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Jamie and the Mystery Quilt

Jamie and the Mystery Quilt by Vicki Berger Erwin, 1987.

Money has been tight in the Huddleston family since Jamie’s father died. The family lives in a big, old house that’s been in the Huddleston family for generations, but it has gotten run down because the family doesn’t have enough money to fix it. The local historical society is interested in the house because of its age, but Jamie’s mother doesn’t know if the family will have enough money to hold on to it. Even heating the house has gotten expensive, and there are two girls in the family to raise and educate. Jamie’s mother is seriously considering selling the big house so she and the girls can move to a smaller, less expensive house, but Jamie can’t stand the idea of losing this house, which she loves. To help earn some extra money, Jamie takes on a part-time tutoring job, and she is thrilled when her first tutoring assignment is a popular boy from school, Kevin Parker.

When Jamie discovers a chest of old quilts in the attic that were made by her great-grandmother, she is thrilled to find one that is actually a map of their house! She shows it to Kevin, who is fascinated. His mother has an antiques shop, and he has an interest in antiques because he helps his mother. Unfortunately, the realtor who is trying to convince Jamie’s mother to let him sell their house also sees the quilt and immediately becomes interested in its monetary value. Jamie tries to make it clear to him that the quilt is not for sale.

Then, one day, the quilt is stolen while it was hung out for an airing! Just about anybody could have taken it because it was outside, but when Jamie’s mother reports the theft to the police, the policeman who takes the report says that there have been other thefts of antiques in the area. Their case is a little unusual because the quilt is the only item missing, whereas the other thefts involved houses being completely cleaned out of truckloads of antiques.

There is something unusual about the quilt. Not only is it unusual to find a quilt that’s a perfect map of a house, but it seems like the quilt also contains a secret, hidden message. Was the quilt stolen for its monetary value or just because it’s a fascinating-looking quilt, or does someone else also have the sense that there’s a secret meaning in the quilt?

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive.

My Reaction

I remember liking this story when I was a kid. I remembered that the rainbow in the quilt was the clue to where the treasure was hidden, but I didn’t remember the story behind why the treasure was hidden. Jamie’s ancestors didn’t do anything illegal or unethical. It was more that they were going through hard times and resorted to an unappealing job that they didn’t really want to discuss with other people.

I didn’t think there was much secret about who the villain in the story was. There’s a person in the story who is both an unlikable character and who would have access to people’s homes to be able to steal from them. In some ways, I thought that the characters didn’t seem to realize that as soon as they should have. The mother in the story seemed a little too trusting.

The story seems a little slow, now that I’m rereading it as an adult, but I still have nostalgia for it. The quilt map is still a fantastic addition to a children’s mystery.

Posted on by TracyC

The Mystery Cruise

The Boxcar Children

Boxcar Children Mystery Cruise cover

The Mystery Cruise by Gertrude Chandler Warner, 1992.

Boxcar Children Mystery Cruise meeting

Mr. Alden takes his grandchildren on their first cruise to the Caribbean! The Alden kids are excited to go because there are a lot of interesting things to do on the cruise ship. However, they begin to notice some strange things happening happening on the ship and some odd people among the passengers and crew.

The first person they meet is Max, a history professor who shares their table at dinner. The Aldens can tell that something is bothering him. He gets a telegram that upsets him, and he seems desperate to communicate with someone, but for some reason, the phone and radio systems on the ship keep breaking down. It looks like sabotage! Could someone be trying to stop Max from communicating with someone?

Boxcar Children Mystery Cruise girls bedroom

Eventually, Max explains that he was notified about the death of a great-aunt, but to claim the inheritance, he must be present at the reading of the will, and various problems on the ship seem to be delaying the ship from reaching its destination in time. Besides the sabotage of the phone and radio, someone also gives a false cry of “man overboard” to make the ship stop. The crew is able to verify that nobody is missing from the ship by doing a head count. Is someone deliberately trying to prevent Max from reaching their destination on time, so he won’t receive his inheritance? If Max isn’t there, he says another relative, his cousin, will inherit, but this cousin isn’t on the cruise with him. Could she have hired someone to keep Max away from the will reading?

Boxcar Children Mystery Cruise ship railing

There’s a new employee on the ship, Heather, who seems very nervous and secretive about some messages that she’s been receiving. Heather also seems to know the Rands, a family who says that they used to work for another cruise company and who keep saying that the other cruise company was better. Could Heather and the Rands be working together to sabotage the cruise? Tom, another passenger, seems friendly and likes working out and showing off how well he lifts weights, but he also seems too interested in Max’s business and too happy about the ship’s delays. Could he be the mysterious saboteur? How can the Aldens be sure that they can get Max to his destination on time?

