Betty Baxter Anderson (1908–1966)

1938. CW: N word, racist black maid depiction. She also speaks in a dialect I imagine is poorly rendered. Other than that it was a charming little book, like a Nancy Drew mystery. Winifred Travers’ father is the captain of the Lake Haven coastguard station on Lake Superior. Don’t know if that’s a real town or not. Her chum, Cherry Hudson’s, family runs the local newspaper, the Lake Haven Tribune. Cherry wants to get a big scoop for the newspaper and get a byline on the I.P.A., which show more is the associated press I think. Winifred wants to catch the smugglers so her dad doesn’t lose his job. Someone is smuggling fancy illegal furs from South America, Llama and Vicuna, and jewelry and heroin. The heroin is barely mentioned, it’s all about the furs. There’s also a weird, snooty, bossy, new girl at school, Myra Mason, whose family has money and a fancy launch at their boathouse on the lake. The coastguard perform some nice old school rescues with a breaches buoy. And eventually there are even guns, never used in the course of the story, just the mere threat; and a thrilling chase on the lake. The smugglers are caught. Cherry gets the big story. show less

5 Stars Good older nursing book. Rich Girl goes to nursing school to help out in the Army Nurse Corps. during WWII.