number from 25-50 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. The Witch Tree Symbol by Carolyn Keene (9/19/22)

October Book 1: Sort TBR list by title in reverse alphabetical order. Generate a random number from 50-75 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Welcome Death by Glyn Daniel (10/9/22)

October Book 2: Sort TBR list by title in reverse alphabetical order. Generate a random number from 75-100 and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: Adventure in Outer Space by George E. Davie (10/10/22)

November Book 1: : Sort TBR list by title in reverse alphabetical order. Generate a random number from 1-# of books on your TBR and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Streaked with Crimson by Charles J. Dutton (11/12/22)

November Book 2: Sort TBR list by ISBN in ascending order. Generate a random number from 1-# of books on your TBR and read the book that appears in that position on your list. The King Is Dead by Ellery Queen (11/17/22)

December Book 1: Sort TBR list by ISBN in ascending order. Generate a random number from 1-50 of books on your TBR and read the book that appears in that position on your list. The Clue of the Velvet Mask by Carolyn Keene (12/12/22)

December Book 2: Sort TBR list by ISBN in ascending order. Generate a random number from 50-100 of books on your TBR and read the book that appears in that position on your list. Where Two Ways Met by Grace Livingston Hill (12/12/22)

Bonus: Read earliest added book on your list: Hans Brinker by Mary Mapes Dodge (since about 1977; my grandma sent it to me in a batch of books and I just never got around to reading it) [6/29/22]

Alphabet Soup Challenge 2022

 The Alphabet Soup Challenge means that by December 31, 2022 our bowls must be filled with one book (title) for each letter of the Alphabet. Each letter = one spoonful

Basic Details: you can join any time. Each letter should begin the book title--except for those pesky Q, X, and Z letters, the word that starts with the challenge letter may appear anywhere in the title. For full details and to sign up, click the link above.

A: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1/9/22)

B: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (1/8/22)

C: The Case of the Famished Parson by George Bellairs (1/2/22)

D: Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James (1/15/22)

E: Easy to Kill by Agatha Christie (1/7/22)

F: Fadeaway Girl by Martha Grimes (1/2/22)

G: The Green Island Mystery by Betsy Allen (1/24/22)

H: Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie (1/1/22)

I: Inspector's Holiday by Richard Lockridge (3/15/22)

J: John Smith Hears Death Walking by Wyatt Blassingame (6/21/22)

K: Kill the Butler! by Michael Kenyon (8/26/22)

L: Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man by William Shatner (2/4/22)

M: Midnight Sailing by Lawrence G. Blochman (2/8/22)

N: Nancy Drew Ghost Stories by Carolyn Keene (4/15/22)

O: An Old Betrayal by Charles Finch (1/29/22)

P: The Price of the Phoenix by Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath (1/4/22)

Q: The Queen & the Corpse by Max Murray (6/24/22)

R: The Ruby Raven by Michael Dahl (1/19/22)

S: Star Trek: Voyage to Adventure by Michael J.Dodge (1/22/22)

T: This Club Frowns on Murder by Albert Borowitz (2/10/22)

U: The Uninvited Corpse by Michael Underwood (9/6/22)

V: The Vanishing Thief by Kate Parker (5/5/22)

W: What, Me, Mr. Mosley? by John Greenwood (1/17/22)

X: X Marks the Spot by Lee Thayer (8/18/22)

Y: You Only Hang Once by H. W. Roden (8/30/22)

Z: Zanzibar Intrigue by F. Van Wyck Mason (9/15/22)

Death Among the Stars

 Death Among the Stars (1968) by Kenneth Giles

Murder runs amok among the newspaper personnel of the Daily Bulletin--beginning with Percy Button who writes the jaunty astrology column. The man may have been a bit stand-offish from his colleagues, but is that really a reason to kill him? Inspector Harry James and Sergeant Honeybody begin investigating and soon discover that Button was dispensing more than zodiac predictions in his column. Button was playing at spies and sprinkled hidden messages relaying information about meeting places among the horoscopes. So...did the good guys discover him and put him away? Or had he gotten too difficult for the bad guys to control and they decided to do away with him before he got caught? But then more members of the Bulletin staff follow Button to an early grave. Is the place riddled with spies? Or is there another motive lurking in the newsroom?

Your guess is as good as mine...and I read the wretched thing. This book was such a slog to get through--tons of Cockney and lower middle class British slang, very little of which was familiar to this Yank who actually prefers her mysteries to be British. I thought I had a fair smattering of British terms under my belt (40 years of British mysteries ought to give me some cred, I would think). But Giles has me flummoxed with this tale. AND James and Honeybody are up to antics in this one that would put Abbot and Costello disguised as Key Stone cops to shame. 

