Customer Reviews

Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators in the Mystery of the Talking Skull (Windward Book)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first read this book about seventeen years ago. As a young child, I was drawn into it immediately and was unable to put it down. The plot line was enjoyable and I found the fast pace and action preferable to all other juvenile mysteries. Within a year, I had read the entire Three Investigators mystery series twice and continued to read them as they came out. Now that I have a young son of my own, I re-read the Mystery of the Talking Skull and quickly discovered that it is still a great book! I recommend it for any child and any parent... it's just too bad they've gotten so hard to find!

This was a great book. I liked it so very much.
A quick review of the plot.
The teens that we all know and love, Jupiter Jones and his Friends
Bob Andrews and Pete Crenshaw buy a strange trunk at a auction.
Needless to say the mysterious trunk brings them action and suspense to the reader:
A. an $100 offer for the trunk.
B. visits to Gypsies, the police station, and other places,
C. A capture by a gang, and a slick spy on to them.

The whole thing dissolves into a funny yet satisfying ending.
This is a Heavily Recommended Book. What a great mystery this is.
Read if you like any kind of mysteries. The 3 Investigator stories
do a great job of combining aspects of a great mystery book.

Mike Lee (A heavy mystery reader)

Three kids in a junk yard and a talking skull make for an interesting
cut on mystery and magic. There seem to be at least 25 in this series
so that they remind one of the 30's Nancy Drew mysteries.
I think there is enough action and suspense to keep a young reader interested.

This was author/series creator Robert Arthur's final book in the series before illness finally caught up with him. Happily, it was a worthy effort.

The plot involves our heroes going to an auction of unclaimed luggage on a whim. They bid on and win an old trunk. Almost immediately many other parties become interested in the trunk. Some want to buy it, some want to steal it, some insist on the boys keeping it until they solve the mystery. Arthur provides a surprisingly layered mystery for a juvenile book. More than once he seems to have badly telegraphed the solution but, not to worry, he had something else entirely in mind.

This book, and the series thus far, can't be recommended highly enough. This is much better quality than what normally passes as juvenile fare these days. I will be interested to see if the series fares as well in other hands.