REVIEW: A Crime for Caroline
May. 22nd, 2007 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllA Crime for Caroline: Pamela Mansbridge, Dent, 1962
'I don't want to be a woman police officer and I certainly don't want to be a store detective! I want to solve real crimes--nothing else. I want to be a private detective.'
Thus speaks Caroline, aged around thirteen and already embarking on her career (Googling suggests there's at least one sequel) by taking up the cause of the Lesters. The youngest, Robin, is wrongly accused of having stolen jewellery from Caroline's mother, Lady Sudderley. As local opinion turns against him, his family are running out of ideas to handle the situation, though the stray thought crossed my mind that the Winslows, his family ain't. When he meets Caroline, she is willing to listen to his side of the story, believes him, and sets about proving that he's been wronged. In the process, her determination to do so drags Robin, his elder siblings, Derek and Jane, and a neighbour with transportation into a series of chases and confrontations with the real crook(s) to ensure that Justice is Done and that the Truth Will Out.
Caroline is treated with some wry amusement, by both the Lesters and adult characters, and indeed the author, as she puts on grown up airs. To them she seems to be playing detective, but by the end, her drive and self-belief are rewarded. Her behaviour is subtly explained too, the daughter of rich and titled parents, she has plenty of pocket money, but ends up home alone with a pony and books over her summer holiday from boarding school, while the Lesters, poorer financially and of a lower class, have a loving mother who turned down a free cruise to stay with them. Her put on sophistication hides a much less secure upbringing emotionally. Particularly in Jane and Robin, Caroline seems to be making friends, even if part of her appeal for them is the fun and adventure of her schemes to solve the case. Certainly, she's an active character. Here, I would make the same criticism that I did for the last book I reviewed: the title is a bit misleading. Caroline doesn't appear until chapter six of fourteen, and the opening of the book is taken up by introducting the Lesters and the train of events leading to the wrongful accusation. She's a strong enough character that, by the end, it doesn't matter, but it is a weird titling choice.
Having grown up reading Nancy Drew - although this is more Trixie Beldenesque in terms of the age of the characters, the focus on family life and the type of crime they are dealing with - the disbelief with which Caroline's ambitions to be a PI are met with are very striking (the quote up above is in response to a patronising comment about her plans for her future). It's partly because of her youth, but also because of her gender, I think. Only one of Caroline's relatives has been supportive, although she certainly proves herself to everyone in this case. But as a reader, there was a certain disconnect, because I did take her seriously as a detective, especially as soon as the force of her personality was revealed. And tonight I will be watching Veronica Mars too.
An easy enough read, even if the criminal plot is immediately apparent, the take on village life from the young Lesters' perspective is interesting enough.
'I don't want to be a woman police officer and I certainly don't want to be a store detective! I want to solve real crimes--nothing else. I want to be a private detective.'
Thus speaks Caroline, aged around thirteen and already embarking on her career (Googling suggests there's at least one sequel) by taking up the cause of the Lesters. The youngest, Robin, is wrongly accused of having stolen jewellery from Caroline's mother, Lady Sudderley. As local opinion turns against him, his family are running out of ideas to handle the situation, though the stray thought crossed my mind that the Winslows, his family ain't. When he meets Caroline, she is willing to listen to his side of the story, believes him, and sets about proving that he's been wronged. In the process, her determination to do so drags Robin, his elder siblings, Derek and Jane, and a neighbour with transportation into a series of chases and confrontations with the real crook(s) to ensure that Justice is Done and that the Truth Will Out.
Caroline is treated with some wry amusement, by both the Lesters and adult characters, and indeed the author, as she puts on grown up airs. To them she seems to be playing detective, but by the end, her drive and self-belief are rewarded. Her behaviour is subtly explained too, the daughter of rich and titled parents, she has plenty of pocket money, but ends up home alone with a pony and books over her summer holiday from boarding school, while the Lesters, poorer financially and of a lower class, have a loving mother who turned down a free cruise to stay with them. Her put on sophistication hides a much less secure upbringing emotionally. Particularly in Jane and Robin, Caroline seems to be making friends, even if part of her appeal for them is the fun and adventure of her schemes to solve the case. Certainly, she's an active character. Here, I would make the same criticism that I did for the last book I reviewed: the title is a bit misleading. Caroline doesn't appear until chapter six of fourteen, and the opening of the book is taken up by introducting the Lesters and the train of events leading to the wrongful accusation. She's a strong enough character that, by the end, it doesn't matter, but it is a weird titling choice.
Having grown up reading Nancy Drew - although this is more Trixie Beldenesque in terms of the age of the characters, the focus on family life and the type of crime they are dealing with - the disbelief with which Caroline's ambitions to be a PI are met with are very striking (the quote up above is in response to a patronising comment about her plans for her future). It's partly because of her youth, but also because of her gender, I think. Only one of Caroline's relatives has been supportive, although she certainly proves herself to everyone in this case. But as a reader, there was a certain disconnect, because I did take her seriously as a detective, especially as soon as the force of her personality was revealed. And tonight I will be watching Veronica Mars too.
An easy enough read, even if the criminal plot is immediately apparent, the take on village life from the young Lesters' perspective is interesting enough.
