REVIEW: Trixie Belden - The Red Trailer Mystery

Trixie Belden: The Red Trailer Mystery
Author: Julie Campbell

The Trixie Belden series is about a group of teen sleuths who investigate mysteries around their hometown of Sleepyside, NY. Trixie Belden lives on a farm with her brothers and parents. Her bestie, Honey Wheeler, lives nearby at a manor house with her wealthy parents. They have great adventures together. The series was written from 1948-1986.  The first six books were written by Julie Campbell. The rest of the series was written by multiple authors all under the penname Kathryn Kenny. The series is similar to Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys.

I loved the Trixie Belden series when I was in middle school back in the '80s. I received a couple books for every holiday and special event until I had the entire series. :) When I noticed that a few of the titles had been re-printed, I wanted to read the series again. I was a bit worried at first because I wasn't sure if I would enjoy re-reading them as an adult, and I didn't want to ruin my happy memories of reading about Trixie's adventures with her friends, Honey and Jim. After reading the first two books again, I'm glad that I decided to revist Sleepyside. The stories are a bit dated, but still so much fun to read!

The second book, The Red Trailer Mystery, is a continuation of the story from book one. Honey and Trixie have made a new friend, Jim Frayne. He came looking for his uncle, only to find out that the old man had passed away in the hospital. Jim runs away at the end of book one, fearing that his mean, abusive step-father is coming to take him away. He never finds out that he has inherited a lot of money from his uncle. In the second book Trixie and Honey, along with Honey's Governess Miss Trask, pack up the Wheeler family travel trailer to go find Jim. The boy expressed interest in finding a camp counselor's job at one of the nearby campgrounds, so they hit the road to find him and bring him home. Along the way, they discover a band of thieves who are stealing trailers and property from travelers. The girls end up in some hot water when the bad guys catch them following them to get proof to take to the police.

This book seems a bit simple and dated to the adult-me, but I still enjoyed it just as much as I did when I was 12. Maybe more for simple nostalgia than the actual story.  It was a fun afternoon read, and I'm looking forward to reading more of this series. Only a few of the books were re-printed so I'm going to have to do some hunting to find the complete series to read, but locating all the books will be part of the fun of re-visiting this series.

I always preferred Trixie Belden over Nancy Drew. I'm not sure why. I think I will re-read some Nancy Drew books as well and compare the two. Maybe I can come up with a reason why I loved Trixie and was more meh about Nancy.