The Three Investigators and The Mystery of the Talking Skull

When I was younger I read a bunch of these Three Investigator books and absolutely loved them. I think I must have got most of them from the library, but I owned this one. It still has my book plate inside so I know it's mine. It was packed and when we unpacked it I pulled it off the shelf immediately because I really wanted to reread one of these books as an adult. I really enjoyed it and would like to read more in the series, so I'll have to keep an eye out for them. 

So, the Three Investigators in question are Jupiter, Pete, and Bob. Jupiter Jones lives with his aunt and uncle, for reasons that I can't remember. Pete and Bob both live with their parents. The books are set in the sixties in California. Alfred Hitchcock has nothing to do with the books but his name was used, which did confuse me when I was a kid but I've read up on it since. Jupiter's aunt and uncle own a scrapyard, which is filled with weird and wonderful things. Jupiter has built a secret hideaway for the boys' detective club within the scrapyard, and there are several exits and entrances to it and the yard itself, which often comes in useful. 

Jupiter is incredibly clever, he is also very charming and good at speaking to adults. Bob is brainy and is often tasked with research for the cases that the boys get involved in. Pete is 'the muscle', I guess, but there's not a lot about him in general. I like the parts that are from Bob's point of view as he's often rolling his eyes at Jupiter. Jupiter is sometimes a know it all but I like him anyway. 

In this book they attend an auction, for no good reason at all, and Jupiter buys a suitcase for a dollar. It turns out to have belonged to a magician known as The Great Gulliver, who disappeared as one of his tricks and is missing. It takes the boys a while to open the suitcase, but inside they discover a talking skull! But a few people want the skull for themselves, adding some danger to the book. 

I would recommend this for younger teen readers, it is a bit old fashioned but in a really endearing way. I'm giving it four out of five. 

Sorry I've been so absent around here! Moving house over the summer really took it out of me and I haven't been writing as much. I have TONS of reviews to do, though, so I'll need to get caught up! 

Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell - Review

I had never even heard of Angela Thirkell but I came across this book in a charity shop in Wales over the summer, where it was 50p. There was another by her, too, so I bought both and thought I would take a chance on them! I ended up really liking this and would read more in the series too. Oh, upon looking, it turns out that I bought the first one in the series on Kindle back in April. It was probably 99p or something so I often take chances on books when they're so cheap. So I will have to get to that soon! 

I will say first off that someone uses the n word in this book, which I found shocking as it's not a word I have ever used. I understand that the book was written in 1934, but it wasn't right then, either. I also understand the reasons behind keeping it intact, but even so, to modern ears that word is just gross and I want to warn for it up front. 

The family at the heart of the novel is the Leslies. The matriarch, Emily, is a Lady (I think because her father is or was an Earl? But the intricacies of the British aristocracy are lost on me. Suffice to say, she's very posh, and her husband is less posh, although still posh) and her husband owns cattle that are sent to South America. They have four children - the eldest is killed in World War One and leaves behind a son, Martin, who is fifteen at the beginning of the novel, then there's John, a widower, Agnes, happily married to Robert, who doesn't appear in the book, and then David. David is only a few years older than Martin so the two of them get on famously. They live in a big house near the vicarage in the village which I believe Thirkell uses in this series. The vicar is renting out this house to a French family for a couple of months over the summer, which becomes relevant later in the book. 

Emily is totally scatty, and used to having her whole family trail around her and generally sort out her stuff. Agnes is visiting for a few months with her children. She dotes on them and excuses all their bad behaviour. She is also scatty and just a bit drifty in life. John works in the City but comes down every now and then. His wife died a few years ago and while he is still young enough to find someone else, he hasn't so far. David is a bit of a cad - he is rakish and good looking and young and rich, so he has quite a few women falling over him.

Into this comes Mary. She is Agnes' niece by marriage and she's around 23. She falls for David, but he treats her quite badly. There a lot of farce and misunderstanding. The book as a whole is very funny which I really liked. There are so many people and so much coming and going, but it's only a short book and it's just hilarious. I'm giving this five out of five because I really liked it.