Mill Creek #9 Prince Goes West and #10 Three Straw Men

In the Mill Creek Irregulars #9, The Prince Goes West, Sim and Pete go camping on Andy's Island without waiting for Steve, who later catches up.  Sim is dismayed when Steve and Pete take an interest in the strange actions of two men across the river.  The boys investigate after dark and discover a kidnapped prince!

This is the only book in which Steve travels outside of Wisconsin to another state, when he briefly stays in Chicago.  Except for this trip and for a brief passage in another book where Steve is on the Mississippi River between Iowa and Wisconsin, the entire series is set in the state of Wisconsin.  I always like series books best that are set near the main character's home.  This series is that type.

The boys have an acquaintance, Mr. Barton, who is in the Secret Service.  He appears briefly in three of the books, including this one.  On page 149, Mr. Barton is impressed with Steve's ability to solve mysteries.

I didn't say anything more.

Mr. Barton didn't either, but from time to time I caught him looking at me with a twinkle in his eye and a barely concealed smile.

When we drove in toward the landing, he said, "If you should ever consider a career in the Secret Service, let me know."

"No danger," I said.  "I'm going to be a writer."

"What a waste!" he said.

The title of this book is clever.  I knew before reading the book that a prince was involved in the plot.  I thought that the prince would go west, as in going towards the western part of the country.  Instead, the title refers to Steve having the prince wear his old clothing, so the prince went west, as in dressing in a western fashion.

I greatly enjoyed this book.

In the Mill Creek Irregulars #10, The Three Straw Men, Steve notices an unusual delivery of sugar to Folsom's Fashion Center.  Later, Steve eavesdrops on the Folsoms and overhears an argument that could be about something nefarious.

On page 41, I learned that Steve doesn't know how to ride a bicycle.  Back when he had tried to learn, he kept falling off, so he decided not to bother.  I had wondered earlier in the series why Steve and Sim never ride on bicycles, and this explains it.  Since Derleth modeled Steve after himself, I wonder if Derleth never learned how to ride a bicycle.

The title of this book is also clever.  On page 142, Grandfather Adams explains that the culprits "kept on making mistakes to cover up the first ones.  They thought they were iron men, but they were only made of straw—just three straw men who made a career of fooling the village."

Grandfather Adams is one of my favorite characters in this series.  He is full of wisdom, and he comes to Steve's rescue rather often.  He always has faith in Steve and knows that regardless of how a situation looks that Steve is honest.  Grandfather Adams also enjoys hearing about Steve and Sim's escapades.

I greatly enjoyed reading about Steve and Sim.  As I have already stated, this series is, to me, most similar to the Brains Benton books by Charles Morgan, III, and to the Roger Baxter series.  There is a magic that all three series have.

Mill Creek #7 House by the River and #8 Watcher on the Heights

In the Mill Creek Irregulars #7, The House by the River, Sim wants to go on a canoe trip down the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi.  Steve turns the tables on Sim by acting like he won't be able to go.  Sim has to manipulate Steve into going on the trip, or so he thinks.

Once the boys reach Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi, they spot an old house on the shore of the river.  The house appears to be empty, but the cellar is unlocked.  Steve insists on exploring, against Sim's better judgment.  As always, Steve's impulse uncovers a mystery and gets the boys into trouble.

I really like the cover art for this book.  A house by a river is guaranteed to provide a great mystery.

This is an excellent book. 

In the Mill Creek Irregulars #8, The Watcher on the Heights, Steve convinces Sim to explore the Wisconsin Heights.  While exploring, the boys find evidence that a man is spending time watching another man fish.  They soon realize that the watcher is planning to kill the fisherman.

This is just an outstanding story from start to finish.  I can't really get into why without spoiling it; you just have to read it to understand why.  The book gets deep into discussions of what justice really is, and how justice might be served differently from what one expects.  There's no clear cut answer.

