The Happy Hollisters and the Mystery of the Golden Witch, Jerry West
Finally!
It's book 30 in the Hollisters series and the family is finally home in
Shoreham! And it's October to boot. Pete (age 12), Pam, 10,
seven-year-old Ricky, and Holly, age 6, plus 4-year-old Sue are off with
their parents to the Johnson farm to buy pumpkins for their annual Hallowe'en
party. They find Farmer Johnson stuck in the lane that leads to his
pumpkin farm, his tractor broken. This means he won't be able to harvest
his pumpkins and sell them at his farm stand. The warmhearted kids
offer to help him harvest, tend the stand, and loan him their little
burro, Domingo, and his cart until the crop's in, as well as offering
their collie Zip as a watchdog for the burro. They also, while exploring
the farm, discover a private graveyard and a riddle on an old headstone
that hints there might be a treasure hidden on the farm! Plus Farmer
Johnson has an old Model-T Ford in his barn, and the kids spot a strange
young woman prowling near it. But it's when Pete and his friend Dave
meet a man who offers them a reward if they find a weathervane in the
shape of a witch that the mystery really starts.
We're
taking a break from the travelogue stories of the last few books with a
homegrown mystery involving the witch weathervane, why the mysterious
"Curie-Us" is looking for it, the young lady who was found wandering
near the barn, and even a woman entrepreneur, Aunt Nettie, who runs the
local cider mill. Of course there's Joey Brill and Will Wilson to toss
in a few mean pranks, and the Shoreham Hallowe'en festivities. An
enjoyable entry in the series, with a couple of novel Hallowe'en items
(like the RSVP for the party invitations) that I'd never heard of
before.
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