Hidden Ruin and Search in the Desert by Franklin Folsom

In The Hidden Ruin, Al Buckles and his friend, Jerry, are treated to a meal at an expensive restaurant by Al's Uncle Mac.  The Hidden Ruin Restaurant boasts that it has valuable Indian artifacts for sale that came from a secret dig.  Uncle Mac is enraged that amateurs have pillaged an ancient site.  Al and Jerry leave on a camping trip, and the boys decide to try to locate the hidden ruin, so that they can report its location.

This book also centers around Al's dispute with his father.  Al's father insists that Al play football, even though Al does not enjoy football.  Al has to find his own way, and by the end of the story, Al has figured out what he wants.  This book is similar to a coming-of-age story.

The action moves slowly in this book, although most all of the text is very interesting.  A few descriptions are way too lengthy for my taste, especially the scene in which Al struggles to climb up a steep cliff.

This book is very good.

In Search in the Desert, Joe hasn't seen his best friend from high school, Perry, in years.  Joe is shocked when Perry and his father ask him to pilot their helicopter while Perry looks for uranium on the Navaho reservation.  Joe is excited to spend time with Perry, but he soon discovers that his old friend has changed greatly.  Meanwhile, Joe becomes friends with a Navaho, Manny, who has a uranium claim on the Indian reservation. 

The reader knows from near the beginning of the story that Joe and Perry have grown apart and aren't friends any longer, although Joe hasn't figured this out yet.

This book gives insight into what the Indians were going through during the 1950s.  On page 54, a couple of men discuss how they they want to "free the Indians."  The expression, taken at face value, sounds innocuous.  One man explains the idea as follows.

"I mean we have to give them the right to sell their land if they want to.  That means getting rid of the reservations and tribal councils and the Indian Service, too.  We've made some progress.  We've already got special protection removed from several tribes.  It's only a question of time before we'll free the Navahos, too." 

Goodness.  "Freeing the Indians" meant freeing them from their reservations, and therefore, "freeing" them from their own land.

Beth refuses to be coddled by Joe.  He tries to follow her home in his vehicle, but she pulls of the road, refusing to drive further until he leaves.  This book is a boys' book written by a male author in 1955.  The content is amazing for the time.

This book is outstanding.  Much of the book deals with Joe searching for Manny, and the events flow well from one to the next.  The tension builds as Joe makes several mistakes that cause him problems with the Navaho.

It is unfortunate that neither of these books has been reprinted.  Both books are difficult to find, especially Search in the Desert.  I was only able to acquire both books easily because I decided on a whim to purchase them while nobody else was thinking about purchasing them.  This meant that the copies available online had probably been available for a long time with no one interested.  I am glad that I was able to purchase them.

Troy Nesbit Rustlers' Fort, Diamond Cave, and Forest Fire

In The Mystery at Rustlers' Fort, Phil vacations with his cousin, Buzz, and Buzz's family near the Grand Canyon.  The boys notice a man who appears to be watching their camp.  The boys are certain that the man is up to mischief.  A nearby jewelry store is robbed, and the boys believe that the strange man is responsible.  Meanwhile, the boys purchase a Geiger counter so that they can hunt for uranium.  The Geiger counter plays an unexpected role in helping the boys solve the mystery.

The plot has many unexpected twists and turns, and the reader never knows exactly what will happen next.  The journey is fun from start to finish.

This book is outstanding.

In The Diamond Cave Mystery, Chuck and Hal learn about an old bible and coin that hold a series of clues to a hidden stash of diamonds.  The boys eagerly begin a search.  Chuck and Hal let their reporter friend publish the clues in the newspaper, which sets the entire county on a search for the diamonds.  Chuck and Hal must work fast to find the diamonds before someone else does.

Hal's little brother, Sammy, is like a clone of Bobby Belden from the Trixie Belden series.  The kid is a brat who throws tantrums.  He even threatens the older boys and then carries out his threats.  All of the adults excuse Sammy's behavior and seem not to understand why the boys consider it a nuisance to babysit him. One adult says that the boys would "be the same way Sammy is if you didn't have any kids around your own age to play with."  Oh, is that it?

I was skeptical about The Diamond Cave Mystery at first.  I knew that the Power Boys book, The Mystery of the Million-Dollar Penny, borrowed plot content from this book.  I did not enjoy the Power Boys book at all, so I had a negative feeling towards this book.  Fortunately, the Power Boys book is a very poor imitation of this book.   The Diamond Cave Mystery is outstanding.

In The Forest Fire Mystery, Art has recently moved from Denver to the mountains.  He becomes friends with Joe, and the two boys spend their time searching for the person responsible for starting a string of fires in the mountains.  Their two suspects, Mr. Horner and Mr. Maynard, are both behaving suspiciously, but both men seem to have airtight alibis.

Art and his younger sister, Liz, make a great team.  Page 76 of the Harvey House edition has a great example of their teamwork.

"See!" he exclaimed, pointing triumphantly at the ground.

"Yes, look!" Liz cried excitedly—but she pointed at something different.

