Trixie Belden Series 16 - 18

16 The Mystery of the Missing Heiress

Jim discovers he has a cousin named Juliana from Holland who has just inherited a prime strip of land in Sleepyside. The Bob Whites eagerly await meeting Juliana when she arrives in town to board with Mrs Vanderpoel, yet is she all they hope Jim's cousin will be? Meanwhile another young woman known as 'Janie' is involved in an accident and wakes up with total amnesia. Janie is invited to recuperate with the Beldens but it seems she's the target of ruthless crooks. Can Trixie and the others stop the criminals in their tracks and figure out Janie's identity?

* Yay, we have a story taking place entirely in Sleepyside at last! It's been far too long. I enjoy their visits to far-off destinations, yet we've just had five holidays back-to-back and I do miss Peter, Helen, Bobby, Regan and others who are closer to home. It's great to see Mrs Vanderpoel again too.

 * Sadly, Spider and Tad Webster are no longer living with Mrs Vanderpoel because Spider was offered a higher position in the White Plains police force. However, it seems they're both homesick, and Spider feels the new job isn't all it was cracked up to be. 

* The Bob Whites are overjoyed because Mr Wheeler gives them his second hand station wagon. Their rule of not taking what they haven't earned doesn't seem to come into play. Not so long ago, Trixie told Di they'd have to turn down a mere lamp her father offered them (pun intended). Now they have no qualms about accepting a whole car. 

* As a kid, this story gave me a fascination with amnesia and the mysterious workings of the human memory. Janie's thread shows that a lovely person is lovely to the bone, with or without her identity intact. 

*  Jim is in fine gentlemanly form in this book. His delight to have traced a living blood relative, when he'd assumed he was the last of all his family lines, is heart-warming. 

* Trixie points out that Jim's corrupt stepfather, Jonesy, hasn't been seen around Sleepyside for the past two years. Although I've given up keeping chronology, it's only meant to be one year, in the compressed timeline we're given. Two years makes far more sense, but then the authors would have to adjust the Bob Whites' ages, and they're loath to do that. It may be partly because they want to prevent Jim and Brian turning 18 and heading off to college for as long as possible. But hey, surely the duo could commute! They live close enough to New York City. I think more to the point, they've decided Trixie's identity is a 14-year-old! That's all there is to it. She must stay 14, to remain relatable to her target audience. (Honestly, I'm sure it got to the stage where her audience would cheer if she turned 15, but there we have it.) 

* Diana used to want to be an air stewardess, but now she's not sure what she wants to be, unless it's a mother. Honey sweetly agrees that they all want to be that, and refers to Mrs Belden as their perfect role model. It's a lovely conversation, although Helen's occupation really stretches beyond stay-at-home-mom. She's running a small farm or cottage industry, of course, with her chickens and garden produce. She also grows prize winning banksias, which surprised me since I'd assumed they were Aussie flowers.

* Trixie and Honey volunteer at the local hospital as 'candy stripers' which turns out to be young teenagers in candy striped uniforms who help with odd jobs, such as a bit of cleaning or amusing patients. 

* Mart develops a passion for playing music. He strums away on guitar and can also play quite reasonable keyboard. Janie teaches him several ballads that linger in her memory banks, and he's keen to learn. Music is a powerful tool because unsurprisingly, Janie has flashes of memory return while she's playing or humming along with Mart. 

Mrs Belden gets a bit flustered and talks too much around intimidating people like Juliana. I can so relate. 

* Reddy is permitted in the zoo!!! How times have changed. Friends, I don't recommend trying to take your dog on your next zoo visit.

* Ooh la la, there might be a romantic liaison between Mr Lytell and Miss Trask after all. At least Mart suggests this might be the case, and although Honey shoots him down, she doesn't deny it. (Part of the conversation goes like this. Honey: Of course they like one another and they have for a long time. What of it? Mart: Not a thing. If she doesn't mind how cranky he gets and thinks he looks like a Greek god, it's okay with me.)

* Dan's elderly horse Spartan can dance. It's an accidental discovery. I can't shake off the hilarious image of Dan trotting along on his rounds for Mr Maypenny, listening to his radio, when Spartan suddenly breaks into a waltz beneath him. And there's a good reason for it. Spartan used to be a circus performer in his more coltish years. These left of field happenings are partly what make the series so cool. 

* But how about the Turf Show? That thread sadly peters out, unless it's picked up in the next book. The kids were practising so hard for it. It was such a big deal to Regan, but apparently not as big a deal to Kathryn Kenny. 

* Blue Heron Marsh is to be demolished to make way for the International Pine furniture company. I feel my memory banks being stirred. I reckon this thread will be taken further down the track. Brian and the others mourn the loss of all the precious herbs that grow and bird life that hangs out there.   

