"You may wonder who I am, and what I am doing at the front of this book," says Hector Sebastian in his introduction. "Read on, and you'll find out." Yes, this is that major moment of change. Every one of the first thirty books in this series was introduced by Alfred Hitchcock, whose name blazed across every one of the covers instead of that of the author of the text, who was relegated to the title page. Arguably, that overt celebrity namedrop is one major reason why these books sold so consistently and reached that count anyway, even after the death of the series creator after only fourteen of them.

Well, Hitch died in 1980, leaving the series rather adrift. Its publisher, Random House, took a year off, publishing no new instalments until 1981, returning with this. I was living in the UK back then, so read the British editions and this didn't appear until 1984, with a new cover design that hawked the series name as its most prominent aspect and the author's name above it, though that stayed missing from the spine. The king is dead, long live the king, and that's where Hector Sebastian comes in. As an entirely fictional character, he wasn't ever going to die on the publishers and the series would have to survive on its own.

The question, of course, is whether it could. While I miss Hitch, likely the reason why I was drawn to the series to begin with, Sebastian turns out to be a respectable replacement. Frankly, I don't recall thinking that when I read this, new on original British release, at the age of thirteen, but I have no complaints now, re-reading as an adult. In fact, this book rather stands out as a bit more serious than the norm, an edginess infused through its premise. It seems odd that it was written by M. V. Carey, because it's a firmly masculine story and M. V. stood for Mary Virginia. Carey had pioneered the inclusion of female characters of substance into the series and there are a couple of good ones here, but they aren't the principals.

The first page reads like Carey's work, at least, because the very first line is dialogue delivered by a female character. We don't learn her name, but she sets us in motion well with a dire ultimatum, then defuses it with charm. It's a capable human moment to start off the story. She's waiting at a bus stop on Wilshire Blvd in the rain and so is Bob. They both encounter a blind beggar, who has an ugly scar from his jaw to his cheek. He isn't doing well, as we see when he falls and they both help pick up the few coins he's collected. Then he's hit by a car, but he limps away and vanishes, leaving his wallet on the ground behind him. That's clue one.

And yes, this is a bigger mystery than it seems. When Jupe fixes up a television back at HQ and the news tells them that the Santa Monica Thrift and Savings Company was robbed that morning, Bob immediately recognises it as the building opposite the bus stop on Wilshire. It seems the cleaning crew robbed the place after the time lock opened in the morning, thus the blind beggar must have been their lookout and distraction. And so to the wallet, which contains a driving license, unusual for a supposed blind man, in the name of Hector Sebastian.

So to Malibu where the boys find that his address is a former restaurant, Charlie's Place, which he recently bought and is currently moving into. He's an author, one that Jupe has read, and his three books are doing very well. Sebastian used to be a private detective in New York City, but a plane crash crushed his leg and so he shifted to writing. He's there with a Vietnamese gentleman called Hoang Von Don, who seems to be a combination cook, cleaner and companion. Yes, the subtext is pretty obvious. I wonder if it continues into future books.

Of course, he isn't the scar-faced beggar and there's an excellent moment here when he mentions Hitch and Jupe explains their connection. "We felt very bad when he died, and we miss him." That leaves them with nothing, though, and so the one cheap moment in the book appears to provide a way forward. That's the appearance of Walter Bonestell to see Sebastian as the boys leave. He's a security guard. I bet you can't guess where! Anyway, they visit him next and he hires them, as he's the employee who slipped up letting in a fake cleaning crew and thus enabling the robbery. Not a good look for a security guard.

The most crucial location in the book is the Denicola pier in Santa Monica, where Sebastian keeps his speedboat, because it's the only logical place where he could have lost his wallet. Bob goes to investigate and asks questions there about the blind beggar, which sparks two things into motion. One is Old Mrs. Denicola, the mother-in-law of the lady who currently runs the pier, because she's a real character. She's never seen the blind beggar, but she's dreamed about him and she dreams true dreams. Later in the book, she dreams of all the boys in a situation so dangerous that it was used for the back cover blurb. I liked her immediately and she's the best way yet that authors had found a way to include a real supernatural angle without it spoiling the story.

The other is the fact that Bob does a great job in this book. We're used to Jupiter Jones being the key to these mysteries because he's the brains of the operation and the leader of the group. That seems entirely appropriate, but there are three investigators rather than just one and the series does benefit from Pete and Bob stepping up, at least occasionally, to shine on their own without a series of directions from Jupe. That's what Bob does here. Jupe figures out some key details later but this is Bob's book to me, because he breaks most of the key details, with Pete doing a good job too, including at a weird public meeting that's held entirely in Spanish.

This isn't the most explosive book in the series, though there are explosions coming in the finalé, after a speedboat chase, and it's not without its share of action. The one that Old Mrs. Denicola dreams about before it happens is a traditional one for the series and rather effective. However, the book feels dangerous in a way that few others approach, even when one or more boys is tied up and kidnapped or gets stuck in a particularly nasty situation. Usually, we don't expect them to be killed if or when they're caught, whatever other bad things are going on.

We could believe that in this one because the bad guys have fanaticism on their side. They're not just after money or a painting or whatever MacGuffin a particular mystery sets into motion. They are sworn to a mission that they support with every fibre of their being and they'll do everything that must be done to ensure that mission succeeds. There have been similar scenarios in earlier books, like 'The Mystery of the Silver Spider' or as recently as 'The Mystery of the Deadly Double', but neither of those played up the danger as effectively as this one. It feels much edgier.

I wonder if that'll hold true next month, when Carey returns with a second episode in a row, 'The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs'. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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