Hooo,
boy.
Abby, Kristy,
Mallory, Mary Anne and Stacey go on an SMS-sponsored trip to Salem,
Massachusetts. While they are there, a giant yellow diamond called the Witch’s Eye
goes missing. There are many suspects, including an author who wanted to study
the diamond’s curse, the diamond’s owner, and a man who wants to buy it. The
diamond turns out to be hidden in a plastic pumpkin Abby bought at the gift
shop and called her ‘pet’ pumpkin. The culprits are one of Mal’s favorite
authors and her co-conspirator, the guy who had asked to buy the gem. Abby
actually literally kicks both of them (though not in the ass, sadly) and the
BSC is once again the victor.
Meanwhile,
the Stoneybrook sitters help the kids put together a parade for Halloween,
which is so snooze-worthy that I almost didn’t mention it.
InterestingTidbits
Le
Covere! (That’s ‘French’ for…the cover.) We have some universally bad fashion
here. Stacey’s horrible perm and oversized letterman jacket/short skirt
combo…Mal’s far-too-big-for-her-face glasses and Bill Cosby sweater…Mary Anne’s
tie-dye and really big pants combo. Yuck, yuck and YUCK.
Ooh,
the set up for this one is all Abby. I am fairly certain that’s the only time
that ever happens. Interestingly, though, Abby says that the last trip she went
on with the BSC was also scary, referring to super mystery #2. I guess she
blacked out on Hawaii, huh?
Mallory
tries to cast a chill-out spell on Kristy. She says she got the idea because
Jordan found a book of spells and claims to be putting spells on the other two
triplets. If that’s so effective, why isn’t he casting spells left and right,
on everyone?
Mary
Anne actually agrees to babysit during her Salem trip, during which she’s also
supposed to be learning and doing homework. This is yet another sign that if
she stops babysitting for too long, she’ll DIE!
Stacey
is all about the economic history of Salem, spouting facts like it was the home
to the first millionaire in the U.S. That doesn’t surprise me too much.
Stacey
was not thrilled by the movie version of The
Scarlet Letter. I think the Demi Moore version had just come out then, so I
don’t blame her.
This is
funny:
Mallory: What is the curse on the
Witch’s Eye?
Stacey: I don’t remember. Something
awful.
Abby: Curses usually are. *rolls
eyes*
Stacey’s
actually being pretty funny in this one. Mal points out a guy who is reading a
newspaper but never turning the page, instead looking at one of the other
suspects, Martha Kempner. First Stacey says that he’s not ‘date material,’ and
then suggests he’s not turning the page because too much MTV means that he’s a
slow reader with no attention span. Finally, she critiques his outfit and says
he’d be lousy as a spy.
Mary
Anne and Stacey are in the museum when the Witch’s Eye turns up missing. Stacey
finds a clue and memorizes it—it’s numbers and she has a savant brain for
memorizing any number she sees. That’s really convenient that that fact never
came up until now.
Mary
Anne eavesdrops on a conversation, but stays in the bushes long after Agnes
Moorehouse, the owner of the diamond, has left. Suddenly she realizes she’s
skulking in the bushes and being extremely suspicious. She also finds a clue: a
disguise in the form of a wig, custodian’s outfit, and sun glasses someone had
stashed in the bush. Apparently, this is a crime straight out of a sitcom,
where you can just steal a custodian’s uniform and it will magically fit you.
(Although there is that episode of The Office where Jim is wearing a woman’s
warehouse uniform…)
Abby is
with Mary Anne when she finds the disguise, and she tries to smart off to the
cops, stating she helped MA subdue the wig (which MA thought was a dead
creature, causing her to scream). She also almost tells the officer that she’d
never met MA before in her life, but the officers have no sense of humor, and
she’s not that stupid.
Meanwhile,
back in Stoneybrook…Jessi and Shannon are sitting for the Pikes, who are both
Halloween-crazy and believing/pretending that Jordan actually knows how to cast
spells. This was the best part:
Jessi: Maybe Jordan put a spell on
the whole family and made them invisible.
Shannon: Shh! Don’t give them any
ideas!
Oh, and
Mal calls Jessi in a panic, because she NEEDS the mystery notebook now! Shannon suggests the Salem-bound
sitters could just write down their notes and put them in the notebook later,
when they’re back in Stoneybrook, but Mal won’t listen. It’s actually pretty
hilarious. She’s waaaaaay too attached to that notebook. Shannon actually
connects that fact to Jordan and his obsession with the spell book.
There’s
a whole C-level plot about how both Alan and Cary are on the Salem trip. Alan
keeps pulling childish pranks on Kristy, while Cary makes snarky comments. It comes
up again later, so hang on here…
The
title quote is what Kristy says when MA is disappointed that Kristy already
knows about the theft. Abby: “Agatha Kristy strikes again.”
Abby
calls the front desk and asks if anyone had checked in or checked out since the
robbery. And the front desk actually tells her! Remind me never to stay there….
