Stars: 5 out of 5Pros: Characters and plot still entertain
Cons: Diana can be annoying emotional
The Bottom Line:
Fourth in the series
Still introducing Bob-Whites
Classic mystery
Meet the Newest Bob-White
I consider the first three books of the Trixie Belden kids
mystery series to be the foundational books. In them, we meet 13 year old
Trixie and her family, watch her become friends with Honey Wheeler, also 13,
and see the two of them find 15 year old Jim Frayne and attempt to help him. In
book three, Trixie, Jim, Honey, and Trixie's two older brothers Mart and Brian
form the semi-secret club the Bob Whites of the Glen.
Yet The Mysterious Visitor introduces us to a new main character who
quickly joins the Bob Whites. Why I don't consider this one a foundational book
is beyond me. Especially since it is just as good as the others.
Diana Lynch and Trixie Belden used to be friends.
Ironically, they stopped spending much time together once Diana's family
because rich and moved out of town closer to Trixie's family. But Honey notices
that Diana is lonely, so she starts to makes friends with the girl. Soon, Diana
is coming back out of her shell and all ready to join the Bob Whites.
Everything is going well, except for one thing.
Diana's long lost uncle has recently shown up from Arizona . He insists on
making her life as miserable as possible, even embarrassing her in front of her
friends. Trixie and the gang want to help out, but Trixie thinks there's something
sinister going on here. What is it? And can Trixie prove it?
Proving Trixie's suspicions is about the only real mystery
here. Things were obvious to me the first time I read it, but watching Trixie
try to prove it was entertaining enough to keep me turning pages. Everything
comes together in a thrilling climax that is mentioned often in many of the
later books. Additionally, there's a nice sub-plot involving the Bob White's
new clubhouse that adds to the fun.
The Lynches were mentioned in the second book of the series,
but this is the first time we really get to meet any of them. They get plenty
of page time, which makes sense since it is the book that introduces Diana. In
fact, this is probably the book where she gets the most attention.
What makes that a shame is that she is so over emotional. I
don't blame her in the least considering the transition from poor to rich
hasn't been easy on her or her family. But at times I want to slap her. Some of
the later ghost authors picked up on this tendency; something I don't think was
supposed to be a regular part of her character, especially considering how she
has changed by the end of the story.
The boys don't get as much attention in this book, which
makes sense since the focus is on Diana. Still, all the characters are strong
and likable. There are so many of them that it can be hard to keep everyone
straight if you start here, but careful readers should be able to do that.
Since this book was originally written in the 1950's, it
does have a bit of a dated feel to it. Today's kids might not get all the
references or laugh at how cheap stuff is. These will only be a problem for the
most reluctant readers as the plot and characters are strong enough to hook
anyone.
Every time I reread this book, I remember that it is
stronger than I give it credit for being. The Mysterious Visitor will entertain fans of
the series and could hook new readers as well.
And once you're hooked, you'll want to read the rest of the Trixie Belden Mysteries in order.
I agree about how annoying Diana is. While she does not have as much "screen time" as the rest of the Bob-Whites in the series in general (with the exception of Dan), this never bothered me because I didn't like her very much. Dan on the other hand I liked a lot. As a kid, a friend told me that Dan and Diana didn't have as much page time in the books, because their characters wanted too much money to be in them! (Like they were real actors!) As silly as that sounds, I believed it, which shows how young I was when I was first reading these (in the early 80s)
ReplyDeleteLOL on that explanation. I'm sure the real reason has to do with juggling so many characters at one time. More than 5 or so in a scene is hard, so it is much easier to write some of them out of the book.
DeleteDiana can be done well, and there are times I like her. And there are times she is very annoying. It just depends on how she is written.
Another vote for "Diana is annoying" here, although I also agree that this wasn't meant to be a permanent quality. I think Campbell meant to portray Diana as being at the end of her rope, emotionally speaking, and that she didn't intend for many of the negative aspects shown here to last. IMHO, Diana was insecure because of all the changes in her life, and because she felt lost and without friends. This isn't the case through much of the rest of the series.
