Trixie Belden and the Mystery in Arizona

This book is so bad I have a hard time articulating the ways in which it sucks. Let's hit the easy targets first, heap big stereotypum, ugh. Completely offensive, on every level. Also easy to complain about; the didactic and horribly stilted writing. It sounds like a travelogue about Arizona

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written by aliens. This book reads as though it was written by a corporate committee. The characters, completely unreal, completely stereotypical.

There's just nothing about this book to like.

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A childhood favorite re-visited.

Is the story as good as I remember? – Yes

What ages would I recommend it too? – Ten and up.

Length? – Most of a day’s read.

Characters? – Memorable, several characters.

Setting? – Real world, pre - computer pre - air conditioning, pre - cell phone.

Written

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approximately? – 1958.

Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Ready to read more.

Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? Yes. A slight mention of the time frame of the story - as the teens are given far more freedom to come and go as they please than would be safe today. Also, the absence of computers, cell phones, and air conditioning in homes, especially the mansion.

Short storyline: Trixie Belden, Honey, Jim, and her brothers join Diana Lynch on her uncle's ranch in Arizona and struggle to help the three "difficult guests, and solve the mystery of the disappearance of the family who did all the work on the ranch.


Notes for the reader: A great mystery! No violence (only referred to from the past), no murder.

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It felt like they were trying to make this "educational". People would go on with little lectures about the history of Arizona, Mexicans, Mexican food.

It was pretty easy to see why a man would pretend to be a cowboy when he worked on a dude ranch.

So Di's *real* Uncle Monty invites the Bob-Whites to spend Christmas in Arizona at his dude ranch. Once the gang gets there, though, they are met with bad news: Uncle Monty's entire staff up and left under mysterious circumstances, so Monty has no one to wait tables or clean the rooms. Trixie of

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course volunteers the Bob-Whites' services, and Monty eagerly accepts. There are a lot of mysteries going on in Arizona at once: why did the Orlandos leave so suddenly? Why is Rosita so unhappy? Why can't Trixie concentrate long enough to get her math homework done? :) Of course in the end it all works out.

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ISBN 0307215334 - It's probably a bit of nostalgia that makes me give the book five stars: Trixie is a childhood favorite, and this title is the last written by series creator Julie Campbell. From here on, the books are written by various house authors under the name Kathryn Kenny.

Trixie and her

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friends have been invited to spend their Christmas holiday at a dude ranch in Arizona, owned by Di's uncle Monty. When they arrive, they're very nearly sent right back home because Uncle Monty is seriously under-staffed. Trixie, however, volunteers the entire group to fill in for the Orlandos, who mysteriously left their jobs without real explanation. Only Maria, an Orlando by marriage, and her son Petey, remain behind - and the things Petey says to Trixie has her convinced there's some sort of mystery to solve. Unhappy guests, a cowboy on the ranch and Rosita, a young girl working in housekeeping, all come with their own riddles and Trixie, of course, will solve them all. But can she do that and her job and still get in all the studying she's promised her mother?

The original copyright of 1958 is evident in the writing style, not to mention a few clues; the "No Smoking" sign on the plane and the comment "Got three teen-age kids whose friends practically lived at our house... until they got TV sets of their own" are giveaways. Campbell's style reminds me a great deal of The Boxcar Children series, set in a more innocent time. The greatest negative to the book is the feeling that you're being lectured on things like Arizona itself (16 pages of info on the state!), Indian customs and more. Still, I don't recall that bothering me when I was younger and I don't know that mystery fans will mind much now. A fun, bad-language-free mystery with the Bob-Whites. (Copyright, AnnaLovesBooks, 2008)

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