Suspects:
the ‘newspaper spy’, who is probably actually some type of law enforcement;
Mrs. Moorehouse, the diamond’s owner; and Harvey Hapgood, who offered to buy
the diamond before it went missing.
There’s
this sixth grader named Eileen who is Mal’s roommate during the trip. She’s one
of those quiet social outcasts with bad fashion sense; every school had some of
those. Cokie and Grace keep being cruel to her, and she just takes it. The BSC
can’t take it, but other than Mal inviting Eileen to eat dinner with them the
first night, they don’t do anything about it, either.
Abby
starts wearing her ‘pet pumpkin’ on a clip on her belt, and she actually gets
attacked by someone trying to get it off of her—only she doesn’t know that’s
why at the time.
Claudia
spelling: sugestions, corse, Salim. She also uses ware for wear. Oh, and it’s a
joint notebook entry between Claudia and Logan, which I think is awesome, even
though it’s really brief. They are sitting for the Brewer/Thomas crew and the Papadakises. It’s annoying
because Karen’s being super-pesty and keeps trying to scare everyone by talking
about ghosts. Claudia and Logan keep assuring Andrew that it’s not true, but
Karen responds, ‘It could be.’
Stacey
actually calls Claudia in order to discuss the wardrobes of the Salem-bound
sitters so that Claud can help plan costumes. That sounds cute, except that
they’re on the phone for an hour. That can’t be good for their hotel bill, or
for Stacey’s ability to get her homework done.
This is
even funnier than Mal’s unhealthy obsession with the mystery notebook. Jessi
tracks down Mr. Wu, the husband of one of the teachers on the trip, in order to
take the notebook to him. (He’s going to join his wife in Salem for the rest of
the weekend.) When it arrives, Abby notes that Jessi stuck the notebook in an
envelope, taped every possible opening shut, and wrote Personal and
Confidential all over it. As Abby notes, that doesn’t looks suspicious or
anything!
“We’re
not here to talk the politics of shoes.” That’s Mary Anne’s attempt at
smoothing over a disagreement between Stacey, who thinks that high heels make
your legs look longer, and Abby, who points out how bad they are for your body.
Costume
time. Don’t you love yet another BSC Halloween? Amazing how they have two in
one year. Kristy is Sherlock Bones, with a magnifying glass, a necklace made of
dog bones and biscuits, and a fake mustache. Mal is a pumpkin patch, covered in
pumpkin-themed items. Mary Anne is a cat, and Stacey is mother time, with a
clock painted on her face. Abby is—shocker here—a soccer player. Again. Alan is
a vampire, and Cary is rat man, whatever the hell that is. Cokie and Grace are
witches, which is appropriate. I mean, they can’t dress as bitches, so this is
as close as they can get.
Alan
actually leaves a ‘bite mark’ on Kristy’s neck. It’s red permanent marker, set
to look like vampire fangs, but Abby worries for a moment that he actually bit
her. That would be unfortunate, because then Kristy would need a rabies shot.
BRAHAHAHAHAHA!
Abby wears a waist pack—what was once was known as a fanny pack. (My mother
wore one for going on twenty years, but because she got her first one while we
lived in England, she always called her a bum bag. ‘Fanny’ means something
altogether else in England.) She actually has hers stolen because the
thief—dressed as a ghost—is looking for her pet pumpkin. Unfortunately for the
thief, the pumpkin is part of Mal’s pumpkin patch. Since the thief doesn’t know
that, he/she uses the room key from her bag to ransack Abby and Stacey’s room.
After
Cokie starts torturing Eileen again, Mal actually steps up and steers Eileen
away from the two of them. Later, she invites Eileen to hang out and drink
cocoa with the BSC. I know Mal is a lot of negative things, but I like the fact
that she doesn’t put up with bullying. Although, I did have to roll my eyes
when she equates Cokie’s treatment of Eileen with the Salem witch trials,
suggesting that if someone had stood up against the madness, it might never
have happened. I get the connection—the witches were just people who were
different or weird, and that’s why they were called witches—but she’s making it
sound like the BSC just changed history by standing up to Cokie.
“This
mystery was growing more mysterious.” Thank you, Mal. You just made my ultimate
dream come true, but connecting this series even more closely to Scooby Doo. (I
am really trying to find the clip of when Fred says this in Scooby Doo Meets
the Addams Family. He also says, “Hey look, gang, a door,” and points at a
door. That has to be the most ludicrous line in the history of Scooby Doo, and
that’s saying something.)
Stacey
wants to turn the mystery into a mathematical equation so she could solve it
right away. If that were possible, then mathematicians would = cops. Even
without being a mathematician or a police officer, Stacey think she’s solved
everything:
Stacey: I have it! I have it!
Abby: The flu? The meaning of life?
Actually,
she just figured out that the numbers she memorized earlier in the story are a
safe combination for somewhere in her hotel.