I don't know what came over him in 1968. I've read three others in this series and there's always been a bit of humor and a small smattering of farce to the stories, but nothing like this. Combine the over-the-top comedy routine (which, by the way is not limited to James and Honeybody--everyone from their Chief Superintendent to the newspaper's porter, Bocker, gets in on the act) with the indecipherable slang and I was lost from first page. Do I know who did it? Yes. Do I know why? Not precisely. Do I know why James and Honeybody decided that X was the culprit and not the three other people they'd been considering? Not really.  Would I recommend this as a good British police procedural? Absolutely not. And if you're thinking of trying a Kenneth Giles mystery...give this one a wide berth and see if you can find Death Cracks a Bottle or Death and Mr. Prettyman instead. ★ and I think that's being generous.

First line: "Retrench all outside contribution," Sire Peregrine had snapped almost exactly a year ago before taking his grey Rolls-Royce to the Board of Empire Consolidated Paint.

Last lines: "Sir," said Honeybody to Harry, "there's a pub I know..." The Inspector followed him.

*****************

Deaths = 4 (one strangled; one hit by train; one natural; one stabbed)

Dying Fall

 Dying Fall (1995) by Judith Cutler

As followers of the blog know, I am sucker for academic mysteries and this one had been on my "To Be Found" list for quite some time (possibly since the 90s when it came out...). I love a good murder or two in the ivory towers. Only William Murdock College, inner-city college in Birmingham, isn't exactly the ivory towers of Oxford or Cambridge. It's a hodge-podge of buildings with only one very ugly tower of sorts. Sophie Rivers, our heroine, teaches English and often works late grading all those papers that come with the job. On just such a night, a tired Sophie gets in the elevator and doesn't notice until it's traveled several levels that there's a body slumped against the elevator's wall.

At first she thinks Wajid, one of the computer students, is sick. But when she jostles him, he falls forward and she sees the knife sticking out of his back. The police are apt to believe that there has been some trouble within the Muslim community and Wajid came out on the wrong side of the dispute. But then Sophie's best friend dies on the site of new Music Center--which though already in use appears to still be under construction. George's death is put down as an accident, but Sophie is convinced there's been foul play. The police take her seriously once she's attacked and another student provides her with clues from Wajid's computer notes. But will her police guard be able to keep her safe from a killer determined to escape detection...even if it means killing one more time.

I wanted to like this one more than I did. Sophie is an odd character, but one I took to despite her oddness. I found her reactions quite believable and while she did come across many of the primary clues in the mystery, she wasn't trying to play detective. She just wanted the police to take George's death more seriously than they were and wanted to protect the friends who were coming under suspicion. My primary difficulties with the story were two-fold. First, as soon as the culprit came in view I knew exactly where things were headed with that person. They might as well have been labeled with a neon sign that said "Looky here. The Killer has come on stage." And second, there were too many scenes (including part of the wrap-up) where I felt as though I had come in on conversations that had been in progress and some of the important information had already been handed out. It was as if certain things didn't need to be said because we already knew them. Only we didn't. Knowing who the killer was didn't mean I knew exactly why and wherefore...and too many of the whys and wherefores weren't explained properly. ★★★

It appears that this is the first of a series starring Sophie which baffles me a bit--because, again, while I like her, I don't see her as the series amateur detective type. 

(Thanks to Kate @ Cross Examining Crime for this academic mystery--which arrived as part of my Secret Santa bundle in 2019. See Kate, I do get round to my TBR mountains...eventually. 😏)

First lines: Seven-thirty on a Thursday night. The wind's slashing rain across the ill-fitting windows and rocking the whole tower block. [aka: It was a dark and stormy night.]

Last lines: And I don't know. I just don't know.

***************

Deaths = 4 (one stabbed; one hit on head; one blown up; one fell from height)

The Secret of Red Gate Farm

 The Secret of Red Gate Farm (1931) by Carolyn Keene [original text version]

Nancy, Bess, and George are finishing up a shopping trip in another city and all Bess needs to complete her purchases is a bottle of perfume. They dash into perfume shop where the salesclerk very oddly seems determined NOT to sell Bess the bottle of perfume she prefers. After haggling with the clerk, the girls pool their money to meet the outrageous price ($3!!!) for a tiny bottle and rush off--just in time to catch the train back to River Heights. Bess doesn't even get to enjoy her perfume, though. The box she had placed it is dropped and Nancy gets a dousing. When she steps out for a breath of fresh air, a strange man approaches her and whispers "What news from the Chief." Nancy's baffled look makes him realize he's made a mistake and he hurries off. [But don't worry...we'll catch up with him later.]

