The Mystery of the Green Ghost

While investigating the old Green Mansion in Rocky Beach, which is about to be torn down, Pete and Bob hear and record a ghostly scream and see the ghost of Mathias Green. When the ghost turns up in Northern California at a vineyard owned by Green's last surviving relative, Pete and Bob are summoned to visit Miss Lydia Green and help her make sense of what's going on. This is the fourth case for the Three Investigators and this time they're split up, and Pete and Bob have to rely on their own talents instead of Jupiter's incredible smarts. This is a great series I enjoyed as a kid and now my children are enjoying it as well. Of course, Jupiter isn't left entirely out of the story, but Pete and Bob get the chance to show that they've learned a bit as well and can make some pretty smart decisions when things get dangerous. A great book with a clever mystery.

Even though I am not young, I find the mystery to be quite fascinating and intrigging.

While I did not find this story quite as satisfying as the previous three books in the Three Investigators series, it featured some of the most compelling scenes thus far. The chapters describing the boys' dangerous flight through a maze of old mines and caves had me squirming in my seat. Being a claustrophobic-type person, I found Arthur's descriptions of the tight squeezes through spaces barely large enough for a youngster to be quite harrowing and intense. That part of the story really "made" this book for me. While the mystery of the green ghost is fascinating and interesting, I just did not find the conclusion to be 100% believable, although it is certainly adequate and in step with the details of the case. The plot itself basically has two story lines converging into one; while there was some danger of the two story lines not intersecting properly at times, Arthur managed to overcome these potential pitfalls and keep the plot on an even keel. It may be that a youngster reading this book (or having it read to him/her) might get a little confused as the story begins wrapping up, but I don't think such confusion would detract from his/her enjoyment of the book. As I said, the description of the mines was just intense and should produce some pretty wide-opened eyes in youngsters (and adults) following the action. Any parent reading this book to a child should certainly anticipate some "just one more chapter" and "can you leave the light on?" remarks around bedtime.

I read several of the Three Investigators books over and over many years ago in elementary school and have since lost the copies. As I try to build a good library for my own kids now, I've searched for replacements in bookstores but never found any on the shelves. Finally here they are! I recommend them highly to anyone with boys in the fourth, fifth or sixth grade. The action moves quickly, the characters are well-defined, the books are well-written, and the stories are memorable -- they've stuck with me for decades! Green Ghost and Terror Castle were my favorites.

"The Mystery of the Green Ghost" has always been among my very favorite Three Investigators stories. Notably, it combined a very well-written, tense "haunted house" scenerio with one of the series' very best road-trips. I particularly liked the inclusion of historical detail in this investigation. I can only hope that as these titles are reissued for today's youth, that the danger and suspense won't be at all "watered down" to today's standards. It's already unfortunate that Harry Kane's wonderful illustrations have long-since gotten the axe. Were his renditions really that dated? I beg to differ.