Mystery #36: Kristy and the Cat Burglar

 

Thoughts before reading:

THE LAST ONE!! I won't be sad to see these go, and I won't be reading any of them again! I will definitely revisit other BSC books from time to time, but I can't see myself checking any of these out again, and this is probably the only "last" of this project that won't make me a little sad. 

The basics:

Kristy's babysitting for Karen and David Michael, enjoying a lazy summer day outside together. Karen wants to go see a house in the woods nearby that she thinks is spooky, and Kristy agrees to take them. Just after they arrive at the place, however, there's a loud noise like a shot. Before they can react much, the police are there. Sgt. Johnson is one of them (of course). Kristy's relieved to see him, but he in turn scolds her for being at a crime scene (finally a normal reaction!), and puts the kids in the back of his car. 

While waiting there, they can see and hear most of what's taking place outside. More cops arrive, and a man who says he's the security guard for the property, claiming he had only just stepped away. He checks the vault inside and confirms there's been a burglary... some diamonds are missing. Both he and Sgt. Johnson also received weird phone calls right before the incident. The house is owned by a man named Reinhart Golem, who's hardly ever there. Fenton, the security guard, says he's a loner who made a fortune but no one knows exactly how. 

During this discussion, Kristy notices there's a picture of a red cat on the mailbox and asks about it. Sgt. Johnson says there's a cat burglar in the area who's been robbing the homes of the very rich and then leaving a stenciled silhouette of a red cat behind. 

Before leaving, Kristy also sees Cary Retlin lurking around nearby, and notices a weird tension between Sgt. Johnson and his partner, Officer Hopkins, and Sgt. Winters (who basically shows up on the scene and just takes over). 

The next day, Kristy's called down to the police station for questioning. Sgt. Winters and Officer Hopkins meet her there, and ask a bunch of questions about Sgt. Johnson... that is, until he shows up. Kristy goes over what she saw that day with him again, which wasn't really much of anything. Cary Retlin is also there, being questioned. 

Once they're both finished, Cary convinced Kristy, along with Claudia and Mary Anne, to go with him to look at the house again. They poke around looking for clues, and Kristy ends up finding a bullet casing. Mary Anne discovers a bullet hole on the porch door. There's also a discarded red marker, presumably from the mailbox cat drawing. While snooping, the kids run into Golem. He's oddly not at all angry to find them there. Instead he's friendly and chats with them, so they show him the clues they found. He's impressed, and so are Sgt. Winters and Hopkins when Golem calls them over to see. They then grill Kristy about Sgt. Johnson again, and Kristy tells them she remembers seeing him driving down the road towards the house before the alarm went off. Winters tells her not to discuss the case with Sgt. J anymore. By this point, Cary's in a big hurry to go, and once they do, he tells Kristy that the bullet casing came from the same kind of pistol the police use. Kristy starts to wonder if Sgt. J could be involved somehow. 

Mallory does some research on the cat burglar, and learns that they've been operating on the East Coast for years now, usually pulling a huge heist, then lying low for a long time. 

Golem calls the girls during a BSC meeting to ask for their help with his mystery, and to tell them Sgt. Johnson's fingerprints were on a red marker found on his property. This prompts the girls to get busy looking for clues again. One of the things they find out via some library research is that Sgt. J was involved with Golem before. He investigated him for smuggling, but the case never went anywhere. 

Not long after, Kristy's questioned by Sgt. J again, and she notices he has a set of the same markers found at the scene, in every color but the red one. He also shows up at Claudia's to talk to the girls another time, and starts telling them how he hasn't done anything wrong. (More VERY inappropriate behavior! The adults in this book are all really creepily obsessed with the BSC.) He tells the girls that Winters and Hopkins are trying to frame him for the robbery. (I figured this from the start, but WTF is he doing driving to a teenage girl's house and then breaking down and telling them his problems??) In the midst of this, the chief of police shows up at Claudia's and arrests him. 

After this disturbing turn of events, the BSC starts to wonder if Golem used them to gather "clues" against Sgt. J, and that was why he was so friendly. They decide it must be Winters who's trying to set him up, so Kristy, Mary Anne, Abby, and Cary head over to Golem's to tell him their theory. While there, Cary and Kristy notice a rare blue Tiffany lamp in his house... one that the cat burglar infamously stole from a prince. (Why didn't the police catch this when they were there initially?!) Kristy makes an excuse so they can make a quick getaway, but Golem realizes that they've figured everything out and pushes a button that locks down the house, trapping them inside. The four kids fight back to attempt escape, but thankfully during the struggle the police show up. (The rest of the BSC had gone to Chez Maurice to look for Golem, and learned he ate there the day of the robbery, when he was supposedly in France.) 

Golem is promptly arrested, and Sgt. Johnson's name is cleared. Golem was indeed the cat burglar all along, and he was trying to frame Sgt. J as revenge for the time he investigated him. He planted the clues for the BSC to find, then used them to set up their own friend. 

From all this, the BSC (finally!!) realizes how dangerous all of this was, and they decide this will be their last mystery. 

Side plot: Charlotte's obsessed with Harriet the Spy and now wants to be a spy herself. 

Timeline:

It's still summer, likely late August.

Misc. thoughts:

*This book has the worst side plot of all time! This whole Harriet the Spy thing is so overused... making it a different character does not make it something new. Mallory used to do this all the time, and a few other kids have since.

*The Mancusis have a new parrot, Annabelle. 

*Mary Anne's handling the mystery notebook in here, but usually Mal does it. I'm not sure if it's an error or not though?

*Golem's interest in the BSC was so creepy in here! I know he was just using them, theoretically, but he even tried to take Kristy and Mary Anne out to a fancy dinner at one point. Wtf?

