I'm sure you're not
surprised to learn that the plot is convoluted--after all, it is a BSC
mystery! A man named Reginald Fowler is trying to develop Miller's Park into a
shopping complex, to which various townspeople (including the BSC) disagree. Meanwhile,
the BSC has new clients, the Martinezes, whose house Fowler would have to buy
to follow through with his plan.
Odd things have gone on
at the Martinez house, including a fire in their garage, after which their
usual sitter quit. The BSC discovers that someone has been threatening Luke
Martinez, and he's always suspicious of his sitters. At the same time, various
vandalism is occurring in the area, and Mary Anne keeps being at the wrong
place at the wrong time. After being brought to the police station on suspicion
of vandalism, MA tells the cops she saw Fowler talking to a teenaged boy. But
Fowler was out of state at the time. Eventually, the BSC discovers that Fowler
has a twin, who is out to stop his brother's dastardly plan. The twin
blackmailed the Martinezes' former babysitter's boyfriend (are you following
that?) into committing the vandalism. Turns out, the boyfriend had stopped by
to visit the babysitter and had started the fire at the Martinezes with his
cigarette.
Luke saves the day by
finding a paper on which Fowler mapped out his future plans for Stoneybrook,
which include demolishing most of the town and building industrial complexes
and apartment buildings. The twin is arrested and Fowler's plans for
Stoneybrook are denied.
Interesting tidbits:
The cover of this book
would look like a poster for an awful horror movie, if it were dark outside.
Little Amalia is busy ripping up paper (wearing a Claudia outfit--pink shirt,
purple leggings and red high tops), while Luke is either writing creepy
messages on the window, or he's paralyzed by reading one someone else wrote on
the window. And Mary Anne--who, for once, doesn't look like she's wearing a
wig--is wearing an atrocious get-up, one that wasn't even the slightest bit
stylish, even in 1996. Plus, she's wearing too much blush.
This one takes place right after Dawn permanently moves back to California and Abby joins.
MA eats Grape Nuts, with
skim milk and maple syrup, for breakfast. Sounds yummy.
Claudia, just so you
know, Pebbles Flintstone ponytails are NEVER cool. On anyone. Ever.
Heh heh heh. Kristy
mentions what an amazing coincidence it is that, right after they learn about
the plan to develop Miller's Park, they get a new client who live right outside
of the park. It's not really that coincidental for a BSC book, though.
Sharon calls MA a
celebrity, and MA asks if she won an Oscar or something. Actually, she just had
a letter to the editor published in the paper.
There's a whole bunch of
letters in the text about the Miller's Park issue and most of them are pretty
boring, but one of them made me laugh because a local business owner called the
situation a brouhaha.
Mary Anne gets spooked
because she's babysitting the Martinezes and a figure runs away from the yard.
Outside, she finds the words DON'T TELL written in the ash of the garage fire.
Of course, this isn't scary because it's a BSC book and you know they always
win in the end. But if I were thirteen and saw that, I would pee my pants. I
would have been on the phone with my mom so fast.
This is the book that
introduces Cary Retlin's family. I now wonder, after last week's California
Diaries books, whether Cary and Benson Retlin exist as well as Steig.
I laughed so hard when
MA got hauled in by the police. Now, both she and Stacey have been questioned
by the coppers.How does Mrs. Martinez have Richard's phone number?
The BSC's police friend,
Sgt. Johnson, takes over questioning MA when she gets to the station. He
convinces Richard to let him talk to Mary Anne alone. I think that's a little
bit illegal...or at least, a really, really bad idea.
Kristy uses *69 to try
to find out who called Luke, but they never mention the actual digits. They
just say "she dialed three numbers." I guess they didn't want kids
using it to play around.
Jessi's hair is done up
in beaded braids in this story. Usually, she's shown just wearing a ponytail.
MA think Logan looks
especially cute with uncombed hair. I...don't get it.
Abby brings cookies to
the Martinezes, and tells Luke to eat one even though he's not hungry. That's a
good message to pass on. (Luke takes the cookie but inspects it as if he thinks
Abby's trying to poison him.)
Later Abby makes the
kids play a game called Secrets where you tell the others secrets about
yourself no one else knows. First, I can't believe even an eight year old would
agree to that game. Second, Amalia's so little, her only secret is that she
loves Barney...which is probably not really a secret.
Once again I ask how big
Claudia's room is. Jessi's doing ballet stretches on the floor during a
meeting. (Although, I'm thinking about my childhood bedroom and realizing there
probably was room for a desk, a director's chair and a bed, plus Jessi doing
stretches on the floor. But that room was huge, and for some reason I've always
pictured Claudia's house (and Kristy and MA's old houses) as being on the
smaller side.)
MA calls the operator
numerous times, trying to track down Fowler's twin brother. She uses various
accents and thinks she's hilarious. I'm betting there are only a few operators
and she's getting them over and over, and they probably think she's an idiot.
(Wouldn't it have been easier just to use a phone book?)
Why would the Martinezes
want a bunch of virtual strangers cleaning out their garage for them? I could
see if the BSC were going to be scrubbing down walls or something, but they're
actually going through and deciding what to keep and what to toss. Stacey's
sitting that day, and MA and Kristy come over without pay. I would have been a
little suspicious if I were Mr. Martinez...
Of course, the BSC finds
a clue the fire department missed. Stoneybrook should fire all their cops and
fire fighters and just hire the BSC instead. It'd be a lot cheaper!
Stacey actually says,
"Well, duh," to Mary Anne at one point. The only way that would have
been more wrong was if Claudia had said it.
Heh heh heh. Kristy's so
upset about bad publicity she isn't eating (or making fun of) her lunch. MA
mentions the lunch as it was described on the menu: "Fish sand. on bun
w/coleslaw". Later, MA puts tartar sauce on her fish sand, and later they
throw away the remains of their fish sands.
Remember phone booths?
Mary Anne, Logan and Mallory stake out the one that Kristy reached when she
used *69. Because the person who called is just going to hang out there.
Mary Anne goes into
Ted's Tools and starts asking questions about who had bought a certain shade of
paint recently. Not only does Ted remember, he actually gives her a name.
Sounds like a really bad idea. What if she were a stalker or something?
Oh, good night. There's
supposed to be a meeting between one of the twins and Boyfriend Beau that
night, and the BSC decides to go to it and get dirt on the twin...but they call
Sgt. Johnson "as backup." What cop in his right mind agrees to play
back up for a bunch of little girls?
Why would the Martinezes
have Luke present the map at the town council meeting? The kid's traumatized
enough already.
New characters
Luke and Amalia Martinez
(8 and 3)--24 and 19
Benson and Steig Retlin
(11 and 8)--27 and 24
No outfits in this one!
Next week: Keeping up
the Cary Retlin luv, next week will be #124 Kristy in Charge.
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