I wouldn't have noticed it when I first read this book as a kid, but it's obviously written by a woman and for the first time in the series. I never felt any shame in reading genre books aimed at girls as well as those aimed at boys, so read Nancy Drew along with the Hardy Boys, but I didn't pay much attention to the gender breakdowns of any of those books. They were simply there to be fun. Now, I see that sort of thing and it's clear that there have been precious few female characters in these 'Three Investigators' books and, when they show up, they're rarely given much to do.

Sure, there was that teasing hint towards a female operative in 'The Mystery the Fiery Eye', but it never panned out, Liz Logan not having returned to the series. However, here, things are different in the very first chapter. Aunt Mathilda gets substance immediately. She's played support in many of these books, but her contributions have been restricted to making food and to putting the boys to work in the junkyard. We know you don't mess with Aunt Mathilda, but here, we learn why. She has opinions, dominates scenes and even has a role in driving the plot forward. Then a prominent female character is introduced soon afterwards. It's just unheard of!

The reason is that 'The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints' is absolutely written by a woman, Mary Virginia Carey, though she preferred initials as M. V. Carey, which wasn't unusual at the time as a standard means of hiding an author's gender to avoid losing potential readers with narrow minds who might assume that a book by a woman must be for girls. See P. L. Travers, S. E. Hinton, even J. K. Rowling., who followed advice from her publisher to use initials for this very reason. Would the 'Harry Potter' books have done as well had they been written by Joanne Rowling?

In fact, Carey would become the most prolific writer of the series. Its creator, Robert Arthur, only wrote ten books before his death (and naturally none after it), so the bulk were penned by William Arden and M. V. Carey, who wrote roughly in alternation. Arden wrote thirteen and Carey sixteen, including 'The Mystery of the Ghost Train', which would have been the forty-fourth adventure had the series not been cancelled. Instead it found publication in German, where the series, known as 'Die drei ???', ran on much longer, with original novels pushing the series over two hundred titles.

I thoroughly appreciated how Carey introduced honest-to-goodness female characters with depth and substance and even gave them things to do. However, I also appreciated her descriptive prose which is the best thus far and a long way beyond what Nick West had written in the previous book. I appreciated her use of dialogue, which is also the deepest and most believable of any book so far. And I appreciated the build too, as the first chapter serves as an excellent setup, introducing us to the local eccentric in Rocky Beach, known as the Potter, who promptly vanishes, sparking the core mystery of the novel. Carey introduces us to headquarters with panache too, capably using Tunnel Two, Red Gate Rover and Door Four.

The villains of the piece may be the new folk who have moved into Hilltop House, who are foreign, not least because it overlooks the Potter's place, which now sits empty. However, the villain of the piece may be the fisherman, who's also new in town and is usually found in a pristine outfit and with brand-new equipment, but never any fish. Maybe Eloise Dobson is be the villain, as she also shows up out of the blue with her son Tom in tow, claiming to be the Potter's daughter, even though not a single person in Rocky Beach knew that he ever had one.

So far, so good, but there are caveats and negatives to raise too. From one angle, this is agreeably grounded, with Carey focusing on character and setup to provide the bedrock of the novel. That's not a bad thing and it may well be that this is the most believable book in the series thus far, much more so than the other one that had a historical backdrop, 'The Mystery of the Silver Spider'. From a different angle, though, this is agreeably grounded, meaning that there's nothing supernatural or exotic, aspects that often make these books memorable.

The only aspect that could be considered supernatural are the flaming footprints of the title, as they appear within the Potter's house apparently at random without anyone causing them. Sure, that's mysterious, but there are no other truly unusual elements and that makes this component notably weak compared to say, whispering mummies, screaming clocks or talking skulls. The only angle that could be called exotic is the fact that there are double-headed eagles everywhere, not just on the pots the Potter makes but also on the medallion around his neck. Bucking a tradition for the series, Carey avoids making the new kid exotic, Tom hailing from Belleview, Illinois.

I missed the outre subject matter, whether it seems supernatural, serves as exotic in California or is merely eccentric, the only aspect here fitting that being the Potter himself, who doesn't appear to have a name, just the Potter, and walks around in a long robe like a hippy. However, it turns out that the Potter is merely Alexander Potter, who is indeed a potter. We don't even go anywhere, as we never leave Rocky Beach except for a brief side mission for Worthington in Los Angeles. In fact, the vast majority of the book takes place within walking distance of Uncle Titus's junkyard.

At the end of the day, I can see readers reacting to this in two very distinct ways. Some might love it, because it's better written, it's more believable and it has a real grounding in Rocky Beach. It also features multiple female characters of substance and they're not the only ones who benefit from strong dialogue. Others may like it less than usual, because there's not much that counts as supernatural, eccentric or exotic. It also doesn't really have real villains, at least in the style or to the degree that the series has shown us. We never go anywhere and the ending is inherently sad. Perhaps only a few will sit in the middle, liking some of these things from each side but not all.

I'm in the latter category, but right now I'm looking forward a lot more to book seventeen, which is the next of M. V. Carey's contributions to the series, 'The Mystery of the Singing Serpent', than the second and last from Nick West, which comes before it. That's next month's read, 'The Mystery of the Nervous Lion'. ~~ Hal C F Astell

For more titles this series click here