The BSC
knows something is horribly wrong because Kristy missed an emergency BSC meeting! Of course, they don’t know that
Kristy was jealous because she missed the ‘excitement’ earlier when the robbery
happened, so when she found a ‘clue,’ she went off to the museum to explore for
herself.
When I
grow up, I totally want to be a newspaper spy. I don’t know what they do, other
than they pretend to read newspapers in hotel lobbies, but that’s what the BSC
keeps calling one of the suspects.
It is
awfully convenient that a) all the suspects continually tell the front desk
where they are going and b) the front desk has no problem sharing that
information with random teenagers. This mystery would have been dead in its
tracks a while ago without that bit of loveliness.
Oh, and
it turns out that none of the suspects actually went where they said they were
going, as a tiny bit of sleuthing figures out.
More costumes,
these ones worn at the parade in Stoneybrook: Emily Michelle is a rabbit and
Karen, a jack in the box. The Rodowsky boys are all monsters (yes, but what
about their costumes?) Becca is a princess, while Squirt is King of the Kitchen
(wearing a pot on his head. I guess that’s a thing now?) Jordan, who still
believes in his magic spells, is Merlin. Only he winds up admitting his spell
book is a poetry book, and Claire—who thought he was going to make her
fly—throws a tantrum. Fun times….
Oh,
this is lovely. When the electricity goes out…on Halloween night…in a ‘haunted’
inn…with a thief on the loose…and Kristy missing…one of the teachers goes
around handing all the kids candles and match books. Um, what? I think a
smarter way to avoid burning down the inn would be to insist that all the kids
come to one central spot and then for the adults to light candles around them
and not let them touch them.
Kristy
references From the Mixed Up Files of
Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, only not really by name. She gets a little ways
into the title and then decides that since she’s locked in a museum in the dark
with someone following her, she should just use the information: she hides in a
bed in the museum display, like Claudia and her brother do in that book.
The
person who is following Kristy? Alan. Only he’s not actually following her.
Cary set both of them up with fake clues. I don’t know why Kristy fell for
this, because she knows Cary’s done that before. (Penguins, anyone?) Kristy and
Alan team up to scare the living shit out of Cary for scaring them.
Also,
Kristy realizes that Cary basically keeps surveillance on the BSC at all times.
He knows every detail about them. Well, duh. How else is he so good at
torturing and pestering them? It’s what makes him head and shoulders above
Alan. (Kristy also realizes she and Alan used the same ruse to get away from
the chaperons, making Kristy fear that her teachers trusted her and Alan about
the same amount. Heh, heh, heh.)
This is
interesting: Cary thinks Kristy is babysitting, and states that he would never
bring the little girl to the museum in the dark, saying she’s far too
responsible for that. It puts a slightly different spin on Cary. Originally I
thought he liked to torture Kristy because she was an easy target; she’s very
simple to rile up. But this makes me think that Cary sees Kristy as the only
one who is his equal, with whatever implication that may have.
So our
newspaper spy, whom I theorized was some kind of law enforcement, is actually
an insurance investigator. Assuming he does what I think he does, he
investigates cases of insurance fraud and potential insurance fraud. I work in
that field, only on a smaller scale (investigating cases of employees stealing
$.99 hideous Halloween decorations and raiding their coworkers’ purses.)
Abby
muses the difference between deduction and induction. All I can tell you for
certain is that I learned the difference at one point but cannot remember any
further. I think I’ll look it up when I’m done here.
Abby
gets attacked by the bad guys and knocks both to the ground by performing
soccer fouls on them. Only Abby would think to play sports at a time like that.
(Of course, I can’t knock it. It would probably be really effective.)
Afterwards, she’s like, “That was excellent!” Mary Anne sternly disagrees.
This is
the best part of the whole story. Against all logic, Kristy shows up just after
the two suspects are apprehended by the newspaper spy and the police. The BSC
were in a random other part of the hotel, which they didn’t even know existed
until just then. Stacey asks how Kristy found them, which is a good and valid
question (as is where she has been, which Mary Anne asks). Kristy shrugs the
question off, probably because the ghost writer didn’t have a good answer.
She’s too upset that they solved the mystery without her!
The
diamond’s owner gives each of the girls a pumpkin charm—a new pet pumpkin—for
their help in solving the case. Mal gets all embarrassed, but Abby embarrasses
everyone more and says, “No problem. Happens all the time,” in a dismissive
tone.
Outfits
Eileen:
oversized dingy black outfit; oversized purple dress, puffy orange windbreaker
and clunky shoes, red hat with white snowflakes
Claudia:
orange and black hand batiked shirt, one orange sock and one black sock, Doc
Martens covered in Halloween stickers
Stacey:
black jeans, black turtleneck, silver crop top, black boots (it actually says
she wore black boots twice)
Kristy:
corduroys, Oxford shirt, sweater vest
What’s next? #102. I
have not read this one yet, so this should be interesting. I’m predicting a lot
of horrid British accents and slang…
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