Behind the Purple Mask by Josephine Chase

As I mentioned previously, Behind the Purple Mask is a very difficult book to acquire.  This is unfortunate, because it is possibly the best book in the set.

This book was probably not written by Josephine Chase since she died a year before it was published.

In Behind the Purple Mask, Gay Larimore has been hired as elderly Mrs. Simpson’s companion.  Mrs. Simpson is demanding and unpleasant, but Gay soon learns that Mrs. Simpson is cranky because of her selfish son and daughter-in-law.

A prowler who wears a purple mask roams the house at night, and attempts are made on Mrs. Simpson’s life.  Gay tracks down several leads that she hopes will lead her to the identity of the man in the purple mask.

Gay has recently graduated from college, so she is probably in her early twenties.

The author used misdirection to cast suspicion on several characters.  I always enjoy mysteries the best when the solution is not blindingly obvious.  Overall, the mystery works out just as I anticipated, but a few plot points were at least somewhat unexpected.

This is an excellent book.

The Green Jade Necklace by Josephine Chase

In The Green Jade Necklace, Leslie Page has been recently orphaned.  She must earn her living, and she finally gets work at a newspaper.  Leslie's boss requests that she go undercover at a friend's party so that she can find out about the valuable green jade necklace whose previous owners have been murdered.  Leslie is supposed to seek information that will hopefully prevent the current owner from being murdered.  Instead, Leslie uncovers a plot to steal the valuable necklace, and she must try to prevent the theft.

Leslie is 16 years old.

I commented in my previous post that I do believe that Josephine Chase did actually write this book, published in 1931.  She died in 1931.  The word "toppo" appears on page 14.  I recall this odd word being used in the Marjorie Dean series. 

I purchased this book around 10 to 15 years ago after hearing that Josephine Chase's Detective Stories for Girls are well worth reading.  I did not get around to reading it until 2017.  I enjoyed it and knew that I needed to find the other four books.  I regretted that I waited so long to read it, since building the set was quite difficult and I must have missed many buying opportunities over those many years.

From page 22:

As a child [Leslie] had turned impatiently aside from the pleasant conventional books for girls, to revel instead in the stir and thrill of adventure stories.

I agree with that.  Conventional books for girls from the early part of the 20th century can be a bit dull at times.  Ironically, Josephine Chase's books for girls, such as the Grace Harlowe books, fall into that category.

This is a very good book.

My Reading Pace Slowdown or What Has Led Me Astray

This post is mostly off-topic for this blog.  The information shared should fully explain why my reading pace has slowed to a crawl.

In June, I wrote about how my reading pace had slowed.

2019 Mid-Year Reading Update

With everything that has happened in recent months, my interest in publishing reviews continues to be rather low and does appear to be further diminishing.  I can also see by my reading progress to this point in the year that I am reading at a slower pace than in each of the previous five years.

2014:  262 books
2015:  231 books
2016:  355 books
2017:  403 books
2018:  315 books

So far in 2019, I have read 114 books.  If I keep that pace, I will read 228 books by the end of the year.  Yes, that is still a fabulous number of books to read in one year, but it does show that my pace is dropping off.

Right.  Well, I'm not going to have read any 228 books by the end of the year.  I was recently still on pace to read 200 books by the end of the year, but I no longer expect that to happen.  It is possible, but my habits would have to change.

I detailed in the post linked above how stressful last school year was due to a textbook adoption that didn't go well.  I ended the school year very sick and sick into nearly half of my summer break.

I have autoimmune thyroid disease, known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.  The autoimmune aspect causes the trouble.  My body even launches attacks on the medication sometimes.  When that happens, I feel like I have the flu.  By the way, if you search online for information about the condition, the websites say how easy it is to treat. Clearly, the writers don’t have the condition, or they’d know better.

In early August, I finally was near optimal for the first time in five years.  It was great. Unfortunately, Acella Pharmaceuticals changed to a different supplier for one medication I take, NP Thyroid.  While Acella claims that the pills did not change, they actually did.  The pills are a different size and color.  Just know that any change in thyroid medication is the kiss of death for me.  My body goes through a hard adjustment that takes 2 to 2 1/2 months.  This doesn't mean that I feel awful all of the time, but I do have a lot of bad side effects and can feel sick for parts of each day.

