Trixie Belden Series 37 to the Finish

37) The Pet Show Mystery

During a particularly icy winter, the Bob Whites decide to hold a pet show to raise money for the district's starving game birds. They wonder if they're courting trouble, by working with unpredictable animals. However, the pets turn out to be fine. It's other people who prove to be unreasonable and volatile. The Bob Whites' charitable venture gives folk with grudges of all sorts platforms to vent. And what's more, somebody is trying to sabotage the pet show. There is even an ugly rumor circulating that the birds are a ruse, and the Bob Whites plan to spend the proceeds on themselves. If they don't get to the bottom of it, the event will crash and burn. Who is behind the malicious behaviour, and why? 

* The story starts with Trixie complaining that it's such a bitterly cold and freezing winter, she's stumped for things to do. The snowstorms and freezes never seem to end. Yet just three books ago (in The Missing Millionaire) it was such a sweltering summer, the Bob Whites hardly knew what to do with themselves then either. I'm convinced that at this late stage in the series, the Kathryn Kenny authors were just plonking the Bob Whites into any old season that took their fancy. (Incidentally, it was Laura French who wrote both those books.)

* I'm with Trixie; enlisting the help of hunting associations to help feed the hungry birds seems weird. She says, 'You mean we ask hunters to help save the birds this winter so they can kill them next fall?' Brian immediately rebukes her for being narrow-minded, and Jim and Dan agree with him. Hmmm, right, whatever you say, guys. 

* All through the story, the supporting vet on board with the Bob Whites' plans is Dr Chang. I wonder whatever happened to Dr David Samet from The Mystery of the Velvet Gown. He was the lovely chap who treated Reddy when he broke his leg dashing in front of a car. Dr Samet was also the uncle of Jane Morgan, who was so envious that Di scored the role of Juliet in the school play. He doesn't get a passing mention in this book. That leaves us to form our own conclusions. Perhaps he retired or left Sleepyside to set up somewhere else, and Dr Chang took over his practice. 

* During the signing up phase, Trixie makes fun of some outlandish pet names that come to light. She thinks the names of the Bob Whites' dogs make perfect, logical sense. 'Reddy is an Irish Setter, so he's red. Patch has brown and white patches. What else would you call them?' I'm sure some of the other pet owners may consider her approach unimaginative and mundane, but it's all in how you look at it. 

* This story finally brings us into the era of technology, but it's very rudimentary! Mart is taking a computer class that sounds reminiscent of my Year 10 class in 1985, and sure enough, that's exactly when this book was published. He's overjoyed about learning to use an electronic spreadsheet. And Trixie accuses him of coming home sounding like a floppy disc. Anyway, Mart is confident and exuberant enough to kill two birds with one stone. (Figuratively speaking, since this story is all about saving birds and not killing them.) His major class assignment for Computers will be his work on the Pet Show. He plans to enter each pet's data into his program and voila, each animal will get sorted into its own winning category. If there are 100 entrants, he'll have 100 categories. 

* Mart has hassles with Gordon Halvorson, Sleepyside High School's first ever computer geek. Gordon keeps offering to help, but his approach is smothering, breathing down Mart's neck in such a controlling manner than Mart doubts he'll ever learn anything at all off his own bat.   

* The school secretary, Miss Von Trammel, resents Dr Chang with a passion and calls him a quack. Honey wonders whether it's because he's oriental. Gee whiz, that's a bit of a racist suspicion, Miss Wheeler. My immediate thought was that von Trammel must have had a bad experience while Chang was treating a pet of hers. 

* Paul Gale, an angry young man from the World Hunger Foundation, mocks the Bob Whites for supposedly wanting to save starving birds over humans. He doesn't reflect that the ecological balance of the world is vitally important, and all living creatures are part of one web. He sneers, 'Let's not worry about all the people in the world who are starving. They aren't cute. They don't sing pretty for the people here in Sleepyside.' Yeah, this guy is a master of sarcasm. And as Brian says, 'His worthy cause doesn't make ours any less worthy.' 

* For once, I'm right on Bobby's wavelength. The Bob Whites are reluctant to let him enter Reddy into the Pet Show, lest others accuse them of favouritism if he wins anything. Yet since Mart plans to build his computer program so that every pet wins a category anyway, nobody's nose should be knocked out of joint. I'm glad they all come to see this too. 

* The theme of Reddy disappearing is used yet again. Honey says, 'It's not like Reddy to run away.' Is she kidding or what? How about when he runs amok in The Red Trailer Mystery? Or vanishes in the thick of an intense blizzard in The Mysterious Code? Or when he and Patch appear to have killed a deer deep in the game preserve in Mystery off Glen Road? Or when he loses himself in a strange barn in The Headless Horseman? Or when he trails the thief with the stolen Wimpy's patties in The Midnight Marauder? That dog is a total will-o'-the-wisp.

* The motif of other students disliking the Bob Whites for their supposed smugness and cliquiness rears its ugly head again too. Norma Nelson resents the fact that they've surpassed her modest bird feeding efforts with something so much more grandiose, as if to rub her nose in it. And Gordon Halvorson feels indignant that Mart rejects his overbearing efforts to help him with his project. (Gordon and Norma can now join Tad, Ben, Nick, Jane, and any other students who have ever felt the same. As Mart says of Gordon, 'He's really convinced that we're a conceited little in-group.') 

* Hmm, I think the crook spills all his beans a bit too readily, but I guess at that stage, he still thinks he may get away with it all. 

