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The Bean & Ab Mysteries #1
The Secret of the Missing Grave (Bean and Ab Mysteries
Bean and Ab are expecting to spend a normal, fun summer together on the Main island where Bean lives. Things quickly become exciting however, when Ab tells Bean that the Moses Webster House, the boarding house where she is staying with her parents, is haunted.What follows is a set of entertaining adventures as the two search for a buried treasure. But first they must find the secret tunnel connecting the Moses Webster House to the spooky Winthrop House, get past the sinister Maud Valliers, and dodge Bean's nasty Cousin, Monty.A series of frightening and dangerous missteps leads them to a bizarre treasure - and even darker secrets. In the process they become heroes in their close-knit island community.
193 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1993
5 people want to read
About the author
David A. Crossman
20 books4 followersMystery writer, musician and artist David Crossman grew up on Vinalhaven and graduated from the island school in 1970.
The roots of his mother's family (Roberts) extend back to the earliest settlers on the island who arrived in the late 18th century. David stressed that he and his younger brother Matt were born on the island and therefore really are Vinalhaven natives. His older brothers Phil and Dick, however, were born in Massachusetts, and are clearly from away.
Crossman is probably best known to Maine readers as a writer of mystery novels. This, however, is not a complete job description of a man with such a diversity of talents. Phil Crossman's younger brother is the author of six books, an accomplished artist and a musician with seven albums to his credit. Currently he and his wife Barbara live in Nashville, Tennessee and, together with their son Jason, have their own TV production company.
When Crossman graduated from high school, the Vietnam War was raging. Benefitting from a high draft number, he left the island and began a peripatetic life that has taken him to "six or seven states and four or five countries". Altogether David said he and his wife Barbara, who he met in Florida, have moved 21 times.
David got the writing gene from his mother Pat, a published author, skilled designer, and talented artist. She produced "a prodigious amount of material," that he is still going through. Three of the four Crossman brothers are writers. Brother Dick is, "a good poet." Phil has been a popular columnist for the Working Waterfront and is author of the book Away Happens. David told me he and Phil, have talked about collaborating, possibly on a TV pilot. David likes the idea but emphasized that "Phil needs to learn to spell."
I asked David where he got the idea for the Bean and Ab books that have become so popular in the last decade. He told me he and his wife were living in Egypt in 1997 when he became homesick for Maine. He started writing about growing up on the island and found it helpful. The exercise ultimately turned into The Secret of The Missing Grave, published in 1999, which was the first book in the Bean Carver and Abby "Ab" Peterson series. He had so much fun he decided to continue.
What is the difference between writing for teenagers and adults? David told me he enjoys doing both. "I had vivid memories of being a teenager growing up on an island so I just plowed ahead. I was confident that I could appeal to a younger audience. Subsequently I have discovered that the series spans the generations."
Crossman's characters are drawn from people he knew growing up on Vinalhaven. The character of Ab was based on Debbie, a summer girl from New York. "She was a friend who became a flame, and is now a friend," he recalled. "We spent a lot of time together and the adventures in my books are bits and pieces of things that really happened, as well as island legends, island locations, combined with flights of fantasy and imagination".
At the end of the third book, The Legend of Burial Island (published in June 2009), David said, "Bean and Ab have aged. They started out as 12 and 13-year-olds. Now they have a tentative, rather tenuous relationship and are not sure how they feel about each other. Their hormones are beginning to kick in. It reminds me of myself back then."
Crossman's other characters are composites of people from the island although he tries to stay faithful to local types. A lot of people on the island have said, "‘I know I saw myself in your book'." "When people recognize themselves it lets me know I am being true to life." Forty years later his memories of island life remain vivid. David says he can conjure them up wherever he happens to be living.
Burial Island is an actual island, near the entrance to Carver's Harbor on Vinalhaven. And yes, there is a legend connected with it. When I told David I'd heard that his first book The Secret of the Missing Grave might lead to a possib
The roots of his mother's family (Roberts) extend back to the earliest settlers on the island who arrived in the late 18th century. David stressed that he and his younger brother Matt were born on the island and therefore really are Vinalhaven natives. His older brothers Phil and Dick, however, were born in Massachusetts, and are clearly from away.
Crossman is probably best known to Maine readers as a writer of mystery novels. This, however, is not a complete job description of a man with such a diversity of talents. Phil Crossman's younger brother is the author of six books, an accomplished artist and a musician with seven albums to his credit. Currently he and his wife Barbara live in Nashville, Tennessee and, together with their son Jason, have their own TV production company.
When Crossman graduated from high school, the Vietnam War was raging. Benefitting from a high draft number, he left the island and began a peripatetic life that has taken him to "six or seven states and four or five countries". Altogether David said he and his wife Barbara, who he met in Florida, have moved 21 times.