The climax of this book is so funny.  I ended up reading that part slowly, because I kept laughing uncontrollably, and one can't keep reading while laughing hard.

Derleth's descriptions are so wonderful.  From page 113:

The June sunlight slanted into the harness shop from low in the west at this hour, filling it with mellow warmth.  Both doors were open, and a fragrant wind came in at the front, pungent with the musk of the river, and drifted through the shop and out the back, carrying along with it the smell of leather and of the oil dip, and the dusty binder aprons which hand been brought into the shop for repairs.

While reading this book, I finally determined that this series most reminds me of the Brains Benton books by Charles Morgan, III, and the Roger Baxter series. 

Mill Creek #5 Tent Show Summer and #6 Irregulars Strike Again

In the Mill Creek Irregulars #5, The Tent Show Summer, Steve and Sim attend the first performance of the Brooks' Stock Company's tent show.  When Mike Kurth tries to shut down the tent show based on a strange tip, Steve smells a mystery.  With Sim and Pete's help, Steve keeps an eye on the tent show and tries to figure out why someone would want it shut down.

I don't have much to say about this particular title, but I greatly enjoyed it.  I enjoyed #4 in the series more than #2 and #3.  I enjoyed #5 more than #4.  The series gets better and better with each title.

In the Mill Creek Irregulars #6, The Irregulars Strike Again, Steve and Sim return to Great-uncle Joe's farm for a short vacation between Christmas and New Year's.  Steve's real plan is to camp in a cabin, much to Sim's dismay.  Steve gets his way as usual, and the boys get settled in the cabin.  They soon notice that Sepple Bollinger is pretending to fish in the creek.  Steve decides that Sepple is a lookout for a group of poachers, so he drags Sim, protesting all the way, into another mystery.

These books are quite realistic.  The boys come close to being arrested (yet again!) in this book because the adults and law enforcement simply will not believe their wild stories, which just so happen to be true.  In this case, Steve tries to convince the adults that the poachers are carrying the deer off in a hearse.  Now who would believe that?

Even though Sim complains all the time, I realized, even in the first book in the series, that he genuinely likes Steve.  Derleth does not come out and state it in the earlier books, but I had pegged Sim as someone who is too cautious and just loves to complain.  By this point in the series, Derleth makes clear how Sim really feels, despite his complaints.

On page 58, Sim does his usual complaining, claiming that he won't go.

"Stay here," I said.  "Go on.  Stay. —The fact is they couldn't pay you to keep away from Ferry Bluff."

Sim grinned a little sheepishly.  He knew it was true.  He knew that for all the bucking and kicking he did, it was second nature for him to do it, and he meant to stick by me.  He always did.  Oh, I had to suffer for it, hearing his complaints, but he always stuck.

And on page 72.

Sim grunted.  "I got the feeling you're heading me into trouble again."

I had to grin.  Always going on about getting into trouble.  Always griping about what I got him into, and sure to be angrier than a wet cat if he missed out on anything.

Steve's other friend, Pete, has a knack for looking stupid while obtaining information.  Pete is described as follows on page 137.

No one would have suspected, looking at him, that Pete was sharp enough for even rudimentary thinking.  He had one of those bland, expressionless faces that persuade people to believe their owners have rooms for rent between their ears.  Pete's rooms were highly organized, even if he didn't advertise it.

This is another excellent entry in the series.

Mill Creek Irregulars #3 Pinkertons Ride Again and #4 Black Hawk Island

In the Mill Creek Irregulars #3, The Pinkertons Ride Again, Steve and Sim overhear some men talking about robbing the train just before it pulls into Sac Prairie.  The boys have no doubt about what the men's plans are, but every adult they tell refuses to believe them.  In fact, Grandfather Adams is convinced that Steve is writing a story, and he tells Steve to call it The Pinkertons Ride Again!  And perhaps he will, someday.

It should be noted that August Derleth published some of his work under the pseudonym, Stephen Grendon, so Steve is a semi-autobiographical character.

