Mary Lou #2, The Mystery of the Fires

Well, thankfully, I quite liked this book, which gives me hope for the final volume, The Mystery of the Secret Band. It reminded me a lot of the Kay Tracey book, The Message in the Sand Dunes, with traces of Doris Force at Cloudy Cove. In other words, the basic idea of being on vacation at a beach cottage and being all chummy with the vacationers at other cottages.

ML, her mother, Freckles, and Jane are off to their cottage at Shady Nook (which there's a convenient map of in the front) for the summer. Sticking with the pattern of the last book, ML's dad is off on a case and doesn't show up until the final chapters. When they arrive, they're told that their friends' (the Hunters) cabin burned down last week, and arson is suspected. The main suspects are Cliff, who technically owns the cabin since his dad died and needs the insurance money, and Ditmar, an out of work architect, who needs the contract for the rebuild. Soon though, Flicks' cabin and inn/restaurant is torched, as well as the Smiths' house. David McCall, who is way unreciprocatedly into ML, manages to get Cliff arrested. Another suspect, Rebecca Adams, who is certifiably crazy, crops up.

In the end, ML figures out it's Mr. Frazier, whose overpriced inn is benefitting from the closure of the cabins and the rival inn, with the paid help of Rebecca's brother, Tom. Tom and Frazier catch ML eavesdropping and manage to get her committed by pretending that ML is actually Rebecca. In the end, ML manages to signal Norman and Max, who are out looking for her in their car. Tom and Frazier get arrested, and Cliff gets released.

• Cliff is described as "homely," but very personable and a good guy. He's known for his card tricks. I like the break from the typical gorgeous athlete type. He and Jane have a sort-of-romance.
• The mental institution bit is seriously scary. Every time ML tries to tell them who she is, they think it's part of her illness.
  
• The institution is described as a pretty nice place of its type (which is definitely unrealistic for the time), and Rebecca decides to go live there voluntarily.
• ML follows the Nancy Drew mold by not being super interested in any of the boys who are obsessed with her, even though she's grateful to Max for rescuing her.
• ML rescues the Smiths' little girl from the fire, in series stereotype #322.
• ML's dad seriously does nothing. He helps get the bad guys arrested, AFTER ML figures out who they are, and the boys rescue her.
• ML is supposed to be 16, and David McCall is 22. Rather icky, no? Cliff is around 19(sophomore at Yale), ftr.
• ML knows how to signal because she's a Girl Scout, which is also mentioned in the previous book (she uses it as a reason to not get rewards for good deeds). I don't really like these references, even though it's not surprising, since Edie was a troop leader. ML's just too old and not that much of a goody-goody.
• As you can see in the map, Shady Nook is on the Hudson. Adirondacks, possibly? It takes them a full day to drive there, so that would be in keeping with a Pennsylvania locale.
  

So again, Edie gets points for scary situations, and I like Jane's character a bit more after this book, even though she's still a little bland. I'm optimistic for the next (and final) book, The Mystery of the Secret Band, which seems like it will actually involved her father and yet another setting (urban).