Understand that my life is not horrible.  I am actually doing okay and often fine, in spite of what I just mentioned.  However, I often feel bad for part of each day.  I can actually feel fine one moment, awful a minute later which can last for just a few minutes or for 30 minutes up to a few hours, then instantly feel fine again.  On some days, I feel fine all day.  Unfortunately, I usually pay for it by feeling awful the entire next day.

I am nearing the end of my body's current hard adjustment to the change in medication.  I bottomed out right about on Wednesday, October 16, which coincided with the events described in this post.  It’s really unfortunate to be in a position where I must limit stress, and then I have people going off on me because they aren’t getting what they want.  I don’t think much of people who throw fits online in an attempt to bully others.

I also want to point out that my medication dosage has to be changed fairly frequently and that I typically go through at least one hard adjustment per year, sometimes two of them.  If I ever seem off, then you know why.  I cannot always cover the symptoms, even though I try hard to do so.

All of this, of course, slowed my reading pace.  But that wasn't the main cause.

In early 2017, I felt like I needed to explain why I read so many books in 2016, due to comments that expressed a bit too much amazement.

As I updated my reading progress this year, a few people had trouble grasping how I read so many books.  Reading is my favorite activity.  That should be enough explanation, but here's some more.  I read instead of watching movies.  In fact, I believe that I watched not even one movie in 2016, which may be the first time that has ever happened.  Think about how much time you have spent watching movies, and there you go.  There's nothing surprising about watching lots of movies, and there shouldn't be anything surprising about spending that same time reading lots of books.

My obsession has been reading, and I have stayed away from all other obsessions during the last six years.  Of course my reading pace was going to be fast.  Why wouldn't it have been?  I remain astounded that people thought it was so weird.  I can’t imagine what they will think when they read the rest of this post.

This is what happened.  Since around late May, I have been completely, totally obsessed with watching YouTube videos of Queen, Freddie Mercury, Queen + Adam Lambert, Adam Lambert, and anything connected with any and all of them.  I have been sucked into an abyss, and I cannot escape.

Now, here's the backstory.  This has been a latent interest for years.  I have liked Queen since the 1990s.  I watched American Idol in 2009 and liked Adam Lambert back then.  I didn't follow his career because I have no interest in modern music.  Besides, I was too busy reading.

It was earlier this year that I heard that Queen + Adam Lambert would open the Oscars, so I watched.  It still took a couple of months for the reaction to set in, but by late May, the flame had been lit.  I watched dozens of Queen + Adam Lambert videos and concerts.  Actually, I probably watched hundreds of them.  I spent the summer watching video after video and watched some videos over and over again.  I watched at least five Queen documentaries, the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and the Queen + Adam Lambert documentary.

I thought that this would die down when school started in August.  I would have less time, right?  No, that didn't stop me, not that I wanted to be stopped... Don't stop me now, I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball...

Next, Adam Lambert released his Velvet: Side A.  I didn't think I would care, because this is modern music.  I was wrong.  Adam Lambert reeled me in with his "Superpower."

I read only seven books in October.

Last night, I got the great idea of searching YouTube for performances of “Somebody to Love” by Queen and Adam Lambert from 2014.  I watched “Somebody to Love” over and over from different venues.  I didn’t get much reading done last night.

Reading is currently a low priority, although at least I am still reading.

The Mark of the Red Diamond by Josephine Chase

As stated in my previous post, the Detective Books for Girls series consists of five books, all attributed to Josephine Chase.

1.  The Mark of the Red Diamond, 1929
2.  The Green Jade Necklace, 1931
3.  Behind the Purple Mask, 1932
4.  The Golden Imp, 1933
5.  The Blue Shadow Mystery, 1935

However, Josephine Chase died in 1931.  Her death makes it unlikely that she wrote the last three titles in the series.  Having read all five books, I am certain that Chase did write the first two books.  The writing style changes somewhat with the third book and even more so with the fourth and fifth books.  Chase probably did not write the third book, and she definitely did not write the fourth and fifth books.