My Reaction

One of the things I enjoy about the Boxcar Children mysteries is that they’re good at presenting multiple suspects. The story delays telling readers about Max’s inheritance, so the first part of the mystery centers on what’s going on with Max. When we find out about the inheritance, the mystery becomes a question of whether or not his cousin is trying to keep him from the inheritance. There is only one other possible motive under consideration – that the Rands are still working for a rival cruise company and may be sabotaging this cruise to draw more attention to their company. Sometimes, Boxcar Children books take twists, where the more obvious motive isn’t the culprit’s real motive, but in this case, the inheritance is directly related to the mystery. It’s more a question of who is helping Max’s cousin and what the Aldens can do to help Max reach the reading of the will. In this case, the Aldens get the crew of the ship to help them with their plan to outwit and catch the saboteur.

Boxcar Children Mystery Cruise chef

This is also one of those books where the Boxcar Children are given the opportunity to do things that most children in real life would never been allowed to do. Isaac, one of the chefs on the ship, is charmed by Benny and his love of food, and he invites him to visit the kitchen with his siblings to get free samples of different pastries and desserts. The children ask if they can help out in the kitchen in return for this special favor, and Isaac agrees. In real life, I don’t think most professional kitchens would just allow random kids to visit or to actually help with cooking. Professional kitchens have to maintain health standards, and people who work there have food handlers’ licenses. These things went over my head when I was a kid, but in some ways, they annoy me a little now.

One of the themes of the Boxcar Children books is that the Aldens are hard workers and are incredibly capable, even though they’re young. They often make it a point to earn any special treats or privileges they get or help out without being paid. I think it was the authors’ way of emphasizing the value of hard work. However, it bothers me now because situations like this in these books are very contrived, not things that real life kids would be given the opportunity to do, and probably not things they would even be allowed to do if they asked. Sometimes, the jobs the Alden kids get are due to their wealthy grandfather’s friends and connections, but other times, like this, it’s for no apparent reason. Benny just really liked the food, so they got an invitation from the chef.

Posted on by TracyC

Meg Mackintosh and The Case of the Curious Whale Watch

Meg Mackintosh Mysteries

Meg Mackintosh and The Case of the Curious Whale Watch by Lucinda Landon, 1987.

Meg and her brother, Peter, are going on a whale watch trip with their grandfather. As they board the boat, their grandfather tells them that the captain is well-known as a treasure hunter, looking for pirate treasure.

On board the Albatross, they are greeted by Captain Caleb and meet his mate Jasper, and the other whale watch guests. The guests are Mrs. Clarissa Maxwell and her nephew Anthony, who seems to like gambling; a man named Oliver Morley, who likes stamps; a college student called Carlos de Christopher; and a marine biologist, Dr. Susan Peck.

Meg asks Captain Caleb about his treasure hunting, and he shows everyone an old map that’s been in his family for many years. The sailor who gave it to them also gave them a whale’s tooth with a scrimshaw carving of a whale on it. It’s supposed to help explain where the treasure is hidden. Some of the members of the expedition debate about how much money the treasure of the map would be worth, but Dr. Peck is completely opposed to treasure hunting because it’s disruptive to the environment.

The group enjoys watching the whales, although Meg’s grandfather has to go lie down for a while because he’s seasick, and lazy Jasper spends his time reading comic books in the lifeboat. When they encounter a storm, and everyone goes into the cabin to get out of the rain, they discover that the map is missing!

Who could have taken it? Various members of the whale watch have talked about their need for money, and Dr. Peck said that she thought the map should be destroyed to prevent damage to the environment. Meg goes over the pictures she’s take to find the thief!

The book is available to borrow and read for free online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).

My Reaction

I like the Meg Mackintosh books because it’s fun to solve the mystery along with the heroine. Like other books in the series, readers are supposed to use the story and the clues in the pictures to solve the mystery. At various points in the story, the story pauses for readers to figure out something about what’s happening, and these are good points for readers to check that they’re on track and to review the information they know so far. The story isn’t very long, but there are multiple points for readers to figure out something about what’s going on.

I did figure out the answer to this one very quickly. It’s partly because I’m an adult and this is aimed at children, but more importantly, I’ve seen the movie Charade with Audrey Hepburn, which used a similar plot device. The story did a good job of making all the suspects look like they had a motive, but when you figure out what the thief’s real goal was, there’s only one person who qualifies. Kids in early elementary school would probably find the mystery more challenging.