*Cary's dad used to be a cop, and is now a locksmith. 

*Kristy is questioned by the police countless times in here, and she never has a parent present, despite her being only 13... I'm not even sure if they know about it.

*Claudia hides her candy when Janine comes into her room, but it's been established in multiple books that Janine knows about her junk food. In an early book, she had some of her own stashed away too.

*Sgt. Johnson's behavior towards the BSC is so creepy and out of line in here that even Kristy says he's scaring them with how he's acting when he shows up at Claudia's. I wish we got to see Mrs. Kishi give him a piece of her mind...

*If anyone's interested, his full name is James Johnson.

*Apparently Cary Retlin likes bird watching? Or at least he claims to, but you can never be sure with him.

*At least the BSC members learn that they aren't real detectives and don't actually know what they're doing from this ordeal. It's about time! As silly as this book was, I like that their snooping and playing detective finally came back to haunt them, in the form of someone using it against them. They learn a lesson and decide to stop solving mysteries, a win-win, and a fitting end to the mystery series.

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.

Books mentioned:

*Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh (for the millionth time...)

My rating:

2 stars. I can't believe they made 36 of these. 

Now it's just a straight shot to the end, 122-131... I expected to be excited to be this close, and back to just reading the regular series without countless interruptions, but I'm kind of sad! 

Mystery #35: Abby and the Notorious Neighbor

 

Thoughts before reading:

I think that in terms of continuity, this one actually came before #120, but they were published in the same month, June of 1998, and #120 was listed first. Oh well. The mysteries seem to exist in their own side universe anyway, with time always overlapping and backtracking. 

The basics:

Abby's home sick from school with bronchitis, and she's bored silly... she loves being on the go and busy. After two mindless days of channel surfing, a show she's never seen before catches her eye: Mystery Trackers. (It basically sounds like a tamer version of America's Most Wanted.) The episode she watches features 3 fugitives. One of them, Arthur Maguire, reminds Abby of someone, but she can't quite place who it could be. 

Once she grows sick of the tv, Abby starts spying on her neighbors with binoculars for entertainment. (This is just as creepy as it sounds. She even mentions what kind of underwear a kid is wearing. Wtf?) While doing this, she realizes the criminal on Mystery Trackers reminded her of her neighbor, Mr. Finch. He's the unfriendly and rude type, known for mowing his lawn way too early in the morning. Abby tells the rest of the BSC about it, but since she has absolutely nothing to go on, they aren't exactly impressed. 

Undaunted, she starts watching him more on her own, determined to find some proof that she's right. She notices children's drawings on his fridge, and becomes convinced it means that he's the guy who abandoned his family. She calls the Mystery Trackers hotline, and they give her the names of the featured criminals, and tell her they'll send a tape of that episode so she can make a positive ID. 

From there, Abby pesters Kristy into helping her investigate, starting with looking at his mail, so they can figure out his first name. (It's Otto.) When she gets her tape in the mail, she has Kristy watch it. She agrees with Abby that Mr. Finch looks exactly like the embezzler who abandoned his family, and gets on board with helping. 

Abby calls Sergeant Johnson for help next. He doesn't take her seriously, but he does run a background check, which comes up clean. She does learn from him that Mr. Finch is from Iowa, however, which is the same place as Arthur Maguire. 

Later that day, she sees Mr. Finch burning things in his sink: photos, and what looks like a bank book. Abby calls the tv show hotline again, and the intern she spoke to last time promises to alert the authorities who work on the Maguire case. 

Kristy decides they need to see the names of the kids from the fridge artwork, to find a match. She calls Mr. Finch, pretending to work for the phone company, and asks him to come down to her office to sort out his bill. Once he leaves, Kristy looks through his kitchen windows and digs through his outdoor trash. Mr. Finch comes back and almost catches her, until Abby calls his house again to distract him. Kristy makes a quick getaway... with a partially burned photo. 

Both girls agree that the picture is of Mrs. Maguire, and Kristy saw the names on the drawings, and they were Patti and Joseph... the names of the Maguire kids. Abby calls Sgt. Johnson again, and he promises to look into it, but warns her to stay away from Mr. Finch. 

Later on, while the BSC is over visiting Abby, Mr. Finch is arrested. 

Side plot: Some of the BSC charges are having a go-cart contest. 

Timeline:

It's June, but school isn't out yet.

Misc. thoughts:

*Why is Andrew living in Chicago for a few months? Did I miss something? It must be a Little Sister plot, but it would be nice if they briefly mentioned why in the recap.

*Abby thinks Sgt. Johnson is handsome. Eww. She's a little young to be noticing that about an adult. Didn't they say in one of the books that he was definitely older, with grown kids or grandkids? I forget exactly which.

*Claudia and Stacey try "cyber-sleuthing" for the first time. It's so weird to have the internet in the BSC-verse now. It seems really out of place... in my mind, they're always in the late 80s to early 90s. 

*Abby calls Kristy nosy! That's the pot calling the kettle black if I've ever heard it. Who's the one spying on her neighbors with binoculars?!

*Kristy calls Abby brilliant, and Abby blushes! Hmm...

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.

*This book was just like a preteen version of Disturbia, although this did come out first.

*If Abby had been wrong about her neighbor, I think I would have actually liked this. A bored, sick kid, who's stuck at home and lets their imagination run wild? Very believable, and a good story for this age group. (Maybe even a cautionary tale!) It would be similar to Jessi and the Jewel Thieves, but not in a bad way. Instead, the fact that she just happened to be right, and a criminal lived right next door, and all the coincidences this rested on, like her just happening to see that particular episode, made this one of the dumbest mysteries of the series. 

