Clique em uma foto para ir ao Google Livros
Carregando... Ghost beyond the Gate (1943)de Mildred A. Wirt
Nenhum(a) Carregando...
Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
Pertence à série
Mildred A. Wirt was an American author. She is best known for her work on the early Nancy Drew series. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
Current DiscussionsNenhum(a)Capas populares
Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
É você?Torne-se um autor do LibraryThing. |
World War II's effects on the home front drive the main mystery: since one needed to have an order from one's Ration Board in order to buy tires, there's a black market for them. Penny is a victim in the first chapter -- all four of her car's tires, and the spare, get stolen. She and Louise aren't completely stranded because Salt Sommers, a photographer on Mr. Parker's paper, is an airplane spotter in his spare time. Jerry Livingston has been gathering information on the tire thieves. Now that's done, he's going hunting in Canada before he's off to war. What a shame Penny forgot to ask for his address.
You see, Penny's dad has the evidence with him when he's in a car accident and disappears. Worse, his dependable second, Editor DeWitt, is taken ill. While Parker and DeWitt are away, Assistant Editor Schirr will play -- at being a bad boss. He first throws his weight around by firing an elderly African-American employee for being two hours late.
As it turns out, the reason Mose Johnson was so late is an important clue to one of the mysteries. Mose speaks in dialect. His portrayal is why I've docked half a star on my rating. Have a sample of his dialog: 'Deedy not, Miss. You is supe'stitious when you sees a ghost dat ain't dar. But when you sees one dat is dar, you ain't supe'stitious. You is just plain scared!'
Mr. Schirr is scum. Mr. Parker was foolish enough to have the combination to his safe written under his desk. Penny walks in on Schirr going through the papers in that safe. When he picks up letters written by her late mother, Penny tries to fire him. She's under 21, though, so Schirr ignores her. That leds to the staff reaction in chapter ten, my favorite part of the book. It may not be as exciting as the climax, but it gave me deep satisfaction.
My copy has the frontispiece on glossy paper. There's no artist's signature. If you're expecting the usual physical description of Penny in the first chapter, forget it. What little we see of her hair under the hood she's wearing in the frontispiece doesn't look golden.
By the way, there's no error in chapter 5 when Jerry calls Penny a 'little twirp' while telling her he'll miss her. I just looked it up and 'twirp' is a valid variant spelling of 'twerp'.
In my copy of the last book, Saboteurs on the River, the series list was on the other side of the page from the table of contents. In this book it's back on the copyright page, but the borders that used to separate the title of the series at the top and the copyright below said list are gone. The decorative border on the title page is gone, too.
Aside from the depiction of Mose, this is a good mystery. ( )