Golden Age of Detective Fiction

Behind the Green Door is the first book I’ve read for my Spring 2024 TBR. You can read more about my “Green” theme and the other books on the list here.

Just before Christmas, Penny Parker and her father, Anthony Parker, are about to embark on a hard-earned skiing vacation at Pine Top when the Riverview Star, the newspaper Anthony Parker owns, is suddenly sued for libel. A wealthy hotelier, Harvey Maxwell, claims that the newspaper, which printed an article where a footballer came forward and accused Maxwell of fixing a game, was a total lie. Now Anthony Parker must fight the accusation that his newspaper is a “yellow rag” and backs out of the long trip, but let Penny go to Pine Top alone.

Penny arrives at the airport and is surprised to see her rival, Francine Sellberg, a reporter for the Riverview Record, also flying to Pine Top following a tip for a hot story. Also going to Pine Top is Harvey Maxwell, which Penny deduces is why Sellberg is going to the remote snow resort.

When Penny arrives at Pine Top to stay at the Downey Hotel, a cozy, rustic hotel run by Mrs. Downey, she learns that Harvey Maxwell and his business partner, Ralph Ferguson, are doing everything they can to drive this homey hotel out of business: cutting room rates, buying up all the newspapers and trying to steal customers. Parker makes it her business to get to the bottom of the harassment.

When she visits the hotel, she finds something fishy going on there. The clientele isn’t much interested in winter sports; they are loud, flashy, and have plenty of money. As she investigates, she finds some secret hidden behind one of the rooms marked with a green door that select hotel guests can access with a special green-colored card. There’s a mysterious teletype machine writing messages in code, and she’s sure something nefarious is happening. Can Penny discover what’s behind the Green Door, save Mrs. Downey’s hotel, catch Mr. Maxwell in his nefarious scheme, and save her father’s paper all on her own before Francine Sellberg gets the scoop?

The Review

I found Behind the Green Door a choppy little mystery and Penny Parker a vain, entitled protagonist who was hard to root for. The beginning of the book sets up that Anthony Parker and the newspaper are in real trouble due to printing a potentially libelous article, for which they are being sued $50,000, a sum that could deeply cripple the paper and tarnish Anthony Parker’s reputation. He is apprehensive about the paper and even admits that he can’t prove that the article was truthful because the source has recanted his story- for what Parker believes was a heavy payoff from Maxwell.

If this was a Nancy Drew mystery, which Wirt also wrote many of under the pseudonym, Carolyn Keene, she would jump into action, investigate the story, and save the paper, but not Penny Parker. She has a new bright red ski suit, and she’s been practicing skiing on the kitchen rug and won’t get out of the way of the housekeeper, Mrs. Weems until she positively swoons over how beautiful and wonderful Penny is in her outfit. When her father, weary and afraid, says that he won’t be able to go on vacation- Penny has a full-on strop that her dad won’t take off for two weeks at this critical juncture. She whines so much that he finally acquiesces and lets her go to Pine Top alone.

What a heroine.

I will admit that this is a slightly more realistic view of what some teenagers are like, but those aren’t usually the flagship characters of a children’s series that young readers are supposed to aspire to.

Penny goes on her trip to Pine Top, and all of the set-up is promptly forgotten. This is not a story about sports fixing or libel; it’s now a story about a little ma-and-pa hotel being slowly run out of business by a corrupt, wealthy man who is also the same man who is suing Mr. Parker.

umm…ok.

I admit that Penny Parker is a tenacious and physically capable investigator. She gets into dangerous situations, such as saving people from being thrown from a runaway bobsled, scaling the outside of the hotel, and saving an old man being held hostage, and she pays the price for these acts. By the end of the book, she’s pretty banged up, with a bruised, wrenched arm, bruised side, and sprained ankle. She’s so headstrong and reckless, which she even admits in the story, that the reader can applaud her bravery but be incredibly frustrated by her dumb, dangerous decisions in equal measure.