*Only one more mystery to go!

*I was never bored when I was stuck home sick as a kid. I loved having a break from my routine, the empty house to myself, and empty hours to fill with tv and reading. 

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

2 stars. Like I said, a sick, bored kid spying on her neighbors and letting her imagination run wild would make a good story. This was just ridiculous. 

Mystery #34: Mary Anne and the Haunted Bookstore

 

Thoughts before reading:

I'm loving this super dramatic cover! I also love books about bookstores, so I actually have some hope for this one. 

The basics:

Mary Anne's home alone reading Poe for her English project on mysteries, and she gets spooked. (This is admittedly pretty dark reading material for SMS...) She picked him for her project because there's a new bookstore opening in Stoneybrook called Poe & Co. It will specialize in mysteries. In addition to reading for her project, Mary Anne also has to come up with a project using the author's work in some way. 

At the next BSC meeting, the bookshop owner calls, Mr. Cates. He needs a sitter for his two kids: 10 year old Tom, and 7 year old Gillian. Mary Anne really wants, and gets, the job. His new store is in the old Benson Dalton Gable house, and his family lives above it. (Apparently this house is somewhat infamous in Stoneybrook, although it's never been mentioned before. Benson Dalton Gable was also a mystery writer, and a contemporary of Poe's.) 

Tom and Gillian turn out to be sad kids... they hate Stoneybrook, and their mom recently up and left the family. Gillian blames herself, and Tom blames their dad. On top of all this, the kids are worried that their dad is dating his assistant, Ms. Spark, who the kids keep playing small pranks on. 

Mr. Cates tells Mary Anne he's interested in hiring more BSC members to help out in the bookstore. She's thrilled, and spreads the word. That Saturday he hires her, Mal, Kristy, and Logan to work in the store, and Claudia to babysit. A high school boy named Alex Gable is also working with them. (Mr. Cates bought the house from his dad.) Alex tries to impress the girls by bragging about how BDG was a better writer than Poe, and his dad's trying to get his papers published. Mary Anne notices Alex poking around the house quite a bit too.

While everyone's working, a professor from Stoneybrook University, Ramona Kingsolver, stops by. (Mary Anne recognizes her because she once visited her English class.) Alex starts up with his Poe and Gable theories again with her: he thinks Poe was jealous of Gable and stole ideas from him, because during their time Gable was more successful. He even thinks the ravens carved into the mantel in the house gave Poe the idea for "The Raven". 

Logan and Mary Anne stay behind when everyone else leaves to wait for a delivery, and Mary Anne gets spooked because she keeps hearing a weird noise that sounds like a heart beating. 

The girls also continue to have trouble with the Cates kids, especially Tom. He's a real handful, not listening to his sitters, and being rude to other kids and adults. (He also just tries to make things difficult when he can, Sean Addison style.)

The next week, Mary Anne continues to work at the store, this time with Abby, Stacey, and Claudia. Alex wastes no time in hitting on Stacey, then he starts telling her about the mystery surrounding BDG's death. No one has ever found his grave, or knows when he died... and Poe was one of his last visitors. Alex also mentions a lot of BDG's papers vanished around the time of his death, which is why they've been unsuccessful at getting him published. There's simply too many gaps. 

That same afternoon, the store cat, Pluto, gets stuck in a wall that the workmen had just finished... just like in a Poe story. Mary Anne starts to think the house is haunted. The BSC decides they have a mystery on their hands, but there's no real leads.

The next time Mary Anne goes to the store to work, Ms. Spark is yelling at the workmen about how they aren't working fast enough. She also overhears the workmen grumbling about how the town doesn't need a new bookstore, and they'd be better off just tearing the place down. Mary Anne then finds the word "nevermore" carved onto a shelf, and sees Mr. Cates drop a note that mentions Annabel Lee. 

A few days later, one of the workers thinks he sees a ghost in the basement. Mr. Cates tells Mary Anne about it, and shows her a stone slab they found in the basement that says, "today I wear these chains, and am here. To-morrow I shall be fetterless- but where?" It looks like a tombstone. 

Ms. Spark tells a reporter about all the weird things that have happened.

Kristy ends up helping Tom by telling him about her dad leaving the family, so he won't feel so alone. He also mentions to her that his mom's name is Annabel Lee. 

Ms. Spark mentions to some of the girls that she used to be a set designer in Hollywood. (HINT HINT!)

A raven flies into the store one day while Mary Anne's there. She decides to check out the local pet store for clues on who might have set it free in the store, because the bird seems really tame. The owner tells her he doesn't stock ravens, but that he special ordered one for a woman using the name Lenore. 

Stacey finds a stereo system set up in the store's basement, with a tape inside... and all it plays is the sound of a beating heart. Mal says the triplets have a kit for taking fingerprints, and they can borrow it and try to lift prints from the tape. The girls make coffee for everyone working in the store, then get the prints off each cup to compare. Mr. Cates is a match, which leads Mary Anne to think he's haunting his own store for publicity. 

The next time they're all at the store, the girls set off the beating heart tape, act terrified, then catch Mr. Cates in the act of turning it off. He admits that all the strange events have been for a publicity stunt, to help make the store a success. He apologizes, and the club assures him that they've had fun figuring everything out. 

Tom and Gillian also end up finding a hidden compartment with a lap desk inside... and in it are all BDG's missing papers. There's also letters between him and Poe that reveal they were friends, not rivals. 

At the store's grand opening, Mary Anne wins The Complete Edgar Allan Poe collection.