Also, on the train is a girl named Millie who looks very weak and tired. Nancy becomes interested in her, especially after she becomes faint--from the perfume fumes?--and the three girls befriend her and treat her to lunch. They learn that Millie's grandmother is having trouble meeting the mortgage payment on their farm--Red Gate Farm--and Millie has come to the city to look for work. Nancy helps her get to a job interview on time and just happens to come across a code that the nasty-looking man who runs the office left on his desk. [Again--hold that thought, the code will be important soon.]

Millie has no luck finding a job and is about to despair when she receives word from her grandma that she's been successful in attracting boarders to the farm. With the rent from a nature cult--camped out near a cavern on the farm and payments from the new boarders, they just might be able to keep the farm. When Nancy hears about the strange goings-on with the cult (flitting about in white sheets and hanging out for long periods in the cavern), she becomes suspicious and convinces Bess & George that they need to be boarders at the farm too and get to the bottom of the mystery. It will all tie up with the man on the train and the man in the office--but what exactly are those cultists doing in the cave? You'll just have to read the story to find out.

my copy w/o dustjacket

This is a fine example of a mystery where Nancy solves a larger puzzle (the secret activities of the cultists) and winds up helping a family in need. Once the mystery is solved, Nancy uses the publicity about the cult activities (which could be negative) in a positive way to help Millie and her grandmother bring in even more money. Lots of spooky adventure around the cavern to make things exciting for kids and a decent mystery for those of us reading it again later in life. ★★★ and 1/2

First lines: "Hurry, girls. Hurry. Come on! We'll miss our train."

Last lines: "You can't blame it on me this time," Nancy laughed, "for it all came from buying expensive perfume. Three dollars a bottle--but a bargain at any price!"

 

November Calendar of Crime Reviews

 

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November Virtual Mount TBR Reviews

 

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November Mount TBR Reviews

 

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November Vintage Scattergories Reviews

 

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October Pick of the Month

 

Here we are again for another reading round-up and the much-anticipated Reader's Block P.OM. Award. Things calmed down a bit at work and I was able to step my reading up a bit (six more than last month).  Here's what the reading stats look like for October....

Total Books Read: 24
Total Pages: 4,878
Average Rating: 3.54 stars  
Top Rating: 4.5 stars 
Percentage by Female Authors: 42%

Percentage by Male Authors: 36%

Percentage by both Female & Male Authors: 22%
Percentage by US Authors: 65%
Percentage by non-US/non-British Authors:  8%
Percentage Mystery: 94%

Percentage Fiction: 100%
Percentage written 2000+: 17%
Percentage of Rereads: 43%
Percentage Read for Challenges: 100% {It's easy to have every book count for a challenge when you sign up for as many as I do.}    
Number of Challenges fulfilled so far: 25 (86%)

Mysteries/Mystery-Related Reads:

Death in the Tunnel by Miles Burton (3.5 stars)

Watson's Last Case by Ian Charnock (1 star)

Serpents in Eden by Martin Edwards [ed] (4 stars)

Seven Dead by J. Jefferson Farjeon (4 stars)

Three Thirds of a Ghost by Timothy Fuller (3 stars)

A Mystery for Ninepence by Phyllis Gegan (3 stars)

The Arsenal Stadium Mystery by Leonard Gribble (4 stars)

The Five Assassins by Owen Fox Jerome (4 stars)

The Bungalow Mystery by Carolyn Keene (4 stars)

The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene (4.5 stars)

The Mystery at Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene (3 stars)

The Secret at Shadow Ranch by Carolyn Keene (3 stars)

The Spider Sapphire Mystery by Carolyn Keene (4 stars)

Burnt Offering by Frances & Richard Lockridge (4 stars)

The Distant Clue by Frances & Richard Lockridge (4 stars)

First Come, First Kill by Frances & Richard Lockridge (4 stars)

Murder Can't Wait by Richard Lockridge (4 stars)

Show Red for Danger by Frances & Richard Lockridge (3.5 stars)

Mister Splitfoot by Helen McCloy (3.5 stars)

Blood on the Dining-Room Floor by Gertrude Stein (unrated)