In The Mark of the Red Diamond, Dale Alden's aunt recently passed away, leaving her alone in the world.  Dale inherited a small sum of money, but she must now earn her living.  She takes a job as a social secretary to Mrs. Treverton in Palm Beach, Florida.  While traveling to Florida by train, Dale witnesses a hold-up by a man wearing a mask.  The man has a curious red diamond on his arm.  Later in Florida, that bandit is once again spotted.  Dale begins to suspect Mrs. Treverton's son, Adrien, of being mixed up with the bandit, who remains at large.

Dale is 17 years old.

On page 138, Dale and a detective need to follow the bandit by automobile.  The detective says that he cannot drive, so Dale drives the car for him.  I was surprised that a man cannot drive a car.  Usually in these old series books, the men all can drive, and the women might not be able to drive.  Of course, the female protagonists of series books always can drive.  They have special powers.

In one passage, Dale actually shoots the bandit in the leg.

Parts of this book are quite suspenseful.  This is a very good book.

Judging People Who Sell Books Part 2

This is the second part of a blog post from October 28, 2015.  It was written four years ago.  I believe that I delayed publication of the post for a month or so for some reason, then it slipped my mind. 

Please read "Judging People Who Sell Books" before proceeding.

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When I wrote about sellers being judged, some readers were concerned that they are being judged.  I actually do not believe that the vast majority of the collectors who sell are being judged.  I could be wrong, but I tend to think that just some sellers of series books are the ones who are judged. 

I have noticed that some collectors are rather apologetic when they sell their extras, as though there is something wrong with it.  They comment that they are not trying to be dealers.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with selling your extras.  There is nothing wrong with purchasing large lots of books to get just one or two books.*  Most collectors end up with extras when we end up finding a better copy of a book that we already had.  How else are we to be expected to get rid of those extras?  The books have to be sold.

Some sellers get judged because they have sold so much for so many years.  It can also have to do with a certain attitude they give off.  I can think of a few sellers who are rightfully judged by a small group of collectors, but it has to do with problems that those collectors have had with them.  Some sellers are very difficult buyers.  When those sellers purchase books to resell from other collectors, they make complaints to get partial refunds and also leave low DSRs in eBay feedback to try to hurt other collectors.  However, the few of us who are aware of what is really going on with those particular sellers never mention which sellers in a public forum, so the rest of you have no idea.  In fact, some of the people who should be judged by most collectors somehow do not get judged by the average collector.

The sellers who are judged are the ones who are perceived to be openly purchasing books solely for the purpose of selling them.  The point of my post was that collectors should not be so quick to condemn those particular sellers, that sometimes more is going on than is apparent.  Some collectors assume that other collectors are making this rich profit off of books purchased, when they may only be breaking even or making a narrow profit because they have to sell many books purchased years ago at a loss.

In my case, I am often upgrading books I have had for many years.  I also grow tired of books and decide to sell them.  In these two cases, I almost always have to sell the extras at steep losses.  I have no choice; the books are worth much less than what I paid for them 10 to 15 years ago.

I do use the extra books from large lots to balance that out.  It's the only way I can justify selling my older purchases.  If I can get a large lot for cheap enough, then I can sell the extras at enough of a profit to cancel out the losses from books purchased 10 to 15 years ago.  Since I use this method of reducing my losses, I assume that some other collectors are doing the same.  That's why I don't mind when collectors purchase books from me that they intend to sell in order to make a small profit.  Those collectors, like me, are also selling some books at steep losses.  That's also why I contend that collectors should keep a more open mind about people who sell series books.

Fortunately, I am not one of those collectors who paid $500 for the Judy Bolton book, The Secret of the Sand Castle, back in the early 1990s when it was impossible to find.  Imagine if you were one of those collectors and wanted to sell it now.  You'd be lucky to get even $100 for it and would probably have to take less.  That is the sort of situation that faces many collectors.  Can you blame them for trying to offset their losses?

Another reason that some collectors resent sellers is that they wish never to pay more than around $5.00 for a book, regardless of scarcity.  Since they want their books cheap, they don't like others selling them at high prices, even though other buyers are willing to pay that amount.  Furthermore, some collectors resent other collectors who are willing to pay high prices for books.

