THE RED TRAILER MYSTERY

Two girls set out to find their friend but wind up tracking thieves in upstate New York.

In the second installment in the Trixie Belden series (originally published in the mid-20th century), Trixie and Honey pick up right where they left off: looking for their runaway friend, Jim, who’s the heir to a small fortune. Taking off in the sleek Silver Swan, “the darlingest little house on wheels you ever saw,” with Honey’s governess, Miss Trask, driving, the two play detective on multiple fronts. They’re looking for Jim, Joeanne (a girl they meet at a trailer park who runs away in distress), and crooks who are stealing trailers. Trixie and Honey are an entertaining pair: They’re smart and quick-thinking, but they also get into scrapes, toppling down a hill and getting lost in the woods. Elements of the story feel far-fetched and excessively tidy, but kids will enjoy the high stakes and will believe the girls to be capable detectives, although some content reflects the attitudes at the time of publication, as when Miss Trask opines that “every girl, no matter what her position, should learn how to cook and keep house,” and Trixie, spotting a tent, deduces that Jim, not Joeanne, put it up because “it took a strong boy to handle that heavy canvas.” All characters read white. Black-and-white drawings bring some scenes to life but aren’t integral to the storytelling.

Implausible in places, but kids will go along for the ride.