Keeper of the Lost Cities #4 Neverseen - Thoughts from 4th Reading

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS from late in the set.  Do not read this post unless you've read ALL of the books that have been published.  You've been warned.

Page 96  "What's a Cognate?" Sophie asked.  "An incredibly rare telepathic relationship," Granite explained.  "One very few Telepaths are able to achieve.  I know I've never found anyone I could partner with."  "Neither have I," Mr. Forkle agreed.  "Cognates combine their power through a deep personal connection."

I have assumed that the two Forkles had to have been Cognates.  They trusted each other completely, shared everything, and were identical twins.  The books never mention that the Forkles were Cognates.  However, I don't see how they wouldn't have been.

In this passage, Forkle says that he never had found anyone.  Hmm.  I checked the part of Book 6 where Forkle explains his relationship with his brother.

Book 5, Page 179  "So my father came up with this much more complicated solution.  He gave us one name.  One inception date.  One registered strand of DNA.  And from that moment on, we were raised to see ourselves as two halves of a single whole."

The Forkles saw themselves as one person.  Even if they were Cognates, Forkle speaks the truth when he says that he could never find a Cognate partner, meaning someone other than his brother.

Again, I do believe that the two Forkles were Cognates.

Page 290  "You've been lying to me," he said.  "You should've told me about Kenric's cache.  And you definitely should've consulted with me before you volunteered for Exillium."

It's hypocritical of Forkle to complain that Sophie lies to him, considering that he lies to her all the time.  Aside from that, this passage is another misdirection by Shannon.  Forkle isn't annoyed about the cache.  He's acting.

On page 374, we learn that Sophie is 14 years, five months old.  On page 480, we learn that Silveny's baby will arrive in 42 weeks.  This means that in #7 Flashback, Sophie is approximately 15 years, three months old when Silveny's twins are born.  After #7, time seems to move very slowly, so Sophie is probably somewhere around 16 years old in Stellarlune.

Page 623  The last thing she saw was Alvar's pained expression as they slipped into the void and teleported away.

This is right after Alvar is revealed to be a member of the Neverseen.  It wasn't Alvar's choice; Fintan revealed that Alvar is one of them.  Alvar wanted to keep playing both sides, and he's pained because he's now separated from his family.

I noted that a number of elves know that Forkle is Astin.  In addition to the kids and the Collective, Timkin Hex, Alden, and several others know as well.

All of my past Keeper posts are linked from this page:

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories

Keeper of the Lost Cities #3 Everblaze - Thoughts from 4th Reading

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS from late in the set.  Do not read this post unless you've read ALL of the books that have been published.  You've been warned.

Clues about Brant and fire are in several places in this book.  I noticed most of them on previous readings, including the reference to fire in Brant's love letter on page 89:  "You're the spark, the kindling, the flame that never dies.  The beauty and the wonder of the ever-burning skies." 

This time, I noticed something else.  On page 98, Sophie notices "Brant's strange yellow-orange, bathrobe like shirt."  The color is similar to Fintan's fireproof cape, so this is another clue about Brant.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before:  

Page 132  "Meanwhile you'll heal Fintan?" Wylie spat the name like it was a bad word.  Master Leto stepped closer.  "That information is supposed to be classified."

It's interesting that Leto knows that the information is classified, which means he's connected to the Council.  That's how he knows. 

On page 146, Elwin notices that the scar on Sophie's hand has not faded.  The scar is from when Mr. Forkle injected her with the limbium  

Page 146  "It must sink too deep," she said as Elwin snapped his fingers to form an orange sphere of light around the scar.  He squinted through his iridescent spectacles, turning her hand from side to side.  "But that doesn't make sense."

This reading was the first time I stopped to think about what Elwin says.  He thinks the scar is strange.  I wonder if it has something to do with Sophie's allergy to limbium.  Mr. Forkle doesn't understand why Sophie is allergic to limbium.  Is this a hint to something that will be revealed later?

[This post was written in October.  Now in December, I wonder if Sophie being born to a human surrogate had an impact on her physically.  After all, she received nutrients from her human surrogate via the placenta.  Is this why she has the scar?  Is this why her eyes are brown?]

Page 455  "Could you do what you're asking of him?" she asked Mr. Forkle as she squatted beside Keefe, holding him steady.  "Could you betray your own father?"  "I've done far worse," Mr. Forkle whispered.  "The right road is rarely the easy road.  And no war was ever fought without casualties."  "Is that what this is?" Sophie asked.  "A war?"  "Unfortunately, yes.  A quiet war, to stop a louder one from raging."

Two things:

I've already mentioned that the statement about having "done far worse" refers to Kenric/Forkle hurting Oralie when he faked his death.  

This time, I focused on the word "war."  I thought of the aftermath of Sophie burning the Neverseen's storehouse in #8.5.  

Book 8.5, page 726  "Yes, but those were their attacks," Tiergan reminded her.  "This was ours.  Well… yours.  And it was unprovoked."  "Unprovoked?" Sophie repeated.  "You're kidding, right?"  "No, Sophie—none of us think this is a joke," Grady said quietly.  "And I'm really hoping you don't either.  Because you just turned this into a war."

Sophie is surprised by Tiergan's reaction.  As Sophie explains, her attack was not unprovoked.

Book 8.5, page 726  "This was already a war," she said, turning back to Grady.  "It has been since the moment I was kidnapped.  Actually, no, it started much earlier.  Lady Gisela was already working on her stellarlune thing before Keefe was born.  And they killed Jolie way before that."

Mr. Forkle isn't upset when Sophie burns the storehouse because he also already considered them to be at war.

On page 520, Sophie wonders why the Council held Fintan's healing in a room with a glass ceiling.  She wonders if they chose the tower so that they would be high up, away from the dwarves.  She then wonders if there was "a darker, more sinister reason."

As before, I once again considered whether a Councillor is working for the Neverseen.  But no, it could just be Alvar.  He might have suggested the location, and the Council fell for it.  Speaking of Alvar, he is later told by the Neverseen that he's useless.  Alvar is useless in that I keep forgetting that Alvar is the Council leak.  Alvar doesn't get credit for anything.

