Trixie Belden #8: The Black Jacket Mystery

First thing's first, I kind of abhor these new editions. Don't get me wrong, they have great cover art in fabulous colours (something very lacking in the short and ugly editions where Trixie's face is somewhere between puce and khaki), although the people are between realistic and cartoonish, leaning towards the realistic side. I can't describe it, but they're not quite real and it gets on my nerves. Sort of like Chicken Run, where they had the characters (okay, they were chickens, but whatever!) made out of playdough. Sort of...rounded? No, it's actually the little cameo of Trixie up the top I can't stand, like she's some dumb blonde, more feminine than short and spunky. And the whole =O expression? Where would the Bob-Whites be if she had just stood around looking like that during the climax of the books? That is so not her!


Inside, the art is better. They have a double page of Trixie's supposed scrapbook, which is cute. They're not quite as I imagined, but I think it fits the country, wholesome-lifestyle kids they are, although I can't quite tell the difference between Honey and Diana T_T Honey and Trixie look very childish, too childish, but on the other hand, the artist got Bobby down pat. He's absolutely adorable, with the snub nose and perpetually smiling mouth.


This book was by a Kathryn Kenny who knew what they were doing. It's got the same Julie-Campbell feel about it. Adventurous, wholesome (I keep using that word, but I swear it fits the series to a T, it could've been invented for the series!), and a mystery that is in keeping with their lives. Not overly dramatic, and doesn't require you to stretch your gullibility. Which is why, at the moment, I am thoroughly sick of the Judy Bolton series. The further you go along...!


Anyways, there's a strange boy in town in this one. This was my proper intorduction to Dan Mangan, who I kind of resented all those years ago for intruding in the Bob-Whites, but who I have completely forgiven now. It starts when Trixie overhears Regan talking to her mum at Crabapple Farm, about "something I'm hoping to keep from any of the youngsters". She tries not to hear, but her curiousity is sparked! Meanwhile, Honey and Trixie's penpals in Mexico have their village destroyed in an earthquake. They are particularly upset about the loss of their school library (not entirely practical, but I guess I'd feel the same if my modest little library at home was destroyed). The Bob-Whites decide to have an Ice Carnival in Sleepyside. Entrance fee: books! Another project, yay!


Honey comes to stay over at Trixie's because her parents are away and for once, Tom and Regan are away also at the same time. Curiouser and curiouser, Miss Trask never allows that to happen. She and Honey are determined to respect Regan's privacy, but as usual, things start to happen when they're in the vicinity. She hears Regan talking to someone in the stables, but he won't admit it. When she's trying to find Bobby's skate in the tack room, she upsets a box of Regan's documents and catches the words "Judge Armen is willing to let you try". She's really sorry for snooping, even accidently, but comes to the conclusion that Regan is in trouble with the law! Later, Bobby tells her Regan is trying a "speriman". Translated, "experiment". And she hears a car driving into the back of the Wheeler property, and later finds it is Regan and Tom! A lot of little, seemingly inconsequential details like that add up and really get to Trixie.


Next morning, there's a new boy on the school bus who gets on with Mr. Maypenny. No one takes well to him because he's got a black leather jacket and a black peaked hat and black cowboy boots, which translates to gangster or hooligan in Sleepyside. Sigh. I wish people were as conservative these days, rather than black leather jacket =gangster = cool. Well, the boy is named Dan (which I was expecting, so I was totally unperturbed) and he's a bit of a rebel. Mart is showing him around at lunch time (orders from Maypenny) and Dan completely snubs the BWGs and goes to sit at another table, where he regales them with tough-guy stories of his own bravado. They are naively impressed but Trix isn't.


