Trixie Belden and the Mystery Off Old Telegraph Road

Trixie Belden #20

by Kathryn Kenny

The lack of displays for the Art Fair are disappointing. Nick Roberts, club head, tells Trixie and Honey that the club does not have money for more displays. Eager to help, the Bob-Whites get into the idea of a bike-a-thon. Trixie asks for Nick's help; however, Nick disagrees and tries to convince Trixie not to have the event. With or without Nick's help, Trixie proceeds with her plans. Trouble follows, and the bike-a-thon may be canceled. Trixie is determined to investigate to ensure that her plans for the fundraiser are successful.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Adventure, Middle Grade, Mystery Thriller

212 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1978

About the author

The Kathryn Kenny pseudonym was created by Western Publishing House in 1961, three years after Julie Campbell wrote her last book (#6) of the Trixie Belden series. There were several ghost writers who wrote Trixie Belden stories under this pseudonym. Some have been identified and later credited but some are still unknown.

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http://www.trixie-belden.com/books/Ka...

The Kathryn Kenny pseudonym was born in 1961, three years after Campbell wrote her last book of the Trixie Belden series. Did it take Western Publishing several years to find a suitable author? The answer is unknown and the identity of the authors of the 33 Kathryn Kenny books are not known for sure but there is some information about the ghost writers.

Nicolete Meredith Stack

Nicolete Meredith StackStack is thought to be the first author to tackle the Trixie Belden series, although there is much debate about which books were actually written by her. She was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1896 but lived in Webster Groves in St. Louis, Missouri for most of her adult life. Stack wrote other children's books under her own name and various pen names, including the Robin Kane series by Eileen Hill for Whitman between 1966 and 1971.

Stack is said to have written five books in the Trixie Belden series between 1961 and 1971, but Who's Who in the Midwest claims that she wrote eight titles between 1961 and 1966. There were eight Trixie Belden titles published between 1961 and 1966, but it is doubtful that she wrote them all.

James Keeline in his article, Trixie Belden "Schoolgirl Shamus", believes that books 7, 9 and 16 can be attributed to Stack but there are others that may have been written by her.



Virginia McDonnell

Virginia Bleecher McDonnell was born in 1917 and was a registered nurse who trained at Russell Sage College in Troy, New York. McDonnell wrote the Nurses Three series from 1963 to 1965 using the pen name Jean Kirby, and the Kim Aldrich series as Jinny McDonnell, both for Whitman. She is also wrote volume six of The Waltons.

McDonnell and her husband were avid skiiers and many of her books featured details of nursing or skiing. It seems likely that she wrote three Trixie Belden books, The Mystery of Cobbett's Island (1964), The Mystery of the Emeralds (1965) and The Mystery of Mead's Mountain (1978). Skiing is mentioned early in The Mystery of Cobbett's Island, although this is not the theme of the book.

McDonnell also wrote another book called Country Agent that has a number of similarities with The Mystery at Happy Valley, although her book was published in 1968. Read a review of this book, and see what you think.

There is little biographical information available on McDonnell, but the three books attributed to her are three of the most widely loved books in the Trixie Belden series.



Gladys Baker Bond

Gladys Baker BondGladys Baker Bond was born in Berryville, Arkansas on the 7th of May, 1912. On September 2, 1934, she married Floyd James Bond and had one son, Nicholas Peter. Bond's childhood years were spent in the Ozarks of Arkansas. She lived in Idaho and Washington all her adult life and was an officer of the Idaho Writers League between 1952-54.

Bond's books for children cover a wide range of subjects and are often autobiographical. Mrs. Bond wrote under the pseudonymns, Jo Mendel (The Tucker series) and Holly Beth Walker (the Meg series), as well as her own name. She also wrote volume five of The Waltons.

She is credited with writing The Mystery of the Uninvited Guest (1977), The Mystery of the Castaway Children (1978), and The Sasquatch Mystery (1979). However, with her childhood spent in the Ozarks, she could be the author of The Mystery at Bob-White Cave (1963).



Carl Henry Rathjen

Carl Henry RathjenRathjen was born on the 28th of August 1909 in Jersey City, New Jersey and died in 1984. His ambition was to become a mechanical engineer, but when things didn't go

Reviews

[Eilonwy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trixie and the ever-doing-good Bobwhites of the Glen decide to hold a bikeathon to raise cash for the art department of their school. But not everyone in Sleepyside-on-Hudson is happy about the bikeathon’s goal, or the route it will take.