"The truck went this way," Art said.  "You can tell by those tire treads I showed you a while ago."

"Who cares about tires?  The important thing is that the burros went the same way.  You can see their hoofprints," Liz answered.

Art grinned at the fact that he and his sister specialized in different kinds of evidence.  But right now all the evidence pointed in one direction.

This book has a really great mystery, and the reader is kept guessing as to how it will work out.  This book is outstanding.

Troy Nesbit Sand Dune Pony, Payrock Canyon, and Indian Mummy

In Sand Dune Pony, Pete spends the summer at Uncle Lem and Aunt Clara's ranch in southern Colorado.  Uncle Lem is short on horses, so Pete has no horse to ride until one gets broken.  When old Hatsy comes along with his wagon, Pete jumps at the chance to spend the summer camping.  Hatsy promises Pete that they will find a pony for him.

On page 86, Hatsy explains how a horse can be used for tracking.  Hatsy and Pete are tracking a man who doesn't know the territory and would surely choose the easiest path.  Hatsy lets his horse choose the path, which ends up being the same path the man took.  

Pete goes skiing on sand dunes.  I had never thought about skiing on sand dunes, so I found this part interesting.

Readers who love horses will love this book.  I found much of it interesting, although the detailed content began to wear on me during the second part of the story.

This book is very good.

In The Jinx of Payrock Canyon, Jay Himrod spends the summer helping his friend, Doc Martin, with his father's cattle.  The boys feel like Payrock Canyon has a jinx on it because of all of the strange events that have occurred.  Beavers have changed their color from black to brown.  The sheep are dying from a disease.  Mr. Martin's cattle are stampeding.  The boys observe a man carrying a box around the countryside.  The boys wonder if the mysterious man is responsible for some of the strange events.

There is too much randomness in this book.  This book began to tire me towards the end, and I became impatient for the book to be over.  The book is good but not as good as Sand Dune Pony.

In The Indian Mummy Mystery, Joe, Denny, and their new friend, Huff, want to locate an old mummy that Joe's grandfather found decades earlier.  The mummy was stolen by outlaws, and the boys believe that the mummy might be located in the ruins of a nearby ghost town.

Denny has an old Confederate half-dollar from 1861.  On page 33, the boys are told that the half-dollar is worthless.  I wasn't fooled for a second.  Common sense told me how rare a Confederate half-dollar would have been even in the 1950s.  Besides, too many series books proclaim that a certain object is worthless when in fact it is valuable.

This book has a number of exciting events.  Joe crawls around by himself in an Indian dwelling on the side of a cliff.  The boys get trapped in a cave during the night, and their search for treasure is fun.   

I like this book the best of the three I have read so far.  It is excellent.

The Troy Nesbit Mystery Series

We have all seen the Troy Nesbit Whitman books in book stores and antique shops.  All of us have likely admired the covers, and some of us might have purchased the books.  However, most of us have probably failed to read the books just like with most all Whitman books.

Last year, I greatly enjoyed reading both the Three Investigators and Rick Brant series, two series that I have ignored for more than 20 years.  I knew all along that both series are loved by many, but for various reasons, I didn't think I would like them and never bothered.  I have had numerous titles from both series pass through my hands in the last 20 years, but my mind was closed.

Since my experience with both series taught me not to be close-minded about series I have never tried, I decided to try some other series.  One acquaintance on Facebook is very enthusiastic about Whitman books, and that enthusiasm began to rub off on me.

A thread in the Collecting Vintage Children's Series Books group on Facebook gave information about Franklin Folsom's books.  Until I read that thread, I was unaware that the real name behind Whitman's author, Troy Nesbit, was Franklin Folsom.  I was intrigued.  A few collectors mentioned how good the Troy Nesbit books are.

I quickly built a set of the six books.  I didn't get around to reading them for a couple of months since I was still reading other books.  In March, I finally got started.  I figured out quickly that these are very good books.  I decided to seek out all Whitman cover art variants as well as the Harvey House reprints and the recent reprints.

Issue #10 of the Mystery & Adventure Series Review has an article about the books titled "An Overlooked Series - The Troy Nesbit Books."  The article concludes as follows.

Compared to some other writers of series, Mr. Folsom left relatively few works for our consideration, but those that he did leave us spark prolonged consideration indeed.  He brought drama and high ideals to the genre, and he deserves to be better known among those who read and collect series literature.

I agree wholeheartedly.  Folsom wrote very high quality books.  The Jinx of Payrock Canyon is the weakest book; I consider it to be just good.  Sand Dune Pony is very good.  The rest of the books are outstanding.  I was disappointed after I read the last book, because I wanted to read more of them.  They are excellent books.

I realized shortly into reading the books that I needed to put together a page on my site for the Troy Nesbit books.  I have now done so, and here it is.

The Wilderness Mystery Series by Troy Nesbit

The MASR article states that Folsom "deserves to be better known among those who read and collect series literature," and my page is my contribution to helping him be better known.  The page will explain some of the particulars about the books which I have not mentioned here.

Individual reviews will follow in the near future.