Trixie Belden and the Mysterious Code

so many of my favorite Trixie moments happen in this book: the planning of the antique show, the crafting and refinishing of furniture, the discovery in the attic, the white dress with green trim (and matching green shoes!) (hey, I'm a fashion person. Of course I liked that part), the snowstorm,...I could go on, but I won't. I think this is one of the best in the series.

Modifying my former opinion on this former favorite from the series.

It was still good, nostalgia and all - I still loved the blizzard and the night trapped in the schoolhouse and the cozy little party and the Belden's farmhouse. Unfortunately I really could see the difference here between the Julie Campbell books and the others. Tons of info-dump sentences where characters explain things to each other for the benefit of the reader. "Why, you know as well as I do how much your adopted brother, Jim, and your groom, Regan, love those horses" or whatever. I made that up but there were no shortage of examples and the change from Julie Campbell and this now struck me as glaringly obvious. Sigh.

I guess this means that next I should read show more another non-favorite and perhaps be pleasantly surprised. show less

Trixie Belden and her friends have a club, The Bob Whites of the Glen. They fixed up a clubhouse and work on projects to help their community, Sleepyside, NY. Imagine their surprise when the high school principal tells them that the school board is considering disbanding all clubs. The board thinks that the clubs don't serve a purpose and form cliques, leaving some kids out. The Bob Whites quickly come up with a project they all believe in so that they can prove their club is productive. The teens are going to hold an antique show and sale to benefit UNICEF. While gathering items for the show at Honey Wheeler's home, Trixie finds a magazine with the key to a secret code inside. The code leads the club to a cool discovery! Unfortunately, show more publicity for the antique show leads local thieves to the antiques. There is a break in at a local home and at the clubhouse. The teen sleuths are back on the case to discover the identity of the thieves before they ruin the fundraiser.

The Mysterious Code is the 7th book in the Trixie Belden series. The first six books were written by Julie Campbell. Books 7 - 39 were written by various authors using the pen name Kathryn Kenny. Plot wise The Mysterious Code is one of the weaker books in the series. It's still an enjoyable read, but not as well-written as the others. The code portion of the plot is clever, but plays only a small part in the story. There is a bit of character development, but not much really happens in this book. All in all, another enjoyable visit to Sleepyside, but there are much better books in the series.

The Trixie Belden series was my favorite series when I was in middle school. I preferred Trixie over Nancy Drew. I had the whole set with the 80's paperback covers. I babysat my bratty nephew to earn money to buy the paperbacks at Waldenbook s. :) The brat is now 37 years old. ha ha I still love Trixie but read them with an adult perspective now. Still enjoyable! But I cringe every time the kids decide to chase criminals and thieves themselves rather than calling the police, or when they hide events or evidence from their parents.

Great series! I am enjoying re-reading the books even though I have an adult perspective now. The books are a bit dated (just like Nancy Drew), but fun, quick reads. I like reading a Trixie book in-between thriller or suspense novels to clear my mind a bit. There is no cursing, nothing graphic.....just teens solving simple mysteries while going horseback riding, etc in the woods around their homes. Nice relaxing reading. :)

The last Trixie Belden book came out in the late 80's, and some of the books can be hard to find. I'm reading scanned ebooks on openlibrary.org. Most of the series is available on that site. Openlibrary is a free site that offers scanned ebooks of many books for checkout, just like a library. It's all legal and does not violate copyright laws. show less

A nice little mystery. I got annoyed with the boys not taking Trixie seriously. She has proven herself when it comes to mysteries.

It was funny to see a stick man code used here and in the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Dancing Men".

Principal Stratton wants to get rid of all clubs in Sleepyside High School, including the Bob-Whites! The only way they can save their club is to prove that they help out other people, too. Trixie quickly comes up with a plan to host a benefit antique show and sale. But are the precious antiques in danger from thieves?

This was my first experience with a Trixie Belden book. I wanted to read something different, and while I thought it was a decent and quick read it lacked a bit of substance for me (yes, I know this book is geared towards a younger audience) The mystery wasn't quite as intriguing as I had hoped, and while I wasn't bored by the story I wasn't compelled to read it either. I found it interesting to read a book from a "simpler" time (this book being written in the early 60's) It was fun to see the different between phrases used back then, that would never be used today. I do think that I would read some more Trixie Belden novels if I come across them (got this one at a library book sale), but at the same time I'm not running out to get show more more. I do want to reread some Nancy Drew (haven't read any since childhood) but would love to see how they compare! show less

I loved this series when I was growing up; I thought Trixie was a lot more fun than Nancy Drew, and these were some of my all-time favorite books. I read them as an adult, though, a few years ago, and found that they haven't, IMO, stood the test of time well. They are obviously dated, and there are some messages that I don't think are appropriate anymore (mostly the way Trixie is treated differently - and often poorly - because she's a girl).