So I'd have to say my ultimate favourite is #7, because it's a fantastic mystery with great adventure and a very homey and friendly atmosphere. The Bob-White interaction is great, which is half the reason I read these books. Growing up as a city girl, I never had my best friends as neighbours, and most of the time they weren't even within walking distance. Except I'd meet up with my absolute best friend at the library and we'd just read together.
ANWYAYS, I digress again. When I got older, I started collecting them, but only from local bookstores and such. I managed to get my collection of 16, which is great, but less than half the series! When I got EVEN older, I started doing some online research and found they were popular, and there was a ton of information on them, including the ghost writers, which I found really intruiging. I'd always thought Kathryn Kenny was one person and thought she sounded a bit odd from one book to the next. Some lacked continuity. I'd have to say, knowing everything I know now, that my favourite ghost author is probably Stack. Because she authored #7 which is unbeatable in my eyes. I read that one a gazillion times. Which makes me really interested in her other series, Robin Kane, which is supposed to be a 'West Coast Trixie Belden'. Except, living in an obscure area, I can't get any =_=.
But speaking of favourites, #12 has to be another one of my favorites, not sure where it stands on the list. Really have to read my Trixies all in one sitting to find out and I really don't have the time. And I swear, even though a researcher assigned #12 to an anonymous author 'D' who could and could not be Stack, I'm sure it is her because she mentions the EXACT same tip for cooking hamburger patties (ie. soak in milk and breadcrumbs to keep the juice in) as in #7 and yes, I did read it that well. Anyways, #12 has an awesome, coherent mystery (which is why I believe also that #11 could not have been by Stack or else she must have been bipolar or something because that author really did not have a clue), great in-character characters and the whole thing was a lot of fun! It also has in depth knowledge of New York, which makes you feel like a real NY tourist into the bargain, except without the danger of getting pockets picked and such.
So the Bob-Whites are in New York, meeting Bob and Barbara and Ned, their friends from Iowa (#9 The Happy Valley Mystery) and are setting out to see the sights. Trixie helps a frightened Mexican woman find her plane. She claims that she's a real fortune teller and gives her a purse as a gift. Trixie ponders about it for a long time, but unlike #11, she's not bratty and doesn't bully others into getting into a mystery, which means she is IN-CHARACTER!
She and Honey go walking whilst everyone's unpacking and go to an antique store. She picks up this ugly little wooden carving, "so ugly it's darling" and buys it. Really not the thing normal people would do, and Honey tells her so. The owner is out and his friend is looking after the shop (which is significant later on).
After a day of sightseeing, Trix and Honey discover a slip of paper covered in Spanish verse (that rhymes in english!) in the purse the Mexican woman gave Trix. Miss Trask translates it into:
Great-headed man, with blinking eye,
A shaded road, a horses cry,
Foreign words for all to hear,
First clue is so very near.
Watch out for thieves; they're everywhere,
At home, on island, in dead beasts' lair.
Where shines a beacon cross the sky,
Beware, great danger lurks close by.
Be not misled by evening's fun
A villain's work is never done.
While guitars play thieves linger round
But not til later are they found.
Twin rails of steel, a trembling square,
Watch close, you'll see the guilty pair.
A lonesome journey, gleaming gun,
Foolish girl what have you done?
Great-headed man does prostrate lie,
A great big stone in his blinking eye,
All is not lost though, little friend;
Rejoice for peril, danger end
Near silver wings, past river's bend.
Fortune is yours, fit for a king,
And the hearts of little children sing.
From then on, they keep being shadowed by 2 men, one that is short and ugly and has a scar running down his face and one that's just plain tall and ugly. They go for a hansom cab ride through Central Park and the men try to grab Trix's purse. She cuts her leg and Jim, Brian, Trixie and Honey return to their apartment (it belongs to the Wheelers, like every single prop in the whole series =P) where she lets them in on the poem prophecy. In an incredibly short amount of time, coincidently just after they've finished talking, the Iowans and Mart come back from Central zoo and they're let in on the secret. They figure out the prophecy is coming true, because the first 4 lines all happen in the Park.
