Keeper of the Lost Cities #4 Neverseen - Thoughts from 4th Reading

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS from late in the set.  Do not read this post unless you've read ALL of the books that have been published.  You've been warned.

Page 96  "What's a Cognate?" Sophie asked.  "An incredibly rare telepathic relationship," Granite explained.  "One very few Telepaths are able to achieve.  I know I've never found anyone I could partner with."  "Neither have I," Mr. Forkle agreed.  "Cognates combine their power through a deep personal connection."

I have assumed that the two Forkles had to have been Cognates.  They trusted each other completely, shared everything, and were identical twins.  The books never mention that the Forkles were Cognates.  However, I don't see how they wouldn't have been.

In this passage, Forkle says that he never had found anyone.  Hmm.  I checked the part of Book 6 where Forkle explains his relationship with his brother.

Book 5, Page 179  "So my father came up with this much more complicated solution.  He gave us one name.  One inception date.  One registered strand of DNA.  And from that moment on, we were raised to see ourselves as two halves of a single whole."

The Forkles saw themselves as one person.  Even if they were Cognates, Forkle speaks the truth when he says that he could never find a Cognate partner, meaning someone other than his brother.

Again, I do believe that the two Forkles were Cognates.

Page 290  "You've been lying to me," he said.  "You should've told me about Kenric's cache.  And you definitely should've consulted with me before you volunteered for Exillium."

It's hypocritical of Forkle to complain that Sophie lies to him, considering that he lies to her all the time.  Aside from that, this passage is another misdirection by Shannon.  Forkle isn't annoyed about the cache.  He's acting.

On page 374, we learn that Sophie is 14 years, five months old.  On page 480, we learn that Silveny's baby will arrive in 42 weeks.  This means that in #7 Flashback, Sophie is approximately 15 years, three months old when Silveny's twins are born.  After #7, time seems to move very slowly, so Sophie is probably somewhere around 16 years old in Stellarlune.

Page 623  The last thing she saw was Alvar's pained expression as they slipped into the void and teleported away.

This is right after Alvar is revealed to be a member of the Neverseen.  It wasn't Alvar's choice; Fintan revealed that Alvar is one of them.  Alvar wanted to keep playing both sides, and he's pained because he's now separated from his family.

I noted that a number of elves know that Forkle is Astin.  In addition to the kids and the Collective, Timkin Hex, Alden, and several others know as well.

All of my past Keeper posts are linked from this page:

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories

Keeper of the Lost Cities #3 Everblaze - Thoughts from 4th Reading

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS from late in the set.  Do not read this post unless you've read ALL of the books that have been published.  You've been warned.

Clues about Brant and fire are in several places in this book.  I noticed most of them on previous readings, including the reference to fire in Brant's love letter on page 89:  "You're the spark, the kindling, the flame that never dies.  The beauty and the wonder of the ever-burning skies." 

This time, I noticed something else.  On page 98, Sophie notices "Brant's strange yellow-orange, bathrobe like shirt."  The color is similar to Fintan's fireproof cape, so this is another clue about Brant.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before:  

Page 132  "Meanwhile you'll heal Fintan?" Wylie spat the name like it was a bad word.  Master Leto stepped closer.  "That information is supposed to be classified."

It's interesting that Leto knows that the information is classified, which means he's connected to the Council.  That's how he knows. 

On page 146, Elwin notices that the scar on Sophie's hand has not faded.  The scar is from when Mr. Forkle injected her with the limbium  

Page 146  "It must sink too deep," she said as Elwin snapped his fingers to form an orange sphere of light around the scar.  He squinted through his iridescent spectacles, turning her hand from side to side.  "But that doesn't make sense."

This reading was the first time I stopped to think about what Elwin says.  He thinks the scar is strange.  I wonder if it has something to do with Sophie's allergy to limbium.  Mr. Forkle doesn't understand why Sophie is allergic to limbium.  Is this a hint to something that will be revealed later?