I'm not saying that everyone feels this way.  Probably most collectors do not, but since some do, it explains why those collectors have a problem with some sellers.

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*Note added November 10, 2019:  There is also nothing wrong with purchasing books solely for the purpose of reselling them.  If I am in a local store and see a book priced low that is worth a good bit more, then I will purchase it.  I recall that around five or so years ago, someone in one of the Facebook groups said that series collectors should never purchase books in a local store unless the books are needed for their collection.

That practice would only work if all series book collectors avoided purchasing books that are extras.  It's never going to happen.  If I don't purchase the book to resell, then most likely another local collector will purchase the book to resell.  Why should I pass on buying the book when it can offset some of the losses from selling the books I purchased many years ago?  Not only that, but I enjoy purchasing books to offer to other collectors online.  Sometimes I might purchase a book and offer it at just a slightly higher price online.  I'm not making much, but I am helping to get the book into someone's collection.  There is nothing wrong with that.

Detective Stories for Girls by Josephine Chase

In 2017, I became interested in the Detective Stories for Girls series by Josephine Chase.  The books were published by the Penn Publishing Company.

1.  The Mark of the Red Diamond, 1929
2.  The Green Jade Necklace, 1931
3.  Behind the Purple Mask, 1932
4.  The Golden Imp, 1933
5.  The Blue Shadow Mystery, 1935

I wrote about these books on my Facebook page on June 29, 2017.

I had owned The Green Jade Necklace for many years and had finally followed up on reading it during the summer of 2017.  I regretted that I had not tried it years before, since these books are extremely scarce and hard to find.  I had to have missed many purchasing opportunities.  I immediately set out to purchase the other four books, discovering quickly that completing the task was close to impossible.

I was able to acquire three of the four remaining titles in 2017.  I could not locate a copy of Behind the Purple Mask.  In the intervening time, I ran searches online quite often hoping that a copy, any copy, of Purple Mask would come up for sale, to no avail.

Several times I almost read the other three books in the set, but I held off hoping that Purple Mask would surface.  The books feature different characters, so it might seem silly that I did not go ahead and read the books I had.  I knew that if I were to read the other three and then later acquire Purple Mask, I would very likely never read Purple Mask.  I told myself that I would keep waiting.

I sometimes feel that certain actions in life can bring about other events.  I don't think that we can actually make things happen, aside from the obvious cause and effect, such as applying for a job can result in getting that job.  However, I like to think that certain decisions can somehow cause other things to come in line, in sort of a vague happenstance.

In August, I decided to try to get around to continuing to read the Grace Harlowe series, which I broke off reading in 2011.  I couldn't quite manage to start Grace Harlowe, so I decided to read Marjorie Dean.

Josephine Chase wrote the Grace Harlowe High School Girl and Grace Harlowe College Girl sets under the pseudonym of Jessie Graham Flower, A.M.  Chase also wrote the entire Marjorie Dean series under the pseudonym of Pauline Lester.

I must say that I thought of Josephine Chase's Detective Stories for Girls as I read through the Marjorie Dean books.  Perhaps my reading a set of books written by Josephine Chase brought about what I wanted to have happen.  Probably not, but I'd like to think so.

During the time that I was reading Marjorie Dean, I checked eBay one night and saw that a copy of Behind the Purple Mask had been listed on eBay.  That book had not been up for sale online to my knowledge at any time between June 2017 and August 2019, over two years.

I was able to purchase the book and knew that once I finished my reading of Marjorie Dean and possibly Grace Harlowe that I would immediately dive into the Detective Stories for Girls series by Josephine Chase.  This was a thrilling development which made me very happy.

Trying to Continue Reading the Grace Harlowe Series

It's bothered me for many years that I broke off reading the Grace Harlowe books in early 2011 and never got back to them.  On September 14 on Facebook, I posed questions about what I should try to do with the Grace Harlowe situation.  I have reordered the questions to match the order in which I actually tried the different options.

1. Should I read my reviews of the first 10 Grace Harlowe books and then try to read the 11th book, Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer? 