* Trixie has her stomach turned on several suspicious occasions by the lingering scent of Jonesy's nauseating tobacco. For a smart and crafty crook, he's pretty careless about cleaning up his crime scenes. If he's going to be sloppy enough to leave pipes or whole tobacco tins behind, he deserves whatever he gets. Furthermore, it's surprising that Jim doesn't instantly identify that sickening scent on these mysterious occasions. It's Jonesy's signature odour after all, and Jim has lived with him for long enough.      

* One of the biggest mysteries of this tale may be why Jim's foreign aunt from Holland happened to own such a prime slab of real-estate in Sleepyside of all places. The Bob Whites never seem to even speculate about that.  

* Quote of the book goes to Trixie. 'Don't you wish the Bob Whites could go on and on as we are now, just the same age as we are now.' Well, with the help of these Kathryn Kenny authors, her wish seems to get granted. 

17) The Mystery of the Uninvited Guest 

Wedding bells are in the air, as Jim's cousin Juliana prepares to marry her sweetheart Hans Vorwald, before moving back to live in Holland. The friction of preparing for it takes its toll on everyone, and a spate of robberies adds to the tension. The Lynches' lounge room is stripped clean, all the district bikes are stolen and even Juliana's gorgeous engagement ring goes missing. Meanwhile Trixie is barely tolerating a visit from her cousin Hallie, who she fiercely resents. And a strange lady phones out of the blue to request a wedding invitation. What will happen if everything comes to a climax on the special day?

* The Beldens are hosting their cousin Hallie from Idaho. To call Trixie's grudge against her ginormous is an understatement. It turns out to be based on jealousy and insecurity. Hallie has dark, Indian princess looks, and is totally self-confident with drawling mannerisms. The way Trixie blows up at Hallie, for no real reason at all, is inexcusable and atrocious. 

* Aha, it turns out Trixie frequently feels upstaged by Hallie. A shadow side of Trixie's character is revealed. Solving mysteries is more than just a generous impulse. She does seek credit and attention, to boost her own importance. She even admits that getting positive feedback makes her feel as if she matters in the world. When Hallie steps forward to do some sleuthing of her own, Trixie is so disgruntled because she feels sidelined. She's addicted to praise and acclamation. We fans of Trixie wouldn't go so far as to say it's all about her, but it clearly is a lot about her.

* We are directly told 'Trixie was not used to sharing the limelight and she didn't quite know how to make room for a cousin in this fun time.' (Refer back to my observation at the end of Book 14, The Mystery of the Emeralds, when Mart comments that Trixie doesn't want her thunder stolen; Trixie attempts to pulverize him on the spot, and Jim asks him to apologize to her.) She's a good detective but also a spoiled brat.   

* It's weird that Moms doesn't mention Hallie's visit in the week leading up to it. Trixie only knows about it because she overhears a phone call, and Brian and Mart have no idea at all until she's there. Perhaps it was meant to be a pleasant surprise. It sure backfires on Trixie.  

* Hallie is the daughter of a third Belden boy named Harold, brother of Peter and Andrew. I imagine she was named after her dad. I wonder if it's short for Harriet or if Hallie simply stands alone.  

* It turns out Mrs Vanderpoel was married straight after World War One. This continues to date the series. If she married in her twenties and is now in her eighties, this story must be the 1970s at the latest. Mrs Vanderpoel is possibly in her sprightly seventies though, in which case it's set in the sixties, which matches the 1962 publication date. 

* There's nothing quite like wedding preparations to bring everyone's deepest character flaws to the surface. Madeleine Wheeler is adept at dodging responsibility and leaving all the details to Miss Trask. And we get the feeling Miss Trask is just about on the edge of her last nerve. She's decidedly shirty at times, to be saddled with all the work. 

* Trixie is not the only one whose insecurities are stirred by wedding fever. Diana almost reverts to her old, touchy self as a result of having her wedding invitation swiped from the letter-box. It dredges old feelings of being left out. Sure, her sensible self can reason that there was obviously some mistake. She's in the wedding party, after all! But her sensitive self demands why it had to be her invitation. And Mart virtually admits that he makes a Herculean effort to assert himself as a distinct personality from his virtuous older brother, Brian. He's talking about his male cousins (Hallie's brothers) but we know he's thinking of himself.   

* Di's small twin sisters are included in the wedding ceremony, to their great delight. The names of these two are never divulged throughout the whole series, unlike their brothers, Larry and Terry.