Side plot: It's been raining a lot, so much so that everyone's calling Stoneybrook "Water World". Kristy decides to have a Rainy Day festival for the BSC charges, to cheer them up about the bad weather. YAWN.

Timeline:

*It's Spring.

Misc. thoughts:

*Apparently Edgar Allan Poe once visited Stoneybrook, and from the sound of this plot, spent some time there. This really is some little town... it has even more famous people, relative to population, than Tree Hill, NC! :) 

*Annabel Lee makes Mary Anne cry, because it's too sad.

*The jobs sitting for Tom and Gillian are more where the adults are still home (in this case, working in the store). These jobs are my favorites, because as I've said before, these are the kinds that kids in junior high could actually get. 

*Pluto is a black cat, named after a Poe story.

*I think all these Poe stories and references are pretty wasted on the BSC readers age group... I could see middle schoolers getting into him, but most BSC readers are much younger than that. By ten, I was pretty much done...

*I guess hiring kids is one way to get cheap labor, but do you really want 11 year old employees setting up your store? At least hire some more high school kids.

*Star Wars is one of Stacey's favorite movies? Which one? This is really hard to picture, and doesn't really fit into her established character that well.

*I remember Hi, Ho, Cherry-O! Late 90s board game, to those who don't. 

*Alex Gable hits on Stacey and is shocked that she's only 13. I so saw this coming, haha. Any high school aged guy in this series always hits on her.

*This book really made me want to read some Poe, something that's never interested me before. Unlike a lot of my friends, I never had a teenage Poe phase. 

*I'm surprised they were allowed to write all this fictional stuff about a real historical figure. 

*Claudia paints a silhouette of Nancy Drew with her magnifying glass in the children's room of the bookstore. That's actually really awesome.

*Stacey has the idea for, and then leads, a mud pie making contest? Yeah right...

*Everyone calls Mary Anne "Dupin" in here, after the Poe detective. 

*Ghostwritten by Vicki Berger Erwin. 

*I don't think this new ghostie writes a very good Mary Anne. She was way too outgoing in here, joking around with the adults in the bookstore... it felt very off. 

*The book never ends up telling us what Mary Anne does for her project?

*I wonder if this store or the clients will ever be mentioned again? By now hardly any old clients are ever brought up. 

*I'd be pretty pissed if someone hired me to work for them and then put me through all this scary stuff on purpose, but the BSC members are just like, "Oh well, it was fun!" 

Books mentioned:

*Poe stories: 

"The Tell-Tale Heart"

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue"

"The Purloined Letter"

"The Goldbug"

"Annabel Lee"

"The Fall of the House of Usher"

"The Black Cat"

"The Raven"

"The Cask of Amontillado"

"The Mystery of Marie Roget"

*The Complete Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe

*View From the Cherry Tree, by Willo Davis Roberts

*The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin

*From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E. L. Konigsburg

My rating:

3 stars. This wasn't bad at all. It was at least one of the more fun mysteries, and I enjoyed the setting, the Poe references, and the basic set up. 

Mystery #33: Stacey and the Stolen Hearts

 

Thoughts before reading:

It's really late in the game for a new cover style, but I actually do like them... they're very 90s. 

The basics:

It's almost Valentine's Day, once again, and SMS is doing valentine-grams. For a dollar, kids can send a personal note to someone during school hours. (My middle and high schools did this too, with candy.) Pete Black asks Stacey to help out with running the booth, before and after school, and during lunch. She agrees, and ends up enjoying helping kids with their valentines. It makes her feel a little like cupid. 

One afternoon when Stacey's working the booth after school, the whole bag of finished valentines vanishes from her side, without her seeing a thing. She calls Pete for help, in a panic. Together they decide to keep things quiet and not tell anyone while they try to find the missing valentine-grams. It ends up not mattering much though... by the next day, they're all over school, beginning with fliers about Cokie's. Stacey immediately suspects Cary Retlin, but he claims innocence: he was at the dentist.

All throughout the day, various kids keep getting mean anonymous notes about their valentine-grams. After Jacqui yells at Stacey in the halls and accuses her of being behind the prank, Robert comes over to cheer her up and offers to walk her home. Andi had mentioned to Stacey earlier that Robert had been down and mopey lately, and was hoping Stacey could talk to him about it. Now she finally gets the chance to mention it. He thanks her for caring and explains that everything just seems boring to him lately. (Sounds like depression to me.)

The BSC gets buys investigating the kids at school that they think might be suspects. They notice that one of the Xeroxed v-grams shows part of a striped sleeve. Excited to finally have a clue, the BSC fans out over SMS to see what people are wearing. The only striped sleeve wearer Stacey can find is... Cary Retlin. She confronts him again, and he once again claims innocence. This time though, he tells her a story, asking her to imagine being a boy with a crush on a girl. This boy goes to send her a valentine-gram, and while doing so overhears that a bunch of kids are planning on sending him prank grams. Stacey realizes he must be referring to Alan Gray (big shocker!). She confronts him at home, and asks that the valentines be returned to her tomorrow, no questions asked. 

Alan never admits to anything, but the valentine-grams are waiting for Stacey at school the next day. She feels bad for him, and also realizes the kids whose valentines were made public must have been the kids who were discussing sending Alan the prank ones. He had kept most of them private, after all, only targeting certain kids. She decides not to tell anyone. 

Side plot: Kristy's feeling a bit down about Valentine's Day, and decides to hold a festival for kids to make the holiday more fun for everyone. 

Timeline:

It's February. 

Misc. thoughts:

*This mystery actually wasn't bad at all. It was fun to hear about the romances at SMS, who likes who, and all the little dramas. 

