The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring is listed as being part of the Lewis Barnaveldt series, but Lewis plays an extremely minor part in the book, and doesn't affect the plot except that his absence drives the his best friend (and heroine of the story) Rose Rita to travel with the elderly Mrs. Zimmerman to her late cousin's farm.

The plot of the book is kicked off by a letter Mrs. Zimmerman receives from her late cousin bequeathing her his farm in upstate Michigan. The letter also mentions a magic ring that her cousin says he found on the property. Thirteen year old Rose Rita, feeling abandoned as her best friend Lewis Barnaveldt has decided to go to scout camp for the summer, decides to accompany Mrs. Zimmerman to settle the affairs related to the farm.

One of the elements of Bellairs' stories that seem to date them is the easy acceptance of these sorts of friendships between older adults and children. The friendship between Johnny Dixon and Professor Childermass in the Johnny Dixon novels and the close friendship between Rose Rita and Mrs. Zimmerman in the Barnaveldt novels are associations I doubt parents would condone in more recent years. In Mrs. Zimmerman's case, it appears Rose Rita's parents don't even like her (unlike Johnny Dixon's grandparents, who are friends with Professor Childermass), but they let her spend the night at Mrs. Zimmerman's house and go away with her on long trips. Nowadays, such a close relationship between an older woman and an unrelated teenage girl would raise more than a few eyebrows, and probably be prohibited by the child's parents. I'm not sure all of Mrs. Zimmerman's influence on Rose Rita is good, but she means well, and if it were prohibited, Rose Rita would clearly suffer, so maybe we have become too sensitive about this sort of thing.

Rose Rita and Mrs. Zimmerman travel to northern Michigan, find an old nemesis of Mrs. Zimmerman's, find the farm in disarray, and the allegedly magical ring missing. The two then spend a couple weeks in the area, surrounded by odd events and getting themselves into troubles of various sorts, until Mrs. Zimmerman vanishes one night.

On her own now, Rose Rita springs into action, jumps to a couple conclusions, makes a new friend, stretches the truth a bit, and nearly gets herself killed trying to locate and rescue Mrs. Zimmerman. In the end, the villain does herself in, and all turns out well.

In some ways, the mystery, while fun, is merely a backdrop for the story of tomboyish Rose Rita coming to grips with becoming a teenage girl. She is conflicted, not wanting to give up the things she enjoys (and that make her a tomboy), but she also has started to think about what it would be like to be more "girlish" and whether she wants to do that.

In the end, an enjoyable gothic mystery story, combined with engaging and well-written characters made this an enjoyable read, and a book I would certainly recommend to any young reader. ( )

I remember my third grade teacher reading this book to us in class. I have a terrible memory, so when something does stick in my head, I have to wonder why. So I read the book. Nothing spectacular about it. Just happy memories ( )

http://tyranist.blogspot.com/2008/04/... ( )

Rose Rita and Mrs. Zimmerman set off on a car trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, stopping on the way to settle some of Mrs. Zimmerman’s family affairs. It seems a rather peculiar cousin of hers has died, leaving her his farm, as well as a ring he believes may be magic. When the two arrive at the farmhouse, they find the place has been ransacked, the locked desk drawer containing the ring has been forced open, and the ring is gone. It’s a sinister start to their vacation, but they resolve to have fun anyway and try to forget the incident.

Soon, worse things happen; things that aren’t so easy to brush aside. Mrs. Zimmerman finds evidence that suggests she had a deadly enemy—a suspicion confirmed by a sudden, unexplained attack of pain. She recovers, but it isn’t long before worse happens: Mrs. Zimmerman disappears! Left alone in a place she doesn’t know, Rose Rita has to find out what happened to her friend, and save her.

I like Rose Rita, and some of her problems were a nice change of pace from the ones usually faced by Bellairs heroes.

Mrs. Zimmerman is a fun character. I liked her in the first book, and I liked her here, too. She reminds me a little of one of my aunts, in that she’s in her sixties and her favourite colour is purple, and she wears a lot of purple clothes and has a lot of purple things in her house. Unlike Mrs. Zimmerman, my aunt does not do magic or smoke cigars. At least, not in front of me. ( )

$4.99