* We are told the Lynches re-hired Harrison the butler, along with nannies for the younger kids. Apparently coping with the demands of a rich couple's lifestyle became too overwhelming to manage alone. But Mr Lynch is a fun guy, so why not look for someone a little less anal retentive than Harrison this time round? I get the feeling Mrs Lynch veers to the compulsive, control freak side of the scale, and Harrison is more on her wavelength. 

* It's cheeky of a stranger like Miss Ryks to make a phone call, asking to be included on someone's wedding guest list! Did anyone ever really do that, even in the primitive seventies? Whether she's on the level or not, behaviour that pushy crosses an etiquette line in my books. So the title of this book turns out to have a double meaning. Hallie is an uninvited guest at Crabapple Farm as far as Trixie is concerned, and Miss Ryks is an uninvited guest at Hans and Juliana's wedding.

* Circumstantial evidence looks really bad against poor Dan for a while. 

* There are a few romantic sparks between Hallie and Dan, or at least the suggestion of them. I get the feeling these could grow stronger if these two get to see more of each other. However, I don't know how well sparks fly across a large continent. Long distance relationships are rough. 

* Di catches Juliana's wedding bouquet. Look out, Mart. 

* The Turf Show which doesn't take place in the last book is mentioned again. And.... doesn't take place again. Are they really going to prolong it until the next book? 

* Juliana and Hans are off to start their lives together in Holland. And all the wedding planners no doubt breathe sighs of relief.  

* Quote of the book goes to Mr Lynch. 'My wife is a nut about having things match. Even the children.'

18) The Mystery of the Phantom Grasshopper

Trixie loves her mother's old tradition of calling a greeting to Hoppy, the grasshopper weather vane on top of Sleepyside town hall. It's said to bring good luck, so she gets Honey and Di on board too. But poor Hoppy disappears the night after an intense storm. If he was blown off the roof, he's nowhere to be found. When a $1000 reward is offered for the irreplaceable antique weather vane, it begins to look as if thievery might have taken place. Could Miss Lawler, the super-anxious teacher's aide, have anything to do with it? Or her erratic friend Sammy, who seems to have a split personality? How about the tall guy in the strange car who keeps hanging around?

*This book was published in 1977. I believe it can still be dated like earlier ones, but now back to the mid-seventies. The Bob Whites catch a movie at the Sleepyside cinema together, and when they emerge, the boys discuss the giant gorilla climbing a big building. I suspect this unidentified movie was none other than the 1976 blockbuster King Kong, which hit the cinemas around the time this book was published.

* Diana Lynch can be a bit of a quiet stirrer when she chooses. I'm convinced she draws attention to the missing button from Trixie's Bob White jacket just to set Mart off. And it works, of course. Sneaky retribution for all the times Trixie bosses her around, or leaves her out of plans with Honey perhaps. You got to watch the quiet ones. 

* We meet kindly Mr Perkins, the owner of Sleepyside radio station WSTH which plays a wide variety of music pleasing listeners across generations. The moms and dads are said to love a whole heap of moldy oldies from the jazz and swing era which not even grandparents listen to anymore. (Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, the Dorsey brothers and George Gershwin.) Thankfully the story doesn't identify what the young people listen to. That would be too big an anchor to the era. We are just told it includes 'all the current rock and pop hits'. I suspect that if we were told what they were, they would sound like dinosaurs too.   

* WSTH obviously didn't limit the number of times a request could be played on the radio. So listeners were bombarded with earworms such as 'Meet me in St Louis' and 'St Louis Blues' several times a day. That would be enough to make a former listener out of me. I'm relieved times have changed. I mean, gee whiz, how about time restraints? Wasn't anybody else requesting anything at all?

* Regan has been caring for a friend's Shetland pony and quietly teaches Bobby how to ride him, to surprise the Bob Whites. Regan is a legend, especially if he manages to conceal something as big as a Shetland pony while the kids have been coming and going. That's no mean feat.  

* Mart gets the wrong word! The Bob Whites walk into Wimpy's and he says he's positively bulimic, when he really means he's starving. The weirdest thing is nobody picks him up on this. 

* The Bob Whites walk in to the police station to discover Sergeant Molinson enjoying a coffee and doughnut. That's regarded as stereotypical storybook cop food now. I wonder if it was back then.

* Trixie proves herself to be great detective material once again, fearlessly doing things without a qualm that would daunt most people. She may be a bit full of herself at times but she sure does venture where nobody else dares to tread. 

* Just like Trixie, Honey and Di, I grew quite fond of Hoppy the town hall weather vane by the time the story finished. What a cool local icon. Especially his glass eyes. You can bet I'd be calling hello to him too. 

* Quote of the book is from Di. 'We're going to say hello to Hoppy until we're old, old ladies.' 

Do join me next time for Books 19 - 21

And catch up on Books 13 - 15