[This post was written in October.  Now in December, I wonder if Sophie being born to a human surrogate had an impact on her physically.  After all, she received nutrients from her human surrogate via the placenta.  Is this why she has the scar?  Is this why her eyes are brown?]

Page 455  "Could you do what you're asking of him?" she asked Mr. Forkle as she squatted beside Keefe, holding him steady.  "Could you betray your own father?"  "I've done far worse," Mr. Forkle whispered.  "The right road is rarely the easy road.  And no war was ever fought without casualties."  "Is that what this is?" Sophie asked.  "A war?"  "Unfortunately, yes.  A quiet war, to stop a louder one from raging."

Two things:

I've already mentioned that the statement about having "done far worse" refers to Kenric/Forkle hurting Oralie when he faked his death.  

This time, I focused on the word "war."  I thought of the aftermath of Sophie burning the Neverseen's storehouse in #8.5.  

Book 8.5, page 726  "Yes, but those were their attacks," Tiergan reminded her.  "This was ours.  Well… yours.  And it was unprovoked."  "Unprovoked?" Sophie repeated.  "You're kidding, right?"  "No, Sophie—none of us think this is a joke," Grady said quietly.  "And I'm really hoping you don't either.  Because you just turned this into a war."

Sophie is surprised by Tiergan's reaction.  As Sophie explains, her attack was not unprovoked.

Book 8.5, page 726  "This was already a war," she said, turning back to Grady.  "It has been since the moment I was kidnapped.  Actually, no, it started much earlier.  Lady Gisela was already working on her stellarlune thing before Keefe was born.  And they killed Jolie way before that."

Mr. Forkle isn't upset when Sophie burns the storehouse because he also already considered them to be at war.

On page 520, Sophie wonders why the Council held Fintan's healing in a room with a glass ceiling.  She wonders if they chose the tower so that they would be high up, away from the dwarves.  She then wonders if there was "a darker, more sinister reason."

As before, I once again considered whether a Councillor is working for the Neverseen.  But no, it could just be Alvar.  He might have suggested the location, and the Council fell for it.  Speaking of Alvar, he is later told by the Neverseen that he's useless.  Alvar is useless in that I keep forgetting that Alvar is the Council leak.  Alvar doesn't get credit for anything.

Page 569  Sophie forced herself to relax as Mr. Forkle pressed two fingers on each side of her head and closed his eyes.  Two hundred and twenty-nine seconds passed before he released her, his swollen face paler than she'd ever seen.

Mr. Forkle reads Sophie's mind to see what happened with Brant.  He certainly views the memory up until when Brant tells Sophie what he knows.  However, I think it very likely that Forkle views all of the memory up until when Sophie teleports away from Dex.  Even if he didn't, Forkle sees Sophie in the cave without her ability restrictor circlet.  He would have to know that Dex had removed the circlet for Sophie. 

Page 594  "My guess is he force-shifted," Mr. Forkle said, limping toward them from a snowdrift Sophie was sure had been empty a second earlier. 

This passage has always stood out to me.  I even noticed it the first time I read through the set.  I didn't know what it meant, but I was certain that the statement about Forkle not being there a moment before was important.

During my subsequent readings, I wondered if Forkle had just leaped there.  I then considered whether this was the other Forkle.

Page 597  Sophie pointed to the cuff on her wrist.  "I had a little help from Dex."  "In more ways than one, I suspect," Mr. Forkle said, pointing to where her circlet used to be.  "About that—"  "Later," Mr. Forkle told her.

Hmm.  This is Snowdrift Forkle.  It sounds like he didn't know that Sophie had ditched her circlet.  Cave Forkle read Sophie's mind and saw Sophie without the circlet.  It sounds like Snowdrift Forkle and Cave Forkle are the two different Forkles.  This explains why Shannon mentions that Snowdrift Forkle appeared suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere.