Apparently all my brain can handle during this pandemic is Trixie Belden books. Sadly, I only own this and one other.

I decided to read these after enjoying Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, which got me remembering that as a kid, I’d preferred Trixie Belden and her bike to Nancy Drew and her flashy convertible -- I rode my bike everywhere, so I just related better, and I guess I lacked aspiration to Nancy’s car. To this day, I still prefer self-powered travel, so some things never change. And I was always a little immature for my age, so the younger-skewing feel of Trixie Belden suited me better, as well. I also think that the emotional-intelligence aspect of these books appealed to me. I’d forgotten all about that, and the focus on being self-aware and applying insight to other people took me very pleasantly by surprise as I read this.

This was a little dated (although at least some sexist attitudes were called-out), but still very enjoyable. Trixie’s family is warm, her friends are fun, and the mystery elements are intriguing and exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to find when I was a kid. The scary part was very genuinely frightening, and didn’t last too long, thank goodness.

I had a very good time reading this.

[Katja Labonté · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. I read this four weeks ago and frankly I remember very little about it. The concept was interesting, and I really enjoyed seeing the kids using the walkathon idea they had in book 18! The mystery was very interesting and the number of suspects was something I personally really liked, because it makes it so much more enjoyable to weigh one against the other. The ending was pretty cool, too… ;)

New review to come upon reread.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sleepyside mysteries are usually pretty great, and ditto seeing the Bob-Whites from the outside. But the actual mystery here is kind of insane, and the town being very compelling can only compensate to a certain extent.

[Lydia Therese · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, it took me awhile to read this, but don't blame me because my birthday was the day after I started it and then I had a huge birthday party. xD I decided to just suck it up and finish it since I had time to kill today, it took me about two hours...*hides in corner*

Anyway, I enjoyed this book. The mystery ran smoothly and the author brought back a character from the Campbell books, Ben Riker, which I liked. And am I the only one who imagined Nick exactly like Ned Nickerson from the Nancy Drew books? xD

There was also plenty of Jixie, which hasn't happened since...let's see...book #13? There was a lot of Jim's anxious green eyes staring into Trixie's, and at the end Jim asks Nick to paint a picture of Trixie for him so he can hang it up in his room and think to himself every day..."Just do it, Jim, just do it. You love her, you know it. Just admit it to her. Ask her out. You'll be fine." But in the end he gets too nervous and then...
sorry I'm getting carried away again
Oh, and Trixie falls asleep on Jim's shoulder :3

Four stars out of five.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Working my way through this favorite series from my youth.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read every Trixie Beldon book I could get my hands on curtesy of the George F. Johnson Memorial Library when I was in 4th through 6th grade. I loved everyone of them, but Kathryn Kenny was my favorite of the Trixie Authors. I identified with so much with Trixie and wish I had never moved on to Sweet Valley High! Just kidding, I love Jessica and Elizabeth too, but Trixie didn't need to be blond, have a cute red fiat and cute boyfriends to be cool. Trixie was her own person... creative and imaginative and smart, had a beloved and motley group of friends and family. She struggled with fitting in while being true to her own convictions.

[Janet Camilleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable trip down memory lane :-)

[Tita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vejam a minha opinião em vídeo, AQUI.

[Paula Vince · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trixie discovers that Art students at Sleepyside High are really badly funded, so she and the Bob Whites decide to host a bikeathon to raise money for art supplies. Serious opposition stuns them, especially from talented artist Nick Roberts, one of the very people they're trying to help. Why would he object? Who is behind the anonymous threats for them to stop their plans or else? And what's with the counterfeit German bank note Trixie finds blowing in the breeze? It all comes to a head when the Bob Whites are forced to consider whether persevering with their plan will jeopardize anyone's safety.

* The notorious Ben Riker is back, staying with his aunt and uncle Maddie and Matt Wheeler. This 'poor little rich kid' was in with a bad crowd at boarding school, and his parents hope his cousins and their friends will rub off on him. Instead, he's fallen in with a new bad group at Sleepyside. Trixie finds him annoying as hell because he's monopolising Honey and Jim. She sure doesn't want to make Ben one of her personal help projects. He's where she draws the line.

* Just for the record, Ben's uncouth friends are Mike Larson, Jerry Vanderhoef and Bill Wright. We'll know them if they pop up in the halls of Sleepyside High again.

* Hmm, nothing much has really changed in the decades since this book was written. So often it seems to be the arts that miss out on support or funding. Sports get far more financial backing. That speaks volumes about people's general priorities, then and now.