She is a complicated character to like; on the one hand, I like that she takes the initiative but isn’t intelligent or careful with her words. Every time she meets with Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Ferguson, she blurts out exactly the wrong thing; she never heeds Mrs. Downey’s warnings to be careful, and she is downright catty to Francine Sellberg. I’ll admit, Francine Sellberg is mean and nasty, but Penny never outwits her in their battle of words, rises above Sellberg’s attitude, or takes the moral high ground. Penny Parker is down in the dirt mudding with her. Again, realistic but not much of a role model. What really frustrated me about their interactions is that Sellberg dislikes Parker because of her entitled attitude….and she is proved right when, even though Sellberg scoops the story about what’s behind the green door by talking to deputies, Penny uses her connection to the sheriff to get to a phone and get the story to her paper first, which proves Sellberg’s impressions of Parker as accurate.

The mystery of what lies behind the green door is deftly plotted, I don’t want to give anything away, but some of the clues include seal skin fur coats, a mine, and the land rights to ski slopes owned by a crotchety old man.

There’s a lot of good characterization of the people in Pine Top and exceptional descriptions of skiing, bobsledding, and the treacherous mountain weather. There’s also a fantastic description of air travel at the time, which included stopping the plane at special hangars to serve meals and bed berths for overnight flights, which were totally a thing. I looked it up. That was an excellent little preserved time capsule.

The beginning of the book, which is primarily exposition, really bogs down what later becomes a rather beautiful, picturesque, bountiful read. The story never comes full circle and adequately rolls in the setup. There are a few lines about how the lawsuit will be dropped because Maxwell is found to be perpetrating the crimes discovered by Penny, but I don’t think that makes much sense. He could be a crook and still be right that he didn’t fix any football matches because no one ever proved he didn’t!

I have to let it go. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s okay.

Also, any goodwill that Penny might have built up during the investigation is immediately undercut by her plying the sheriff for favors to beat Sellberg and by using the fact that she solved the case as leverage to get a new car from her father as a Christmas present.

Behind the Green Door is a genuine mixed bag. I liked the opening gambit and was disappointed that what was set up there wasn’t the story. I liked the second story, where Penny has to save The Downey Hotel. I liked Mrs. Downey; I liked the friends Penny made up on the mountain, the impetuous and fantastic skier Sara Jasko, and Mrs. Miller, a down-on-her-luck actress whose fake it-until-you-make-it philosophy ultimately unwittingly got her mixed up in a criminal enterprise. I didn’t like Penny Parker or how the two different stories didn’t connect meaningfully.

Mildred A. Wirt Biography

Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson (July 10, 1905 – May 28, 2002) was an American journalist and author, best known for her work as a ghostwriter for the Nancy Drew series of mystery novels under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. She was born in Ladora, Iowa, and from an early age, she showed a passion for writing and adventure.

Benson attended the University of Iowa, where she earned a degree in English in 1925. During her time at the university, she wrote for the campus newspaper and showed a knack for investigative reporting. After graduation, she began her career as a journalist, working for newspapers such as the Toledo Times and the Toledo Blade.

In 1929, Benson was approached by Edward Stratemeyer, the creator of the Nancy Drew series, to write for the popular series. Under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, she penned the first three Nancy Drew books and continued to write for the series intermittently over the years. Her contributions to the Nancy Drew series helped shape the character and the enduring popularity of the books.

Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson also authored another popular series of mystery novels featuring the character Penny Parker. The Penny Parker Mystery Stories were published under the pseudonym Mildred A. Wirt.

Similar to Nancy Drew, Penny Parker is a young amateur detective who solves mysteries with intelligence, courage, and resourcefulness. The series was first published in the 1930s and continued through the 1940s, comprising a total of 17 books.

Penny Parker, like Nancy Drew, became a beloved character among young readers, and the series was praised for its engaging plots, fast-paced action, and strong, independent heroine. While Nancy Drew remains the more famous of the two series, the Penny Parker Mystery Stories contributed significantly to Mildred Wirt’s literary legacy.

Beyond her work in children’s literature, Benson had a distinguished career in journalism. She worked as a reporter and columnist for various newspapers and also authored numerous other books, including novels and non-fiction works. She was a trailblazer for women in journalism, breaking barriers and inspiring future generations of female writers.

In addition to her writing career, Benson was an avid pilot and adventurer. She obtained her pilot’s license in the 1930s and often flew her own plane to cover stories or go on personal adventures.

Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson continued to write and inspire others until her death in 2002 at the age of 96. Her legacy lives on through the timeless adventures of Nancy Drew, Penny Parker, and her contributions to journalism and literature.