MISSING PERSON by MARY JANE STAPLES

 MISSING PERSON

by

MARY JANE STAPLES

THE BLURB:

The house in Caulfield Place, off Browning Street in Walworth, was haunted, or at least that's what the street kids said. So when two men, a woman, and a parrot moved in, everyone was very interested, especially fourteen-year-old Cassie Ford, who was particularly fascinated by the parrot.

And it was just about this time that Mr Finch, Chinese Lady's husband, and Boots's stepfather, began to get mysterious telephone calls. Mr Finch had never told the rest of the Adams family- except for Boots- the secrets of his past, or what kind of work he did for the government, and he decided not to tell them about the slightly sinister telephone calls either.

It was when he took Chinese Lady on a summer's day jaunt in his Morris motorcar that things began to happen. For, in the Hog's Back Hotel, Chinese lady went to the cloakroom, and when she came back Mr Finch had vanished. It took all of Boots's ingenuity to discover what had happened, and Cassie's knowledge of the Caulfield Place parrot was to provide a vital clue in unravelling the mystery.

THE REALITY:

This novel was not that easy to get into, as it had too many characters flung at you at the start. But once you did it leapt along, and was one of those books that can be disregarded for a week or so, with a thread that's easy to pick up again. The study of accents is very good, but it bugged me that it was never explained how Chinese Lady got her nickname- after all, she wasn't even Chinese, and there's no reference to her looking Chinese! There are other books in the series, so perhaps it's all explained there. I also can't remember if it was mentioned how Boots got his nickname, but I just assumed it was to do with him having been in the army.

My favourite character had to be feisty Tilly, who came across as enterprising and attractive, yet kind, despite being no one's doormat. I did love the little girls whose father's house she lodged in, and their wayward mother- a faux Hungarian tightrope walker- made for good copy, too. I enjoyed the way speaking parrots became a theme throughout, and which did, by association, lead to the (spoiler alert!) downfall of Mrs. Harper. This period between the wars, and the life and times of those living in South London (of various classes) was looked at in detail, and the thing that struck me most about the writing was the sense of community. I'm not sure that exists any more; and in a way it's a shame. Don't get me wrong- I wouldn't want to live in the 1930s (especially knowing what we now know about Hitler and his ambitions) and find those days of yore very judgemental. It's just that along the way something a tad special seems to have been lost.

What really worked for me was the way that no character was superfluous to requirements, and the way the (spoiler alert!) kidnap plot unfolded in a very intriguing way. I would have liked to have learnt more about the “ghost” in the house and the murder didn't really get much of a mention. Now, a proper haunting would have made this book come really alive!