In Trixie Belden #31,
The Mystery at Maypenny's, a factory plans to expand using part of Matthew Wheeler's game preserve. The factory also plans to take part of Mr. Maypenny's property. Mr. Maypenny is strongly opposed to the plan, while Mr. Wheeler is in favor of it. Even the Bob-Whites are divided, with some of them wanting the economic development and others wanting the game preserve to stay completely intact.
Mr. Maypenny's nephew comes to visit, but he doesn't stay long after Mr. Maypenny becomes furious that his nephew is trying to obtain power of attorney. An environmentalist also becomes involved, and the situation worsens when dead ducks are found in the game preserve.
The story has some flaws, but this is still a very good book.
In Trixie Belden #32,
The Mystery of the Whispering Witch, Fay Franklin lives in the old Lisgard mansion with her mother, who is the housekeeper. Fay's mother has to be hospitalized, so Trixie and Honey spend the night in the mansion with Fay. The mansion is said to be haunted, and the girls are visited by the witch. Terrified, the girls make it through the night, but nobody will believe their story. It soon becomes apparent that Fay thinks she is possessed, but Trixie suspects a more earthly explanation.
This book probably would have scared me if I had read it when young. Now, it does nothing for me. I don't find it scary because the story is too strange for a Trixie Belden book.
While the main mystery is explained away, the ending of the story implies that Trixie actually had been visited by the witch's spirit.
This is an overall good story.
1 comment:
#31-
First, let me say that I haven't read the latter entries in the series for some decades. Everytime I decide to reread the series, I've stopped around the late 20s (I don't know why). Well, this one I did not remember at all! I liked it, but yes, it isn't exactly a mystery until the end. I must say though that I was fooled. Well, partly. Of course, the two suspects are John Score and David Maypenny. At first I was thinking, well, Mr Maypenny's nephew won't be an actual crook, and they've had SO MANY imposters throughout the series, that the baddie has to be John Score. But then I thought, no usually the hippie/drifter character isn't a bad guy, so it must be David. Then I thought-let me stop playing process of elimination and use logic. Ok, I didn't think a real hippie would kill ducks, so it is probably not John. It has to either be David or somebody from the Pine Company. I don't think the villian will be some random employee introduced 5 pages before the end, so it must be that David is an imposter and is in the pay of the evil Pine company! (This is where I went wrong) I thought David was a crook, and probably not really the nephew, but I was sure he was with the Pine company somehow! It seems kind of random that a con man would kill the ducks without it being to the advantage of the business.
Besides that, I could follow the mystery fairly well, and I thought the flow and pace was spot on. And hey, they even included every character for a change! *I guess Dan and Di are collecting their paycheques this time for being in the story!* I was sad that Di didn't have much to do, but I'd rather that than having her shoehorned in.
#32-
I knew the "haunting" was a ruse by crooks going in, so I read the book. (I don't read books dealing with the occult and mysticism). I know you have read the series, but it reminded me of the Three Investigators in that aspect. But I agree with you that it was darker than most with a girl being run out of her mind. I also did not like how some things were left open at the end
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