The Three Investigators #3 Whispering Mummy and #4 Green Ghost

In the Three Investigators #3, The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy, Jupiter, Pete, and Bob are asked to solve the mystery of an Egyptian mummy that whispers.  Reputedly, the mummy is cursed.  The boys learn that two representatives from the House of Hamid from Libya are seeking to reclaim the mummy, with the belief that it is an ancestor.

This is the first book where the cover art truly portrays the boys as having distinctive physical traits.  Finally, I can visualize the three boys as different from each other and see them the way they are supposed to appear.  The first two books are not helpful in that respect.

In the introduction by Alfred Hitchcock, Hitchcock states that he "deplore[s] the modern trend toward coddling youth."  If people thought that youth were being coddled in 1965, then what about now?  I'd say that it's gotten worse.

On page 94, the professor states, "But who would want to steal an ancient Egyptian mummy?  It surely has no commercial value."  I found that remark strange.  A 3,000-year-old artifact would have value.

This book seemed quite familiar to me.  I thought that The Mystery of the Green Ghost was the only Three Investigators book that I read as a child, but I now believe that I must have read this book.  I just knew what was going to happen next at several points during the book.  I had to have read it before.

In the Three Investigators #4, The Mystery of the Green Ghost, the abandoned home of Matthias Green is being torn down.  Demolition is partially complete when Pete and Bob visit the home at night along with a number of strangers.  A green ghost appears and disappears into a wall!  The Three Investigators seek out the cause of the ghostly apparition.

On page 82, the boys ride by the nearly empty grape fields where at least one hundred men should be picking grapes.  Instead, only around a dozen men are picking.  I couldn't help thinking of how different the scene would have played out if this had been a Stratemeyer Syndicate book.  If this had been a Syndicate book, the boys would have single-handedly managed to get all the grapes picked and somehow solved the mystery at the same time. 

I have always thought that The Mystery of the Green Ghost was the only Three Investigators book that I read as a child, but the book did not seem familiar to me aside from possibly the opening scene.  So now I'm not sure whether I read it or not. 

The middle part of the story is very exciting, particularly when the boys are escaping through the tunnels.  I found the explanation of the mystery a bit too long for my taste, although I overall greatly enjoyed the book.