Helen Moss

Second in a series of children's mysteries in the style of Enid Blyton, only written much more recently. I enjoyed it, although not quite as much as Blyton's work. To be fair, I have to admit I prefer Blyton's adventure novels to her mystery novels, just as a matter of taste, and this is more in the style of her mysteries.

These are readable and not bad at all. One thing I like about them is that there's banter between the children, and they are likable. The problem I had in book 1 with the boys' attitudes being too dismissive does not happen in this one. Perhaps the thing that bothers me about this series is that the plot moves in a very streamlined manner, with short chapters all moving the plot forward, resulting in a very short novel, and there's little time for the characters and the readers to enjoy the adventure a bit more, if that makes any sense. This really would benefit from being a little longer and letting the story and the characters room to breathe.… (mere)

This writer has written a 14-book series called Adventure Island, about the adventures of three children, siblings Scott and Jack Carter and their friend Emily Wild. By the way, the whole series (14 books) can be bought as a single ebook very cheaply from stores like Amazon, Kobo, Apple and others (search for "Adventure Island Complete 14-Book Collection").

I have just read the first book (The Mystery of the Whistling Caves). It's very much in Enid Blyton's style. Scott and Jack are staying during the holidays with their great aunt, a writer of mystery novels who lives in an island called Castle Key. In the beginning, the boys' attitude is not very positive, thinking they are going to be bored in such an out-of-the-way place, without even cell phone coverage, but all that changes when they meet a local girl called Emily, who is very much into investigating mysteries. Soon an archaeological treasure is stolen from the local museum and the three children (with the help of Emily's dog) have a mystery of their own to investigate.

The story itself has mystery elements in the style of the Five Find-Outers and adventure elements. There are a lot of things that the writer does well. The story is well-written, it does a good job of keeping the style of Enid Blyton's stories even though it's set in modern times (helped by the lack of cell phone coverage in many parts of the island), there is humor and banter between the children, the characters have their own distinct personalities... On the minus side, I did not quite warm to the characters as much as I did to Enid Blyton's. I guess the boys' dismissive attitude, although realistic in modern kids, is not as appealing. And I think we are lacking some of the quieter moments that we have in many of Enid Blyton's books, when we can just relax and enjoy the characters' having fun. Perhaps it should have been a little bit longer and let us get to like the characters more before the mystery starts. In this book, it seemed to me that at the end the characters got into a very dangerous situation when they could have done more to avoid it.

Nevertheless, this was a good read, and the whole collection is so cheap that it is worth trying.… (mere)

When Cleopatra McNeil, the archaeologists' daughter, stumbles upon an ancient tomb in Egypt, Valley of the Kings, she doesn't wait a moment before telling her mother and father about her discovery. You see, for a good few months now, the amazing Benben Stone has been searched for, but never found. And now that Smenkhare's tomb has been discovered, and an ancient, crumbled confession lies upon the mummy about where the stone is situated in this very tomb, everyone climbs to find out.

But the Ancient Order of the Eternal Sun group are also wanting it. They are planning to steal the stone and take it to their hidden temple. Cleo, accompanied by her best friend Ryan, have to stop them before the Bennu Bird does his ritual to the Benben, for both groups want to see it happen. But none of them know who is a member - it could be anyone.

Join Cleo and Ryan on their adventure to try to take the Benben and put it in a public museum for all to see before the Eternal Sun members take it to their private temple that no one but they know about..

This book was very modern-day - too modern-day. There are so many relation-ship-thingy-ma-bobs about Cleo and Ryan, and all this, 'Ryan was so impressed he could have kissed her' sort of thing. But the book itself, with its protective laminated cover of modern-child stuff taken off, is funny and has a good storyline.… (mere)