The Three Investigators #39 Trail of Terror and #40 Rogues' Reunion

In the Three Investigators #39, The Mystery of the Trail of Terror, Pete's Grandpa Peck plans to set off on a cross-country trip to New York to deliver his latest invention.  The Crenshaws fear that Grandpa will get into trouble, so the Three Investigators leave with Grandpa.  Soon after the boys and Grandpa depart, they realize that someone is following them.

I enjoyed most of the book, but I began to get bored towards the end.  A fairly large amount of the story occurs after the villain's motive is revealed, and I was bored with that part.  There was no mystery; we were waiting for the main villain to be nabbed.

In the Three Investigators #40, The Mystery of the Rogues' Reunion, Jupiter is forced to endure much teasing over his role as Baby Fatso when the Wee Rogues begins to air in syndication.  Even worse, Jupiter must participate in a quiz show reunion with the other members of the cast.  Jupiter quickly overcomes his aversion when he rises to the challenge of showing up the cast members.  Soon, Jupiter realizes that someone is out to eliminate him from the competition.

This book mentions Edmund Frank on page 91 and how Jupiter had briefly seen him during a museum robbery.  This is an accurate portrayal of an event from The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure and shows great continuity.  I was so pleased that one of the final books in the series mentioned an event from one of the earliest stories.

On page 144, Pete is angry because "he had never known Jupe to walk out on a case and let the crooks go free."  Actually, there was that time in The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon.  Apparently, Pete has forgotten. 

I greatly enjoyed learning about Jupiter's past with the television show.  This book is outstanding.