REVIEW: Trixie Belden & The Mystery in Arizona

Trixie Belden & The Mystery in Arizona
Author: Julie Campbell

Trixie and all her friends are excited about winter break from school. The newest member of the Bob-Whites of the Glen (their club), Di Lynch, has announced her uncle is inviting them all down to Arizona. The B.W.G. will spend break at Uncle Monty's Dude Ranch!

Yes....a dude ranch. Just the idea made me smile and whisked me back in time to the 1950s when spending time at a tourist ranch was considered an adventure vacation. :) And, this story was quite the
adventure for the B.W.G!

Trixie Belden is a teenage amateur sleuth from Sleepyside, NY. Along with her two older brothers, her pals Di and Honey, and Jim, Honey's adopted brother, they form the Bob Whites, a club that always seems to find a mystery to solve. The Mystery in Arizona is the 6th book in the Trixie Belden series. This time around Trixie is in hot water -- she is failing a couple classes at school and fears she will be left behind as the group makes its trek to Arizona. Her brothers and Jim come to her rescue offering to tutor her while on vacation so that she can pass her midterms when they return. But Trixie doesn't count on a mystery at Uncle Monty's ranch making it hard for her to concentrate on math and her essay on the Navajo tribe. Each time she tries to study, she finds her head impossibly bogged down in the ranch mystery -- why did the Orlando family suddenly leave Uncle Monty's employment with no explanation or warning? Trixie knows there must be an explanation, but each time she tries to discuss the matter with her fellow B.W.G.s she gets lectured about not studying and not working as hard as the other members. The group of teens spends vacation having fun, but also replacing the Orlandos as ranch staff -- cleaning, waiting on tables, washing dishes and doing whatever Uncle Monty wants them to do. Between the mystery and working at the ranch, Trixie wonders if she will ever get any studying done. But isn't it more important to find out what happened to the Orlandos? And, will any of her friends finally listen to her?

I love the 1950s feel of these stories. I guess that is why I owned the entire set in paperback in the 1980s. I loved getting the books as gifts on holidays or making a trip to Waldenbooks to pick up the next book in the set. I read the final Trixie Belden book when I was in high school. I remember feeling excited, but a bit sad, that there would be no more books in the series. And before I left for college that next fall, I sold my set of books to a mother who had two middle school age girls at home. I hope they enjoyed the books as much as I did! For me Trixie Belden out-sleuthed Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I couldn't get enough of the B.W.G. and the mysteries they solved.

I was a bit hesitant to re-read the series as an adult because I didn't want my happy memories of the books to change, but once I started reading I was glad to be back in Sleepyside with my old pals. As an adult, I do find the plots use some long-gone stereotypes and ideas, but I know I need to judge the stories by the era in which they were written. For example, the brothers sometimes call the girls "squaws'' and make commentary about them being lazy, needing to cook and serve them, etc. Brothers have been teasing their sisters like this since the dawn of time...ha ha....and although the verbage may have changed to "Why don't you go in the kitchen and bake me a pie!'' or somesuch, the good natured sibling squabbling is still the same. I didn't let a couple words or phrases ruin my enjoyment of the book.

This book gives information on Arizona, local Native American customs and life on a ranch. Although out-dated and overly simplistic at times, the story is still quite enjoyable. I found myself wondering as much as Trixie what possibly could have happened to make the Orlandos leave a job they enjoyed with no warning.

The mysteries in these books are age appropriate. There is no spurting blood or gruesomeness.....mostly the stories are about unusual strangers, missing or stolen items, or unusual occurrences. In this 6th book, the gang has a great time in Arizona, makes some money by helping Uncle Monty, meets some interesting people, and gets to solve a mystery! And poor Trixie gets to do math lessons and write a report on the Navajo....while complaining about it the entire time. ha ha

This 6th book is the last one written by Julie Campbell. The rest of the series was written by various authors under the pen-name Kathryn Kenny. The series was published from 1948-1986.  There are 39 books in the series. The first few books were reprinted several years ago, but the rest of the series is currently OOP. However, most of the books are available to read online at www.openlibrary.org. The site uses the Internet Archive to give access to many OOP and rare old books!! All copyright laws are strictly adhered to. Books that are in the public domain are available for download. Others are offered as ebooks that can be checked out for 2 weeks. The site is free...just requires a quick signup and a working email address. I've read several awesome old books through this site! It's definitely a treasure trove for bibliophiles!

One thing I love about OpenLibrary is that if you read the text online, the pages are actual scans of a physical book. I got to read about Trixie and the Gang's trip to Arizona while seeing the awesome illustrations included in the 1958 hardback edition. :) It made the book so much fun to read!

Definitely a nostalgia read for me! I'm going to continue reading my way through the series. :)