*Stacey's cut her hair off to shoulder length, as the cover shows. 

*Stacey's a lot nicer than me. I wouldn't be too worried about Robert being down after he'd cheated on me. 

*Mal and Ben send each other valentine-grams... so I guess they still sort of like each other?

*Mathew Hobart likes Mary Anne.

*Margo Pike likes James Hobart.

*Some of the kids from Claudia's personal ad days make another appearance in here (Claudia and the Perfect Boy). 

*Now Jacqui likes Robert. Eww. Is this entire friend group going to share him? This may happen on teen drama shows all the time, but it's not something you really see among groups of friends. Usually girls don't like their friends' boyfriends all that much, or see them that way. 

*I definitely got the vibe in here that Robert regrets ending things with Stacey, although I'm not sure if that has anything to do with him being mopey.

*Pete Black likes Emily Bernstein.

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles. 

*Cary Retlin has an armchair in the basement of SMS where he hangs out? That's really weird. Also, this school has terrible supervision. 

*We never find out which girl Alan likes.

*It was really nice to see Stacey rise above and not tell on Alan, but I don't feel sorry for him, or people like him. 

Books mentioned:

*Shiloh, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

*The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson

*A Chair For My Mother, by Vera B. Williams

*Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare 

My rating:

3.5 stars. This was actually pretty good. It was an actual middle school, age appropriate mystery. If the series had stuck with these, the mysteries would have been a thousand times better. 

Mystery #32: Claudia and the Mystery in the Painting

 

Thoughts before reading:

Only four more mysteries to go after this one!

The basics:

Claudia's at the library, doing some research on Grandmother Madden, a famous artist who used to live in Stoneybrook, because she just got a job babysitting for her great-grandson. His mom, Rebecca Madden, has recently inherited her grandma's house and is prepping it for sale. (There sure are a lot of famous people in and around Stoneybrook...) Claud's mom steps in to help her, and together they learn that Grandmother Madden died six years ago, she taught art in Stoneybrook, her folk art style was roasted by art critics until folk art came back into vogue. She then sold a painting for six figures. Her work featured incredible detail, down to cobwebs and pet's whiskers. After she died, there was a five year battle over her will. Her last show was a disaster, and she destroyed all her late paintings. When word got out, her older works doubled in value. 

On her first sitting job with Jimmy, who's 7, Claudia finds him to be really quiet and sulky. Claudia gets him to show her the art studio, which is full of paintings by GM's students. Claudia finds one she loves, of a Japanese woman wearing a kimono. She's smiling like she has a secret, and reminds Claudia of Mimi. 

While she's looking around, Jimmy's busy pretending to paint. Claudia asks him about it, and he says he's not very good at art, and his dad gets mad at his mom whenever she talks about wanting to paint. (He sounds lovely...) She wonders what he means by this exactly, but they're distracted by someone outside on the porch. It's an Asian-American man who says he works for the company helping Ms. Madden with the estate sale, but when Claudia goes to tell her, he leaves. (She's working on the house while Claudia's sitting.) Ms. Madden reassures her it was probably Mr. Ogura, who's helping her price items. 

During the brief time they were talking, Jimmy's gone missing. Claudia finds him crying outside in his treehouse, because he thought the visitor was going to be his dad. Claudia comforts him and takes him back inside. His mom says she's taking him to NYC the next day so he can see his dad. She also hires more of the BSC to help with some things around the house. Claudia wants to ask her about the painting of the Japanese woman too, but when they return to the studio, it's gone. Nothing else seems to be missing, so Ms. Madden reassures Claud that she likely just forgot where she put it. 

The next day, when the girls show up at the Madden house, the same man is there. He assures them that he is Mr. Ogura, so they let him in, but then he gets a phone call and immediately leaves again. Not long after, a woman who looks very similar to Ms. M shows up asking about the estate sale. Luckily she pulls up with Jimmy right after, but the woman leaves without talking to her. 

Everyone gets to work helping organize the house. Mary Anne finds a hollow book with the scathing review of GM's NYC show inside, and the catalog that lists all her works. Ms. M wistfully tells the girls how hard she worked on her paintings, and how many of them fit together to form larger paintings. 

The next day, when Claudia arrives for work, there's another man there: youngish, blond, and grumpy. He gruffly tells her that he's Rebecca's husband, and he'll be sorting through the paintings, so she should work elsewhere. As she's leaving the room, Claudia finds a list of paintings on the floor. Someone has crossed some off the list, and checked others. She searches for the catalog to compare them, but is unable to find it anywhere. 

While she's looking, Jimmy and Mal come in with a cat they found at the treehouse, and it has an injured paw. Jimmy's the most excited Claudia's ever seen him too. The cat's wearing a collar with the name Goldie on it. Ms. M walks in and gasps with shock when she sees it... apparently GM had a cat named Goldie. 

Meanwhile, Abby's (very reluctantly) taken a job helping set up a children's room at the Stoneybrook museum. (She was the only BSC member free.) It's called the Kaleidoscope Room, and Abby's job is to bring a few kids by and try out different activities with them. It's a disaster, though: the director, Mrs. O'Neal, is stuffy and doesn't want the kids to make any mess, even while doing art... which of course they do.

Claudia visits the museum to take a turn helping, and explains to the director that kids need freedom to explore and create, so they can discover art is fun. (All true, and Claudia handles this very maturely.) Claud also chats with her about GM. Mrs. O'Neal turns out to be a big fan, and tells Claudia that there's a golden cat hidden in each picture, and that each of her paintings is 10x10, and fits together with 3 others to form a bigger picture. There's one GM painting in the Stoneybrook museum, so Claud goes to see it, and finds Mr. Ogura and the woman who looks like Rebecca already there. They're measuring it, then quickly depart after. 