* Now how about the quote of the book? Runner up is Gordon's pointed, 'I just thought one of the Beldens could let someone else be good at something for a change.' But to welcome the Bob Whites to the cusp of the computer age, I thought I'd go with this exchange. Trixie: I thought computerizing the categories was going to be a big labor saver. Mart: It was. Unfortunately the labor that was saved was yours. The labor that was expended was exclusively my own.

38) The Indian Burial Ground Mystery

The Bob Whites are delighted to be offered the chance to help an archaeological dig in a section of the Wheelers' game preserve. It's headed by Professor Victor Conroy who's certain the area is dense with old Indian relics. It soon becomes apparent that foul business from more recent years may be afoot. Are mysterious treasure seekers the same as the ruthless robbers who are targeting local mansions? And is the dig site really haunted by indignant ghosts of old tribal folk who resent their old stamping ground being tinkered with? 

* Trixie is crazy about the opportunity given to High School kids to assist the archaeology college students at the dig. She's so super-excited about getting down and dirty that her mother reminds her not to forget her longstanding commitment to the hospital as a candy striper. Spending part of the school holidays perspiring over shovels, picks and spades searching for something elusive that may or may not even be there doesn't sound like my idea of great fun. But a surprising number of Sleepyside High students volunteer, so the call of the long ago past must be strong.

* Trixie justifies her enthusiasm by reasoning that archaeology is like fascinating detective work, because sometimes the tiniest clue may solve a huge mystery. She goes so far as to say that she'd almost rather be an archaeologist than a detective, because mysteries of the ancient past have their own specific brand of mystique. Yeah, I can buy that.

* Trixie is impressed when Professor Conroy explains that archaeology is really the study of garbage. Lots of what comes to light is essentially gleaned from ancient rubbish tips. In other words, stinky refuge gains romanticism after enough time has passed. (It reminds me of the T-shirt my nephew, an archaeology student, was given to wear on his faculty pub crawl. 'Archaeologists! We'll date anything.')   

* Diana must be doing well with her art, because her skills are getting some recognition. She's assigned to be on the sketching team at the dig because she's now so good at drawing. Go Di! 

* Bobby attempts to play on his age to dodge responsibility. He says, 'Nobody would arrest a six-year-old for not wearing a seat belt, and I think it's dumb. So there!' That's what you think, you cheeky little punk. However, at this late stage of the series, Bobby seems to have remained six years old for a few years, so he's had plenty of time to perfect his lines. 

* Trixie gives Mart a Bronx cheer, and I had to Google what that means, since I've never heard the term before. Haha, I should have guessed, considering the circumstances. In my corner of the globe, we call it blowing someone a raspberry.

* Trixie is back to her old habit of forming an instant grudge against someone without much apparent cause, just because she doesn't like them on first sight. In this case it's Charles Miller, Dr Conroy's 20-year-old assistant. Charles can join others such as Ben, Neil, Slim, Max, Eric, and their very own Dan Mangan, who have formerly been on the top of Trixie's hit list. Funny how it mostly seems to be young men, although she does make the occasional exception, as with Jane Dix-Strauss. In this case though, I think the fact that Charles is pleasant when he's talking to Brian but prickly when he's talking to her might have something to do with it.  

* For the first time on record, sensible Brian chooses to distance himself from his sister's suspicions, when he thinks they've crossed a line and got too ridiculous. He doesn't care what the other Bob Whites think, he finds Charles Miller a friendly, above-board type of guy, and refuses to waste his time suspecting him of anything underhanded. Hmm, she has led them all on plenty of wild goose chases before.

* As we've no doubt all suspected, Mart seems to benefit from a young male fast metabolism. Trixie says, 'How can he eat all the time and still look like a bag of bones?' And Mart himself refers to the Five Food Groups as, 'fast food, sweet food, carbonated food, pizza and hamburgers.' It might catch up with him one day.  

* This book contains an inaccuracy which I just can't turn a blind eye to. It tells us that Mrs Wheeler's horse, Lady, is supposedly Trixie's favourite, because of the cheeky way she adorably blows herself up when being saddled. No, no, no, no, no, it's always been Susie who Trixie's heart melts for. Even though Susie is technically said to be Miss Trask's horse, Trixie has always considered her to be her own sentimental favourite. It's just so wrong when Trixie trots off on Lady and Honey on Susie, instead of vice versa. 

* Oh, and by the way, Reddy goes missing yet again. Just saying. 

* I'll give quote of the book to Charles Miller. 'You have a way of closing in on someone even if he's innocent.'  

That's it, folks. We've come to the end of the line. There is a 39th Book named The Mystery of the Galloping Ghost, but sadly, it's long out of print, I don't own it, and can't get my hands on one. It was a short run at the outset, existing copies are being sold online for triple figures, and I've read advice from fellow fans not to pay it. They seem to unanimously agree that although it's a good story (hey, it's Trixie Belden after all!) it's not the greatest in the series. Here are a few facts I did acquire through snooping around.

* The only Bob Whites who appear in the story are Trixie and Honey. They are on some sort of horse-purchasing excursion with Regan. No Di nor a single one of the boys.

* Honey falls head-over-heels for someone who isn't Brian!!

* Those two facts alone cheer me up for being unable to acquire a copy. 

BUT: Please stick around for next week. This has been the marathon read of the year, and I intend a big, wrap-up post with my formal farewells to each of the recurring characters and my prophecies for the futures of each of the Bob Whites.  

Catch up here on Series 34 to 36 and then work your way backwards.