* Okay, times have changed dramatically in other ways though. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be considered ethical in our day and age, for an art student like Nick Roberts to sketch other people's houses and then sell them to the general public at his stall. Yet in the seventies when this story was written, privacy and permission weren't such hot topics. Trixie and Honey are simply glad to come across his drawings of Crabapple Farm and Manor House before anyone else snaps them up. Come to think of it, does it strike you as slightly creepy to think of anyone else buying them?

* 'Kathryn Kenny' is as interesting and comprehensive as ever, when it comes to educating us readers more about the themes of the book. Nick Roberts gives the girls a good tutorial about pen and ink drawings, and later Mr Crider, the art teacher, does the same regarding silk screen printing. (It's Laura French's first look-in, I believe, who later became quite prolific in the series.)

* Helen Belden, the one and only Moms, was in a similar position to these struggling Art students. It seems she was an Art major before she married Peter, but her life took a different turn when she had babies and could no longer afford art supplies. A lovely landscape on the wall of Crabapple Farm is her link to the past, painted back in the day. She never shows any signs of regretting the loss of that side of her life. I suppose she hasn't had time for much introspection.

* Ouch, one of Trixie's famous temper flashes puts her briefly into the bad books of her bestie Honey! And Honey goes so far as accusing Trixie of seeking attention! Yep, the same Honey who snaps at anyone else (especially Mart) who ever dares to suggest such a thing. Just for the record, it's clear that Honey was pushed just a bit too far, and was quite justified. Both girls deal well with their difference of opinion, without letting it fester too long.

* Awww, I love it when Trixie and Mart have an honest heart-to-heart about Trixie's rift with Honey. In fact, Trixie shows up well in this book. I like her best when she's vulnerable and ponders her possible flaws and overbearing approach.

* Trixie, in her effervescence, simply assumes that others will share her enthusiasm for the bikeathon project and agree to be 'in'. Lucky for her Mrs Vanderpoel and Mr Maypenny are both good sports when she 'volunteers' them for hospitality and food. But Nick Roberts makes it clear that she can't presume too much as far as he's concerned.

* We get a hilarious Bobby moment, when he locks himself inside the house, then launches into full-on panic mode. Neither his mother's fruitless attempts to soothe him, nor Mart's wordy instructions to solve the problem do the slightest bit of good. It takes the future Dr Brian Belden to cut the Gordian knot. He knows the only solution is to forcibly break the door chain. And the dramatic Bobby thanks him for saving his life!

* Whoa, Nick's a bit reckless toward the end, for a standoffish, deep thinking art student. But perhaps he was simply pushed too far.

* Wow, good old Jimbo gets the chance to utilise some impressive strongman tactics again. What a guy! But our Jim is more than just an impressive bicep and six pack. He has a great heart too.

* Both Ben Riker and Nick Roberts come across as angry young men throughout this book, and both eventually confess that they find the Bob Whites cliquey and feel excluded. What a flashback to Tad Webster in The Mysterious Code. On one hand, those inclusive Bob Whites haven't learned their lesson. But it's interesting because on the surface they're just a small group of out-of-town kids who bond because they feel geographically removed from other Sleepyside High students. And they're sort of geeky, in their matching red jackets. Yet jocks like Tad and Ben and art nerds like Nick alike seem to feel and envy their mystique.

* Overall, I wish I could have been at that bikeathon, peddling up Glen Road and through the Wheelers' game preserve, sampling Mrs Vanderpoel's famous cookies and Mr Maypenny's legendary stew. Oh well, bring on more stories instead.

* Quote of the book. Trixie: I have a bad habit of assuming that other people know all the details of things I'm involved in, just because I spend all my time thinking about them. Mr Crider: That's a fairly common habit with us human beings, Trixie.

[Brit McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was so close to getting a five star rating from me. It had all my favourite elements of a Trixie mystery: set in Sleepyside, the whole gang together including Dan, mysterious phone calls, a charity benefit, shady side characters who get redeeming storylines.

But....buuuuuuut….the chronological timeline has been completely screwed over here. I noticed when reading the previous book, number 19 Trixie Belden and the Secret of the Unseen Treasure, that there seemed to have been a large time jump that didn't really make sense considering the age the characters were and how many books there are still to go (surely Brian and Jim are getting closer to graduating). In that book, summer had just begun. In this book, number 20, everyone's still in school and looking forward to and making plans for summer. It's this sort of sloppy editing that frustrates me. Obviously The Secret of the Unseen Treasure should have come after the Mystery off Old Telegraph Road, but someone slipped up there.