Page 569  Sophie forced herself to relax as Mr. Forkle pressed two fingers on each side of her head and closed his eyes.  Two hundred and twenty-nine seconds passed before he released her, his swollen face paler than she'd ever seen.

Mr. Forkle reads Sophie's mind to see what happened with Brant.  He certainly views the memory up until when Brant tells Sophie what he knows.  However, I think it very likely that Forkle views all of the memory up until when Sophie teleports away from Dex.  Even if he didn't, Forkle sees Sophie in the cave without her ability restrictor circlet.  He would have to know that Dex had removed the circlet for Sophie. 

Page 594  "My guess is he force-shifted," Mr. Forkle said, limping toward them from a snowdrift Sophie was sure had been empty a second earlier. 

This passage has always stood out to me.  I even noticed it the first time I read through the set.  I didn't know what it meant, but I was certain that the statement about Forkle not being there a moment before was important.

During my subsequent readings, I wondered if Forkle had just leaped there.  I then considered whether this was the other Forkle.

Page 597  Sophie pointed to the cuff on her wrist.  "I had a little help from Dex."  "In more ways than one, I suspect," Mr. Forkle said, pointing to where her circlet used to be.  "About that—"  "Later," Mr. Forkle told her.

Hmm.  This is Snowdrift Forkle.  It sounds like he didn't know that Sophie had ditched her circlet.  Cave Forkle read Sophie's mind and saw Sophie without the circlet.  It sounds like Snowdrift Forkle and Cave Forkle are the two different Forkles.  This explains why Shannon mentions that Snowdrift Forkle appeared suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere.

All of my past Keeper posts are linked from this page:

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories

Keeper of the Lost Cities #2 Exile - Thoughts from 4th and 5th Readings

I read Keeper of the Lost Cities #1 and #2 in June for the 4th time.  I read part of #3, then I became distracted.  My plan all along was to read through the set again just before the release of #9.5.  I finally got myself motivated in October.  I decided to read #1 and #2 again, for the 5th time, before continuing with #3.  This post contains thoughts from both readings.

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS from late in the set.  Do not read this post unless you've read ALL of the books that have been published.  You've been warned.

Sophie enters Prentice's mind on page 238.  What Sophie sees on pages 239 and 240 is important, although it makes no sense to first-time readers of the series. 

Trees rained from gray-green clouds, their dark branches reaching for her like clawed hands as they fell. Beasts sprang from a ground lit with stars, bared their fangs, and chased her across the sky-covered hills. Glowing eyes peeked through bushes covered in blue ears, and butterflies with bright red lips whispered sounds like mush. Sophie searched for some clue, some key to translate what she was seeing, but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for anything.

Elysian is described here:

Glowing eyes peeked through bushes covered in blue ears, and butterflies with bright red lips whispered sounds like mush.

This second passage also has something important in it.

The images tangled, coiling around her, pulling her deeper. She whipped through more darkness and fell into the streets of a ruined city. The clouded and cracked crystal buildings were a hodgepodge of structures Sophie had seen throughout the Lost Cities: the swirling castles from Eternalia sandwiched among the silver-tipped spires from Atlantis mixed with gleaming mansions that wrapped around the pyramid of Foxfire. There was a fountain in the center of it all, two golden figures standing in a round pool, holding hands as colored streams of water showered them from every direction.

This description is of the Unity Fountain in Atlantis, featured in #6 Nightfall.

There was a fountain in the center of it all, two golden figures standing in a round pool, holding hands as colored streams of water showered them from every direction.

I noticed that Alvar is very kind to Sophie.  He's a villain who seems redeemable.  The last we see of him in Book 8, he's beaten down and defeated.  I hope we see him again and that he does redeem himself.  [I wrote this in October.  He returns in #9.5 Unraveled, but we don't know for sure whether he will ultimately be redeemed.]

On page 411, Sophie and Tiergan speak about the Black Swan.  Tiergan uses "they" in reference to the Black Swan, and "they" is purposefully emphasized. 

I've mentioned this next passage before.

Page 532   Kenric stepped forward.  "I think perhaps we're focusing on the wrong concern.  Sophie, do you still have the compass that led you to the Black Swan?"

This is another instance of Shannon making sure that the reader knows that Kenric can't be Forkle.  The problem is that we learn later that Forkle is a pair of identical twins.  Kenric can't be ruled out for that reason.

All of my past Keeper posts are linked from this page:

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories

Keeper of the Lost Cities #1 - Thoughts from 4th and 5th Readings

I read Keeper of the Lost Cities #1 and #2 in June for the 4th time.  I read part of #3, then I became distracted.  My plan all along was to read through the set again just before the release of #9.5.  I finally got myself motivated in October.  I decided to read #1 and #2 again, for the 5th time, before continuing with #3.  This post contains different thoughts I had during both readings.

This post contains MAJOR SPOILERS from late in the set.  Do not read this post unless you've read ALL of the books that have been published.  You've been warned.

Page 16:  [Fitz] closed his eyes and vanished.  He was only gone for a second, but it was enough to leave her reeling.

I had forgotten that elves could vanish for one second even if they aren't Vanishers.

Page 41:  "Looking for someone?" [Mr. Forkle] asked from his perch in the middle of his lawn.

This is hilarious.  Mr. Forkle knows very well that Fitz had located Sophie on the previous day.  Sophie is indeed looking for Fitz when she goes outside.  Mr. Forkle is having a little fun.

On page 45, Sophie realizes that she couldn't hear Mr. Forkle's thoughts when he confronts Gethen.  She typically could hear his thoughts.  I assume that Forkle dropped the pretense while he concentrated on getting Gethen to back off.

On my previous reading, I continued to be confused about Quinlan, his eavesdropping secretary, Alden's work with Quinlan, and so on.  This time, it clicked.
 
Alden worked with Quinlan without the Council's knowledge.  Quinlan had Sophie's DNA, and Alden was trying to locate Sophie in the Forbidden Cities.  The eavesdropping secretary let someone (Quinlan and Alden think it was Bronte) on the Council know that Alden was searching for Sophie.  We later learn it was Oralie who was responsible for the eavesdropping secretary.

