Kay Tracey #17 The Mansion of Secrets

In Kay Tracey #17, The Mansion of Secrets, Cousin Bill is handling the estate of Manuel Greely.  Greely's grandnephew, Peter, is the heir and plans to sell the old mansion and surrounding property to a westerner who wants to open a dude ranch.  Unexpectedly, Kay and her friends find blueprints that show the location of many hiding places in the house.  The girls check a few of the locations and find jewelry, rare bibles, and other valuable items.

An intruder is discovered in the house, and later, someone steals the blueprints.  Cousin Bill hires a watchman, but even he cannot prevent the intruder from entering the house again and again.  Can Kay and her friends find the valuables before they are stolen?

The plot of this book is somewhat similar to the Nancy Drew book, The Sign of the Twisted Candles, with hidden valuables throughout the home.

This is the kind of story that a collector can appreciate.  Mr. Greely was a collector, and the hidden valuables are items from his collection.  The book includes a passage explaining about the rare bibles, and the content is interesting.

This book has many crazy and exciting events.  The girls get trapped in a closet by a dog.  Wilma gets an electric shock and is knocked out.  Ronald falls down a laundry chute to the basement, and Kay joins him soon after because she walks through a dark passage without a flashlight.  Kay's finger gets smashed and stuck between a heavy file cabinet and the wall.  A big pheasant flies through a window, breaking it.

On pages 105 and 106, Ronald "petulantly" complains, "You promised to spend the day with me."  Ronald doesn't realize that he is supposed to do the bidding of the teenage sleuth.  That's his role, and he shouldn't expect more. 

The later editions by Garden City and Books, Inc. have the same text as the original Cupples and Leon books.

This story flows quite well.  I read it quickly and enjoyed every scene.  This book is excellent.