Mystery on Grandma's Farm

Sheree Haughian is an elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Dufferin County Board of Education.

Carry and Sarah proved to be kindred spirits when they teamed together
to solve a mystery at summer camp in Nancy Gilmour’s earlier novel. In
this sequel to The Precious Gem, Carry invites Sarah to her grandma’s
farm during March break. Their week at the farm is as homespun and
pleasant as Muriel Newton-White’s line drawings of the northern, rural
landscape—except for one problem. Carry’s favorite aunt, Sally, has
just married an Australian stranger. Surely this handsome new bridegroom
can be up to no good. He seems absorbed in an unusual book and makes
midnight telephone calls.

The case of the mysterious husband seems more than a trifle wispy by
mystery standards. The sleuthing pair, 14 in age and somewhere between
eight and ten in detective savvy, rely on a couple of episodes of light
eavesdropping to fuel their suspicions. Carry and Sarah may make a few
members of the chronologically challenged generation yearn for an
innocence they never had, but this modest sleuthing may prove more
irritating than endearing to younger readers wishing for some
excitement. The politically correct may also want to wag a finger or two
at the girls’ priorities. They seem quite content to bake a cake from
scratch or model their matching Easter outfits. Baiting a fish hook,
steering Ski-Doos over snowy hills, and inhaling pungent barnyard aromas
are often left to the willing menfolk. Of course, these twin detectives
are on holiday, but one suspects that Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew would
not be amused. Not a first-choice purchase.