Robert A. Arthur, Jr. (1909–1969)

Two of the Three Investigators — teenage boys Bob Andrews and Pete Crenshaw, their ringleader Jupiter Jones busy with other duties — are scoping out a deserted mansion that is scheduled for demolition. Legend says the house is haunted by its last owner, Matthias Green, who married a princess in China and fled to California with her and a purloined string of priceless pearls, but ended up dead the foot of the stairs in his great mansion.

Bob is making a tape recording of their show more investigation when they hear a scream coming from the house. A group of neighborhood who happened to be passing by (yeah, right) also hear the scream, and convince the boys to join them in a search of the house. They don't find the source of the scream but they do spot a strange green ghost who floats about here and there and eventually disappears through a wall. The ghost, to no one's surprise, seems to resemble old man Green.

It's not so easy for the police to dismiss this as the overactive imaginations of children because the men saw and heard the same thing. And the ghost makes further appearances through the night around town, including in a graveyard where it's observed by the chief of police, who really does not want to admit he saw a ghost. That makes him more open than usual to enlisting the Three Investigators' help to find out what's really going on, especially after the body of Matthias Green's wife, who was presumed to have fled back to China after her husband's untimely death, is found walled up in a secret room of the mansion, wearing the priceless pearls.

The investigation takes Bob and Pete to San Francisco, where a descendant of Matthias Green owns a vineyard and wants the boys' help to protect the pearls. The vineyard turns out be a a satisfying setting for all sorts of adventurous capers, from roaming around in underground mine shafts to being kidnapped by Chinese gangsters, before Jupiter gallops (well, lumbers) in to solve the case and rescue his friends.

It was strange to have Jupiter, the "chunky but brainy" one, in such a secondary role, as if he were the star of a TV series taking time off to have a baby or something. But the action sequences hit all the right notes and Bob especially gets his chance to shine. I might quibble with why the book cover depicts the ghostly Green as a Chinese man when the story plainly states he is an American who married a Chinese princess, but if you're reading these books for their historical accuracy you're probably not reading these books, if you know what I mean. show less

The Three Investigators — Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews — are between cases and trying to practice their deduction skills when they visit a museum exhibit of some spectacular jewels from Japan. Of course, while they are there the lights go out and when they come back on, one of the most distinctive and valuable works of art (an elaborate gold belt set with huge emeralds) is missing. They try to get the museum curator to hire them to investigate, but he seems unenthused by show more the notion of hiring three teen-age boys to investigate a multimillion dollar robbery in broad daylight. Some people, amirite?

Jupiter, Pete and Bob do eventually get to the bottom of the case, of course, but not before fulfilling a personal request from their patron, Alfred Hitchcock (yes, that one), who asks them to help an old friend who is being harassed by a gang of garden gnomes. No, really. Stop laughing! I'm serious. And if you don't believe a gang of garden gnomes harassing the friend of a world-famous movie director can't be mixed up with a daring jewel theft in downtown Los Angeles, I can only suggest you visit a mechanic to have your disbelief's suspension repaired.

These books are such goofy fun. I'm sure middle-school Julia enjoyed them at least as much as middle-aged Julia does. They are the perfect reads when I don't want to think too hard about who done it. show less

I admit it: Bob is my favorite of the Three Investigators, and one of the reasons I like this book is that he gets to be a more central character for a while. Granted, this involves getting knocked unconscious more than once, but he's still very important to the resolution of the mystery and all the boys get a chance to shine. The political intrigue was also a nice change of pace, and I recall it being one of the books where I was more genuinely worried about the fate of the characters than show more every before. Although jeopardy can certainly be overdone--especially in a book involving relatively young characters--I always enjoyed watching the Investigators work their way out of trouble. show less

An excellent introduction to the Three Investigators. Acquaints us with many of the recurring characters we will enjoy throughout the series.

Fast-paced, well written story. The castle itself features as a prominent character with all its terror inducing charm. As in many other stories in this series, the geography of the area (I picture Rocky Beach as being somewhere along the coast between Santa Monica and Malibu) is also important. Old Hollywood and its uncomfortable transition to the show more later 20th century is also a prominent theme, as it is in multiple other books in the series. A great start to the series!!

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