Announcement: Project Stratemeyer

Over this past weekend I decided to start compiling a list of series that are in the public domain. I started off with an author that I have read some of his books. That author is Edward Stratemeyer. He wrote several book for children an many of them are in series. More important is that he formed the Stratemeyer Syndicate which consisted authors writing under pen names that he created. These each of the stories were started by guidelines or outlines that he created.

The best known series that were created by authors in the Stratemeyer Syndicate are The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. There are not any books in those series have any books in that are in the public domain, but most of the first Tom Swift series, The Rover Boys and The Bobbsey Twins each have several, if not all the books in the series that are in the public domain.

Project Stratemeyer is my reading project that will probably take at least y year to complete. I will be reading all of books that were written by authors that worked for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. I will be reading other books as will as these, some are in the public domain, others newer books, mainly mysteries and thrillers. after each book I read for this project, I will write a review after I finish each book and post them in this blog. Also, after I finish a series I will write a series review which I will post here also.

Yesterday I started reading the first book in The Rover Boys which was written by Edward Stratemeyer under the pen name Arthur M. Winfield. Some of these books are/will be rereads for me such as this one. I will post a review of it either later today or tomorrow after I finish reading it.

Project Stratemeyer:
Current book:  The Rover Boys at School; Or, The Cadets of Putnam Hall
Author: Arthur M. Winfield (Edward Stratemeyer)
Year first published: 1899
Series: The Rover Boys, First Series
Number in series: 1

Other books in the public domain that I'm reading:
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawtthorne
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis

Book Review #59: The Red House Mystery

A. A. Milne is best known for writing Winnie-the-Pooh stories for his son, Christopher Robin Milne, in which Christopher and his teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, play major roles. The first book with stories about them was a short story collection titled Winnie-the-Pooh which was first published in 1926. Four years before that, he wrote The Red House Mystery which he wrote for his father that enjoyed reading detective stories. This was the only mystery that he wrote.

This story is a “locked-room mystery”, which takes place at an English country house owned by Mark Ablett who liked to have guests stay there that participated in various sporting activities and games during there stay. One morning he announce that he just received a letter form his brother Robert, who had been living in Australia for the past 15 years, stating that he would be arriving that afternoon to see Mark. None of the staff or guests had ever heard anything about Robert, except for Mark and Robert's cousin, and Mark's right-hand man, Matthew Cayley. Robert was shown to Mark's office immediately upon arrival, per Mark's instructions, but Mark wasn't in there at that time. A short time later, a gun shot was heard coming from the office. Caley went to check in the office, but the door was locked from the inside and Caley started pounding on the office door insisting to be let in to see what happened, but with out any response.

About the same time, Antony Gillingham, a stranger to all there, but Bill Beverley shows up to see Bill. When he arrives, Caley is pounding on the door, Antony asks if there was any other way into the office, and is immediately taken around to a window outside by Caley. They see a body lying on the floor and mange to break into the office where after turning the body over, Caley identifies it to be Robert, but Mark is nowhere to be found. Unimpressed by the inspector sent to investigate the crime and having to stay there until after the inquest, Antony decides to try to solve the case with Bill being his “Watson.”

I had part of the result figured out early on, but wasn't sure of some of the other details. It was fun, and sometimes hilarious, following Antony and Bill around during their investigation and reading about some of their hypothesis.

Tim's Rating:  ➷➷➶➶

(Four out of six arrows)

If interested in reading this book, you can download it in various formats for free from Project Gutenberg at: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1872

If you'd prefer to listen to it as a free download from LibriVox at: https://librivox.org/the-red-house-mystery-by-a-a-milne/

If you want to read more about A. A. Milne and useless trivia facts such as one of his school teachers was H. G. Wells, you can start by looking at his Wilipedia page at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Milne