Murder at Hartigan House by Lee Strauss (3.5 stars)

Murder on the S. S. Rosa by Lee Strauss (4 stars)

As we can see, there were no five-star winners in October and only one book garnered 4.5 stars: The Hidden Staircase. But Nancy Drew was a reread (several times over) and since it held up so well more than 40 years after I first read it, I'm going to award it a special nostalgia P.O.M. award rather than October's ultimate honor. But that makes determining the regular October Pick of the Month even more difficult because Staircase was followed by a whole boatload of four-star winners, including Murder on the S. S. Rosa, a historical mystery which takes place aboard ship. Of the many four-star books, there are three that stand out: Seven Dead by Farjeon, which features two interesting detective--our police detective Inspector Kendall and reporter cum amateur detective Hazeldean; The Arsenal Stadium Mystery by Gribble, which features my first-ever soccer murder mystery; and The Five Assassins by Jerome, which features murder on a movie set. Each of the three had a slight flaw in the works which prevented a higher rating, but our winner this month is....

The layers of would-be killers and the sheer twistiness of the plot give this one the extra oomph to put it just ahead of its fellow four-star contestants. I hope to come across more of Jerome's work in the future.

The Mystery at Lilac Inn

 The Mystery at Lilac Inn (1930) by Carolyn Keene [original text edition)

Nancy is returning from a trip to deliver important papers for her father and stops for lunch at Lilac Inn. There she runs into an old schoolmate, Emily Crandall, and they lunch together. Emily has never been as well-to-do as Nancy, but the girl is excited because next weekend is her eighteenth birthday and she's coming into an unexpected inheritance. It seems her grandmother left her the famous Crandall jewels and they become hers when she reaches eighteen. She invites Nancy to be present the next Friday when her guardian Mrs. Willoughby brings the jewels to her from the bank's safety deposit box.

But Mrs. Willoughby isn't as careful with the $40,000 bundle as she should have been and the jewels are stolen when she and her friend Mrs. Potter stop for lunch at...you guessed it...Lilac Inn. Rumors are that Mrs. Willoughby was in financial trouble so the police immediately suspect her of pretending to have been robbed. With no real evidence at all, they're preparing to arrest her, so she calls upon Carson Drew for help. Emily also approaches Nancy for help in sorting out the mystery--so both Drews are on the case.

In a backstory, we watch Nancy hunt for a temporary housekeeper while Hannah Gruen needs to go away in aid of her sick sister. This will be distasteful to modern readers because Nancy repeatedly rejects applicants based on what seems to be purely racial or ethnic stereotypes. The only point to this part of the plot seems to be bringing Nancy in contact with her primary suspect

This is another where the story diverges from the original to a fair extent in the revised text (which I read when young). The basic mystery is the same--the stolen diamonds--but after ditching Nancy's housekeeper search, a great deal of extra mystery was thrown in for the revised version (a Nancy imposter buying expensive clothes; a crime ring with small submarine; bombs going off here and there....). I'd be tempted to say that I prefer the original text version if Nancy's investigation was more than just her seeing a young woman from the "wrong side of the tracks" shopping at a store where she couldn't afford things and deciding she must be the thief. I do get it--people who one day seem to be desperate for a job and then are seen shortly after in an exclusive dress shop (especially after a bagful of jewels have gone missing) is a bit suspicious, but a few more clues would have been nice. Like, say, finding a waitress at Lilac Inn who remembered seeing the suspect there...because as far as we (and Nancy) know there is no connection between the suspect and Lilac Inn. 

my copy--no dust jacket

Ah well, I can guarantee you that I wouldn't have been that picky if I had read this version when I was seven or eight. I would have been focused on Nancy and her adventures and not thinking too much about how she figured it all out. Having read it now, I can say that it's a decent mystery with a very exciting ending that does make up (to some extent) for the deficiencies. ★★★

First line: A bright blue roadster, low-swung and smart, rolled swiftly along the winding lake road to halt suddenly before a large signboard which boldly proclaimed to all who chanced that way: LILAC INN: CHICKEN DINNERS OUR SPECIALTY.

Last line: "And what could be more fitting than that the mystery of the Crandell jewels should fade out just where it began--at Lilac Inn."

