This book has plenty of thrills as this blog post's title suggests!
A wealthy friend of the Bobbseys is having a party whose guest list included not only the twins and their parents, but also movie stars! The mother of their friend, Mrs Armstrong has a small hot air balloon model made of jewels, which will be used in a movie about a balloon race as the grand prize for the winner. One of the full-size hot air balloons that will be used in the movie is suspended 50 feet off the ground in the yard of the estate manned by the head ballonist, and tied down with ropes and anchors as a showpiece at the party.
Everyone at the party is a little star struck to meet such celebrities as the stars, the director, and the crew, but the young tween girls are especially enthralled by Tim Archer-a young teenage actor who is starring in the film. Even level headed Nan is tongue-tied-especially when he asks her to dance at the party! She only enjoys this for a few minutes because a 20-something woman cuts in and says that Tim promised her the first dance. (If this was written today, i don't think they'd have an adult woman dancing with a young teen, but this was before the world was quite as mad as it is today) A bit stung, Nan notices that the young lady is quite pretty, and is the same height as Tim.
Suddenly. a scream disrupts the social get-together! It is a hysterical Mrs. Armstrong-her jewels (including the Armstrong flyer) has been stolen! The twins rush over to her. Nan from the ballroom, Freddie from upstairs (where he was hiding with the Armstrong's son from Flossie who was trying to make them dance with her), and Bert from the gameroom.
The police are called, and soon Lt. Pike arrives leading the rest of the police officers (doesn't the guy ever get a break?) He questions Mrs. Armstrong, and says that since there is a guard at the mansion's front gate, no one could have left yet, so the clues are fresh, and the thief is probably still present. As he looks around, he spots the Bobbseys. After a bit of teasing, he agrees to let them come upstairs with him to Mrs. Armstrong's bedrrom where the jewels were kept (he really is kind to them despite his gruff exterior).
While searching the room, they find a charm engraved to Tim. When they go downstairs, Flossie says that she saw Tim entering the bedroom some time ago. This clinches things for Lt. Pike, and he accuses Tim of being the robber
Tim is taken away "for questioning", and the party soon breaks up (with the police searching everyone on the way out)
The next day, the Bobbseys go to the field where the filming for the balloon launches take place (i guess they decided to film it in the Bobbsey's small town of Lakeport too). They get there just Ross Benton, the movie director is listening to young actress Jessica Gordon cry in terror when she has to ride in the balloon. Mysteriously, she is suddenly scared of riding in hot air balloons (even though she had no problem with it before). In despair, Mr. Benton looks around, and spots Flossie. The little Bobbsey girl looks enough like Jessica that he realises that with a little makeup, she can play Jessica in the distance shots in the balloon (convenient, eh?)
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| Freddie is a little jealous! |
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| A dimpled smile! |
The rest of the Bobbseys meet the rest of the crew and do a bit of investigating. Among the crew is Lara, the makeup lady (who Nan recognises as the woman who wanted to dance with Tim), Ron Keller (the head ballonist, and a real grouch!), Pete (one of the balloon operates who makes friends with the twins and explains how the balloons work, and others.
With Flossie being so busy, the older twins ask Freddie to befriend Jessica and try to get her to explain why she is so afraid of balloons. He is talking to her when overhead a hot air balloon hovers quite close, and drops a sandbag! It lands very near them, giving them quite a scare!
But Jessica then tells Freddie that she saw something at the party, but seems very afraid to say more. Then the false front of a building falls and almost crushes them! Bert and others examine the wooden support that gave way and realise that it was cut, that was no accident! Freddie mentions how balloons are an integral part of this mystery. Even at the party, he saw a party favour balloon floating past a window while he was hiding from Flossie. And it seemed to be heading to the big balloon suspended above the yard. Balloons everywhere!
In the meantime, the filming goes on. Tim is released by the police, with a caveat that he is not to leave town, and he films his scene where he leaves in a balloon at the start of the film's race. Flossie too is filmed being launched in a balloon. She is having a great time, but while flying in the balloon, she notices a shiny object glinting at the bottom of the gondola. She shows it to Pete (he is flying the balloon), and he says that he thinks it's a real ruby! When they land, they are met by Ron Keller and the balloon crew who deflate and pack up the balloon in a van and drive them back to the set. Flossie shows Ron the ruby. He stiffens and says that it needs to be taken to the police right away, and drives like a maniac to get back to the set!
