The Three Investigators #7 Fiery Eye and #8 Silver Spider

In the Three Investigators #7, The Mystery of the Fiery Eye, the Jones Salvage Yard acquires a number of plaster busts.  The boys soon learn that the busts may hold the key to the location of August August's fortune, but not before the busts have been sold!  The boys find themselves in a race with several villains, who are also seeking the busts.

On page 4, Aunt Mathilda announces, "That's a very valuable and artistic statue.  I'm planning to charge five dollars for it!"  This struck me funny, since I can't helping thinking in terms of 2014 money.

We learn on page 7 that Uncle Titus "bought anything that interested him, not just things he knew would sell."  Many of us fall into that category with respect to buying books, even those who don't sell them.

On page 159, "Time crawled past like a tired snail the rest of the afternoon." I love that line.

This is a very good book.

In the Three Investigators #8, The Mystery of the Silver Spider, the boys become friends with Prince Djaro of Varania, who then invites the boys to his coronation.  A United States government agent tells the boys that they are to act on behalf of the government while in Varania.  The United States government believes that a threat exists and wants the boys to try to find out what is happening.

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as the others.  For all series, I have always preferred the stories that are set near the home or homes of the main characters.  I never enjoy ones set in foreign countries anywhere near as much, with the only exception being the Beverly Gray series.  Anytime a book involves traveling to another country and learning about that country's history, I tend not to be as interested.

I enjoyed this book, but not quite as much as the others, due to the setting.