Then they go to the UN, where they meet a Sleepysider who's now a UN guide called Betty. It seems a little farfetched that she would recognise them, but why quibble? While everyone goes for a tour, Trixie and Honey go to the gift store and have the idol priced. There's a Peruvian expert randomly there and he tells them it's worthless and tries to take it off Trixie, very suspiciously, but she causes a scene and he fails. The real Honey is back in this book, because she tells Trixie he's dodgy and to keep a firm hold on it. When everyone gets back to the apartment, they find it ransacked, but nothing taken! The police are brought in, and the Bob Whites make dinner. Never knew Trixie was a good cook, but she is. Mart does some 'magic' tricks, and the best part is he explains how he did everything. And Bob and Barbara, the Twins from here on, sing and play guitars. A TV man hears them and asks them to perform the next night!
The next day, it's the Statue of Liberty. They climb near the top and they have another run in with the scar-faced man, but it's another failed attempt to grab her purse. At a museum, Honey and Trixie get separated and stay behind accidently after closing time, and one of the men catches them, and it's quite a frightening scene because there's no one else there. They finally get rescued by Brian and Jim who have alerted the museum man (sorry, can't remember the name at the moment) that the girls are still inside. So another close shave.
Then it's time for the twin's performance, which is fun. They sing and song and the show is taped and shown again. They're "showstoppers" according to the title. The next day, it's the Empire State building, and Trixie and Di are separated because she's too afraid to go up high. And one of the men start chasing them, and it's awfully scary, but they duck into a room with two women, who take care of them. They even report it to the police, but they can't do anything until they know what the people look like.
In a museum full of trains, their next destination, they meet Doctor Joe, who is a famous surgeon and an avid train collector. They go over to his house, where his wife and many kids invite them to stay for lunch. There, they watch the video broadcast of the twins and see the thieves lingering in the background! See if you can figure out where in the prophecy it is, it's a little obscure.
At home, Trixie gets a call that the others don't know about. It's from one of the men, saying they're following her because they want the little wooden carving she's got, and how it belongs to some peruvian rich man who's willing to give her $1000 for it back and to meet them at such and such a place in broad daylight. Well it turns out to be in aseedy part of a seedy town and when Trix walks in, not letting anyone else know about it, there's only 3 men there. The 2 that have been shadowing her, and the 'carving expert' at the UN. And they hold a gun to her and tell her to give them the carving. She's really frightened, and it is really terrifying, until the police just come in with guns and the boys of the Bob-Whites. Stack explains their presence pretty well, how they figure out where she is by her scribbling the address on the inside of the public phone book, so it's all believeable. It turns out the 3 who have been following Trixie are hard, international thieves! Back at the apartment, Mr. Wheeler is there and everyone's relieved but it's really emotionally tense.
What I love about this part is that Trixie actually realises the enormity of what she did and how much danger she was in. Unlike her near-death experience in #11 in the sink-hole, that she just completely blows off and gets away with, pretty much, she's actually visibly shaken, as is everyone else. Mr. Wheeler decidfes to accompany them everywhere and Trixie turns over the wooden carving to him.
When they next go out for a big dinner, they're all talking about it and Mr. Wheeler takes it out of his pocket to show it's safe (which is a silly thing to do in my opnion) and it's promptly knocked out of his hand by Blinky, the short, scarred man. They realise it's lost forever.
Untiil...a phone call late at night from Blinky reveals there was a diamond inside the carving, but it's not there anymore! So they notify the police and are ready to look through the sweepings and rubbish from the restaurant the next morning. But it's not there, and all is lost again.
Until...haha Trixie turns up with the diamond clutched in her hand! Itwas lodged in a crevice in the floor of the restaurant all the time! It was the centre stone in a valuable necklace stolen by the 3 men, and the jewels were separated and embedded into wooden statues that went to the antique shop Trixie went to. But the friend looking after the shop sold it to her, and that's how everything started. Trixie is donating the reward to the station waggon for crippled children, the thing she was as tenacious-as-a-bulldog about in #11.
Awesome story eh? See if you can match up the things in the prophecy with the story!
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