Everybody Has a Story in Trixie Belden and the Mystery in Arizona

I’ve been devouring the Trixie Belden series this month, and I’ve now come to the conclusion of the original six written by Julie Campbell. Prior to this volume, she leaves 13-year-old Trixie, her best friends Honey Wheeler and Di Lynch, her brothers Mart and Brian and Honey’s adopted brother Jim in what, for me, is pretty familiar territory: New York. The terrain and climate is comparable to Pennsylvania’s, but in the sixth book, I took a trip along with them to sunny Arizona for a sojourn on the other end of the country.

In Trixie Belden and the Mystery in Arizona, Di’s Uncle Monty, the character at the heart of the mystery in the fourth book, has invited the Bob-Whites – the club that includes the Beldens, Honey, Di and Jim – to spend Christmas with him at his ranch. Trixie’s afraid that she can’t go because she’s in danger of failing math, but she is given permission – on the condition that she spend a good part of her vacation studying. Little does she realize that she’s about to add to that workload considerably until, for the second book in a row, she volunteers the Bob-Whites to take over a job from someone who has suddenly quit. Why did the Orlando family, who were such dedicated and seemingly happy workers at Uncle Monty’s ranch, decide to clear out in such a hurry? When the Bob-Whites take their leave, will Uncle Monty be left without a staff?

This book is interesting in that the supporting characters from previous books play virtually no role. Instead, it’s all newly introduced characters interacting with the Bob-Whites. There’s also the fact that they are in such a novel situation. The southwest setting makes it fun, especially for someone like me who’s never been to Arizona, though it’s also a bit of a drawback, as Campbell sometimes gets a little carried away with delving into the history and geography of the region. There are lengthy conversations or monologues that mostly feel like information dumps. We get one on the plane in a chat with a very knowledgeable stewardess, and it seems to happen a lot at the ranch, especially whenever Tenny the cowboy is around. I picked up a lot of interesting tidbits from this, but at times it feels excessive; this is a novel, not a travelogue. But I bet there are plenty of folks who came away from the book thinking that Arizona would be a nice place to visit.

Because Di’s uncle owns the ranch, she feels like a fairly organic part of this story, and she is the first to make a breakthrough with one of the three “difficult guests” whose rooms the girls have to clean as part of their housekeeping duties. Each of these guests, along with several employees, is a mystery Trixie intends to crack, which doesn’t leave her much time for studying. Why do middle-aged “Mr. X.” and young “Calamity Jane” seem so despondent? Why is “Lady Astorbilt” so ornery? Why would Tenny adopt a phony accent? Why can’t pretty young Rosita return to school? And most importantly, where did the Orlandos go, why did they leave, and why didn’t Maria, the ranch’s cook and the daughter-in-law of the Orlando parents, go with them?

That’s a lot of puzzles to work out, and Trixie does do some deducing in this book, though mostly, she “solves” these mysteries by talking to people. As in the fifth book, there are no nefarious characters lurking in these pages, just odd events with circumstances that require some explanation. It’s fun getting to meet so many characters at once, and they’re all pretty distinct. Some of them have things in common with folks back home, too; particularly, easy-going Tenny’s rapport with the kids is similar to that of cheerful groom Regan, and Maria’s son Petey is a lot like Trixie’s little brother Bobby. While Trixie is on target in thinking that there is something strange going on at the ranch, I appreciated that Honey’s instincts toward thinking the best of people are also justified as the story unfolds.

The boys feel a little less involved in this book, though we get to see them preparing and serving meals, and Brian and Jim take turns tormenting Trixie with math problems. Not being very math-minded myself, I felt sorry for her having to spend so much of her trip poring over problems. Of course, she spends most of the rest of her time poring over problems, too – other people’s problems. Though she often suspects that folks are up to no good, once she gets the full story, she wants to help. That, after all, is the Bob-Whites’ mission. And can I just say that every one of these kids is not only hard-working but extremely generous? It didn’t surprise me in the least to see them stepping up to take over ranch duties; that seemed an obvious solution to the first problem that presented itself upon their arrival. But for none of them to show the slightest material interest in the $400 payment offered for their services – especially considering that, thanks to the last book, we know that $50 is enough to buy you a car – shows a generosity of spirit almost too expansive to be believed.

Everybody has a story. That’s the message we get from this book, where half a dozen backstories of characters we might never see again are explored. Some of them aren’t too surprising; I figured out Tenny’s right off the bat. Others are more cryptic; the Orlandos’ disappearance seems even more intriguing in light of the strange tales Petey tells about a previous excursion with his grandparents. If there’s a lesson to be learned here, aside from all the textbookish ones about Arizona and its people, it’s that getting to know people is a worthwhile exercise. Just because someone seems snappish or standoffish doesn’t mean she’s not worthy of friendship, and just because someone has a secret doesn’t mean he’s a criminal. Of course, I’m sure it won’t be long before some baddies show up again. But it’s Christmas, after all, and if this is what a holiday in the Southwest looks like, it sounds like a pretty good time to me!