The Hayloft: A 1950s Mystery

Cook does a good job of recreating high school days in the 1950s, as least as they fit my experience. Gary, the protagonist, is curious about the death of his cousin Ralph, who fell from the auditorium balcony at Carter High and broke his neck. Gary has been kicked out of one high school and is now the new kid at Carter High, subject to the principal's approval. The principal blackmails him into spying on Sylvia, president of the student council. Sylvia's father, a newspaper editor, takes the Fifth Amendment when hauled before Congress during the McCarthy hearings. Sylvia is tarred with the same brush as her father, who is branded a "dirty commie." That she is Gary's only real friend further complicates his life. Still another complication appears in the person of Gary's cousin Ed from a different side of the family. Ed is editor of the student newspaper but his main interest seems to be the family rumor of a fabulous diamond necklace hidden in the hayloft on an uncle's farm. There is definitely more to Ed than meets the eye. Soon enough Gary is convinced that Ralph was pushed from the balcony. The only question is: whodunit? His investigation begins to take in half the kids at Carter High. The book is written in first person, from Gary's point of view, and I got a laugh out of these snippets of interior monologue at a sock hop: "Slow dancing was about as close as most of us came to actual sex, and sometimes I wondered how many of us had teeth marks on our bedposts. ... We went out on the dance floor and oozed around ..." My only real quibble is that Cook keeps mentioning Gary's expulsion from his first high school but waits for 97 pages before telling us why. I don't know whether it's an editing misstep or whether it's meant as a teaser. In either case, it distracted me. After a few pages, no matter what else was going on, I was wondering why Gary got kicked out of school. When the author finally reveals the reason, it's pretty funny. It's exactly something the character of Gary would do. Quibbling aside, THE HAYLOFT stirred up pleasant memories of a simpler, more naive time -- the 1950s.

Reviewed by Cathy Yanda for Reader Views (9/06) "The Hayloft," a mystery set in the 1950s, is a wonderful way to spend some time. Alan Cook has brought to life characters you will want to get to know better. From Gary Blanchard, a young man who is kicked out of one school just to attend another where his cousin Ralph died, to Kate Drucquer, his distant English cousin who takes a liking to Gary's younger brother. The story unfolds when high school all-star Ralph falls to his death off the balcony of the Carter High School auditorium. His cousin, Gary, ends up attending the same high school quickly discovering there are some things that do not make sense about Ralph's death and finding there is more than one mystery hidden at Carter High School. There are several subplots in this beautifully written story. "The Hayloft" takes place in the 1950s, when the country was trying to root out communist sympathizers. The school principal threatens to kick Gary out of school unless he spies on one of his classmates, Sylvia. Gary, under the threat of being kicked out of a second high school, tells the principal only things that he could easily have discovered by himself. You will meet Barney and learn about a game of nim played with milk cartons. Then there are Gary's distant cousins from England, Kate and Ed. Ed tries to befriend Gary and shares with him a second mystery - that of a supposedly missing diamond necklace. Ed shares with Gary a map that their cousin, Ralph, had drawn for him showing the hiding place of the necklace. The story does not stop there. It is only beginning to get interesting. As Gary, with the help of Sylvia, discovers more about Ralph's death, he becomes certain it wasn't an accident but murder. As he works to prove who did it and how, he places himself in increasing danger. "The Hayloft" has more to offer than just a mystery. There are also make-out sessions in the hayloft, slow dancing, an almost-deadly fire, and much more. You will be glad you took an afternoon or an evening and spent it with the world Alan Cook has created for us in "The Hayloft."

This story satisfies the highest standards of a well-told murder mystery, with the added value of giving today's teens an idea of what it was like to grow up in the 1950s, because of what was going on then. It gives older adults an opportunity to reflect on how it was in those times and how it might have shaped who they are now. I highly recommend it.

When you finish reading a book at 5 a.m., there's got to be a reason for it. With THE HAYLOFT, the reason is that the suspense builds throughout the book and becomes heart-pounding in the last few chapters. When Gary Blanchard gets kicked out of one high school and has to enroll in another at the beginning of his senior year, his plan is to keep a low profile and stay out of trouble. The problem is his cousin Ralph, who fell to his death from the balcony of the school auditorium six months before. The official verdict is accidental death, but Gary starts asking questions and the more questions he asks the more suspicious he gets. Just maybe Ralph was murdered. Other issues are the communist conspiracy and questions involving the first and fifth amendments to the Constitution. Bomb shelters were built by the well-to-do as an escape from what some people thought was the certainty of nuclear war, and one figures in the plot. The songs, the clothes, the ideas about virtue, quaint in today's world, are all there. Gary struggles with the problems inherent in being a teenager, including his relationship with girls. Life lessons are learned in the hayloft of the family barn. When the action really gets going, be sure you're well rested, because it's going to be a long night.