All of my past Keeper posts are linked from this page:

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories

Keeper of the Lost Cities #2 Exile - Thoughts from 4th and 5th Readings

I read Keeper of the Lost Cities #1 and #2 in June for the 4th time.  I read part of #3, then I became distracted.  My plan all along was to read through the set again just before the release of #9.5.  I finally got myself motivated in October.  I decided to read #1 and #2 again, for the 5th time, before continuing with #3.  This post contains thoughts from both readings.

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS from late in the set.  Do not read this post unless you've read ALL of the books that have been published.  You've been warned.

Sophie enters Prentice's mind on page 238.  What Sophie sees on pages 239 and 240 is important, although it makes no sense to first-time readers of the series. 

Trees rained from gray-green clouds, their dark branches reaching for her like clawed hands as they fell. Beasts sprang from a ground lit with stars, bared their fangs, and chased her across the sky-covered hills. Glowing eyes peeked through bushes covered in blue ears, and butterflies with bright red lips whispered sounds like mush. Sophie searched for some clue, some key to translate what she was seeing, but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for anything.

Elysian is described here:

Glowing eyes peeked through bushes covered in blue ears, and butterflies with bright red lips whispered sounds like mush.

This second passage also has something important in it.

The images tangled, coiling around her, pulling her deeper. She whipped through more darkness and fell into the streets of a ruined city. The clouded and cracked crystal buildings were a hodgepodge of structures Sophie had seen throughout the Lost Cities: the swirling castles from Eternalia sandwiched among the silver-tipped spires from Atlantis mixed with gleaming mansions that wrapped around the pyramid of Foxfire. There was a fountain in the center of it all, two golden figures standing in a round pool, holding hands as colored streams of water showered them from every direction.

This description is of the Unity Fountain in Atlantis, featured in #6 Nightfall.

There was a fountain in the center of it all, two golden figures standing in a round pool, holding hands as colored streams of water showered them from every direction.

I noticed that Alvar is very kind to Sophie.  He's a villain who seems redeemable.  The last we see of him in Book 8, he's beaten down and defeated.  I hope we see him again and that he does redeem himself.  [I wrote this in October.  He returns in #9.5 Unraveled, but we don't know for sure whether he will ultimately be redeemed.]

On page 411, Sophie and Tiergan speak about the Black Swan.  Tiergan uses "they" in reference to the Black Swan, and "they" is purposefully emphasized. 

I've mentioned this next passage before.

Page 532   Kenric stepped forward.  "I think perhaps we're focusing on the wrong concern.  Sophie, do you still have the compass that led you to the Black Swan?"

This is another instance of Shannon making sure that the reader knows that Kenric can't be Forkle.  The problem is that we learn later that Forkle is a pair of identical twins.  Kenric can't be ruled out for that reason.

All of my past Keeper posts are linked from this page:

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories

Keeper of the Lost Cities #1 - Thoughts from 4th and 5th Readings

I read Keeper of the Lost Cities #1 and #2 in June for the 4th time.  I read part of #3, then I became distracted.  My plan all along was to read through the set again just before the release of #9.5.  I finally got myself motivated in October.  I decided to read #1 and #2 again, for the 5th time, before continuing with #3.  This post contains different thoughts I had during both readings.

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS from late in the set.  Do not read this post unless you've read ALL of the books that have been published.  You've been warned.

Page 16:  [Fitz] closed his eyes and vanished.  He was only gone for a second, but it was enough to leave her reeling.

I had forgotten that elves could vanish for one second even if they aren't Vanishers.

Page 41:  "Looking for someone?" [Mr. Forkle] asked from his perch in the middle of his lawn.

This is hilarious.  Mr. Forkle knows very well that Fitz had located Sophie on the previous day.  Sophie is indeed looking for Fitz when she goes outside.  Mr. Forkle is having a little fun.

On page 45, Sophie realizes that she couldn't hear Mr. Forkle's thoughts when he confronts Gethen.  She typically could hear his thoughts.  I assume that Forkle dropped the pretense while he concentrated on getting Gethen to back off.

