Posted on by TracyC

Mandie and the Ghost Bandits

MandieGhostBandits#3 Mandie and the Ghost Bandits by Lois Gladys Leppard, 1984.

Mandie and her family are going to proceed with the plan to create a hospital for the Cherokees with the gold that they found in the cave. To do that, they need to take the gold to a bank in Asheville.  They decide to take the gold secretly on a train. Uncle Ned stays in the baggage car to watch the gold as they set out on their journey.

When the kids decide to leave their car to go visit him, strange things begin to happen. They see riders dressed as ghosts out the window. Then, the car with Uncle Ned and the gold inside is disconnected from the rest of the train, crashing into a ravine. The train comes to a stop, and the kids jump off to see if they can help Uncle Ned.

Before they can find him, the train starts up again, leaving them behind, and they are taken prisoner by the mysterious ghost bandits. They are after the gold in the baggage car, but how did they know it was there when Mandie’s family tried so hard to keep it a secret? Mandie and her friends must escape and find the others before it is too late!

In some respects, I would call this more of an adventure story than a mystery, although there is still the question of how the bandits knew where the gold was in order to steal it.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Posted on by TracyC

The Gatehouse Mystery

Trixie Belden

TBGatehouseMystery#3 The Gatehouse Mystery by Julie Campbell, 1951.

One day, Honey and Trixie decide to explore the old gatehouse on the property of Honey’s mansion. It hasn’t been used for years, and it is overgrown with vines. However, it looks as though someone has been there recently, and the girls find a diamond on the floor inside. There are signs of a scuffle, and the diamond looks like it was accidentally wedged into the floor. Have thieves been hiding out in that old cottage?

Honey thinks that they should turn the diamond over to the police, but Trixie wants a chance to investigate the crime first, just the two of them, and to prove to Jim and her brothers that she and Honey can be detectives as good as any man could. However, the boys become involved when someone attempts to enter Honey’s room at night to reclaim the diamond.

With their suspicions divided between the new gardener and the new chauffeur, the kids form a club they call the Bob-Whites of the Glen to investigate the matter and to trap the thieves.  This club continues for the rest of the series.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

TBGatehouseMysteryPic

Posted on by TracyC

The Mystery Hideout

MysteryHideoutThe Mystery Hideout by Ken Follett, 1976.

The first time Mick Williams meets Randall Izard (called “Izzie”) is when the news dealer Mick works for asks him to train the new boy on his paper route, and Mick learns that Izzie will also be going to his school. Mick doesn’t like Izzie much at first. The new boy speaks with a posh accent and is riding an expensive bike that he says was a present from his father, who makes television ads for a living. Mick doesn’t have a father, and he stole the bike that he rides for his paper route.

Mick guesses that Izzie’s family used to have more money but have fallen on hard times, which is why Izzie needs the paper route.  Mick is worried about his own future.  Someone is building a new hotel on the street where he lives by knocking down the old film studios, and his mother says that they’re going to demolish all the old apartment buildings around it.  That means that they’ll have to find a apartment, which isn’t easy because they don’t have much money, and not everyone wants to rent to a lone woman with a child.

Mick kind of envies the criminal gangs that he reads about in the paper, like the Disguise Gang.  They stage daring raids on banks while wearing clever disguises so that no one knows that they really look like.  They fool everyone and get away with tons of money.  Mick wishes that he was that clever!  If he was, his mother would never have to worry about money again.

MysteryHideoutPicBut, Izzie turns out to be a good friend for Mick.  They both love to play soccer, and Izzie tells Mick that his father used to work in the old studio buildings that they’re tearing down to build the new hotel. In fact, Izzie even knows a secret way in, so the boys sneak in to explore a little.  They’re goofing off with some of the props when they make the startling discovery that the prop guns are loaded with real bullets! Then, the boys have to make a run for it because there are other people sneaking around the old studios. What is going on there?

This book actually takes place in London. I don’t think they actually say the name of the city in the story, but they do mention the Thames, the money is all in pounds, and there are children playing cricket.  But, it’s the kind of story that could take place anywhere.  Mick and Izzie are realistic characters.  Both of them are worried about their families’ hard times.  Mick in particular wants to be the man of the house and to help his mother in her struggles to provide for them.  His inner debate about which side of the law he should be on is also feels real, and it’s satisfying what he chooses when he realizes what criminals are really like and the danger they pose to people he cares about.

Posted on by TracyC

The Mystery in Dracula’s Castle

MysteryDraculasCastleThe Mystery in Dracula’s Castle by Vic Crume, 1973.

This is a novelization of a live action Disney movie of the same name and contains photographs of scenes from the movie. The title of the book and the movie is a little misleading because, although the main characters are unaware of what is going on for most of the story, the audience finds out pretty quickly who the bad guys are and what they’re doing. In a way, it’s kind of like a Columbo story where the suspense is in watching the hero figure it all out. Also, there is no real castle or Dracula. Sorry. 😦 In spite of these short-comings, it’s still a fun story, and although the movie has not been released on dvd, it is possible to see it on YouTube (as of this writing).

Alfie and Leonard are spending yet another summer at their family’s beach house in a small town while their mother works on the new book she’s writing. They think this summer is going to be dull, but with jewel thieves in town, it soon becomes apparent that it’s anything but!

MysteryDraculasCastlePicAlfie is an aspiring film maker. Specifically, he wants to make horror movies, and he talks his younger brother into playing the part of Dracula in his latest Super 8 film. Leonard is only a reluctant vampire because he doesn’t like horror movies. He really wants to be a detective, like Sherlock Holmes. Back home, he and his brother saw police investigating the scene of a robbery at a jewelry store, and he’s decided that he wants to investigate crimes like that. Soon after they arrive at the beach house, Leonard adopts a stray dog and names him Watson so that he can be his sidekick.

Alfie laughs at his brother’s detective fantasies, but Leonard gets his chance to prove himself when they become involved with the thieves who robbed the jewelry store. The location that Alfie has picked for his movie is an old lighthouse, which he thinks looks like Dracula’s castle, and that is where the thieves are staying.  With the sheriff’s daughter acting as their baby-sitter and the heroine of their film and the necklace ending up in Leonard’s hands by accident, the thieves struggle to get it back before Leonard realizes what it is and where it came from.

This book is currently available through Internet Archive.  When the movie first aired on tv, it was shown in two parts.  Internet Archive also has the second part of the movie, but not the first (at least, not right now).  Sometimes, you can find part or all of the movie on YouTube.