Oralie must have informed the Black Swan that Alden was looking for Sophie.  This also explains why the Council didn't know that Alden was searching for Sophie.  Only Oralie knew, and she wasn’t about to tell anyone else.  They were wrong about the secretary being there for Bronte.

Since Oralie had informed the Black Swan that Alden was searching for Sophie, Forkle sent the newspaper article about the child prodigy to Alden so that he would find Sophie.  This all makes sense to me now.

On page 89, Tiergan is angry that Alden summoned him.  I continue to wonder how much of Tiergan's behavior is acting.  Surely Tiergan knew that the Black Swan were bringing the Moonlark to the Lost Cities.  It cannot be just coincidence that Tiergan ends up as Sophie's Telepathy mentor.  After all, in book 4 on page 670 Tiergan tells Sophie, "The surest way to protect you was to be in your life."

Page 115:  She wasn't ready to hear about the family who'd abandoned her.

Sophie is traumatized by everything that has happened to her.  Keeping this in mind helps the reader understand why Sophie turns against Oralie when she learns that Oralie is her mother.

Page 306:  "Sir Astin," Emery said, and Sir Astin jumped out of his chair.  Oralie returned to her throne.  A Telepath could monitor Sir Astin's thoughts for honesty.  His mind wasn't impenetrable, like Sophie's.

Ah, but Sir Astin's mind is impenetrable, since he is Mr. Forkle.

Page 307:  Emery closed his eyes.  "Can you repeat those one more time, slower."  She did, noticing that Kenric was plotting the stars on a map.  He sucked in a breath.  "Who created this list?" Emery demanded, glancing at Kenric.  "I'm not certain," Sir Astin admitted, cowering.  "All the Universe Mentors submit them, and it wasn't one of the lists I made."

We know that Sir Astin is lying, since he created the list for Sophie.  We learn later that Mr. Forkle can duplicate his consciousness, which means that he can keep his lies from being detected. 

Having Kenric and Astin present at the same time ostensibly establishes that Kenric cannot be Forkle.  However, we later learn that Forkle is a pair of identical twins.  Kenric and Astin certainly could be Forkle and present at the same time. 

The purpose of the stars assignment is to get Sophie's memory of Elementine to be triggered so that she can bottle Quintessence. 

On page 323, we learn that Tiergan has a blue crystal because he used to work for the Council.  He tells Sophie, "Mine was issued back when I worked for the Council, and I 'forgot' to give it back when I resigned.  So this trip is our little secret, okay?"

Interesting.  I had failed to take notice of the fact that Tiergan had worked for the Council at some point in time.

On page 465, Alden says that the Council doesn't "want to believe that [Fintan] tried to single-handedly wipe out the human race" when he started the Everblaze fires.  The Councillors are in complete denial during the early books in the series. 

All of my past Keeper posts are linked from this page:

Keeper of the Lost Cities Summaries, Reviews, and Theories

Upcoming Blog Posts

I am in the mood to read some modern young adult mystery or suspense books.  Around a week ago, I found a YA book on Amazon that sounded like I would enjoy it.  I held off trying it until after the new Keeper of the Lost Cities book was released. 

I have read now the new Keeper book twice and have a rough draft of what I want to say about the book.  I still want to read the YA book that I found a week ago, and perhaps I will begin tomorrow.

By the way, I looked a few reviews of that YA book.  One person complained about the dialogue being too juvenile.  Ah, another snobbish review by someone who doesn't like YA but inexplicably decided to read a YA book.  So typical.  I still don't understand why these people keeping reading YA when they don't like reading YA.  I don't have trouble avoiding books that aren't the kind I enjoy.  I simply don't read them.

If I succeed in getting back into reading books, then I should end up with some book reviews in the next few months.  In the meantime, I wrote up a bunch of new Keeper posts as I read through the set this fall.  I mention this because most of you likely have no interest whatsoever in seeing a bunch of Keeper posts.  As of now, I have 21(!) Keeper posts that will publish in the next couple of months or so, depending upon how I space them out.

I have partially written a few posts or have ideas for posts. I have an idea for a new Hidden Clues post that I think I will be motivated enough to finish.  I have a situation with some extremely musty books that I plan to write up once I know my degree of success (or failure) in reducing the musty odor.

I have written a post about the Nancy Drew action figures and my thoughts on trying to sell my extras. 

I also have a couple of posts that I've written about the current state of series books.  Both of those posts are completely finished, but I'm keeping them unpublished for now for a certain reason.  

Mainly, I want to forewarn you that a flood of Keeper posts are coming, but there will be some other stuff hopefully mixed in every so often.  Bear with me.

Keeper of the Lost Cities Reading and Book Release Update

Keeper of the Lost Cities #9.5 Unraveled will be released one week from Tuesday.  Two online virtual events with Shannon Messenger will be held next week.  Information is in this post:

Keeper of the Lost Cities #9.5 Unraveled Pre-Order Giveaway + Live Events

Shannon will be signing copies of Unraveled for Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore.  The books will ship after the book is published.

Signed Shannon Messenger Books at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore

Naturally, I had to pre-order a signed copy, so now I have a total of four copies of Unraveled pre-ordered.  It's excessive, but worth it.  This is how it happened.  I had previously ordered a Barnes & Noble edition, which I used to submit my information to get the publisher's pre-order giveaway.  I have to keep my original order since it's tied to the promotional package.  I am then getting a book from each of next week's virtual events.  And now, I'm getting a signed book as well.  The four books consist of two Barnes & Noble special editions, one regular edition, and one signed regular edition.  I will keep one Barnes & Noble special edition and the signed regular edition.

Shannon wrote a guest post for Teen Librarian Toolbox about how the Keeper series got off to a slow start when it was first published.

Surviving the Slow Burn of Middle Grade by Shannon Messenger

I have been reading the series again, for the fourth time, to fully refresh my memory before #9.5 is released.  I am now at the beginning of #9 Stellarlune.  I will soon be publishing a new series of Keeper posts on my current thoughts and observations.  

