The girls soon learn that Uncle David's will is missing, and strange sounds come from a locked room inside the house. Is the house haunted? And why does Holly keep thinking that she sees Uncle David?
The plot of this book is rather similar to the plot of Penny Nichols and the Mystery of the Lost Key by Mildred Wirt Benson. Benson wrote the Penny Nichols book under the pseudonym of Joan Clark. I have read both books. The main plot points are the same, and anyone who has read either book knows the solution to the other book.
Several years back, a collector stated in a discussion that Sutton copied entire passages from the Penny Nichols book and that The Black Cat's Clue is a "carbon copy" of the Penny Nichols book. I found no evidence of copied passages.
This time when I read The Black Cat's Clue, I also skimmed through Penny Nichols and the Mystery of the Lost Key. I read two or three chapters of The Black Cat's Clue, then I skimmed through a few chapters of the Penny Nichols book. I did not find any passages that are the same. I also did not find any sentences or phrases that are the same. I could have missed something minor, but I do not believe any of the text was copied. Margaret Sutton had to have read the Penny Nichols book and was inspired by it. She used a number of plot points, but she did not copy the text. Let's put that to rest.
Page 243 of A Guide to Judy Bolton Country states, "Inspiration unknown, Sutton freely admitted using the basic plot of Penny Nichols and the Mystery of the Lost Key by Joan Clark (Mildred Wirt) as the basis of this story." That's all it is, no more and no less.
On this reading, I found that this story starts out way too slow. The banter between Judy and Horace at the beginning of the story is excruciating. I couldn't stand it. Once Holly enters the story, the book is excellent. I still love it, and it has always been one of my favorite Judy Bolton books.
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