Roger Baxter #3 The Riddle of the Hidden Pesos

In Roger Baxter #3, The Riddle of the Hidden Pesos, Roger, Bill, and Slim drive into Mexico for a vacation.  Soon after they enter Mexico, the boys discover packages containing counterfeit pesos hidden in the seat cushions of the car.  Unwittingly, Slim and the boys just smuggled counterfeit money into Mexico.  They find themselves in a difficult position, as they learn that one or more parties are tracking their movements.  Slim and the boys attempt to evade the men who are following them as they race towards Mexico City. 

The plot of this book is rather similar to the Ken Holt book, The Mystery of the Green Flame.  The book also reminds me a little bit of another Ken Holt book set in Mexico, The Mystery of the Plumed Serpent.

Bill's experience with hot Mexican food is like Sandy's.  He impulsively eats hot Mexican food and then promptly regrets it.

On page 65, Bill throws a wrapper out of the window of the car.  I hate it when series books have the characters litter.  That's not cool.

This book is very exciting from start to finish.  I greatly enjoyed it.

I ended up liking all three Roger Baxter books better than most all of the Ken Holt books.  That might sound surprising, but consider that to me, Ken Holt is an average series.  My reaction was lukewarm to the first half of the series, so I like most series books more than those.  While I ended up greatly liking the books in the second half of the series, the books were not outstanding in my opinion.  They are to Ken Holt fans, but not to me.

I think I like these books better because the boys are a little younger, and the books don't come across as adult mysteries.  The Ken Holt books are similar to adult mysteries, and that makes a difference.

Stranger at the Inlet is an excellent book.  The Secret of Baldhead Mountain and The Riddle of the Hidden Pesos are outstanding.

The Roger Baxter series is tough to complete.  If you want to build a set of the books, make sure you check everywhere on the internet.  Check Amazon's main site and Amazon's UK site.  Check Alibris and AbeBooks.  Check Bonanza, Etsy, and Google's shopping search.  Also check eBay, but keep in mind that reading copies of obscure books are often easier to find on sites other than eBay, since fewer people check those sites.