Beginning here, I comment on some things from late in the set but with no specifics.  Nothing is revealed, but the comments could be considered slightly spoilerish.  I mention this because some people, like me, prefer to know nothing.  If you're like me, then skip until the paragraph just above the first of the two images that are near the end of the post.

I've been mulling over several things.  I'm very eager to read the Forgotten Secrets again, and I've already read through the Fintan memory at least twice this month.  Right after I finished reading Book 7 again, I was mulling over the Fintan memory as I drove to work one morning.  I believe it was on the morning of November 12.  Yes, it's weird that I know this, but it was a watershed moment.  I thought about that Forgotten Secret and some of the oddness of it.  It reminded me of a scene in Book 7, which led me to a significant revelation.  While I was pretty sure that I wouldn't forget, I grabbed my phone and dictated a short note about what I had just realized.  I was thrilled.

After realizing that I had figured out something significant about one Forgotten Secret, I decided that I would write separate posts about each Forgotten Secret and would pull previous thoughts into those posts in order to better collect my thoughts.  That will be a work in progress over the next two or three weeks.

Book 7 is a slog to get through and is widely viewed as the weakest book in the set.  It's the book that has driven some readers away from the series.  This is a shame, since the secrets begin to be revealed in Book 8.

The thing about Book 7, though, is that there is some very important information in it.  One chapter in Book 7 gives information that led to my conclusion about the Fintan Forgotten Secret.  And by the way, that conclusion led me to realize something about all of the Forgotten Secrets (well, except for one of them), and I believe it explains the possible inconsistency with one of the Forgotten Secrets.  In fact, I know it does, so there's no inconsistency. 

It's in this post that I mention the possible inconsistency.

Keeper of the Lost Cities:  The Chronological Order of the Forgotten Secrets

It's not an inconsistency if what I believe is true.

Book 7 is extremely important, but the clues are easily missed due to how bloated the book is.  Too much time—way too much time—is spent in the Healing Center.  It also doesn't help that other parts of the book drag on for too long as well.  The joking and circular conversations are also a bit much.  Some of it is way too silly and stupid.  The flaws in the book cause readers to skim and then they miss the important details.

I skimmed a lot when I read Book 7 the second and third times.  Since it had been a year since I had last read it, my tolerance was much higher.  I did very little skimming this time.  That enabled me to notice more than I had previously.  I am so excited that I will read through all of the Forgotten Secrets again this week.

During this reading of the books, I have realized that I truly enjoy the later books in the set.  Books 8, 8.5, and 9 are really good, because we begin to learn secrets.  The series payoff begins to be doled out in Book 8.  We are getting it a little at a time, which is quite satisfying.  Book 9 sets up for the Forkle reveal, and I expect we will learn his true identity in Book 10, whenever that book is published.

While I enjoy the main plot and like Sophie and her friends a lot, my focus is on the adult characters, most particularly Forkle, Kenric, and Oralie.  All three characters fascinate me, and my interest centers on my search for clues about what motivates these characters.  All three are very gray, and gray characters are very interesting.

I unabashedly love Kenric and Oralie.

Back in July, Laura Hollingsworth ran some eBay auctions.  In a couple of them, she offered the buyer a marker sketch of any character that she has previously drawn for the Keeper books.  I immediately decided that I had to get a sketch of Kenric.  After some thought, I realized that I needed Oralie as well so that I would have a matched set of my two favorite characters.  I won the two auctions and requested Kenric and Oralie. 

This is what Laura Hollingsworth had to say about the sketches on her Instagram.

Marker sketches of Kenric and Oralie from Keeper of the Lost Cities! A buyer won two auctions with sketches and asked for these (My OTP in that series—I am very happy!)

It pleases me that my request made her happy.  I love the sketches.  

eBay, Reading, and Autoimmune Update

eBay is attempting to trick sellers into purchasing its ShipCover insurance whenever sellers use a service that doesn't not include insurance.  This new practice is shady and obnoxious.

Beginning recently, whenever I purchase a media mail shipping label, this is what eBay presents to me before the purchase goes through.  Click on the image in order to see it better.

I must make a conscious effort not to click on the blue box that says "Add extra protection."  I know I'm going to mess up eventually.  When it finally happens, I will then void the label and create a new one.  This is a blatant cash grab by eBay, since the ShipCover insurance is their insurance and is not from the post office.  This is one of the lowest things that eBay has ever done.

It's important for eBay store sellers to end their listings periodically and then list them again using the "sell similar" option.  I've been too busy, tired, and distracted to mess with that in recent months.  This is why my sales slowed down.  Around the end of October, I ended all of my listings and used "sell similar."  This image shows what happened.

It does help to give listings a fresh start.  Many people search by "newly listed" first, and this gets their eyes on the listings.

On September 10 in my post Book Reading Milestone for This Year, I wrote:

I'm guaranteed to match my total from 2021.  I still have to complete my fourth reading of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, which I plan to do sometime between now and the release of book 9.5 in early December.  I've already reread books 1 and 2 this year, but I got sidetracked like what always happens when I read these days.  Once I read books 3 through 8, 8.5, 9, and 9.5, I will have read nine more books, equaling my 2021 total of 60 books.

The last few months have been rough with multiple events causing increases in inflammation.  School started, we have new books, I got my Covid vaccine, and I caught three or four viruses in September and October.  The viruses ran together, so I'm not sure how many I had.  The one from late October caused a terrible cough which I still have.

My struggle with dryness continues.  In my post from August 25, I wrote in regard to my summer autoimmune flare:

I feared that I had Sjögren's syndrome, which causes excessive dryness.  I have suspected Sjögren's syndrome for years, but I tested negative in the past.  Most people with Sjögren's syndrome do test negative, so that doesn't rule it out.  I plan to be tested again later this year, just in case the test shows something.