I shouldn't left something fairly trivial take away from what was an enjoyable mystery, but I can't help but be annoyed!

[Jae · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the high school holds an art fair to raise money for the art department, Trixie is dismayed to see how few entries there are. She learns that the art department is vastly underfunded. In an effort to help, Trixie enlists the Bob-Whites to hold a bikeathon to raise money. Things are going well, until menacing phone calls threaten to derail the bikeathon. Trixie can't help but wonder if it's connected to her friend Honey's dastardly cousin, Ben, or to the charred piece of a forged Deutsche mark she finds near the abandoned house on Old Telegraph Road. Although her friends and family warn her to leave well enough alone, Trixie can't help but stick her nose into things, endangering not only the bikeathon, but herself as well.

The story was enjoyable enough. Not my favorite Trixie Belden book, nor my least favorite. The tension introduced between Trixie and Honey was new. Usually these books include plenty of Trixie and her friends just being kids, but this one focused mainly on the mystery and Trixie's investigation.

Fun enough story, but just average for a Trixie Belden book; thus, it gets an average score of three.

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the Trixie Belden books as a kid (nice to see they got republished). I'm still unsure how they ended up in my corner of the world. I slowly amassed the whole series as first editions (it seemed so glamourous as a kid owning precious books that were older than me!) by saving all my pocket money to buy them from the local secondhand store. I can only guess that some adult (probably having moved to our sleepy town from overseas) had sold them off in bulk. They sat in a back corner of the store, thankfully ignored by everyone else, as I slowly acquired them through pocket money and then in a mass swoop for Christmas. It helped that back then secondhand books sold for anywhere from 10 cents to 50 cents rather than $7-10 as they do these days!

They were wonderful mystery books for children of a similar ilk to Famous Five, Secret Seven, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, The Three Investigators etc.; set in a time long before cellphones when sleuthing into mysterious mansions, smugglers, and strange sounds in the night wouldn't cause any real harm to befall our child investigators.

[Serendipity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading challenge prompts that require me to reread a book I read as a child are never my favourite. The books I had access to then don’t always fare well when reread with an adult eye and mind.

The first word that came to mind when I reread this Trixie Belden mystery was wholesome. Trixie and her friends just seem so wholesome and nice. And not much like teenagers of today. Things like having a clubhouse and homemade uniforms seems like something suited to younger kids, rather than high schoolers. Excluding the fact that some of them could drive I’d have pegged the kids as 11ish.

The plot was straightforward. Trixie and co decide to hold a bikeathon to raise funds for the school’s art department but someone tries to intimidate them into cancelling. Turns out currency counterfeiters are operating out of an abandoned house on the route. Trixie figures it out, then gets herself trapped by the criminals but is rescued at the last minute thanks to friends, old and new.

Overall this was fun and nostalgic read. But I’m thankful there is a wider range of reading material available to children today, and that it is far more diverse than the books I had access to as a child.

[Nell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 20th book in the Trixie Belden series, and this one was a lot of fun to read. There was a very rare falling out between Trixie and Honey in this one that added more emotional drama to the book, and plenty of action and adventure tied in with the mystery. Another great addition to the series.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really cute and fun book, but it’s not really a mystery. The “mystery” doesn’t even start until halfway through the book and then it’s a subplot. Which I don’t mind necessarily but it is supposed to be a mystery book. So that’s why I gave it three stars as opposed to the usual four.

[Meg Perin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this in a used book store only because it was one of my childhood favorite female detectives (no, not Nancy Drew). Brought back happy memories of staying at a summer cottage with no television.

[Montserrat Esteban · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro que me ha encantado y sigue haciéndome volver a cuando empecé a leer la temática del misterio

[Maia Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

a low-stakes mystery (as is common with these teen mysteries) that was a delightful romp. finished it in about an hour and a half and it was perfect light reading.

[Tammy Chaffins · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good traditional Trixie book. It seems like this ghost writer actually read the previous books!

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our current bedtime reading, this is one of our favorites in the series. Trixie and her friends can always be counted on for solving a thumping good enigma!!

[Alex C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not Nancy drew :(

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Litsy #BobWhiteBuddies

[J.L. Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

a HUGE and most dedicated fan of Trixie and her crew. This is odd, of course, because they were MEANT for teen and pre-teen girls, but I was a young boy that read everything he could get his hands on and when I first stumbled on my first TRIXIE BELDON book I was instantly hooked!

