Book24 - The Mystery at Saratoga

From the back of the book - "Looking up, Trixie saw a man's form towering above her, hands on hips. The moonlight... outlined his figure and glinted on his bright red hair. Regan! Trixie though... Oh, no, Regan! We were so sure you were innocent!..."

Once again I'm back! It was a long time coming but I had a huge pile of books to be read (and still do) and every time I finished one three more would pop up. Now I have a new rule, Trixie is going to be the only book I read at night time. I can read my other books during the day but Trixie will be my bedtime material. Anyway, on with the blog...

A racing horse owner from Saratoga turns up in Sleepyside to visit the Wheelers and Regan disappears. Trixie and Honey track down their friend to Saratoga (Mr and Mrs Wheeler just happen to be going there for a few days and take Honey and Trixie with them) where he is trying to clear his name for a horse drugging incident 7 years earlier. Of course, we all know Regan didn't do it, despite the evidence that keeps piling up against him. In the end Honey and Trixie help clear Regan's name, get themselves in danger and find the real horse druggers. All's well that ends well.

Now, I love Regan, I really do but this book had Trixie and Honey falling into HUGE coincidences and following the flimsiest leads our girl detectives have ever come across. Their single biggest clue was that Regan has red hair. The book was published in 1979 (incidentally the year I was born) and it seems to imply that back then red haired males were super rare, to the point that at a large horse racing track Regan happened to be the only redhead there. Well, aside from Mr Wheeler, right? They're always saying that he and Jim look enough alike to be real father and son. Between Mr Wheeler, Jim and Regan it seems that red hair is one of the most common colours of hair on Glen Rd. This red hair leads Honey and Trixie all over the place and I just find it the silliest clue they've ever had to follow.

I think the author was mostly trying to rely on the horses this time as the main draw card. For some reason teenage girls like horses. I think they're gorgeous animals and all but I don't get their popularity with girls.

Anyway... This was far from my favourite book but aside from the flimsiness of the clues and the huge coincidences it wasn't that bad really. next up IS my favourite book, the Sasquatch Mystery. Which was the first Trixie book I ever read.