I was tested two weeks ago.  I tested positive for Anti-SSA/Ro antibodies, which are autoantibodies present in around eight different autoimmune diseases, most notably including Sjögren's syndrome.  I am being referred to rheumatology, but I know it is Sjögren's syndrome.  I have the hallmark symptoms.

As a result of everything, I haven't read much, and I continue to struggle to focus on following through with any reading that I attempt.  I did finally restart reading KotLC, and I'm now on #8.  The number of books I've read in 2024 currently stands at 56 and will reach 60 once I finish this reading of KotLC.  Even though I'm unable to read much during the week, I will make it through #9 by the time the new book is released on December 3, so I'm on schedule.  Thanksgiving Break, which begins Friday afternoon, will give me enough time to finish up.

This post was supposed to be finished up early last week.  I forced myself to finish this morning, or else I was never going to publish it.

Flaky eBay Three Investigators Situation

I wrote this post back in September and delayed publishing it until the listings expired from eBay's search results.   

This post is a summary of the events surrounding an eBay listing of scarce high-numbered Three Investigators Gibraltar hardcover books.

First, here is an explanation.  The original Three Investigators series consists of 43 books.  #1-28 were issued in both hardcover and softcover trade editions.  #29-43 were only offered in softcover trade editions.  They were also available as Gibraltar hardcover editions, but these were primarily sold to libraries.  The high-numbered hardcover editions are extremely scarce and almost always surface as library discards with at least moderate wear.

#29-43 are highly coveted in the hardcover Gibraltar binding.

In late July, a seller offered a bulk lot of 12 Three Investigators books, including seven of the high-numbered hardcover books.  The listing sold via Buy It Now at $125, which was an extreme bargain.

(Click on each image in order to view in high quality.)

Right after the listing closed, someone posted about it in the Facebook Three Investigators group, saying that someone just barely beat them to the listing.  That post is important, because a large number of Three Investigators fans then knew what had just happened.

Unfortunately, some people like to meddle.  Apparently, someone immediately contacted the seller and let them know that they had just sold a valuable group of books for $125.  The seller relisted the books with a starting bid price of $1,850.  The books sold for $2,025 to the same person who had purchased them for $125.  It should be noted that whoever meddled didn't get the books. 

The seller then reneged on the second sale.  This is the negative feedback that the buyer left for both listings.

The seller then went with individual listings.  They also decided to remove the library markings, thus damaging the books.

The seller switched to another user ID for the new listings, likely due to the negative feedback on the other ID.  Regardless of what happens next, this won't end well.

The seller is greedy, unscrupulous, and lacking in judgment.  They should have honored the $125 sale.  Sometimes sellers take losses, but in the long run, they will do better when they avoid bad behavior. 

The person who meddled in the situation is also at fault.  Because of their actions, the seller has damaged the books by removing the library stickers.  They should have stayed out of the situation.  

It is understandable why the seller chose not to honor the $125 sale.  After all, many people would struggle to honor the sale after learning of the true value of the books.  It was wrong not to honor the sale, but I can see why that decision was made.

The subsequent decision to renege on the $2,025 sale is astonishing.  That price might not be the top value possible, but it's quite a good price to get for the books.  The seller made a bad decision in failing to honor the second sale.

Keeper of the Lost Cities #9.5 Unraveled Pre-Order Giveaway + Live Events

Keeper of the Lost Cities #9.5 Unraveled will be released on December 3, 2024.  The pre-order giveaway from Simon & Schuster is now open. 

........................................................................

Information from Shannon Messenger's Facebook:

 Each EXCLUSIVE prize pack includes: 

    ⁃    a gorgeous full-color art print (of the amazing Sophie-Keefe art from @chrissabug)   

    ⁃    an art print postcard (featuring Shannon’s art of Keefe’s little fox buddy)

    ⁃    a vinyl sticker featuring Keefe and the quote, “What would Foster Do” (a line from Unraveled)

You can find more info, as well as the form you need to fill out here: (or use the handy link in Shannon’s bio):  bit.ly/unraveled-pre-order 

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Two virtual live events will be held during the first week in December. 

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Information from Shannon Messenger's Facebook:

Here are the official event details: 

Mon 12/2/24: VIRTUAL EVENT, 7pm ET @barnesandnoble

Tues 12/3/24: IN-PERSON Launch Party, 6:30pm PT @thirdplacebooks in Lake Forest Park, Washington

Thurs 12/5/24: VIRTUAL EVENT, 7pm ET @brooklinebooksmith, @booksofwonder, @parnassusbooks, & @rakestrawbooks

Tickets for these events come with exclusive goodies—swipe to see the awesomeness. If you attend the in-person event, you’ll have a chance to take your photo with a life-size Keefe standee (& so many other cool things!)

For more info —or to buy your tickets—head to bit.ly/keeper-unraveled-tour (or use the link in my bio).

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And this is how I now have three copies of Unraveled pre-ordered.  I purchased the first copy to  enter the pre-order giveaway from S&S.  I then purchased the virtual event tickets, each of which gets me a copy of the book. 

Bulk Lots and Buyer Unawareness of Shipping Costs

The secondhand market is soft these days.  It's hard to sell many kinds of items that easily would have sold 15 years ago.  I take a loss on certain items just to move them.  I'd rather sell the items at a loss and get them into the hands of the right person than donate them to a thrift store and risk them going into a landfill.  Much of what is donated to thrift stores goes in the trash.

Here's an example of something that would have had a high chance of being trashed by a thrift store.

(Click on images in order to see them in higher quality.)

The lot sold for $14.99 with free shipping.  I can't remember what I paid for the subscription to Toy Collector.  After all, it's been three decades.  I did likely pay at least $15 total for the magazines.  It cost $7.32 plus the cost of packing supplies to ship the lot.  Even though I took a loss, I'm pleased that I got the magazines into somebody's hands.  That was my goal.

I use bulk lots to move inventory and sell books that aren't fit to sell individually.  I also use the bulk lots to sell books that are problematic to sell individually.

These books are ones that I pulled out as ones that are too risky to sell individually.

The books aren't bad at all; it's just that each one has some sort of condition problem that a buyer could miss if they don't read the description.  Each book from this lot has a problem like a text block detached from the binding, a piece torn from the edge of a page, a piece missing from the back cover, a few creased pages, or something similar.