On my previous reading, I continued to be confused about Quinlan, his eavesdropping secretary, Alden's work with Quinlan, and so on.  This time, it clicked.
 
Alden worked with Quinlan without the Council's knowledge.  Quinlan had Sophie's DNA, and Alden was trying to locate Sophie in the Forbidden Cities.  The eavesdropping secretary let someone (Quinlan and Alden think it was Bronte) on the Council know that Alden was searching for Sophie.  We later learn it was Oralie who was responsible for the eavesdropping secretary.

Oralie must have informed the Black Swan that Alden was looking for Sophie.  This also explains why the Council didn't know that Alden was searching for Sophie.  Only Oralie knew, and she wasn’t about to tell anyone else.  They were wrong about the secretary being there for Bronte.

Since Oralie had informed the Black Swan that Alden was searching for Sophie, Forkle sent the newspaper article about the child prodigy to Alden so that he would find Sophie.  This all makes sense to me now.

On page 89, Tiergan is angry that Alden summoned him.  I continue to wonder how much of Tiergan's behavior is acting.  Surely Tiergan knew that the Black Swan were bringing the Moonlark to the Lost Cities.  It cannot be just coincidence that Tiergan ends up as Sophie's Telepathy mentor.  After all, in book 4 on page 670 Tiergan tells Sophie, "The surest way to protect you was to be in your life."

Page 115:  She wasn't ready to hear about the family who'd abandoned her.

Sophie is traumatized by everything that has happened to her.  Keeping this in mind helps the reader understand why Sophie turns against Oralie when she learns that Oralie is her mother.

Page 306:  "Sir Astin," Emery said, and Sir Astin jumped out of his chair.  Oralie returned to her throne.  A Telepath could monitor Sir Astin's thoughts for honesty.  His mind wasn't impenetrable, like Sophie's.

Ah, but Sir Astin's mind is impenetrable, since he is Mr. Forkle.

Page 307:  Emery closed his eyes.  "Can you repeat those one more time, slower."  She did, noticing that Kenric was plotting the stars on a map.  He sucked in a breath.  "Who created this list?" Emery demanded, glancing at Kenric.  "I'm not certain," Sir Astin admitted, cowering.  "All the Universe Mentors submit them, and it wasn't one of the lists I made."

We know that Sir Astin is lying, since he created the list for Sophie.  We learn later that Mr. Forkle can duplicate his consciousness, which means that he can keep his lies from being detected. 

Having Kenric and Astin present at the same time ostensibly establishes that Kenric cannot be Forkle.  However, we later learn that Forkle is a pair of identical twins.  Kenric and Astin certainly could be Forkle and present at the same time. 

The purpose of the stars assignment is to get Sophie's memory of Elementine to be triggered so that she can bottle Quintessence. 

On page 323, we learn that Tiergan has a blue crystal because he used to work for the Council.  He tells Sophie, "Mine was issued back when I worked for the Council, and I 'forgot' to give it back when I resigned.  So this trip is our little secret, okay?"

Interesting.  I had failed to take notice of the fact that Tiergan had worked for the Council at some point in time.

On page 465, Alden says that the Council doesn't "want to believe that [Fintan] tried to single-handedly wipe out the human race" when he started the Everblaze fires.  The Councillors are in complete denial during the early books in the series. 

All of my past Keeper posts are linked from this page:

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories

Upcoming Blog Posts

I am in the mood to read some modern young adult mystery or suspense books.  Around a week ago, I found a YA book on Amazon that sounded like I would enjoy it.  I held off trying it until after the new Keeper of the Lost Cities book was released. 

I have read now the new Keeper book twice and have a rough draft of what I want to say about the book.  I still want to read the YA book that I found a week ago, and perhaps I will begin tomorrow.