The Secret at Shadow Ranch

 The Secret at Shadow Ranch (1931) by Carolyn Keene [original text edition]

Bess Marvin and George Fayne have been invited by their aunt and uncle to spend the summer at Shadow Ranch in Arizona. Aunt Nell and Uncle Richard Rawley have recently acquired the ranch and Aunt Nell is traveling west to see if it's worth keeping or getting into shape to sell. The two girls, along with Nancy as their guest, and another cousin, Alice Regor, will serve as companions for Aunt Nell who doesn't relish the trip. Of course, since Nancy is involved, we know there will be a mystery or two along the way. In fact, they start out with one--Alice's father disappeared about eight years ago and everyone assumes he just abandoned his family, but Alice doesn't believe it. Nancy wants to help her, but can't see what can be done on a trip to Arizona when Robert Regor disappeared in Philadelphia. But maybe she'll have time to come up with a plan that can be put into action when they get back home...

Meanwhile, there is a mystery waiting at Shadow Ranch. A woman named Martha seems to be keeping her "granddaughter" Lucy prisoner in a cabin on the edge of the ranch. Nancy is concerned about the girl and must investigate to discover what's going on--is Martha really the grandmother? (the girl says not) If not, why she keeping Lucy from talking to anyone? Why does the suspicious Zany Shaw (owner of an antique shop) keep hanging around and why does Martha seem afraid of him? Once Nancy can answer all these questions, she'll be able to provide Lucy with some real help. There's also Ross Rogers, a man who seems reluctant to interact with any of the Easterners--does he have something to hide? Or does he need help too?

This is an entirely different story in the original text edition from the the one I read growing up [revised text version]. Many of the original stories underwent very simple updating which changed little about the plots, but this one has a different storyline altogether. In some ways, this is a more intricate plot, but I found that it had far less actual investigation on Nancy's part than early stories in the series. The focus is primarily on the adventures she and the other girls have while horseback riding in the mountains--facing a lynx, getting caught in a rainstorm, getting lost and sleeping in a cave all night, etc. The mysteries seem almost incidental. The only real investigative work is done off-stage by Carson Drew when Nancy sends a telegram and asks him to look for certain information in Philadelphia. It was a bit disappointing.

Of course, judging from my previous rating based on the revised text, Shadow Ranch has never been a favorite regardless of plot. I certainly don't recall rereading this one as many times as I did many of the others. I think I need to pull out my copy of the newer version to remind myself of the details. It will be interesting to see what I think of the phantom horse and treasure hunt 45 (or so) years later. ★★★

First line: "Oh, Nancy, dear, do say you'll go with us to Shadow Ranch!"

Last line: "Put out your sign. 'Carson Drew and Daughter.'"

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Deaths = one car accident

Murder at Hartigan House

 Murder at Hartigan House (2017) ~Lee Strauss

At the end of Ginger Gold's first adventure aboard the S. S. Rosa she receives a telegram from her British butler:

GHASTLY DISCOVERY IN ATTIC OF HARTIGAN HOUSE STOP AWAIT YOUR ARRIVAL FOR ADVICE STOP PIPPINS

Ginger was on her way to Hartigan House to wrap up her recently deceased father's affairs before heading back to Boston. She'd already been involved in a mystery aboard ship during her journey and didn't expect to find another waiting in the attic of her house. But that's just what she's got. Locked in the room which belonged to her father's valet (when he was still living in England) is the dry-decomposed body of a woman wearing a very chic red evening gown. Estimates indicate that the body has been there since the house was closed up ten years ago.

When circumstances and circumstantial evidence begin to point towards her late father, Ginger determines to investigate and once again finds herself "assisting" Chief Inspector Basil Reed. He tries to discourage her, but finds her difficult to resist as she has a knack of getting her way without seeming to twist any arms. They discover that the woman (one Eunice Hathaway) attended the last party held at Hartigan House. So Ginger decides to hold another party "in memory of my father" and...coincidentally...invites the same people on the guest list from that previous soiree.  She's hoping to stir things up and make the villain give himself away. She doesn't expect to wind up with another corpse on her hands. She needs to hurry her detective work along...otherwise she may wind up playing the part of third victim.

This wound up being a less intricate puzzle than the first book, but no less fun for all that. Even though I spotted the pointers indicating the ultimate villain of the piece, I still didn't get quite all the details worked out before the reveal at the end. The series is just a lot of fun with great characters and I look forward to reading more of Ginger's adventures. ★★★ and 1/2.

First line: Ginger Gold hesitated at the front door of Hartigan House.

Last lines: "I do." Ginger moved an open palm through the air like a banner. "I'm calling it Feathers & Flair."

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Deaths = 3 (one strangled; one fell down stairs; one poisoned)