At the next BSC meeting, the other girls tell Claudia that they also saw Mr. Ogura snooping around at the house, and a delivery man came by with packages for Ms. M that looked like paintings. 

Her next day at the Maddens', Claudia finds the missing painting in an empty trash can. Jimmy starts crying and says that he accidently knocked it over that first day, causing the painting to chip, so he hid it. Claudia assures him that it's not a big deal. He also tells her about a hidden cabinet with more paintings inside, and shows it to her. They explore it together, and Claudia finds one she thinks could be a GM. She pulls it out to show Ms. M, but bumps into Mr. Ogura on the way. He (literally) grabs the painting away from her, then takes off while she's distracted. 

Claudia heads back to the library to compare the list she found to a book about GM's work. She notices the paintings with check marks are all in museums, and the ones with lines are all owned by individuals, privately. Mr. Ogura is also noted to own one. 

Next, she decides to check out the company Mr. O works for. When she arrives, they are her if she wants "Old Mr. O or young". Puzzled, she says young, but he isn't in. She does run into Jimmy's dad, Mr. Cook, who isn't very happy to see her. He's carrying the painting Mr. O took off with. Claudia decides to wait outside, since this is all so strange, but she doesn't see anything else while there.

At the official opening for the Kaleidoscope Room, Claudia sees Stacey picking at her chipped nails and complaining... which gives her the idea that the painting Jimmy knocked over might have chipped because something was underneath. (Weird connection, but okay...) GM could have hidden her paintings by letting her students paint over them! 

Early the next day, Claudia heads over to the Madden house to test her theory. No one's home, so she lets herself in. Right as she's starting to study the portrait of the Japanese woman, the Ms. M look alike shows up right behind her. She grabs a stack of paintings and starts raving about how they're hers, finally announcing that she's Suzanne Madden, Rebecca's cousin. Then Mr. Ogura shows up and also tries to take the paintings. Claudia's grabbed by them and quickly stuffed into the storage closet. (I'm surprised that the BSC members ever leave their homes after all the crazies they've dealt with by now.)

Awhile later, Jimmy and his dad get home and let her out. She tells them what happened in a rush, and then they call the police. Suzanne and Mr. Ogura are both caught, and Claudia learns that GM and Mr. Ogura Sr. were friends, and he bought one of her paintings, so Mr. Ogura Jr. knew what they looked like, AND his brother took lessons from GM, so he knew about the painted over canvases too. Claudia's theory was correct. The pair has been working together to steal the paintings, but thankfully they are all recovered.

Rebecca gets accepted to art school.

Also, once the kids are free to make any art they like at the museum, Mrs. O'Neal is amazed by what they can do. She lets the BSC pick pieces to make a Children's Gallery in the museum. 

Timeline:

I guess it's summer again? No one seems to go to school in here, as they're always babysitting or working on the house. 

Misc. thoughts:

*Claudia made her mom tiny book earrings, and the books really open! I'm super jealous...

*It sounds so weird when they say things from the early books weren't very long ago, like Mimi passing away. It's been forever from a reader's POV, and over a decade in real time.

*Haha, when Claudia starts wondering if there are still hidden paintings somewhere, her mom asks if she's been reading Nancy Drew again. I always knew the Kishis must have some idea about her hidden habits.

*Claudia wants to draw a BSC meeting, GM style, with all the little details. This is actually a really cool idea. I would have gone completely crazy for a poster like that as a kid.

*I like that Rebecca Madden was home working during all the babysitting jobs in here. It's so much more realistic a situation with babysitters who are in junior high. 

*This was at least better than the other recent mysteries, if only because there was a lot of information and a lot going on, which made it much easier to get through. Plus, I really liked the idea of Grandmother Madden and her paintings. They sound like the kind of art I would love too... I wish she was real, because her paintings sound amazing.

*Abby brought Jamie Newton, the Arnold twins, and Corrie Addison to the museum that first time, and they were all disappointed that it was her and not Claudia, haha.

*A mystery revolving around paintings and an estate sale seems like a weird choice for the elementary school set to me, but I think I would have still liked this when I was a kid.

*Mary Anne gets the job of sorting books for the sale, and she's getting paid for it! I'd love to do that, even now.

*If a famous artist lived in Stoneybrook, even though it was awhile ago, wouldn't Claudia have known about her and be interested in her work before now? She's taken so many art classes, some of them would definitely have mentioned/taught a famous local artist. Especially taking into account that GM also taught art in the area.

*Margo's creative like her sisters, it's just never been mentioned before for some reason. In here she makes snake princesses out of clay, and has a whole story to go with them. 

*Ghostwritten by Vicki Berger Erwin? A new ghostie! It's pretty late in the game for that, isn't it?

Books mentioned:

*Primitive Artists of the Twentieth Century

*Folk Art 

(Both fictional, but very similar to several real titles.)

My rating:

3 stars. This wasn't bad... it was very readable, and had a full plot, something of a rarity now. However, the "painted over paintings" idea was used before, in Mallory and the Mystery Diary. So was the spooky, randomly appearing cat idea. 

Mystery #31: Mary Anne and the Music Box Secret

 

Thoughts before reading:

All I can say about this is, I only have a few mysteries left, finally! I won't be sorry to reach this particular ending milestone.

The basics:

Sharon's parents, (known to us mainly as Granny and Pop-Pop) leave on a cruise, and after they're gone there's a huge flood in their basement. Sharon wants to have it all fixed up before they return, so she hires the BSC to help her clean up. Mary Anne takes on most of the jobs herself, eager to help. 