Later, Trix and Honey meet Dan working for Mr. Maypenny. Honey is nice and willing to give Dan a chance, but he and Trix really do not mesh. He flares up at her disdain (I think they're both quick-tempered) and it's the same for their other encounters throughout the book. Honey is always on teh verge of breaking through his shell when Trix just rubs him the wrong way. It's a very human thing though, and doesn't annoy me. Anyways, he's goaded into riding Susie, who prompting bucks him off into the snow. He's not really hurt, although he seems to black out for a few moments, but he rips his leather jacket sleeve. When Honey offers to repair it, he's about to say yes, but again, a look from Trix puts an end to it all.


The girls continue on to see Mr. Maypenny, and also suggest to Regan that Dan learn to ride Spartan, another Wheeler horse, to help patrol. The girls are sure Dan looks either like Regan or Mr. Maypenny (since one of the similarities is completely coincidental, I really doubt it). They make their way to the clubhouse where they've been preparing posters and everything for the Ice Carnival, which is going full speed ahead. Inside, they find a bear! They're freaked out, but it's only a bear on wheels that the boys borrowed for the Carnival. A funny moment.


A further complication - there's a catamount loose in the Wheeler reserve! It probably came from the mountains close by. There are no catamounts in the city so I had to google them, but they do look really freaky, they are literally "big mountain lions" as Honey says. Trix and Honey are in the preserve when they hear it howling and Susie just bolts. It's only when her reins catch on the tree branch that Trix can catch her. Or else...!


To complicate matters, they keep seeing a black jacketed and black hatted fellow in the woods, and hear about him all sorts of other places. Dan denies it is him and the girsl want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but when Honey loses her valuable gold watch in the snow and it turns up pawned at Mr. Lytell's store, it's all very fishy. [By the way, Mr. Lytell is very nice here. He gives the boy who pawned it $10 even though he thought the watch was worthless, because the boy - Dan? - feeds him a sob story. When he finds out it's Honey's, he gives it straight back and it's kind of hinted here that he's interested in Miss Trask.]

So the girls tell Mr. Maypenny their suspicions, and he passes them onto Regan, who sets his mouth and looks grim. He goes to the judge to tell him the "sperimen" was unsuccessful. But meanwhile, the clubhouse is broken into and they find evidence that it couldn't have been Dan who caused all the trouble because there are some footprints the wrong size and other conclusive evidence.

And then they find Mr. Maypenny unconscious in the preserve. They help him back to his house where Dan meets them and is very rude and brusque. Just before Trixie leaves, she knocks over the chair with his black leather jacket...only it isn't his, it has "THE COWHANDS" stencilled on the back in white! Is there another person in the area with a black leather jacket? it seems likely!

When the girls go back to the clearing where they found Mr. Maypenny, they find a clubbed branch on the ground with blood and bits of Mr. Maypenny's hair! it seems the old man was attacked. Actually, he was suspicious all along. And now Dan's run away... Mr. Maypenny confesses Dan is Regan's nephew, the son of his dead sister who he lost contact with.

Now Honey goes home, but Trix decides to stay and practice some more tricks for the ice carnival. She has a great time until Susie bolts again, and she's left completely alone this time in a great wilderness in the preserve. She stumbles around, trying not to panic, and somehow hears Bobby's voice. When she finds him, he's in a hole in a cave, held in place by rock. He's been chasing a great big kitty as he calls it. Actually, it's the catamount and it may come back anytime. I don't know how likely this is in real life - i would've been petrified as a kid. Trix stumbles around to find help, after pacifying Bobby. She sees a campfire in a clearing, and who is there but Dan Mangan with a taller boy who's mocking him because Dan refuses to help him break into the Wheeler house. it's Dan's past come to catch up to him again. When Trixie bursts in, she quickly persuades him to help with Bobby (because of course, Dan's heart is in the right place). Bobby is saved and they are found, and to top it all off, the ice carnival is a great success! The Wheelers even fly over Trix and Honey's penpals as a surprise! And Dan is officially accepted in Sleepyside, also as a member of the Bob-Whites!

Okay, I've realised I am not the best at giving summaries. I don't know which parts to leave out, it all seems relevant and not superfluous to me. I guess practice makes perfect?