Book 25 - The Sasquatch Mystery

From the back of the book - "Trixie crept to the tent opening... She could make out nothing... Then she saw it! But what was it? Trixie went rigid with fear. A very tall thing stood what seemed like only a few feet from Cap. Arms dangled past its knees. Its head and shoulders were joined like grotesque snowballs pushed together to make a snaowman. Covered with fur from head to toe, it stood upright like a man..."

Trixie and the other Bob-Whites (without Dan, of course) and Miss Trask are in the wilderness of Ohio (excuse me while I Google where Ohio is. Ok, back. Well, that's interesting, way further east and north than I expected) visiting their cousin Hallie (remember her from book 16?) and her brothers Cap and Knut. Sorry about all those brackets. So, Trixie and the others are enjoying a nice relaxing camp in the places where Hallie's family are from. Their lives are suddenly thrown into turmoil when a Sasquatch scare runs through the area and all the other campers flee. Despite Trixie and Cap having their own bigfoot encounter the Bob-Whites and their friends decide to stay. Then, after Trixie takes a tumble down a log chute and has a second, closer encounter with the sasquatch, they return to camp to find Di and Miss Trask saw Cap get kidnapped by the bigoot! Also missing is Hallie, Knut and Cap's frined, a local miner named Tank. With Cap and Tank missing the crew decide that they have to stay and keep looking for them. Of course, this leads to an adventure with mystery, danger, fake bigfoots, gold thieves, a packrat and Di kicking a baby bear!

Needless to say, in the end the truth is revealed, Tank and Cap are found safe and the gold thieves are caught thanks to Trixie and her friends. Of course, there's still the case of the REAL sasquatch that Trixie encountered twice that's left to our own thoughts, is it real, what is it? It's the REAL mystery this time.

So, this book is my favourite Trixie book and the first one I ever read, thanks to my sister leaving it beside the lounge when she was reading it. That may colour what I think of the book, so don't expect me to be objective :P

First, let's look at the Ohio Beldens, Hallie, Cap and Knut (Capleton and Knutson are their full names). With the similarities to Trixie's family you have to wonder if the author was trying for a spin-off series. Knut is the Brian of the team, the eldest, the sensible one, the leader in a tough spot. Cap is the Mart, he might annoy his sister sometimes but they love each other and he loves the world around him and is very smart. And of course Hallie, hot tempered, smart and loyal to her family and friends, she's so like Trixie it's not funny. I think these characters could have spun off into their own series if they'd wanted to, they even introduced several of their friends who could have made up the rest of their version of the Bob-Whites.

Di. Once again, for the majority of the book Di whinges and whines and gets on everyone's nerves. Poor Di. Though it's all made up for when she makes fudge and kicks a baby bear and manages to not get mauled by the mother bear. It's a ridiculous scene that seems to be there just to give Di something to do. Which is hard in this book, with the extended cast of main characters even Honey, Jim, Brian and Mart don't do much, becoming background actors for Cap, Knut, Hallie and Trixie to play off.

The sasquatch! Obviously the author this time around knew what they were talking about, maybe through research, maybe they had their own encounter. The fake bigfoot that forms part of the mystery is a cute gimmick and could easily have been used without the two real encounters with the real thing. I think the encounters were added because the author was a believer or at least interested int he subject. I like it, maybe because I love cryptozoology and stuff like that but I think it adds an atmosphere that you don't get in the other books, it adds a creep factor that's just not there usually.

Whatever the case, I love this book. The mystery feels more like a mystery (there's plenty of clues and little details throughout that only add up when certain other clues are revealed. The encounters with the real sasquatch feel real, the encounters with the fake one feel menacing. And more than that the setting it beautiful. It was my favourite Trixie book the first time I read it and it has easily defended that title this time.

Next up, Headless Horseman! It's elementary. (I think that's the one, right?)

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.