The Traveler's Tricks: A Caroline Mystery

American Girl Mysteries

by Laurie Calkhoven, Sergio Giovine (Illustrator)

Caroline has an important package to deliver for her father in the big city of Albany. That means a three-day stagecoach trip with her friend Rhonda! The other travelers, including a charming magician and a beautiful young woman with a sad past, fascinate the girls. But when Caroline's precious package goes missing, she realizes the culprit must be a fellow passenger. Will she unmask the thief in time, or will her promise to Papa be impossible to keep?

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens, Historical, Fiction, Juvenile

188 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2014

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great AG marathon continues. Again, reading for the first time as an adult, inspired by the American Girls podcast.

This one belongs to the "we're on a trip" category of AG mysteries, right next to Samantha's Stolen Sapphire. For that matter, they're both about stolen items, too. But where Sam and Nellie have an ocean liner to run around on, Caroline and Rhonda spend a lot of the book on a stagecoach, cheek by jowl with all their suspects.

This time I spotted the culprit without too much trouble: he protests too much and gets everyone to spill their secrets too easily. Caroline doesn't, though: she has her eye on two other suspects, and eventually confronts them. Hilariously, suspect #2 turns out to have a better (and correct) hunch about who's behind everything. Caroline still contributes to the solution of the mystery, but she definitely doesn't crack the case on her own. Which, frankly, is more realistic - I'm ok with this.

Like Traitor in the Shipyard, Rhonda is here to fill the buddy role, but it's not a very substantial role. For much of the book, she and Caroline can't talk things over without being overheard, so since we're getting Caroline's point of view, Rhonda doesn't contribute too much.

This is the only Caroline book written by someone other than Kathleen Ernst - wonder what the story is there.


More Caroline babble

Meet Caroline | Caroline’s Secret Message | A Surprise for Caroline | Caroline Takes a Chance | Caroline’s Battle | Changes for Caroline

Traitor in the Shipyard | The Traveler’s Tricks | The Smuggler’s Secrets

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mystery genre is one of my favorites, particularly the cozy type mysteries featuring unexpected people struggling to put clues together. Of all of the American Girls, Caroline is my favorite, with Samantha being a close second (since both are from New York State, like me). So, I was pretty excited to see that there were a few mysteries with Caroline as the main character.

This book, The Traveler's Tricks: A Caroline Mystery, was the first of the three that I was able to read. Not only did it have all the things that I love about the American Girls series (great peeks into the past, valuable lessons for young women, etc.), it was a mystery that kept me guessing right up to the very last chapter.

Caroline learns not to jump to conclusions even as she struggles to put together the clues and find her stolen package, as well as her friend’s stolen necklace. Like all the books in the American Girls series, there’s a happy ending. I’m really looking forward to reading the other two mystery books featuring Caroline.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little caper, all set over the course of one stagecoach trip. I picked out the culprit a million miles away, something I'm not often able to do with mysteries, but it was still an entertaining ride.

[Charlotte Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book only took me 1 night to read, and I thought that there were certain parts of the book that weren't super necessary. I think that the twist in the end was really well done, how Mr. Jencks was actually the thief, and how he used his "report" to draw the suspicion away from him. All in all, a pretty good book, easy read, no the most engaging, but still well done.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I put rev-war, but really it is the war of 1812 time period. :) However I like this one as well.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good adventure and magician's tricks.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this mystery nearly as much as the previous one. Maybe that's because it wasn't written by Ernst, but by an entirely different author. I'm not sure I was sold on Caroline (age 11 or 12) being sent on a stagecoach journey with a friend only a little older than her. Sure, they have a neighbor as a chaperone, but it still felt like a stretch to entrust something that important to a preteen traveling with a young teen. I guessed the culprit almost instantly, but Calkhoven dealt out her clues slowly over the course of the book so I'm not sure that the actual target audience would get it so fast. Rhonda felt a little out of character, suddenly romantic at every turn in a way that she never had been in the past. Really, I just wasn't thrilled with how much of the story revolved around stage magic. It's not bad, but not as much fun to read as most of the Caroline books have been.

[ElsaMakotoRenge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another of the “really enjoyed this book but not as a mystery” AG historical character mysteries! If you like Caroline, I would definitely recommend, but mystery-wise this one is very, very predictable imo. I get that I’m older than AG’s 8-12 age recommendation range, of course, but I am quite certain 10yr old me would have also found this one to be not much of a mystery. Still, it was fun to read another Caroline-focused book!