When she first arrives to start work, Mary Anne's sad to see how bad the damage actually was. The entire basement was flooded, over a foot deep in places, and they actually had a nice basement that Pop-Pop had done a lot of work on. Feeling even more determined, she dives right into clearing the shelves they kept their records on. While working there, she feels a panel give way behind the shelving. Behind it is a small cubby, containing a box that says "do not open or you will be cursed". She opens it anyway, of course, because she doesn't believe in curses, and is worried the contents might have water damage. (I'm extremely surprised that she wasn't too scared...) Inside is a beautifully carved wooden music box. Mary Anne shows it to Sharon, who says she's never seen it before.

After working on the basement all weekend, the Porters' plumber comes over to assess the damage. His name is Jim Prentice, and he tells them all about how he grew up across the street. He had a friend that lived in the Porter house back then, and Granny Porter actually grew up in the house right next door to her current home. 

Sharon's able to save all her parents old letters, and she asks Mary Anne to help her make a scrapbook of them for an anniversary gift. She agrees, happy to help with another project. (Wow, in here we really see the old, nice, sweet, and helpful Mary Anne that's been gone since like... book #10?) 

As more of the BSC members take turns pitching in on the basement, they become suspicious of several people they've seen snooping around: Jim Prentice, Eddie, the contractor, and Hank, an old friend of Pop-Pop's.

Mary Anne finds a secret compartment in the music box, with a picture inside. It's of a young man, with a woman who's cut out. The discovery chills her, because she's recently started having dreams about this same man following her, dressed in "sailor boy" garb. There's also a letter underneath, addressed to an L. S. from H. I. W., about him being on the other side of the world, but how he'll be thinking of her until they can be together again.

Sharon becomes overwhelmed by all the papers she has to sort for her scrapbook project, so she gives Mary Anne a stack of letters to read and go through. She thought (rightly) that they would interest Mary Anne because Granny wrote them to her friend June, when both girls were around Mary Anne's age. 

When Mary Anne finally has time to read the letters, she learns that the Bailey family used to live in Granny and Pop-Pop's house, and they had a daughter named Lydia. She was dating Johnny Buckman, but her father didn't approve. He forbid them to see each other, but they kept doing so anyway. Mr. Bailey was also in his own trouble for stealing from the bank, and there's a mention of someone burying something in the Bailey yard in the middle of the night. All this gets Mary Anne thinking that the music box was a gift Johnny gave Lydia, and she'd had to hide it.

After hearing this story from Mary Anne, the BSC gets busy doing research, looking at old town records, searching old newspapers, etc, but they don't find anything helpful. 

When Granny and Pop-Pop return, Sharon throws them a surprise anniversary party. Leading up to it, Mary Anne figures out that L. S. could be "little star", and H. I. W. could be "how I wonder": because the music box plays Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She also sees a star bracelet that Granny gave to Sharon long ago, and wears it to the party. Granny sees it and tells her she was Little Star, and her first love, Frank, gave her both the bracelet and the music box. Then he went off to war and was killed, so she hid the music box to keep Frank a secret (it's left unclear exactly why, though). Granny also tells Mary Anne to keep the music box, and her secret about Frank. She also tells her that Johnny and Lydia eloped back in the day, and are still married now.

After the party, Mary Anne has one last dream about Frank, her sailor. He asks her how Little Star is doing, and she tells him she's happy.

Side plot: The Barrett-Dewitts are working on their house addition, and they have the same contractor, Eddie.

Timeline:

It's STILL August, but Dawn isn't in Stoneybrook anymore. She must have returned to California really early in the summer, following that road trip, because a lot has happened since then.

Misc. thoughts:

*It was interesting to hear so much about Granny, Pop-Pop, and their house. They've always been very peripheral characters before, so even this far into the series, we don't know much of anything. Yet they were supposed to have been a big reason why Sharon moved back to Stoneybrook. 

*I was surprised that Mary Anne has grown so fond of them though, given how they once treated her dad. She usually gets really offended over that stuff, and can't let things go. I'm glad in this case she did though, because this seems like a sweet relationship, and she doesn't have a lot of family. 

*This book had some potential for me as another family-history-mystery, my favorite kind, until this supernatural angle came up, in the form of Mary Anne's dreams about Frank before she ever saw his picture. Without that, this would have been a lot better.

*The Barrett-Dewitt kids are building themselves a playhouse, with some guidance from Eddie... but even with some help, these kids are pretty young to be using hammers and nails...

*Granny's first name is Grace.

*I wonder if this music box ends up being destroyed in the house fire? Kind of a sad thought.

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.

*Knowing all of this now about Granny's past, it's more confusing and infuriating how she handled the situation with teenaged Sharon and Richard. Or was she just going along with her husband passively? Not sure which is worse, honestly.

*Was "the war" WW2? The book never actually says, one way or another. 

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

2 stars. This would've been way better without the dreams. It's too bad, because it had some potential, and the premise wasn't bad either. At least there was no criminal catching...

Mystery #30: Kristy and the Mystery Train

 

Thoughts before reading:

Well... this sounds like a gem. 

The basics:

Derek Masters is back in town, and he's just finished working on a movie called Night Train to Charleston, a murder mystery. To rake up publicity, the cast and crew are going to ride on a train made up like the one in the movie. Derek invites Nicky Pike along with him as his guest. Mr. Masters also calls the BSC to hire 3 sitters to watch a total of 9 kids during the train trip. It's a 3 day ride, from Boston to Charleston. Abby, Kristy, and Stacey take the job. Some of the other kids going are Linny, Buddy, James, and David Michael. 

