Book One - The Secret of the Mansion

From the back of the book - "Trixie sucked in her breath. In the bright moonlight, she could distinctly see the head and shoulders of a man rising above the thicket. He was moving stealthily across the clearing, like a cat stalking it's prey, and she felt a little shiver run up and down her spine..."

So, this book introduces us to Trixie, Honey and Jim (who are really the core of the main group of characters) and of course most of the major supporting characters of the series like Ms Trask, Bobby, the Belden parents, Regan, Reddy, Mr Lytell etc.

What do I remember from my last reading of it YEARS ago? I remember Trixie being bored because Mart and Brian are away at camp, I remember the snake bite, the "mad dog" and the fiery climax. I also remember the basics - Jim has run away from his cruel stepfather to find his uncle who is his only living relative but Mr Frayne (Jim's Uncle) is an old miser who is laying in hospital, unconscious and almost dead. Trixie and her new friend, Honey meet Jim and believe the local tale of half a million dollars is hidden in Mr Fraynes run down mansion. And that really is the basic plot.

So I started reading the book this morning and am already done. They really are fairly small books when you're used to much bigger "adult" sized books but even in the short tale that it is it manages to fit in a whole lot of story. Aside from being fairly fast paced it actually gives you some character development, especially for Honey, who starts out as a poor little rich girl but quickly grows beyond that thanks to Trixie and Jim. I remember Trixie and Jim being my favourites but this time it was Honey, she really was just so much more than I remember her being and so willing to try out new things and face her fears. At first it seemed that Trixie was a bit meaner to Honey than I remembered but then I thought about it and Honey's world and attitude and stuff is probably as alien to Trixie as Trixie's is to Honey so it's no wonder there's that bit of misunderstanding at first but because we only see things from Trixie's side really we don't get the same insight into what Honey is thinking about Trixie :)

Couple things I found strange - I remember that in the books it gets commented on later on that Jim and Mr Wheeler have such similar hair and eye colour (red/green) that they are easily taken for real father and son but at no time does Honey mention to Jim that her father has red hair and green eyes too and Mr Lytell doesn't mention it either when he runs into the three of them out riding. Also, I seem to remember Regan having red hair but this wasn't mentioned either.

This book ends with the setup for the next book - Jim's run away again and Trixie and Honey are going off to find him and tell him he doesn't have to go back to his cruel stepfather and that he really has inherited half a million dollars. Coupled with the fact that this book establishes Mart and Brian as future characters and I remember in the next book the Red Trailer belongs to Di Lynch's family it really is obvious that the first lot of books (1-6) were written by the original author (Julie Campbell Tatham) and she obviously had a general idea of where the story was going for those books.

Anyway, next I'm on to the Red Trailer Mystery and I'll post more after I have at least made a start on it