I avoid trouble by selling slightly flawed books in bulk lots. I know I have because of the trouble I've already had.  I have a recent case to share. 

Sometimes old tweed Nancy Drew books have water stains to the top edge.  The ink stain can look rather bad at times.  I tend to place those books in bulk lots.  In this recent case, I listed one such book on Etsy, and even worse, I didn't photograph the top edge to show the water stains.  I ended up with an unhappy buyer.

They sent me this photo of the top edge and wrote, "I was aware of writing inside the book, but not the moldy looking page edges at the top!  Ugh."

I replied:

I'm sorry that I overlooked this. It's actually not mold; it's past water splashes that made the top stain ink look bad. I agree though that I should have mentioned this in the description and should have photographed the top edge.

Media mail has gone up so much in price that it's not worth me having you return the book. I will fully refund your purchase price. If you don't want the book because of the top edge water stains, then you can donate it.

I saw no reason to have the buyer return the book.  The book sold for $9.99 plus $4.95 postage.  I had to refund that amount regardless.  Having the buyer return the book meant that I would also be out the return media mail postage plus I would have placed the book in a bulk lot and gotten nothing for it.  There was no way that I would risk selling it again in an individual listing.

I recently decided to send 10% off offers to the people watching my eBay items.  One of the lots was this one.

The prospective buyer contacted me, telling me that they were only interested in Twisted Window since they have the rest.  They wanted to know if I would consider selling it individually.  Normally, I ignore these requests, because I know the buyer wants the book for less than what I can do.  In this case, I felt that I should reply just to be polite since I had sent an offer. 

I considered what my costs would be.  I decided that I could sell that book for $4.99 plus $5.95 postage.  The buyer declined.  They wanted to pay no more than $7.00 total for the book, including postage. 

The one-pound rate for media mail is currently $4.63.  My packaging supplies cost over $1.00.  This means that my cost to mail one book is around $6.00, which is precisely why I now charge $5.95 to mail a book.  A $7.00 total price for a book is way too low.  Not only is the shipping cost at $6.00, I have to pay eBay fees, which would be around $1.00 on a $7.00 transaction.  Also, I didn't get the book for free.  It makes no sense to offer a book on eBay for $7.00 with shipping included.

Buyers want to purchase from sellers who photograph the books so that they can get their desired format.  However, they also want those sellers to ship for the same low prices as Thriftbooks, which has a sweetheart deal with the post office. 

You have to expect to pay more when purchasing from an individual seller.  In return, you get exactly what you want.  If you want the cheap shipping price, then you can buy from Thriftbooks with the understanding that they will send you any format with no regard for what you want. 

Sadly, media mail has become very expensive for people like me.  The cost probably hasn't gone up for Thriftbooks, but the postal service keeps raising the retail rate.  We are paying the postage cost for Thriftbooks.  

Buyers must decide whether accurate photos or low postage is more important.  They can't have it both ways.

Recent Nancy Drew Library Edition Prices on eBay

This kind of post can have unintended consequences because online sellers see it and assume that all Nancy Drew library editions are exceedingly valuable when that's not true at all.  Even Nancy Drew collectors who aren't interested in library editions misunderstand, thinking that any old Nancy Drew library binding is of high value. 

In an attempt to mitigate potential misunderstanding, here's an example of some Nancy Drew library bindings that are of low value.  (Click on images in order to see them in higher quality.)

The listing was for 10 Nancy Drew library editions for $24.00, or $2.40 per book.  Bulk lots usually offer good deals, but even individually, these books are worth roughly around $5.00 each.  If the books were in excellent condition, they'd likely be worth around $10.00 at the most.  They aren't valuable, not by a long shot.

This is why:  The books are relatively recent, and the cover art is identical to the modern Grosset & Dunlap editions that are still in print.  The cover art on these books offers nothing different or interesting.  Yes, people collect them, but they command lower prices for a reason.  There's nothing special here; they are just a variant.  They are also fairly abundant.

Nancy Drew fans want the library editions that are older and that have cover art that is in some way different from the original editions.  The preferred ones have cover art that is based on the original editions but has been redrawn.  Library editions of this type are interesting and coveted, because they offer something new that is appealing to collectors.

Perhaps the most popular library edition type is this one.  It consists of Nancy Drew #1-34, issued in many color variations.

These books are coveted because the covers feature the familiar illustrations that we love, but they were redrawn.  They aren't identical to what is on the Grosset & Dunlap books.  The bindings are colorful, and the books look outstanding on the shelf.  You can't beat the appeal of these books.

A few examples of this binding sold via auction recently on eBay.  It's apparent that a few more collectors have entered the fray, deciding to collect library editions.  These prices are the highest I've seen yet for this particular style binding.

These prices do not mean that these books should sell for this much.  I feel like these are high-end prices, caused by at least one person who is new to collecting library editions.  I am not suggesting that the buyer paid too much.  They paid what the books are worth to them.  Instead, I am saying that sellers should not consider these prices to be the new baseline.  These auction results indicate that a few people really covet these books and were trying to win the auctions at all cost.  

Years ago, the rule of thumb for eBay auctions was that the actual value was the amount of the third highest bid.  The third highest bid on both auctions was $101.00.  Around $100 is probably the high end of what could be the considered the value range of these books, let's say $25 to $100.  Condition and the binding color matter greatly.  These books are red, which makes them pop.  The condition isn't that great, but the books are very hard to find.

I wrote all of the above before the third auction closed.  Here is the result.

The person who won the other two auctions didn't bid on this one.  Maybe they didn't need this one, or maybe they failed to spot this auction.  Whatever the case, their absence caused the book to sell at a much lower price.  

I mentioned a price range of $25 to $100 for these books.  This one went for near the bottom of that range.  I have sold a few examples of this binding at auction but mine maxed out at around $100.  Some of them sold for quite a bit less.  Even $100 is a bit of a high-end price.  The actual value is probably around $50.