By the way, I looked a few reviews of that YA book.  One person complained about the dialogue being too juvenile.  Ah, another snobbish review by someone who doesn't like YA but inexplicably decided to read a YA book.  So typical.  I still don't understand why these people keeping reading YA when they don't like reading YA.  I don't have trouble avoiding books that aren't the kind I enjoy.  I simply don't read them.

If I succeed in getting back into reading books, then I should end up with some book reviews in the next few months.  In the meantime, I wrote up a bunch of new Keeper posts as I read through the set this fall.  I mention this because most of you likely have no interest whatsoever in seeing a bunch of Keeper posts.  As of now, I have 21(!) Keeper posts that will publish in the next couple of months or so, depending upon how I space them out.

I have partially written a few posts or have ideas for posts. I have an idea for a new Hidden Clues post that I think I will be motivated enough to finish.  I have a situation with some extremely musty books that I plan to write up once I know my degree of success (or failure) in reducing the musty odor.

I have written a post about the Nancy Drew action figures and my thoughts on trying to sell my extras. 

I also have a couple of posts that I've written about the current state of series books.  Both of those posts are completely finished, but I'm keeping them unpublished for now for a certain reason.  

Mainly, I want to forewarn you that a flood of Keeper posts are coming, but there will be some other stuff hopefully mixed in every so often.  Bear with me.

Keeper of the Lost Cities Reading and Book Release Update

Keeper of the Lost Cities #9.5 Unraveled will be released one week from Tuesday.  Two online virtual events with Shannon Messenger will be held next week.  Information is in this post:

Keeper of the Lost Cities #9.5 Unraveled Pre-Order Giveaway + Live Events

Shannon will be signing copies of Unraveled for Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore.  The books will ship after the book is published.

Signed Shannon Messenger Books at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore

Naturally, I had to pre-order a signed copy, so now I have a total of four copies of Unraveled pre-ordered.  It's excessive, but worth it.  This is how it happened.  I had previously ordered a Barnes & Noble edition, which I used to submit my information to get the publisher's pre-order giveaway.  I have to keep my original order since it's tied to the promotional package.  I am then getting a book from each of next week's virtual events.  And now, I'm getting a signed book as well.  The four books consist of two Barnes & Noble special editions, one regular edition, and one signed regular edition.  I will keep one Barnes & Noble special edition and the signed regular edition.

Shannon wrote a guest post for Teen Librarian Toolbox about how the Keeper series got off to a slow start when it was first published.

Surviving the Slow Burn of Middle Grade by Shannon Messenger

I have been reading the series again, for the fourth time, to fully refresh my memory before #9.5 is released.  I am now at the beginning of #9 Stellarlune.  I will soon be publishing a new series of Keeper posts on my current thoughts and observations.  

Beginning here, I comment on some things from late in the set but with no specifics.  Nothing is revealed, but the comments could be considered slightly spoilerish.  I mention this because some people, like me, prefer to know nothing.  If you're like me, then skip until the paragraph just above the first of the two images that are near the end of the post.

I've been mulling over several things.  I'm very eager to read the Forgotten Secrets again, and I've already read through the Fintan memory at least twice this month.  Right after I finished reading Book 7 again, I was mulling over the Fintan memory as I drove to work one morning.  I believe it was on the morning of November 12.  Yes, it's weird that I know this, but it was a watershed moment.  I thought about that Forgotten Secret and some of the oddness of it.  It reminded me of a scene in Book 7, which led me to a significant revelation.  While I was pretty sure that I wouldn't forget, I grabbed my phone and dictated a short note about what I had just realized.  I was thrilled.

After realizing that I had figured out something significant about one Forgotten Secret, I decided that I would write separate posts about each Forgotten Secret and would pull previous thoughts into those posts in order to better collect my thoughts.  That will be a work in progress over the next two or three weeks.

Book 7 is a slog to get through and is widely viewed as the weakest book in the set.  It's the book that has driven some readers away from the series.  This is a shame, since the secrets begin to be revealed in Book 8.

