Explore the Enigmas of Ghost Fish and Trixie's Whining in The Mystery at Bob-White Cave

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, a relentless rain leaves the stir-crazy Pevensie children down in the dumps. Little do they know that their ticket to adventure is not the expansive grounds of the stately home in which they are staying but the old wardrobe in the spare bedroom. In The Mystery at Bob-White Cave, rain leads intrepid 14-year-old sleuth Trixie Belden to her next great challenge as well, since it forces her to sit still long enough to read a magazine announcing that anyone who brings three particular specimens of the cave-dwelling ghost fish will receive a reward of $500.

Trixie really wants that money, especially since getting it will be tricky enough that succeeding will bring a real sense of accomplishment. She already knows exactly how she wants to use it. She and her fellow Bob-Whites – her brothers Brian and Mart, her best friend Honey and Honey’s adopted brother Jim, all of whom are with her on this trip to the Ozarks, and her neighbors Di and Dan, who aren’t – have a strong desire to help others, and their latest project is to buy a station wagon to bring disabled children to school back in their hometown of Sleepyside, New York. It’s a noble cause, and Trixie is determined, so even though the other four had hoped for a less goal-oriented vacation, they go along with her plan.

This is the eleventh book in the Trixie Belden series and the fifth written by a ghostwriter under the name Kathryn Kenny. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that this writer was new to the series, partly because she turns Trixie into a kind of all-American Veruca Salt. That notorious brat from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory kept popping into my head as I read all of Trixie’s interminable foot-stamping “But Uncle Andrew, I want a ghost fish! Now!” moaning. The whining begins with the rain, when she goes into a tirade about the misery of this trip to see her favorite uncle in one of his two (or more?) homes. Uncle Andrew is a wonderful, doting man who clearly thinks the world of his niece and nephews, so such ingratitude is instantly off-putting. Trixie soon apologizes for this outburst, which he fortunately doesn’t hear, but her petulance is almost instantly transferred onto the search for the fish, and anything that gets in the way of her securing that prize is an object of extreme impatience.

A more positive element of this book that seems to distinguish this author from others is her attention to natural detail. For instance, “A wind came up through the silence, a silence more ominous than the rolling thunder which accented it. The sky in the west was a sullen green around the edges.” Clearly, this was written by someone with a great appreciation for the outdoors, as her most colorful writing is reserved for descriptions of the forest, the caves and other aspects of the landscape and weather. Usually this means a paragraph or two at a time, so it never overwhelms the story, and it helped me to get caught up in the setting.

Aside from Trixie, who at least apologizes from time to time for being such a pill, none of the characters seem vastly off to me here, except perhaps Honey, who is often excessive in her fretting. However, she still joins in several dangerous expeditions, so her actions speak louder than her words on the fear front, and apart from some chiding for Trixie’s recklessness, her tactful nature is generally evident throughout the book. Aside from brief mentions by the Bob-Whites, Dan and Di don’t appear in the book at all, nor do any of the Sleepyside supporting characters, as the book takes place entirely in the Ozarks. Because of this, it took me a little while to figure out just when the book occurs, though I figured it must have been early summer if they were out of school but the boys were not away at camp.

For the first time, the author introduces a supernatural element into the stories. Well, the seventh book includes some local folk legends, but they don’t really tie into the main plot. Here, Mrs. Moore and her daughter Linnie, who take care of Uncle Andrew’s Missouri fishing lodge, fervently believe in ghosts, and although the Bob-Whites mostly think that all this talk of spirits is a load of hogwash, some mysterious events seem as though they could point to ghostly intervention. Because of that, this particular outing reminded me a bit of a Scooby-Doo adventure, and I just knew that eventually, the “ghost” allegedly wandering around nearby would be revealed as a perfectly normal, living person. I like the revelation there, but Uncle Andrew and the New York bunch seem a little insensitive sometimes as they openly show their disdain for the ghost legends that fill these hills. Mrs. Moore’s constant attribution of incidents to ghosts does get a little silly, but it seems it would be more polite to let her express herself openly instead of always trying to contradict her.

Mostly, though, the Bob-Whites are helpful and friendly during their stay, and even though delays in her fish mission aggravate her, Trixie happily helps sweet-natured Linnie and maternal Mrs. Moore with a variety of tasks, and it is she who mobilizes the group to save a drowning man in one of the book’s best sequences. The rugged terrain means that most of the danger the teens face in this book is natural. A wildcat and a flood pose serious threats. So does a fire, which is set purposefully but is made all the more dangerous by the surrounding woodlands.

However, there are shady characters lurking about, most notably a scowling, drawling young man named Slim whom Uncle Andrew elects to act as the Bob-Whites’ spelunking guide. Is he merely disagreeable, or could this guy be seriously bad news? And what about all that odd activity up at what the locals refer to as the ghost cabin? What’s more, just about anybody in the vicinity could be a contender for the same prize that Trixie seeks, so even those who aren’t willing to stoop to dastardly means to acquire the ghost fish still potentially stand in the way of them achieving their goal. Time is of the essence.

I’ve always found caves fascinating, so I enjoyed all the spelunking expeditions in this novel, as well as the folksy gatherings of neighbors for some old-fashioned mountain music. It was also great to spend so much time in the company of Uncle Andrew, who is such a kind and conscientious caretaker, and his equally upstanding friend Bill Hawkins. While I wish this author hadn’t turned Trixie into such a twerp, this trip to the Ozarks made for a pretty enjoyable outing.