David got the writing gene from his mother Pat, a published author, skilled designer, and talented artist. She produced "a prodigious amount of material," that he is still going through. Three of the four Crossman brothers are writers. Brother Dick is, "a good poet." Phil has been a popular columnist for the Working Waterfront and is author of the book Away Happens. David told me he and Phil, have talked about collaborating, possibly on a TV pilot. David likes the idea but emphasized that "Phil needs to learn to spell."
I asked David where he got the idea for the Bean and Ab books that have become so popular in the last decade. He told me he and his wife were living in Egypt in 1997 when he became homesick for Maine. He started writing about growing up on the island and found it helpful. The exercise ultimately turned into The Secret of The Missing Grave, published in 1999, which was the first book in the Bean Carver and Abby "Ab" Peterson series. He had so much fun he decided to continue.
What is the difference between writing for teenagers and adults? David told me he enjoys doing both. "I had vivid memories of being a teenager growing up on an island so I just plowed ahead. I was confident that I could appeal to a younger audience. Subsequently I have discovered that the series spans the generations."
Crossman's characters are drawn from people he knew growing up on Vinalhaven. The character of Ab was based on Debbie, a summer girl from New York. "She was a friend who became a flame, and is now a friend," he recalled. "We spent a lot of time together and the adventures in my books are bits and pieces of things that really happened, as well as island legends, island locations, combined with flights of fantasy and imagination".
At the end of the third book, The Legend of Burial Island (published in June 2009), David said, "Bean and Ab have aged. They started out as 12 and 13-year-olds. Now they have a tentative, rather tenuous relationship and are not sure how they feel about each other. Their hormones are beginning to kick in. It reminds me of myself back then."
Crossman's other characters are composites of people from the island although he tries to stay faithful to local types. A lot of people on the island have said, "‘I know I saw myself in your book'." "When people recognize themselves it lets me know I am being true to life." Forty years later his memories of island life remain vivid. David says he can conjure them up wherever he happens to be living.
Burial Island is an actual island, near the entrance to Carver's Harbor on Vinalhaven. And yes, there is a legend connected with it. When I told David I'd heard that his first book The Secret of the Missing Grave might lead to a possib
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August 7, 2012
This really isn't a bad book, and I suspect that had I read it when I fit into the book's target audience (middle-school readers, or about there somewhere) I probably would have given it 3 stars instead of two. However, as a somewhat older and (I like to think!) more mature reader, some of the glaring problems with Mr. Crossman's writing style and characterizations stood out to me.
First, the writing style tends to be unnecessarily mechanical. Since this is the first book in the series, it's possible it was his first book written, which would explain some of the missteps. The book relies heavily on the word "stated", resulting in a lot of the characters' conversations sounding flat and emotionless.
Secondly, the characters repeatedly make choices I couldn't make heads or tails of. Since our protagonists Bean and Ab are pretty young, I expect them to make stupid mistakes. But it's the adults that make too many ridiculous decisions, apparently for the sake of advancing plot.
At one point, an adult man agrees with our twelve-year-old protagonist's plan to crawl into a tiny, sealed-off room with no windows and a secret door and light a fire while they are still inside it. This nearly takes a turn for the worst. (Because who could've seen that coming?) Still, rather than take some responsibility for parenting their children, the adults decide it's best to keep Bean and Ab from ever seeing each other again. (The fact that the neighbors are brought in on this discussion is also kind of a bizarre decision. Are these people devoting so much time to parenting that they need reinforcements?) They don't actually spend any time watching the kids, mind you, but just assume their word is law. (And weirdly enough, it is. How many middle schoolers do YOU know who listen to their parents?)
The mystery itself was nice and twisty, though, and I can see how the series may very well improve with the later books if Mr. Crossman's writing style becomes more natural.
First, the writing style tends to be unnecessarily mechanical. Since this is the first book in the series, it's possible it was his first book written, which would explain some of the missteps. The book relies heavily on the word "stated", resulting in a lot of the characters' conversations sounding flat and emotionless.
Secondly, the characters repeatedly make choices I couldn't make heads or tails of. Since our protagonists Bean and Ab are pretty young, I expect them to make stupid mistakes. But it's the adults that make too many ridiculous decisions, apparently for the sake of advancing plot.
At one point, an adult man agrees with our twelve-year-old protagonist's plan to crawl into a tiny, sealed-off room with no windows and a secret door and light a fire while they are still inside it. This nearly takes a turn for the worst. (Because who could've seen that coming?) Still, rather than take some responsibility for parenting their children, the adults decide it's best to keep Bean and Ab from ever seeing each other again. (The fact that the neighbors are brought in on this discussion is also kind of a bizarre decision. Are these people devoting so much time to parenting that they need reinforcements?) They don't actually spend any time watching the kids, mind you, but just assume their word is law. (And weirdly enough, it is. How many middle schoolers do YOU know who listen to their parents?)
The mystery itself was nice and twisty, though, and I can see how the series may very well improve with the later books if Mr. Crossman's writing style becomes more natural.
Displaying 1 of 1 review