ReplyDeleteThat said, this was one of my favorites despite Diana. First off, I loved the "thrilling climax," but I also like that Trixie and Mart ended up in it because they independently came up with different-but-equally-risky-and-crazy schemes. Few authors make such good use of this aspect of their "almost twinness." I think some Kathryn Kennys didn't understand that Mart's refusal to play the supportive "Honey" role doesn't mean he isn't interested in Trixie's mysteries, and also don't realize that he can be just as reckless as Trixie in pursuit of the truth.
I suppose that the depth of characterization that Julie Campbell established is a lot tougher to imitate or understand than the shallower characters of the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew.
Hello, Mark! I am revisiting your page because I am rereading my Trixie books, and something occurs to me now which for whatever reason never did before: the false Uncle Monty is a complete idiot! I mean, why is he acting the way he did?
ReplyDeleteIf I want to scam a family, I would ingratiate myself with them and say that I need to go back to Arizona with funds to help my fading business or something. The way he acts is annoying to Diana AND her father (that's mentioned a few times) With Mr Lynch the holder of the purse strings, tweaking his nerves seems a bad idea! Also, there is no way he can be sure that Di is the way she is. I would have complained about him to my parents (especially my father who was not the blood relative and was already sympathetic) the first chance I got!
This was definitely his undoing, because his meanness was what first clued Trixie in to his being an impostor (which really doesn't make much sense, but whatever)
I can kind of understand why he was at the kids' party instead of the adults. He might have sensed that he wasn't fooling Regan with his rodeo nonsense, and realised that pulling the wool over the adult friends of the Lynches would be harder than impressing some kids, but there was NO reason for him to take charge of the party and include things Di doesn't like. Even the scary creatures and wallpaper served no purpose (He didn't place them there to hide the portraits because Trixie and the boys only talk about this after the decorations were already up, and the portraits were out in public view for a long time before that, so obviously Gregor Mendel's genetics discoveries weren't on his mind)
Even bold Trixie wasn't on her game. Rather than letting "Uncle Monty" intimidate her and stop her from viewing the portraits at the party, I would have made some comment about how it is so good to see the house again, and Di, can you have the wallpaper pulled back so I can admire the lovely family portraits again? This would have been a lot safer to do at a party with dozens of guests as witnesses than in private at night.
Or I would have asked Honey to look, or the boys since Monty was sticking so close to Trixie.
I know I'm looking back on this as a 45 year old adult, and for some reason, I didn't think of this as a kid, but I KNOW that even at 13, I would have done something like that if this happened to me in real life!
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I said this either, but Trixie's friends (especially the boys) annoyed me a lot throughout the series. I mean it makes sense that they poo-poo her suspicions, but since she is proved right so often, by book 10 or so, they should start taking her seriously!
Another thing, did I ever mention that as far as series regulars overall in the series, Mart is my least favourite character? He seems to just be mean for no reason! I have a friend who teased like that. I actually told him how much it annoyed me only about a year or two ago (we knew each other for almost 30 years). I just don't understand people like that. But with my friend, I at least didn't say much over the years-Trixie gets visibly and vocally annoyed with her all the time! Mart only really grew on me later in the series when he became interested in computer programming (in the '80s books), and in the book where he was framed (he was a lovelorn columnist)
You know Di annoys me (especially here), but Dan is a character I really liked and he wasn't in the series much (see above for my childish explanation as a kid)
Anyway, this was the only book so far (of the 4) that I had a new thought that I wanted to share. If I come across more, I hope you don't mind if I comment on them (even if it is in a book I already made a comment on on your website)
Oh, and before I forget, a couple of older ladies are doing a podcast and are reviewing the Trixie books! Their podcast is here:
https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/books-from-the-basement-lisa-burkett-and-LktbPsNSaor/#podcast
Thanks for taking the time to read this!
One more question: I don't know if there is an easy way to navigate your website that I don't know about, but have you ever read and reviewed any of the books I suggested to you a few years ago? (If not, I totally understand-I am just asking because if you did, I would be VERY interested in reading your reviews of them, and don't want to miss it)
Sean