The Mystery Bookstore is the forty-eighth book in the Boxcar Children series. The fictional series focuses on the lives of Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden. They lived without their parents in an abandoned boxcar until they moved in with their rich grandfather. Each book in the series involves the children, usually on a trip somewhere, solving some sort of mystery.
This particular book in the series takes place in New Orleans, mainly in the French Quarter. The four children and they’re grandfather are traveling there for an auction at an old bookstore whose owner recently died.
The better part of the auction consisted mainly of little knick-knacks from around the store. The main item up for bidding though was the entire bookstore and its books. The former owner had come across many rare books over the years and an extremely rare stamp. It was rumored that she had those items hidden around the shop. Therefore, there were many people interested in buying the shop just for the rare items but one woman named Mrs. Chase who was an old friend of the Alden children’s grandfather was interested in the bookshop to make it into a mystery bookshop.
The bidding began. Four different bidders were bidding on the shop. The Alden children were helping Mrs. Chase analyze the other bidders. The bidding continued all the way up to eighty-thousand dollars. Mrs. Chase couldn’t afford any higher. Suddenly a man in the back called out “one-hundred thousand dollars!” Everyone turned to find that the Alden’s grandfather had been the bidder. The gavel came down and the sale was complete.
The Alden’s grandfather quickly informed Mrs. Chase that he would be glad to rent it to her. She agreed on one condition, the children must stay for a few days and help sort out the books and get them ready for to be sold. The children quickly agreed.
The next day the children started to help Mrs. Chase clean up the store. While they were busily working a woman named Sarah Deckle came by asking to look through the store. She had been one of the four people bidding on the store during the auction. The children let her in after a lot of persuasion on Sarah’s part.
Mrs. Chase decided to put an ad in the paper for a rare books expert to price some of the rarer books. Later that day, before the ad was even in the paper, an acquaintance of Mrs. Chase named Mr. Bindry came by and asked for the position. He had also been a bidder at the auction. Mrs. Chase willingly gave it to him.
Mrs. Chase made the children stop working half way through the day so they could do some sight seeing in New Orleans. The children left and visited many sights, taking pictures along the way. At a crowded Café the eldest, Jessie, put Violet’s bag down to take a picture. When she turned to pick up the bag it was gone. Frantically looking through the crowd, Jessie spotted a woman with the bag. She chased her down. It turned out to be Sarah Deckle. Sarah explained that she was talking the bad to Lost and Found and gave it back. All of the Alden children found that incident very suspicious.
After they had seen enough for one day they looked at the pictures. They realized that there was the same man in every picture. After closer examination, they determined that it was Mr. Phillips, another bidder from the auction.
They returned to Mrs. Chase’s apartment which was near the store. The door was ajar and a crumpled note was on the floor. It explained that she had left and left the door locked. The children quickly left the apartment because they feared that a burglar may be inside. When they got outside they someone run from the bookstore.
Mrs. Chase arrived home and the Alden children told her what had happened. They called the police but the police found nothing suspicious.
The next day, Violet realized that something was missing, a set of fairy tales that Mrs. Chase had let her keep from the bookstore. The last book, however, was in her backpack because she had taken it along on the previous day’s sightseeing excursion.
Later that day, as the children were tidying up, they accidentally knocked several bricks out of the wall. Benny reached in the hole and pulled out an old newspaper. The children started thumbing through the paper and found an article on the previous owner of the shop. It explained how she had acquired, by accident, a very rare stamp at a garage sale. There was a picture of her holding it. After looking closer Benny realized that on her lap was the set of fairy tale books.
The next day was the book sale. The children set a trap. Benny and Violet hid under the children’s book table. They tied a string to the last book in the fairy take set so they would know if someone tried to buy it. First, Mr. Bindry showed up, then Sarah Deckle. Benny and Violet felt a tug on the string. Then they heard Mr. Bindry and Sarah fighting over the book. Mr. Bindry left to find Mrs. Chase to settle the disagreement. Next, Mr. Phillips showed up. Benny and Violet heard him tell Sarah to put the book in his briefcase. They quickly left their hiding spot. One went to block the door, the other to tell Mrs. Chase. Mrs. Chase and all four Alden children quickly cornered them and demanded to see inside the briefcase. They retrieved the almost stolen book. Next Mr. Bindry admitted that he had the rest of the set which turned out to be extremely rare and valuable. Next Mr. Bindry pulled out a knife and slit open the back cover of one of the books. There was the rare stamp. Mrs. Chase would now have enough money to completely buy the store from the Alden’s grandfather.
I thought this was a very good book. It brought back a lot of memories from when I used to read the Boxcar Children books. I was disappointed that I was able to read it so quickly. I wish the author, Gertrude Chandler Warner, had written some of the series for older readers. The book is very suspenseful and easy to follow. I would definitely recommend it to someone who wants to read a good, short, easy book.
I also would like to point out the irony of parts of the book. It takes place in New Orleans and talks about a great flood hitting the city and at one point mentions a hurricane, even though this book was written around 1995, far before Hurricane Katrina.
Overall this book was great and certainly belongs in the classic Boxcar Children series. If you have a little spare time you can easily read this book in one sitting. If not this one, I would recommend you read one of the Boxcar Children books just so you can get a feel for contemporary children’s books.