I read my reviews, but they meant nothing to me.  After reading my reviews, I tried to read Golden Summer (the book where I left off almost nine years ago) and couldn't do it since I didn't know the characters.

2. Should I read the first 10 Grace Harlowe books again so that I can read the 11th book, Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer?

This option was the only way I had any hope of reading Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer.  It was suggested that I was being too restrictive when I stated that I would need to read the first 10 books again.  Not at all.  I simply cannot force myself to read a book where the story continues from previous books and where I have no memory of the characters.  I only read books when I get some kind of enjoyment out of them.  I would get no enjoyment without refreshing my memory.

Therefore, I tried to begin reading the first 10 books again.  I read part of the first book and quit. I tried the tenth book, Grace Harlowe's Problem, and quit.  I then tried to read Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer again and quit again.

Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer is the counterpart to Marjorie Dean's Romance. Marjorie's romance was not interesting to me.  Grace Harlowe doesn't have a Leslie Cairns to liven up the series, so I have no interest in reading Golden Summer.

At this point, I wanted to skip to option #4 and forget the whole thing.

3. Should I try to read Grace Harlowe Overseas just to figure out whether I can stand that set? I fear that I needlessly spent lots of time and money assembling the Overseas and Overland Riders series a decade ago and that I may not like any of them. Others have said that Overland Riders is mostly unreadable.

I had already read the first 46 pages of Grace Harlowe Overseas before I tried option #1 and #2, so I continued with this option.  I continued reading Grace Harlowe Overseas and read all of it.  Grace Harlowe Overseas is a pretty good book, although I wasn't particularly in the mood to read books set during the First World War.  I had hope that I could continue with the Overseas set.

I lost hope temporarily at the start of Grace Harlowe with the Red Cross in France due to too many bombs going off over and over, and I wanted something else to happen.  Yes, the content is typical of a book about war, but I didn't want to read about war.  I was simply trying to follow up on a commitment I made a long time ago when I spent a lot of money on these books, started reading them, and then never finished reading them.

Fortunately, Red Cross in France gets past the constant bombing, although more bombing happens later.  Now, if you like things constantly getting blown up, then I highly recommend the beginning of Red Cross in France. You will love it.

I then tried to read the Grace Harlowe with the Marines at Chateau Thierry.  Grace faces explosions constantly.  Grace is braver and smarter than the soldiers.  I couldn't deal with it.

I tried the next book, couldn't read it, and decided to abandon the Grace Harlowe Overseas series.

4. Should I forget the whole thing? This one is tempting, but I hate that I have never gotten back to Grace Harlowe.

It's option #4 then.  I can't read these books.  I never liked the original two Grace Harlowe sets that much, which is why I broke off reading the books in 2011.

The Grace Harlowe situation has bothered because I put forth much effort and spent a lot of money acquiring all four sets of the Grace Harlowe books over 10 years ago, most of the books with dust jackets in the original Altemus editions.  It has nettled me that I never have read them and have never even tried to read them. If the books had been cheap, I wouldn't care.  These were not cheap books.

I have given it a good shot, so I have to be satisfied with that.  At the time that I wrote this post, I planned to sell all of my Grace Harlowe Overseas and Grace Harlowe Overland Riders books.  I decided to hold off on selling the Grace Harlowe High School Girl and Grace Harlowe College Girl books in order to make certain that I wanted to part with them.  Since then, I have decided to rid myself of all of my Grace Harlowe books.  Some of them have already been sold.  I am happy to have freed up some shelf space.

The Marjorie Dean Post-Graduate Series

The Marjorie Dean Post-Graduate series consists of the following books.

1.  Marjorie Dean, Post-Graduate, 1925
2.  Marjorie Dean, Marvelous Manager, 1925
3.  Marjorie Dean at Hamilton Arms, 1925
4.  Marjorie Dean's Romance, 1925
5.  Marjorie Dean Macy, 1926
6.  Marjorie Dean Macy's Hamilton Colony, 1930

Marjorie Dean has graduated from college and returned to Hamilton to work on Brooke Hamilton's biography.  Leslie Cairns also remains in Hamilton, solely for the purpose of getting even with Marjorie for what she perceives to be Marjorie's wrongs against her.