I usually don't bid on any of these auctions.  While I would like to have every color variant for every title, I have 196 different books in this style of binding at present.  I won't try to buy one unless it is different and the condition is high-grade enough that it's worth paying a premium. 

Fortunately for me, I already have the title/color combinations that were offered in these auctions.  Also perhaps in my favor, I haven't updated the cover gallery on my website in many years.  Nobody knows for sure what I need and which books could stand an upgrade.  For that reason, nobody will know when I could decide to bid on future library edition auctions.

In conclusion, I thought about what my books are supposedly worth based on these recent auctions.  If I assign a value of $100 each, then my set is worth $19,600.  That's insane!  The books aren't worth that much.  If I were to decide to sell all of my books, I'm confident that the dispersal of 196 books into the marketplace would cause prices to decrease.  There is just no way that my set is worth around $20,000. 

If I assign a value of $50 each, then my set is worth $9,800.  That's high, but I can kind of see it.  Therefore, I will close this post by saying that these books are worth around $50 each, not $100 to $150 each.  

Library editions are a niche collectible appealing to a certain demographic.  The supply is not unlimited, so prices will always be very volatile. 

Nancy Drew #8 Mysterious Letter 1st Printing in DJ eBay Auction

A first printing of Nancy Drew #8 Nancy's Mysterious Letter in dust jacket sold recently on eBay.  (Click on images in order to see them in higher quality.)

The seller provided enough photos to show that both the book and the jacket are from the first printing, 1932A-1.  The auction closed at $1,275.10.  Several people were surprised at how high the final bid was.  I can shed some light on the situation.

I own first printings of all Nancy Drew books in dust jacket from #1 through #38.  It took me over 20 years to acquire all 38 book first printing books matched with first printing dust jackets.  I phrased it that way because I had to match books and jackets together from separate purchases for a number of the earliest books.  I recall that I matched first printing books and jackets together for #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, and #10.  I also swapped out dust jackets or books when I found a better example of ones that I had.  It was quite an endeavor.

Spending over 20 years searching for all 38 first printings gave me a good idea of the scarcity of the early titles, #1-10, as compared to each other.  I don't think about it very often, but I have a good feel for the situation. 

I searched this blog for my old comments about the first printing of Mysterious Letter.

From March 23, 2008 in my post Nancy Drew Prices on eBay, I noted these early and first printing prices on eBay.

#1 The Secret of the Old Clock, true first printing 1930A-1, no DJ $306.00
#2 The Hidden Staircase, 1931 blank endpapers edition, w/DJ $800.00
#4 The Mystery at Lilac Inn, 1930 blank endpapers edition, probably the 2nd or 3rd printing, lists to Lilac Inn, w/DJ $761.50
#5 The Secret at Shadow Ranch, 1931 blank endpapers edition, w/DJ $361.00
#7 The Clue in the Diary, true first printing from 1932, blank endpapers edition, w/DJ $1,641.88
#8 Nancy's Mysterious Letter, true first printing from 1932, w/DJ $910.00
#10 The Password to Larkspur Lane, true first printing with revised/enlarged copyright page notice, w/DJ $515.00
#17 The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk, true first printing, w/DJ $107.46

I also wrote this about the closing prices:

As high as these prices are, the five true first printing books were all sold to a bookseller who will place them back up for sale on fixed-price sites, unless the bookseller already has a buyer in mind.  

Nothing has changed in 16 years.  Most of the recent first printings were also purchased to resell.

Even though not all of the books that sold in 2008 were first printings, the closing bids as compared to each other can help us draw some conclusions about the perceived scarcity and value back in 2008.  The first printing of Mysterious Letter sold for $910.00 in 2008.  It's no easier to find now than it was back then.  It might be even more scarce.

On September 25, 2011, I published the post Ten Rarest Nancy Drew Books and Collectibles.  Guess which book I included as one of the ten?

Nancy's Mysterious Letter first printing book

The first printing dust jacket is scarce but can be found without a huge amount of trouble since it was used on the first three printings. The first printing book is nearly impossible to find. The first printing book has a post-text ad that ends with Clue in the Diary. Some buyers have had trouble with sellers answering questions about the post-text ad wrong, which adds to the difficulty in acquiring this book.

On July 14, 2013, I published the post Recent Interesting Nancy Drew Auctions.  I mentioned a first printing of Mysterious Letter that had sold.

Another interesting auction was for the first printing book of Nancy's Mysterious Letter.

The first printing of Nancy's Mysterious Letter lists to The Clue in the Diary in the post-text ads.  This auction closed at $118.28, and the book does not have a dust jacket.  Multiple later printings list to Nancy's Mysterious Letter in the post-text ads, and those books are often mistaken as the first printing.

The first printing [of Mysterious Letter] listing to The Clue in the Diary is extremely scarce and is one of the toughest first printing books to acquire.  This first printing is harder to find than nearly all of the blank endpapers first printings, with the possible exception of the first printing of The Mystery at Lilac Inn.

In 2013, I thought the Lilac Inn book was the toughest to find of the blank endpapers first printings.  I felt that the first printing Mysterious Letter book was harder to find than all of the other blank endpapers first printings.  I considered it harder to find than the first printing book for Clue in the Diary.  Note that I am referring to the books, not the jackets.

My opinion remains unchanged.  I consider the Lilac Inn book to be the hardest to find first printing book with Mysterious Letter in second place.  The first printing book for Twisted Candles is right up there with them.  

Now you know my perspective, which is quite pertinent to this recent auction of Mysterious Letter.

I noted the listing for Mysterious Letter with interest when I first saw it.  I determined that the jacket and book are both the first printing.  I do already own the first printing.  I matched a bare book purchased in 2002 to a first printing jacket purchased in 2003.  The book was a bit rough, but at least I had the first printing book and jacket, even if the book had seen better days. 

I haven't had the patience to continue searching hard for a better first printing book.  Too much has happened in my life, and my autoimmunity has worsened over the years.  I figured I'd spot a better condition book someday.  A few years ago, I realized that I probably wasn't ever going to upgrade the book.