As soon as they get back, Flossie wants to tell her siblings what she found, but doesn't get a chance to because director Ross Benton approaches saying that Jessica has disappeared somewhere and he needs a long range shot before the light changes. He wants Flossie to run across the field towards the camera. She does this, but a balloon zooms in!
Flossie is too far away for anyone to react, but a figure that looks very much like Tim Archer reaches out of the balloon, snatches Flossie, and prepares to fly away! The fighting girl manages to grab the hair of her assailant, but it comes off! It was a wig! The wig flutters to the ground, and the balloon gains altitude, with Flossie kidnapped in it!
Pete says that he thinks he can calculate the trajectory of the balloon based on the wind and other factors, and hopes to have a pretty accurate idea of where it is by the time the police are called and arrive. While chaos reigns on the set, the remaining twins examine the wig. It is cut to look precisely like Tim's hair. That must be how Flossie thought she saw Tim entering Mrs. Armstrong's bedroom-someone was dressed to look like Tim to frame him. The twins figure out that Lara's makeup and costume tent has everything that would be needed to disguise someone this way, and since she and Tim are the same size and build, she is likely in on the theft. Since Tim (a ballonist) is innocent, and Pete is with the twins, the only other person who can operate a balloon is Ron Keller, so he must be the second villian. By the time, Lt. Pike arrives, the twins have this figured out, and Pete has the direction of the balloon triangulated.
Meanwhile, in the balloon, Ron is bragging over his evil deeds, but Lara seems upset at the part she played. Jessica tells Flossie that at the party, she saw "Tim" from the back releasing a party favour balloon up to the main balloon where Ron Keller was waiting. But when "Tim" turned around, the face was really Lara. Ron threatened and terrorised her into silence. Ron unashamedly agrees and then says that with the balloon and the strong wind, they can make a clean escape. He calls Lara over to make plans. Flossie, seeing her moment, grabs the cord that leads to the vent, and kills power to the burner! They begin to fall-fast! Ron manages to decelerate them, but can't get them to gain altitude again before they hit. He grabs Flossie in anger and says that she and Jessica will be hostages now, but Lara refuses to go along with his scheme and tells him to let the kids go. Soon police sirens can be heard, and Ron panics, picks up a sandbag and runs. When the police cars appear in the distance, he drops the sandbag and heads for the woods.
Lt. Pike, the other twins, and a handful of police officers arrive and Flossie tells them to open the sandbag. When they do, the missing jewels are discovered amidst the sand!
The book ends with Tim's name cleared, Jessica now unafraid to ride in balloons, Flossie "retiring" from acting, and a grateful crew letting Pete take the Bobbseys and Jessica up in the hot air balloon for a ride!
I really liked this story when i was a kid (and still do). I've said it before, the first 17 stories of the new Bobbsey Twins was the absolute peak of the Bobbseys 100 year publishing of books to me. The story is exciting, action-packed, and suspenseful enough for youngsters without being too much. Something that the ghostwriter (all Bobbsey Twins books are written under the pseudonym "Laura Lee Hope") is very good at doing is sprinkling the clues throughout the book, so it makes sense who the villian is, but it isn't so obvious that the average 10-12 year old will figure it out in the first few chapters.
The only thing i think is a bit contrived is how Jessica and Flossie look so much alike (i mean, yes, they were going to just use Flossie in long-range shots, but the artwork shows them looking like identical twins!
Also, i didn't explain this in the synopsis, but in case you are wondering where Jessica's parents were during all of this, it is explained that they are actors too, and are working on another movie elsewhere. Lara is Jessica's guardian (that's kind of like the fox guarding the henhouse, eh?)
Well, i don't know what else to say, so i'll just bid you adieu for now, and hope to see you when i review book #4 in the NBT (New Bobbsey Twins) series!
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