On page 63, Steve and Sim try to figure out why the men plan to rob the train.  Sim suggests that the bank's money is the only possible reason, but Steve has an idea of his own.

"Sure.  But what about something we don't know about?  Like maybe somebody's last will and testament is coming in on that train, and if it's stolen, then an earlier will stands up in court, and these fellows are hired to steal the will..."

Sim began to giggle.  "I can see what your ma means when she says you read too much of the wrong kind of stuff."

Yeah, like series books!

The plot of this book creeps along.  This book is not quite as good as the first two books, but I still very much enjoyed it.  The climax is hilarious.

In the Mill Creek Irregulars #4, The Ghost of Black Hawk Island, Steve convinces Sim to go camping on Black Hawk Island.  The boys camp in a tent near an old ruin, and at night, a ghostly Indian appears and then disappears.  Steve is certain that someone is trying to scare the boys away.  He believes that something valuable has been hidden on the island, so the boys investigate.

With this book, the premise for the series falls into a pattern that continues through the rest of the books.  It's like Derleth was feeling his way into a series with the first three books, and with this book, all elements come together perfectly.

Every book begins with Steve trying to convince Sim to go on a trip.  Sim is overcautious and never wants to commit.  Steve uses reverse psychology on Sim, and Sim always agrees to go, complaining all the way.  The boys get into trouble, as predicted by Sim, and often end up in jail, since the adults don't believe their side of the story.  Ending up in jail is a running gag through the series.

Page 56 has a fun exchange between Steve, Sim, and an Indian boy.

At the last minute he heard us and turned, and the moment he turned I knew why he was so dark-skinned.  He was an Indian boy, about our own age—one of those Winnebago from the camp on the other side of Upham woods.

"How!" I said.

He backed out and got to his feet.  He was slender—but not as skinny as Sim—and there wasn't a bit of abashment on his face for having been caught snooping around our tent.  Before he could say something, Sim began talking to him in sign language—a hangover from his Lone Scout days.

The Indian boy looked from me to Sim and back to me.  Then he began to laugh.

"Can't you talk?"  he asked Sim.  And to me he just repeated, " 'How!' " and laughed all the harder.

Those silly white boys!

This is an excellent book.

Mill Creek Irregulars #1 Moon Tenders and #2 Special Detectives

In the Mill Creek Irregulars #1, The Moon Tenders, Steve Grendon and Sim Jones plan a raft trip down the Wisconsin river.  Steve chooses the boys' destination as Bogus Bluff where he believes a treasure might be hidden.

August Derleth frequently mentions the titles of books, and he mentions Tom Swift on page 17.

This book doesn't have a mystery, aside from the idea of searching for a treasure.  However, the treasure hunt does not go as the reader might expect.  In the typical series book, the boys would go after the treasure, find it, and return triumphant.  That's not what happens.

I appreciate that Derleth does not throw names at us constantly.  Characters are introduced gradually, and the story is kept simple and easy to follow.  The descriptions of the setting, including sounds and smells, is outstanding.  The humor is fabulous.  The plot moves slowly, but the writing is so good that the reader is engaged.  The reader is able to experience what the boys do exactly as they experience it.  The book is meant to be read slowly and savored.

In the Mill Creek Irregulars #2, The Mill Creek Irregulars: Special Detectives, Steve and Sim stay on Steve's Great-uncle Joe's farm.  Soon after their arrival, Great-uncle Joe and Great-aunt Lou decide that something mighty strange is going on at Jake Riley's farm.  The adults decide that Jake is holding his daughter, Molly, captive, and they call on Steve and Sim to investigate.

This book is unusual in that the adults recruit the boys to do detective work for them.  Normally in series books, the children investigate without the knowledge of the adults.  In this book, the adults insist that the boys get involved, not that Steve minds at all.  Sim, of course, is reluctant.