At first, I wasn't sure I would bid on the Mysterious Letter auction.  The seller's presentation was suboptimal.  Upon looking at the listing again, I realized that the bad appearance of the jacket's spine in the first photo was caused by shadows.  Suboptimal presentation, indeed.

The jacket was clearly the first and was overall in better condition than mine.  My attention was on the book, which the seller didn't picture.  The book was the first printing due to the post-text ad ending with Clue in the Diary.  There it was, a first printing without a doubt, and no need to ask a question.  This was an opportunity.

It was also a problem.  I only needed the book, but I couldn't just purchase the book.  I would have to purchase the book and its dust jacket.  Not only that, I would have to outbid the resellers, who are very stiff competition.  

Despite the drawbacks, I decided that I would bid.

But what to bid?  I knew that I would have to outbid the resellers.  That's always the case with early first printing Nancy Drew books in dust jacket.  With me involved, the auction was going to close at a high price and probably at more than I would like.  The resellers have deep pockets and have clientele who are willing to pay high prices.  The resellers are tough to beat in these auctions, and any bidder who wants to have a chance must bid aggressively.

I don't like to have regrets.  There was a high chance that I would lose the auction, but I had to make sure that I bid high enough that I wouldn't be kicking myself when I ended up losing the auction.

I use eSnipe for stealth last-minute bids.  A last-minute bid is the only way to win these high-end auctions without paying extreme prices.  I use a buffer of five seconds, which means that my bid lands five seconds before the end of the auction.  Two seconds would be ideal, but I'm not brave enough to do that.  Sometimes bids land slightly later than intended.  

I entered an eSnipe bid of something above $1000.  In the last day of the auction, I raised my bid two more times, just so that I wouldn't regret it too much when I lost.  I was prepared to pay what I bid, regardless.

I ended up winning the auction, and I don't regret what I bid.  I wanted the book, and I now have it.

The second-highest bidder is a reseller, the same one I mentioned in a recent post.  The third-highest bidder is probably a collector who wanted the book.  A rule of thumb from years ago was that the true value of an item sold in an eBay auction is whatever the third-highest bidder was willing to pay.  Since that person bid $1,024.00, the first printing of Mysterious Letter in dust jacket is solidly a $1,000+ book.

Here is what I upgraded.  Note:  I put stickers on the outside of the mylar covers of my first printing Nancy Drew books.

The jacket is okay but the book has a water stain and pencil markings on the back cover.  The book also has a loose illustration.  As I stated earlier in this post, I swapped out books to turn a second printing combo into the first printing, which is how I have a rough condition book matched with the jacket.

This is the book that I just purchased.

It is not in the very best of condition, but it is an improvement over what I already had.

Most Etsy Listings Now Reactivated

I reactivated most of my Etsy listings.

Jennifer's Series Books on eBay

I have held back some listings so that I can decide what to do with them.  

My eBay listings have all been reactivated.

Jennifer's Series Books on Etsy

On both sites, I converted many vintage teen books to bulk lots in order to get them moved out.  This is often problematic, because buyers look at a bulk lot and think that they can cherry-pick the lot and get one book for a bargain.  They also expect the postage to be unrealistically cheap as well, wanting me to ship the book as cheaply as Thriftbooks does.  It doesn't work that way.  

I price the bulk lots to sell.  I want to move out all of the books that are in the lot.  In order to do that, I must offer the books at a great price per book.  If I sell individually, then the price goes back up to what it was before the book was placed in the bulk lot. 

I will expand on these thoughts in an upcoming post that I wrote last week.  It details a story about what a prospective buyer expected and how unrealistic it was.

Nancy Drew #7 Clue in the Diary 1st Printing in DJ eBay Auction

A first printing of Nancy Drew #7 The Clue in the Diary in dust jacket sold recently on eBay.  (Click on images in order to see them in higher quality.)

Both the book and the jacket meet the points for the first printing, 1932A-1.  The auction closed at $2,605.00.  

Here are prices for examples that have sold in the past.

February 26, 2008 post:

#7 The Clue in the Diary w/DJ, 1932A-1, 1st printing, $2,750.00

June 3, 2008 post:

#7 The Clue in the Diary, 1932A-1 w/DJ, $1,650.88

July 12, 2014 post:

The 1932A-1 first printing of The Clue in the Diary, $997.56.

I believe that the first printing in jacket has also sold for around $3,500 on one occasion.  

A discussion about this auction and others that closed at the same time occurred on Facebook.  I made the following comments.  

On September 15, I wrote:

Two things about eBay these days:

1.  Prices are extremely volatile.  A valuable first printing in jacket could sell at auction in the thousands one day and for a song at auction few weeks later.  It all depends upon who's looking during the time that the auction is active.

2.  Prices are being driven by people buying to resell, very often to list on other marketplaces.  The winning bidder of the recent Shadow Ranch 1st w/DJ, tonight's Diary 1st w/DJ, and tonight's Bungalow Mystery non-1st w/DJ is a reseller who purchased the books under his buying ID.  He was the runner-up bidder on Mysterious Letter.  He will most likely be selling all of the books that he purchased.

I was asked who will buy the books from the reseller.  I responded:

Some of them put the books right back on eBay with the price greatly marked up.  They do often make a profit.  Some buyers inconsistently check listings online, or they may impulsively purchase, thinking a high price means better quality.  Buyers like that are likely quite well off.

Some resellers sell to celebrities who don't deal with common folk.  Celebrities are fine with paying a premium.  The eBay user Bookbid is someone who sells to celebrities.  His Nancy Drew books are priced extremely high, and he doesn't expect to sell his books to any of us, just the rich and famous.  Bookbid doesn't appear to have bid on any of these recent listings.  When he does bid, he almost always wins.

A common tactic is to buy on eBay and then sell on Amazon or AbeBooks.  There are buyers who only check sites like those and never check eBay.  Those buyers probably never interact with any of us and aren't in these Facebook groups.

While $2,605.00 sounds like a high-end price, consider that someone purchased the book in order to resell it.  The question is, how much do they think they can get for it?  $4,000 or $5,000...?