I immediately sat about reading them all, as quickly as I could get my greedy little paws on them. Trixie is the star, or "lead" character, followed by Jim and Honey (who quickly became the love of my young life, I had a total crush on a fictional character that only existed in ink) and this brave trio was constantly getting into trouble, solving mysteries and murders; that sort of thing.

It falls along the line of the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and other similar series, but the Trixie series carries more of the teenage angst and a subtle love triangle of conflicted who likes whom mystery that battles back and forth throughout the series. All of the while though, the same cheerful, effervescent and energetic positive attitude and domineering never quit/never let them see you down philosophy is the major subtext all through the books.

It is simply impossible to read these and NOT feel good about yourself and about LIFE, to have a sense of "all is well" in the world and a cheerful demeanor just naturally permeate your soul. I know, it SOUNDS crazy, but it is true.

I lost all of my Trixie books years ago, lending them to friends and that sort of thing. Since then, I have been on a quest to rebuild my collection of hardbacks. I find most of them at "Friends of the Library Sales" and things like that, but I am ever watchful at garage sales and places, for I do not have even a third of them built back

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read as our online fandom board prepares for its 20th (!) anniversary. I was looking at this one critically, for our "rewrite" purposes and liked it a bit less. A lot of things were a little bit too convenient in this one and the bike-a-thon itself seemed crammed into the last chapter when I would've liked it to be a bit more detailed. Still, I did like Nick and Ben in this one, as well as Mr. Crider, the art teacher. And seeing the Bob-Whites at less than their nearly perfect selves, as a group, was a nice change, too, although I do think Trixie was rather melodramatic about the whole thing. She and Honey had a disagreement and now Trixie's wondering if they'll ever be friends again. Ah, teenagers.
***
Really like the high school art show and bike-a-thon in this one, the first appearance of Nick Roberts (a classmate who actually gets to return in the series), and a pretty good mystery overall.

[April Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A childhood favorite re-visited.

Is the story as good as I remember? – Yes

What ages would I recommend it too? – Ten and up.

Length? – Most of a day’s read.

Characters? – Memorable, several characters.

Setting? – Real world, pre - computer, pre - cell phone.

Written approximately? – 1978.

Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Ready to read more.

Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? Yes. A slight mention of the time frame of the story - as the teens are given far more freedom to come and go as they please than would be safe today. Also, the absence of computers, cell phones.

Short storyline: Trixie Belden, Honey, Jim, and her brothers have a bikeathon to support the local art department. Along the way, they run afoul of counterfeiters who attempt to stop the bikeathon.


Notes for the reader: A great mystery! No violence (only referred to from the past), no murder.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Christmas one year, my parents grabbed me the entire Trixie Belden set and I couldn't put them down. After I finished with them, they continued to purchase them as quickly as I could read them. Even with a learning disability, I devoured the books. I look back now and I find that Trixie Belden was much more age related to young girls, particularly to me, reading the books than Nancy Drew. There was something in these books that I found to be a greater escape than I did ND, too. I found that they weren't so "over the top" or dated. I will be doing the same thing with my granddaughters, if and when I have them, even if I have to stalk every used bookstore to get them

[Mark Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Trixie and the rest of the Bob-Whites start putting on a bikeathon to raise money for the school art department, someone seems determined to make them stop. Who is against the project? And will it tear apart the friends? I enjoy the characters and how they are portrayed here, but the mystery still feels like an afterthought. You know, "This is a mystery series. We should probably have a mystery in here somewhere."

Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

8/3/11: I had been waiting for a while to read this book, and it didn't disappoint. I love to read about Trixie's adventures and see how her character develops with each following book. In this installment of the series, she plans to hold a bike-a-thon to benefit the art department at school. But trouble is brewing, and someone does not want the Bob-Whites to go through with their plan. Exciting and amusing as usual; I love Trixie Belden!

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I know this doesn't fit in with my other books but my granddaughter asked me to read this and, since as a kid I only read The Hardy Boys because that was all that was available in my house, I really did enjoy it. It was like being a kid again. And I love the fact that Gabriella wanted us to read the same book!

[Miri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trixie and the Bobwhites are trying to raise money for the Art Department so they can buy supplies, so they organize a bike-a-thon, but someone is making threatening phone calls warning them to cancel the event? Could this be somehow linked to counterfeit German currency Trixie found along the side of the road?