The Yellow Phantom

I had to put this book down half way through when my Beverly Gray's Return book arrived. That's not to say this is a bad book, just that I love Beverly Gray books.

Judy is on holidays in New York in this book.

Is it a recurring theme that all of Judy's friends have lost relatives?

One of the interesting aspects of this story is that Judy is working for a book publisher and for a girl with no experience in the area she seems well qualified to criticise budding writers for poor scripts and rewrites poems for a famous writer. This technique makes you think the criticism is coming from the author herself and not from Judy.

This book has a romantic element to it not only for Irene but we can also see what leads Judy to choose Peter over Arthur.

The end of the story leads into the next book in the series and indicates to the reader that the next book is also going to be featuring Irene.

I must say this is one book from what I have read from the series so far where I have not had to question Judy as a heroine of the story. In this book Judy shows more warmth and respect towards her friends (in this case Irene) that I remember previously.

A good mystery though I found the end of the story took a fair amount of time to explain what had happened rather than the mystery unraverlling through natural discovery.

The Haunted Attic Book Review

Here is your popular teen detective at a new school and not fitting in well at all.

Judy rather than taking the popular behaviour route instead decides to speak her mind.

The jealousy of Lorraine is played up as she doesn't like Judy (obviously due to the fact that Arthur is interested in Judy, this was indicated in the first book and continued here in the second)

The mystery itself, it's hard not to enjoy the old haunted house aspect that mystery books love to use.

This I thought was done well. Not the stock standard.

One thing that Margaret Sutton is good at is making you take sides, must say I didn't even like Lois that much for a while.

Interesting to note that Peter is the knight in shining armour and turns up to console Judy just when she needs it.

The book contains more than one mystery (some are loosely called mysteries, more "discoveries" really. The idea that there is more to learn though does keep you interested, similar to the way the Kay Tracey Mansion of Secrets kept me interested because there were more treasures to uncover. 

The Voice in the Suitcase

There were love hate aspects to this book. The more I thought about it though the more I thought the book did reflect well the teenage dramatisation within friendships.

I enjoyed the start (a school outing), I liked the fact that I never guessed what the voice in the suitcase was (considering so many teen books are so predictable)

I thought the stay on the farm dragged on a bit. The story could of used another sub plot or side adventure to keep things interesting.

Again there were socail statements that wouldn't be acceptable today. But otherwise a good read.

The Mysterious Half - Cat Book Review

The Mysterious Half - Cat Book Review 1936.
The first chapter of the book was intriguing. Judy has a dream and looks to interpret it. An interesting concept and it is important that the first chapter drags you in. 

In this book concepts relating to class and particularly to poverty of the era would not be seen as politically correct in a book today. This is yet another book in which we are introduced to a friend of Judy's who isn't easy to like at the start of the story. In fact the group turn on Peter in a way that makes it hard to like most of the friends in the group.  I had to think for a while about the behaviour I was reading about as it was definitely different in that of other Children's Mystery Series Books I had read. When I thought about it however it was consistent to how teenagers in their groups can act and how they over dramatise things. As a writer I still think that there was a concern in creating too many undesirable characteristics in the main character and her friends that could make the fans turn against the series. The story itself also had the characters linking clues and things together that seemed totally unconnected.

The Invisble Chimes Book Review

The Invisible Chimes was the third book written in the Judy Bolton Series and was published in 1932. 

This is the second Judy Bolton in the series that I have read. (Book 1 was the first) I was a bit concerned in the first few chapters when the book kept referring to what Judy found out/did in the second book which I hadn't read and didn't want too much story info on. After I was over that issue this book was real easy to get into reading. 

Although I didn't feel that it advanced the character of Judy as the first book had (I didn't think I learnt a lot of new things about Judy)  the story was definately compelling. 

I did feel that this cover art spoilt the book somewhat though because as soon as Honey gets the hammer out the front cover art basically showed you what she was doing with it.

I wasn't sure that I could be turned around to like the Honey character but the story was well written and the final twists (which you knew was coming but it was how it was written) made you finish the story feeling you would be happy to see her in future stories.

The Vanishing Shadow Review

The first Judy Bolton book from the series was published in 1932. 

I decided to read this book first as I had bought 3 Judy Bolton books at around the same time as everything I had read about the series indicated to me that I would like it. The main attraction to the series was probably the fact that the character gets older and develops a relationship and marries.

I like the Beverly Gray Series as it was like a soap- opera that advanced in each book, and as I have noow nearly read all the Judy Bolton books I need something new to read. I like other Girl Mystery Series books as well like the Trixie Belden series but I would of liked to have seen Trixie advance past the age of 13 considering there are 39 books in the series.

I was not disappointed with Judy Bolton. She is a girl with flaws, capable of sudden temper outbursts, a bit stubborn, opinionated and full of adventure.

The story was well paced and I liked the added element of possible romance in the future (and instantly had to check online that she ended up with the right man down the track - in my opinion by the first book she did.) The mystery was a well thought out one and not the typical haunted house story (that was left for book 2 lol) it was also good that Judy's brother was able to be a major character in the story without it distracting from Judy's role as the main slueth. Though I would have to say that her brother Horace does not possess any qualities needed to be a Newspaper Reporter (his chosen profession) in this story.

And why is Ginger drawn as a white horse on the cover?

Judy Bolton's Family and Friends Profiles

Things we learn in The Vanishing Shadow (1932)

Mr Bolton: Judy's father is a respected doctor. 

Mrs Bolton: Judy's mother is described as "young even to Judy." 

Horace Bolton: Judy’s brother is described as a sissy,cowardly and scared. He was a sickly child who was overindulged by Judy's parents as a result. He is a newspaper reporter. For work Horace is a local newspaper reporter while he is also studying.

Peter Dobbs:His Grandfather is the retired president of the local paper mill, knew Judy well when they were children, has been studying law at Farrington University. Jam is a weakness and likes swiss cheese sandwiches. Owns a goldfish and his family owns Checkers – who is the mother of Blackberry (Judy’s cat given to her by Peter), has blue eyes.

Arthur Farrington- Pett: Called his car Bluebird for happiness, his sister is Lois, he is an engineer,

Lois Farrington- Pett: Sister of Arthur.

Judy Bolton Character Profile

Things we learn about Judy Bolton in The Vanishing Shadow (1932)

Judy is described as:

• Having auburn hair and grey eyes
  
• Lives in Roulsville with her father, mother  and brother Horace.
  
• She spends every summer at the Smeed Farm with her grandparents (on her mother’s side)
  
• Likes to brood over her troubles alone
  
• Can have quick outbursts of temper, previously she had stayed at a friends all night after having a fight with her brother
  
• Enjoys reading books, is a good speller
  
• She was a lover of all animals- especially dogs and cats, can ride horses
  
• States she likes dangerous things