Watson and Elizabeth take the kids to Boston, where they board the train. Right off the bat, there's some drama between a crew member and her husband, then everyone finds a threatening note tucked into their programs. It says, "The truth will come out-- There's nothing you can do to stop me". When the kids go to order lunch, someone switches their pizza out for a rubber hand, holding a note that says the same thing.  Someone also sets off a smoke bomb on the train, terrifying everyone into thinking there's a fire. 

Kristy and Stacey see a man push another man off the train, but it's too dark to see who they are. They raise the alarm, but no one is found to be missing from the train, so no one believes them. Kristy goes back later to look for clues, but all she finds is one loose script page.

Derek shows everyone a board game that was made based on the movie. Everyone sits down to play, and Kristy notices that the character names are different than the ones from the script page she found. 

Shortly after this discovery, the train stops and the lights go out. Kristy tells Stacey she thinks the names are different because it was a script draft... like something only a screenwriter would have. They confront Ronald, the screenwriter for the movie (great idea, what could go wrong?), and he says he didn't do anything, but he knows who the culprit behind everything is. Apparently, years ago he stole the story idea for Night Train to Charleston from his student, Laurence. He ended up paying Laurence off to not tell anyone, but he continued blackmailing him for more money. Now he's on the train, going after Ronald's son, Daniel. 

Together, they go looking for Daniel, and catch Laurence just in time. He's taken into custody, but does get his writer's credit on the movie. 

Side plot: Mal, Jessi, Claudia, and Mary Anne are helping open the Greenbrook Club for the summer. 

Timeline:

It's summer vacation, presumably still August.

Misc. thoughts:

*I liked that they had a board game of the movie... it reminded me of some of the murder mystery games I had as a kid.

*Weird continuity in here... Mal's extra covered up against the sun, but Mary Anne's dressed like everyone else. There's no mention of her sun problems from the earlier books.

*When did Ben and Mal stop dating? It's never mentioned anymore, and in the last few books where Ben was even around he's been one of the kids, like Tiffany. 

*We also haven't heard anything about Quint in forever.

*Ghostwritten by Nola Thacker.

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

1 star. Another Scooby-Doo mystery... this was SO hard to get through. 

Mystery #29: Stacey and the Fashion Victim

 

Thoughts before reading:

I know it's a terrible picture, but I couldn't find anything better. It's getting harder to find images for these later books. 

Only 8 more mysteries to go!

The basics:

It's take-your-daughter-to-work day, and all the BSC girls get to go to work with their moms. Stacey has a good time at Bellair's with hers, and she's impressed by how much her mom does in a day. While there, Stacey's even approached about modeling for Bellair's upcoming Fashion Week event. Despite her bad experience last time, she's excited to try again, and her mom gives permission.

At orientation, the only person Stacey knows is Cokie, who enjoys telling her all the gossip about everyone else. She doesn't take Cokie too seriously, but sure enough, pretty quickly Stacey's turned off by the behavior of the other models. They smoke, gossip constantly, don't eat, and are extremely competitive. There is one girl she admires at least, Sydney, who seems really professional and doesn't do any of these things. 

After the first show, one of the models, Harmony Skye, who everyone was complaining about getting special treatment, gets sick after drinking some tea. Her mom insists that she was poisoned. Stacey tells the BSC about it, and they decide they have a mystery on their hands. Right away they suspect Roger Bellair, son of the store's owner, because he's dating Sydney. 

At the second shoot, several of the girls' outfits are cut up. Claudia starts to suspect Dylan Trueheart, Cokie's agent, because he's always lurking around. Over the next few days, the "pranks" continue... there's a threatening message left on a mirror, film gets ruined, someone gets locked in an elevator, Harmony falls off the cat walk, and someone else gets a terrible rash from tampered with foundation. There's also disturbing notes left around for various girls: beauty kills, pretty is as pretty does, until pretty dies. All of this makes Stacey want to quit, but she decides to stick it out, and doesn't tell her mom about any of it. 

During a shoot on the roof of Bellair's, Stacey and Harmony lean on a railing that gives way, but thankfully they only fall to another section of the roof, about a foot lower. 

Once Harmony is named "Princess Bellair", but seems disappointed about it, Stacey figures out that she's behind everything that's been happening. Harmony is sick of modeling, but her mom won't let her quit, so she'd been trying to convince her that modeling was too dangerous. Along with the rest of the BSC, Stacey hides in the bathroom to catch her in action, writing messages on the mirrors. Stacey confronts her, and she admits everything. Together they go to her mom to discuss her quitting. 

Stacey looks forward to returning to her normal life, and does not want to model again.

Side plot: Abby catches Buddy and Lindsay trying to smoke. Kristy's younger siblings then plan a Stoneybrook smoke-out, trying to get everyone to give up smoking for one day. Watson and Aunt Cecelia, both smokers, sneak some anyway.

Timeline:

It's April.

Misc. thoughts:

*This book mentions something about Stacey having had a bad experience modeling before, but she never has in the books. Is this a reference to the original tv show? I definitely didn't think that was canon. If not it must be an error, unless I'm completely forgetting something important, which at this point, is not impossible...

*Kristy, predictably, is annoyed that Stacey will be working another job.

*Mal complains about young girls looking up to models... she's not really one to talk though.

*Mary Anne and Mal sign up to work at the Bellair's childcare center during Fashion Week. Stacey suggested it to them; she worked there in #87.

*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles

Books mentioned:

None

My rating:

2 stars. Can't Stoneybrook ever have an event like this without sabotage? This felt like a rehash of the cooking contest plot, which was interesting the first time either. Plus it was really obvious the whole book that Harmony was behind everything.