227. The Lighthouse Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

The Lighthouse Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Boxcar Children, #8

Rating: (3.5/5)

(US) - (Canada) - (UK)

1963, Scholastic, 128 pgs

Age: 7+

"Renting a lighthouse is unusual, but even more so is an unfriendly boy's peculiar behavior."

Purchased a used copy from a thrift store.

I am in the process of re-reading the original 19 in order.  This book takes place immediately following book 7, The Woodshed Mystery.  It is the same summer and as the family is driving home from a visit to nearby Aunt Jane's new home, they decide to stop at the beach where they find a lighthouse for sale.  They end up renting instead of buying and this is where they stay for the next couple of weeks.  While the last book had one of the finest mysteries to date in the series, this one is hard pressed to even find a mystery within its pages.  A truly charming story which I thoroughly enjoyed but the mystery consisted of wondering what the boy next door was up to and figuring it out all very quickly.  Of course, they didn't tell the boy they knew what he was up to but that's not exactly mysterious!  This one contains quite a bit of interesting information on sea life and seafood and Warner actually makes a political statement on her thoughts on the space race.  She thinks that time and money would be better spent on exploring the sea (for the purposes of feeding the world) than on exploring outer space.  A new character is introduced and ends up going to Henry's college so I expect we'll see him in future books.  A perfectly enjoyable story about the family, has the family very gently "roughing it" in an old lighthouse but not exactly a mystery.