Marjorie's role throughout all of the Marjorie Dean books is to serve as a good example of how to live.  Her perfection does not bother me as it does some other readers.  My problem is that I do not find Marjorie to be very interesting in the Post-Graduate series.  I need a certain amount of excitement in my books—the excitement can be psychological without any kind of action.  I dislike lame romance, detailed event planning, and excessive teasing between the characters.  The Marjorie Dean Post-Graduate series is full of that kind of content.

I found Marjorie to be rather boring in this set of books.  Her story arc had pretty much run its course by the time these books came around.  I was not interested in Brooke Hamilton or his biography.  I didn't care about Marjorie's social events or various charitable endeavors.  That is, Marjorie is a wonderful person and her various endeavors are splendid, but I did not find reading about them to be interesting.

Marjorie's nemesis, Leslie Cairns, is a different story.  She is the real star of the Marjorie Dean College and Marjorie Dean Post-Graduate sets.  Leslie is the most interesting of out all series book rivals.  I would go so far to say that she is easily one of my very favorite characters out of all series books, top five for certain, but more probably in the top two.

I have always loved Lenora Whitehill from the Beverly Gray series, and I love Leslie Cairns just as much as Lenora.  It's odd to love a villain, but Leslie experiences remarkable personal growth.  She begins as a completely awful character who hates Marjorie for no reason that anyone can tell.

Leslie does terrible things to Marjorie over and over.  She causes endless trouble, but Marjorie perseveres.  Foreshadowing lets the reader know that Leslie will face consequences eventually.  Leslie's story gets really interesting as that time approaches and each of Leslie's schemes ends in utter disaster for Leslie.  Still, she schemes.  Finally, Leslie loses something very important to her.  She continues to scheme.

Marjorie does Leslie a favor anonymously, and Leslie is later informed that Marjorie was the person who helped her.  Slowly, Leslie begins to understand.  She realizes that Marjorie is not the horrible person she thought.  Leslie even reflects that she has no idea why she didn't like Marjorie.  She slowly begins the process of becoming a better person.  As Leslie works to right her wrongs, she then becomes the victim of bullying and gets to experience how she made others feel.

Leslie's transformation from a snobbish, selfish, and mean bully to a caring, worthwhile person occurs over the course of 10 books and is a magnificent story arc.

From Leslie's first appearance in Marjorie Dean, College Freshman:

"I have heard that some of those high schools are really excellent," drawled Miss Cairns.  "I have heard too that they turn out a lot of digs and prigs.  Girls, you understand, that have to get all they can out of high school because college is out of the question for them.  I feel sorry for them.  I never knew any of that sort, though.  In fact, you are the first high school girls I have ever met.  What?"

Leslie has an interesting habit of punctuating her speech with "What?"  I came to love that interesting quirk.  Leslie also has what is described as a "hob-goblin laugh" where she leans her head back and laughs silently.

From the last book, Marjorie Dean Macy's Hamilton Colony:

Leslie shook hands warmly with Delia, pleased by the maid’s friendly sincerity.  She could not help mentally contrasting her present democratic attitude with that of her former snobbish contempt for persons in humbler circumstances than herself.  "Cairns II, you're improving," was her whimsical thought.  "There’s a lot of room yet for improvement, though, so don't get chesty."

Even though Leslie has magnificently transformed, a touch of her imperious attitude comes out at moments.  In another passage, Marjorie sees the old Leslie for just a moment.  "Watching Leslie’s face Marjorie glimpsed the shadow of the old dominating leader who had ruled the frivolous San Soucians by sheer determined will."  After all, Leslie's transformation would not be convincing if a touch of her former self were not present.  Nobody changes completely without retaining some of their former personality.

Leslie is the only character featured on the cover of Marjorie Dean, Marvelous Manager.  It is highly unusual for a series book villain to be pictured on the cover instead of the titular character.  And the final book in the Marjorie Dean series is mostly about Leslie with very little about Marjorie. I like Leslie so much that I wish she had had her own spin-off series.

I highly recommend the Marjorie Dean College series and Marjorie Dean Post-Graduate series.  This recommendation is based on Leslie Cairns and her extraordinary redemption.