On page 11, Fred tells the boys how country life is different from town life.  "You town boys think you have to go to a movie every other night, or watch a parade, or go in and out of the stores."  He tells them that they should spend time learning about the country.  I found this perspective interesting, because the town in which Steve and Sim live is quite small.  In the 2010 census, the two towns that were used as the basis for Sac Prairie in these books had a combined population of 7,444.  That's small, and the population would have been smaller in 1922.  But still, boys who live in a small town do have a different lifestyle and more to do than boys who live on a farm in the country.

The mystery is, in my opinion, quite lame in this book, but the book does show a gradual development from the adventure story of the first book towards what the series will become, which is a mystery series.

As I read this book, I tried to figure out how to describe what these books are like so that others will have an idea.  I already mentioned how rich the descriptions are, which is what makes these books so charming.  I first thought of the early Trixie Belden books, because they take place close to Trixie's home.  These books are of the same type with adventures close to Steve's home.

I also thought of Charles Dickens because of how Derleth describes his characters.  I was delighted later, as I was reading the fifth book, The Tent Show Summer, when on page 62, a character is described as "hard to believe in.  I mean, he looked like some kind of character that had stepped out of a book by, say, Dickens or somebody like that."  Perfect!  Even Derleth knew that he had created characters similar to Dickensian characters. 

This book is very similar in quality to the first book.  I enjoyed it just slightly less, but it is still a very good book. 

The Mill Creek Irregulars Series by August Derleth

I just finished reading the Mill Creek Irregulars series and have added the Mill Creek Irregulars section to my website.  On the main page of the section, I placed some useful links at the bottom, in particular, a link to an excellent article about the series.  When I create a page for my site, I do not wish to copy what has already been published elsewhere.  It is so easy to plagiarize someone else without intending to do so.  The article to which I linked has some excellent quotes from the series, and I chose to use different quotes in my reviews, which will be published later this month. 

I adapted the publisher summaries for the summaries placed on my site.  Publisher summaries are often quite sloppy and inconsistent, and this was certainly the case for the Mill Creek Irregulars.  The summaries generally were in the past tense, but a few were in present tense.  I like for my summaries to be in present tense, so I had to shift the tense of most of the summaries.  I also had to reduce the length of some summaries which were too long.

Most of my comments about the series will be forthcoming in my reviews.  I spent a lot of time studying maps as I read through the books.  I took the screen captures shown here.  I did not wish to put the screen captures in with the reviews, so I created this post in order to place them here.  I wanted to do so in case others find the maps useful while reading the books.

The Mill Creek Irregulars series by August Derleth is set in Sac Prairie, Wisconsin.  Sac Prairie is the slightly fictionalized name of Sauk Prairie, a real location in Wisconsin.  Sauk Prairie is the nickname of the adjacent cities of Sauk City and Prairie Du Sac, Wisconsin.  As always, click on each image to see a larger version.

All of the locations described in the Mill Creek Irregulars series are based on actual locations in Wisconsin.  Readers of the series who are not familiar with Wisconsin will find it quite helpful to view maps of the locations, since they are described in painstaking detail in the series.

Steve and Sim spend lots of time at the harness shop, and the location of the harness shop is shown on the following map.

Steve and Sim explore various locations along the Wisconsin River, including Black Hawk Island.

In The House on the River, the boys explore an old house on the island part of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.

The Mill Creek Irregulars is an outstanding series, and I highly recommend it.  While reading the books, I tried to figure out which series is most similar.  The easiest way to convey to others whether a series will appeal to them is to state which series are similar.  I first thought of the first five Trixie Belden books by Julie Campbell; I mention only the first five because that group contains the kind of exploring and adventure that is similar to the Mill Creek Irregulars.  I thought of Charles Dickens novels because of the outstanding characterization and detailed descriptions.  Finally, I settled on the Brains Benton books by Charles Morgan, III, and the Roger Baxter series as most similar to the Mill Creek Irregulars, both of which I consider just as outstanding as the Mill Creek Irregulars.