Pete Crenshaw gets the first line for once and that's entirely appropriate because he and Bob are required to step up considerably here. That's not to suggest that they've ever been dead weight or that Jupe doesn't get plenty to do too, but he's gone for whole chunks of this story on account of being the deadly double of the title. Kidnappers Fred and Walt believe that he's young Ian, son of Sir Roger, and off they go with him. Without the portly First Investigator, Second and Records have to step into his shoes.

Of course, they do so quickly and effectively, given that Jupe is kidnapped out of the gold-plated Rolls Royce on a country road and there's a phone in the back. Chief Reynolds gets the word out in no time, with alerts to four different states and Mexico, as well as to the FBI. Even with the police on the case, Pete takes charge. When they find the car, they follow a trail. There's a business card for the Three Investigators. There's a chalk question mark. And, after a helicopter leaves to avoid arrest, there's Jupiter Jones, hiding under the floorboards. The kidnappers get away but without him.

However, whatever reason they want young Ian for, they're not going to quit and eventually they get hold of both Jupe and Ian, who turns out to be Ian Carew, son of the prime minister of Nanda, a fictional British colony in Africa. He's about to transition them to independence and rule by the black majority, in a clear nod to apartheid-era South Africa. The white extremists, who are sadly topical once more as I write, want to stop him and they'll go to serious lengths to get their way.

I rather like how they get so far, only to find themselves stuck in the traditional place for this time-honoured trope, namely a firm inability to identify which one of their captives is which. You can be sure that neither of them make it easy on the bad guys! While we've read this, and especially seen it, a hundred times before, Dennis Lynds (as William Arden) handles it pretty well. It's not as easy as to simply look at which Kirk is wearing eyeliner; they literally have to call home for better data. And that comes late in the book; the biggest challenge is finding Ian to begin with.

While he was at school in Los Angeles to keep away from the potential for precisely this back home in Nanda, he's not a stupid kid. In fact, he doesn't just look like Jupe, he rather sounds like him too and that's not only extra trouble for the kidnappers, it's a real gift for Alfred Hitchcock's parting remarks. Only the accent is different and Jupe is a child actor with a talent for impressions. While it seemed pretty clear to me where Ian is all along, the boys have to follow the trail that he's left behind. It's an excellent trail with excellent clues and an excellent pursuit, even if it doesn't meet with success immediately.

Yes, Jupe should kick himself once he realises just how long it took him to figure it out, but then it is a pretty wild coincidence and that's on Lynds. It's also worth mentioning that Bob beats him to figuring out the first clue, a cryptic message that Ian left for his family. That gets them to where he's been but he's already gone. The kidnappers came, so he left, thus the need to follow the trail. And, once he gets to its end, he inadvertently gives them both up and so it's back to Pete and Bob to keep going from there.

Jupe's best moment is to figure out whether two suspicious men searching for Ian are good guys or bad guys. He has a lot of fun demonstrating his deductions, outlining much of what I've told you above. The reason he tells them is because they're the good guys, which shouldn't have been hard to figure out in a story about white supremacism when Mac is white and Ndula black, but still is in the heat of the chase, especially when he could have been wrong. And let's not forget that he had already been kidnapped once at this point.

The worst thing about the book is the outrageous coincidence that it's built on. If we can't accept that, then the whole thing falls apart. If we can, then there's a heck of a lot more to follow that's blissfully free of any such reliance. Jupe mostly does good work. Pete and Bob certainly do. Chief Reynolds gets a few scenes because kidnapping is a serious crime, especially when it isn't merely local in scope but international. The fate of a nation hangs in the balance, which are much higher stakes than usual; 'The Mystery of the Silver Spider' notably excepted.

The best thing about the book is how Lynds divvies up the lead between all three boys. Too often these books, though far from all, are the Jupiter Jones show and it's always good to see Pete and Bob prove just as worthy when needs must. It's also good to see Worthington and the Rolls, as it's been quite a while. Checking back, it may be his first appearance since 'The Secret of the Haunted Mirror' seven books earlier and, before that 'The Mystery of the Singing Serpent' five further. I'd have to re-read to be sure; the wikis on 'The Three Investigators' aren't that deep.

Next month, Lynds tags back to M. V. Carey for 'The Mystery of the Sinister Scarecrow', reminding that there isn't long to go for Alfred Hitchcock's involvement in the series. But more on that when I get to 'The Mystery of the Scar-Faced Beggar' in February. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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