Trixie Has Her Hands Full in the Woolly Happy Valley Mystery

I’ve always been oddly drawn to the idea of shepherds. I don’t know if it’s the 23rd Psalm or the proliferation of sheep in Ireland or the wind-up toy sheep I had as a toddler, but I’ve always found the profession very appealing. Hence, I was tickled to discover that in the ninth Trixie Belden book, Trixie Belden and the Happy Valley Mystery, a good chunk of the action takes place on a sheep farm.

In this book, written by a ghostwriter under the name of Kathryn Kenny, Trixie joins her brothers and friends on a last-minute Spring Break trip to snowy Iowa, courtesy of her Uncle Andrew, who is away in Scotland while they are there. Dan Mangan, the newest member of the Bob-Whites of the Glen, the small club of which Trixie is a part, can’t participate in this trip, but the other members – Trixie’s older brothers, Mart and Brian, her best friend Honey and Honey’s adopted brother Jim, and her neighbor Di - are all along for the ride and hoping they might just be able to relax and not worry about solving any mysteries. But as soon as Trixie learns that some of her beloved uncle’s sheep have gone missing lately, she becomes determined to crack the case, no matter how much opposition she faces.

And boy, does she face opposition. Her friends and siblings stick up for her as often as they tease her, but nobody in Iowa has seen the results of her detective work, and they find her suspicions and conclusions ridiculous. Particularly galling are Mr. Gorman, who is running the farm in Uncle Andrew’s stead, and farmhand Ben, who see everything Trixie says as a big joke. While they are worried about the loss of Andrew’s sheep, they aren’t too quick to accept help from Trixie and the other Bob-Whites, and they are more focused on making sure that the kids have a good time, encouraging them to participate in such events as a basketball game, a local dance and an afternoon of skating.

Trixie is always the central character in these books, but here she feels even more in the spotlight than usual, since she is the only one really interested in finding out who is taking her uncle’s sheep, at least initially. It gives the book a somewhat lonesome feeling that adds to the chill of a blizzardy break. On top of having to go it alone much of the time when it comes to figuring out the mystery, Trixie feels disturbing pangs of jealousy throughout the week as Jim seems to revel in the attentions of a beautiful blond figure skater. It’s partly this envy that drives her to befriend Ned, a local boy who proves an important ally.

I love the setting of this book, and I found the tidbits about the sheep farming business interesting. It’s fun to see Trixie and the other Bob-Whites have a hand in the daily duties of a sheep farmer, some of which turn out to be pretty harrowing. An incident involving a large number of escaped sheep is exciting, while the birth of twin lambs reminded me of veterinarian Jim Herriot’s books. The most exciting portion of the book, however, has little to do with sheep and instead finds Trixie, Jim and Honey navigating their way through a flood. This escapade does involve a puppy, and sheepdogs play a fairly major role in the story, as do horses – one of which boasts perhaps the worst horse name I’ve ever heard: Satan’s Baby. Really?

The interaction between Jim and Trixie is one of the best parts of this book. These kids are in their early teens, and any amour is understated, but this is the most romantic novel yet. The hints of the blossoming relationship between these two are sprinkled in at just the right times and never overwhelm the story. It feels much more organic to me than in the seventh book, which uses Valentine’s Day as an excuse to explore that angle.

I’m always on the lookout for literary references in these books. In this installment, I noticed that while there is a nod to Sherlock Holmes, most of the allusions are to the Bible. The characters mention Moses, Jeremiah and Gabriel, and the Gormans actually read a passage from Genesis early in the book. Given that, I was a little surprised not to read a reference to the Good Shepherd or the parable of the lost sheep, as these certainly would have had a lot of relevance to the story.

It’s always fun to shake things up a bit in a series by taking the main characters out of their usual surroundings. This is the third book in the series that has taken place mostly away from home, and it makes for a fun adventure. Not the most tranquil of spring breaks, perhaps, but something tells me a week of peace and quiet is hardly what Trixie would consider an ideal vacation!