The thing about Book 7, though, is that there is some very important information in it.  One chapter in Book 7 gives information that led to my conclusion about the Fintan Forgotten Secret.  And by the way, that conclusion led me to realize something about all of the Forgotten Secrets (well, except for one of them), and I believe it explains the possible inconsistency with one of the Forgotten Secrets.  In fact, I know it does, so there's no inconsistency. 

It's in this post that I mention the possible inconsistency.

Keeper of the Lost Cities:  The Chronological Order of the Forgotten Secrets

It's not an inconsistency if what I believe is true.

Book 7 is extremely important, but the clues are easily missed due to how bloated the book is.  Too much time—way too much time—is spent in the Healing Center.  It also doesn't help that other parts of the book drag on for too long as well.  The joking and circular conversations are also a bit much.  Some of it is way too silly and stupid.  The flaws in the book cause readers to skim and then they miss the important details.

I skimmed a lot when I read Book 7 the second and third times.  Since it had been a year since I had last read it, my tolerance was much higher.  I did very little skimming this time.  That enabled me to notice more than I had previously.  I am so excited that I will read through all of the Forgotten Secrets again this week.

During this reading of the books, I have realized that I truly enjoy the later books in the set.  Books 8, 8.5, and 9 are really good, because we begin to learn secrets.  The series payoff begins to be doled out in Book 8.  We are getting it a little at a time, which is quite satisfying.  Book 9 sets up for the Forkle reveal, and I expect we will learn his true identity in Book 10, whenever that book is published.

While I enjoy the main plot and like Sophie and her friends a lot, my focus is on the adult characters, most particularly Forkle, Kenric, and Oralie.  All three characters fascinate me, and my interest centers on my search for clues about what motivates these characters.  All three are very gray, and gray characters are very interesting.

I unabashedly love Kenric and Oralie.

Back in July, Laura Hollingsworth ran some eBay auctions.  In a couple of them, she offered the buyer a marker sketch of any character that she has previously drawn for the Keeper books.  I immediately decided that I had to get a sketch of Kenric.  After some thought, I realized that I needed Oralie as well so that I would have a matched set of my two favorite characters.  I won the two auctions and requested Kenric and Oralie. 

This is what Laura Hollingsworth had to say about the sketches on her Instagram.

Marker sketches of Kenric and Oralie from Keeper of the Lost Cities! A buyer won two auctions with sketches and asked for these (My OTP in that series—I am very happy!)

It pleases me that my request made her happy.  I love the sketches.  

eBay, Reading, and Autoimmune Update

eBay is attempting to trick sellers into purchasing its ShipCover insurance whenever sellers use a service that doesn't not include insurance.  This new practice is shady and obnoxious.

Beginning recently, whenever I purchase a media mail shipping label, this is what eBay presents to me before the purchase goes through.  Click on the image in order to see it better.

I must make a conscious effort not to click on the blue box that says "Add extra protection."  I know I'm going to mess up eventually.  When it finally happens, I will then void the label and create a new one.  This is a blatant cash grab by eBay, since the ShipCover insurance is their insurance and is not from the post office.  This is one of the lowest things that eBay has ever done.

It's important for eBay store sellers to end their listings periodically and then list them again using the "sell similar" option.  I've been too busy, tired, and distracted to mess with that in recent months.  This is why my sales slowed down.  Around the end of October, I ended all of my listings and used "sell similar."  This image shows what happened.

It does help to give listings a fresh start.  Many people search by "newly listed" first, and this gets their eyes on the listings.

On September 10 in my post Book Reading Milestone for This Year, I wrote:

I'm guaranteed to match my total from 2021.  I still have to complete my fourth reading of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, which I plan to do sometime between now and the release of book 9.5 in early December.  I've already reread books 1 and 2 this year, but I got sidetracked like what always happens when I read these days.  Once I read books 3 through 8, 8.5, 9, and 9.5, I will have read nine more books, equaling my 2021 total of 60 books.

