The Three Investigators #41 Creep-Show Crooks, #42 Wreckers' Rock, and #43 Cranky Collector

In the Three Investigators #41, The Mystery of the Creep-Show Crooks, the boys find a tote bag on the beach.  They learn that the bag belongs to a missing girl, Lucille Anderson.  Lucille is soon located, and she has recently been cast in a horror movie.  The Three Investigators soon suspect that the producers are shady and set out to find evidence against them.

I don't have much to say about this book other than that I enjoyed it.

In the Three Investigators #42, The Mystery of the Wreckers' Rock, the boys go fishing off the coast near Rocky Beach.  They take pictures of a family reunion where the participants are dressed up as Vikings and Indians.  Later, the boys are pursued by several people who are desperate to obtain the photographs taken of the event.  The Three Investigators try to figure out what is so important about the photos while they dodge the villains.

A big deal is made about the boys not being able to accept money.  I'm pretty sure that they did in earlier books.

I enjoyed this book.

In the Three Investigators #43, The Mystery of the Cranky Collector, old Jeremy Pilcher disappears.  Pilcher is a book collector and hoarder.  He is mean, and many people greatly dislike him.  The boys suspect foul play, but unfortunately, just about everyone has a possible motive.

This book describes book collecting in rather unfavorable terms.  Here is a passage from page 28.

"Gives you a new feeling about books," said Bob.  "Like collecting could be a compulsion, like gambling or biting your fingernails."

"It's a disease," said Marilyn Pilcher.  "Believe me, it's a disease."

While I dislike reading that kind of statement, I have to remember that in other passages, Pilcher's collection is described in such a way that he must be a hoarder.  He is not a typical book collector, but rather, someone with serious problem.  Unfortunately, he is called a book collector.

On page 159, the villains shout threats at the Three Investigators in Spanish.  "The boys could not understand it all, but they knew that he called them sons of dogs."  I laughed.  I bet he said something other than sons of dogs.

I enjoyed this book.

I have not mentioned Hector Sebastian's Vietnamese cook, Hoang Van Don, who appears in #31-43.  Don is depicted as the stereotypical foreigner who has come to the United States and is so wowed by the American way of life that he behaves in an idiotic fashion.

A running gag throughout all of the books features Don cooking undesirable food for Sebastian.  Don is easily influenced by infomercials and television shows and insists on cooking whatever he sees.  Sebastian typically hates all of the food and is forced to eat snacks that he keeps hidden.  I found this subplot to be rather obnoxious.  I cannot understand why someone would allow an employee to cook bad food and not hold him accountable.  The running gag is supposed to be amusing, but it fails miserably.