[Danielle T · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bottle episode of sorts, in that we're on a stagecoach trip and only the set of folks on board as potential thieves when valuables go missing.

tbh, I did start drifting off towards the end and had to reread final paragraphs a few times as they figured out whodunnit, but it's also a good exercise in infosec and talking to strangers about your business, Rhonda.

[APO · Rating 5 out of 5]

I looooooooooved it so much. ☺😁😀

[Katelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

AR

[Rory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read aloud to mommy and grandma

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fairly obvious mystery with a slow plot.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun mystery with a fantastic heroine!

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Our least favorite of the mysteries read so far, the pace was quite slow.

[Keilah T · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book but a fun little mystery that I would recommend to people ages of 8-10. It was a cool little story that kinda made you think you were Caroline. I hope you give it a try!

[jayne mac]

in my rereading american girl doll mystery books era 👸

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many characters to keep straight.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this one!

[amanda luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the setting of this very much. A fun mystery too!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

See the first book in the series for a full review.

[Katie Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a mystery, it's fine, but it does nothing to move the larger narrative forward, which is what I am here for. There isn't much left unresolved in Caroline's canon. The first mystery let us in on some of the Abbott employees, which was fun, but three mysteries is probably a stretch.

[Joey Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second read 20/3/24 - 3* rating:
I really enjoyed this mystery, though it wasn’t necessarily the most exciting it was still a really fun read. There were so many characters and so many secrets to unfold through the story.

Caroline and Rhonda are on a coach trip to deliver an important parcel for her dad, which during this time was a very risky endeavour and she knew its importance to be kept safe. As things start getting stolen or missing she is on high alert to figure out exactly who was doing it and why.

I loved how much to unpack there was in this book, I loved how sweet Caroline was, she was so helpful, so sweet and kind to everyone. She was also incredibly brave, she knew what was happening and used her sleuthing to ensure nothing got past her to get to the bottom of it.

First Read 7/5/2020- 3*rating:
Caroline gets to go on a fun trip with her best friend Rhonda and is to deliver an important package for her father. The trip on the coach instantly gets interesting for her as new passengers get on but as she sees a mysterious figure, things get stolen and broken she’s desperate to soo e the mystery of who is doing it.

This was interesting, I was certainly trying to piece together the mystery myself and figure out who was doing it all and what each characters secret was. I didn’t find it to be the most exciting or fascinating mystery I’ve read but it was still a fun read.

I liked Caroline though she was really brave and caring, she wanted nothing more than to help everyone and get to the bottom of all the secrets a lies. She constantly observed each passenger not missing a thing.

It was a good book, with an interesting mystery, very different mix of characters put together. There was always something else to figure out as you read through. Though it wasn’t my favourite mystery it was still a good one to read.

[Catherine Hegewald]

I like this book a lot. This book takes place during the war of 1812. Majority of this book take place while Caroline and Rhonda are on a stagecoach to Albany, New York. Caroline and Rhonda are meeting up with Rhonda's mother who went to Albany earlier. Caroline has some important business to conduct for her father. Caroline's father is ship maker in Sackets Harbor. He needs fittings for a new gunboat for the US Navy, Caroline is to pay for the fittings and deliver important documents in Albany. While on they way to Albany, a thief steals Rhonda's necklace. Soon after, the thief strikes again taking some of the passenger's valuables, including Caroline's money and document. The rest of the book goes on to find out who is the thief. This was a good book, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

[Sarahs Reads ToKids]

Lydia read this book and she really liked it. She said some of the American Girl mysteries aren't that great but this one was really good.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super-cute characters set in an interesting historical era, with an adventurous, fun little mystery. I loved the descriptions of the inns Caroline stayed in, and the scenery she passed by while traveling in the stagecoach. This brought me back to the time when I was nine years old and going through all the American Girl books. I enjoyed it quite a lot. :)

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very slow and boring start. I enjoyed the story once it picked up. The setting and characters are interesting and was difficult to follow at first as well. Typical AG mystery where there are a couple suspects and one is almost revealed but not the actual culprit but has their own story that leads to the suspicions surrounding them.

[Reagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The travelers tricks is about Caroline and her friend Ronda
go on a adventure !Caroline is carrying important paper's for the war.
But all of a sudden their papers go missing! has Caroline let her papa
down who could not come?This was a page turner .So if you want to
find out what happens to Caroline this book is for you, I hope you love this book just like me.

[Rana Ansari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to my children (3-13 yr age range), and we all loved it! Every character seemed like a red herring.I haven't read a children's book as thrilling as this one.

[Xyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this was a decent mystery. Lots of itrigue and clue gathering; even a few red herrings. Caroline used some real deductive reasoning to find the truth.