Wednesday 10 November 2010

The Mystery Of Death Trap Mine

Teaming up again with Allie (from “Singing Serpent”), the boys travel to her Uncle’s Christmas Tree farm in New Mexico, which is close to an abandoned mine (the Death Trap of the title). Local-boy-made-good Thurgood has re-opened the mine, then Allie and the boys find a dead body in there and clues start to pop up that indicate the corpse might have been involved in an armoured car robbery. This is really good fun, with a smart mystery at the centre of it, a good pace and excellent use of some wonderfully realised locations. The characters are strong and work well together and Allie, as always, fits in nicely. Really enjoyable and very highly recommended.

(out of sequence because I’m saving “The Invisible Dog” to read during Christmas week 2010)

8 comments:

  1. This was my very favourite in the series. The best two books M.V. Carey ever wrote were the Allie Jamison stories. She was a wonderful character and brought in a bit of gender conflict, which worked very well. This is a book that I would give ten out of ten.
    Robert

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  2. Thanks, Robert, I liked the Allie character too - very cleverly written and a fine foil for the lads.

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  3. Hi Mark, I also like Allie because she's one of the few that prove to be a match for Jupiter. She instinctively knows that Wesley Thurgood is out to "pull a fast one" as Pete said. That instinct is the best and most valuable trait of a good investigator!
    Robert

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  4. I agree this is a great book, just revisited it this weekend. It is a good story and Allie's interaction with the Three Investigators is great. I always had an affection for the first 10 Investigators books and the others while at times really good, started to decline a little in consistency. This one is a pleasant surprise because it ranks right up there with the best of the series. This is better than The Singing Serpent book that also featured Allie.

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  5. I dont like it

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  6. First read this great book after purchasing it in the transit terminal of Perth airport in Australia and reading it on plane on the way to Greece.

    And the discovery of increasingly smaller ghost towns reminds me of night time drives through the mountains of Greece!

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  7. I always wished she returned in the Crimebusters series to become Jupe's girlfriend. She was a feisty, intelligent girl

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