The last few months have been rough with multiple events causing increases in inflammation.  School started, we have new books, I got my Covid vaccine, and I caught three or four viruses in September and October.  The viruses ran together, so I'm not sure how many I had.  The one from late October caused a terrible cough which I still have.

My struggle with dryness continues.  In my post from August 25, I wrote in regard to my summer autoimmune flare:

I feared that I had Sjögren's syndrome, which causes excessive dryness.  I have suspected Sjögren's syndrome for years, but I tested negative in the past.  Most people with Sjögren's syndrome do test negative, so that doesn't rule it out.  I plan to be tested again later this year, just in case the test shows something.

I was tested two weeks ago.  I tested positive for Anti-SSA/Ro antibodies, which are autoantibodies present in around eight different autoimmune diseases, most notably including Sjögren's syndrome.  I am being referred to rheumatology, but I know it is Sjögren's syndrome.  I have the hallmark symptoms.

As a result of everything, I haven't read much, and I continue to struggle to focus on following through with any reading that I attempt.  I did finally restart reading KotLC, and I'm now on #8.  The number of books I've read in 2024 currently stands at 56 and will reach 60 once I finish this reading of KotLC.  Even though I'm unable to read much during the week, I will make it through #9 by the time the new book is released on December 3, so I'm on schedule.  Thanksgiving Break, which begins Friday afternoon, will give me enough time to finish up.

This post was supposed to be finished up early last week.  I forced myself to finish this morning, or else I was never going to publish it.

Flaky eBay Three Investigators Situation

I wrote this post back in September and delayed publishing it until the listings expired from eBay's search results.   

This post is a summary of the events surrounding an eBay listing of scarce high-numbered Three Investigators Gibraltar hardcover books.

First, here is an explanation.  The original Three Investigators series consists of 43 books.  #1-28 were issued in both hardcover and softcover trade editions.  #29-43 were only offered in softcover trade editions.  They were also available as Gibraltar hardcover editions, but these were primarily sold to libraries.  The high-numbered hardcover editions are extremely scarce and almost always surface as library discards with at least moderate wear.

#29-43 are highly coveted in the hardcover Gibraltar binding.

In late July, a seller offered a bulk lot of 12 Three Investigators books, including seven of the high-numbered hardcover books.  The listing sold via Buy It Now at $125, which was an extreme bargain.

(Click on each image in order to view in high quality.)

Right after the listing closed, someone posted about it in the Facebook Three Investigators group, saying that someone just barely beat them to the listing.  That post is important, because a large number of Three Investigators fans then knew what had just happened.

Unfortunately, some people like to meddle.  Apparently, someone immediately contacted the seller and let them know that they had just sold a valuable group of books for $125.  The seller relisted the books with a starting bid price of $1,850.  The books sold for $2,025 to the same person who had purchased them for $125.  It should be noted that whoever meddled didn't get the books. 

The seller then reneged on the second sale.  This is the negative feedback that the buyer left for both listings.

The seller then went with individual listings.  They also decided to remove the library markings, thus damaging the books.

The seller switched to another user ID for the new listings, likely due to the negative feedback on the other ID.  Regardless of what happens next, this won't end well.

The seller is greedy, unscrupulous, and lacking in judgment.  They should have honored the $125 sale.  Sometimes sellers take losses, but in the long run, they will do better when they avoid bad behavior. 

The person who meddled in the situation is also at fault.  Because of their actions, the seller has damaged the books by removing the library stickers.  They should have stayed out of the situation.  

It is understandable why the seller chose not to honor the $125 sale.  After all, many people would struggle to honor the sale after learning of the true value of the books.  It was wrong not to honor the sale, but I can see why that decision was made.

The subsequent decision to renege on the $2,025 sale is astonishing.  That price might not be the top value possible, but it's quite a good price to get for the books.  The seller made a bad decision in failing to honor the second sale.