Kay Tracey Mysteries

Kay Tracey Mysteries was a book series that ran from 1934 to 1942, covering 18 mystery titles. There were 4 different authors of this series whilst the series was tributed to the pen name of Frances K. Judd.

Titles in the Kay Tracey series were: 

1.The Secret of the Red Scarf, 1934

2. The Strange Echo, 1934

3. The Mystery of the Swaying Curtains, 1935

4. The Shadow on the Door, 1935

5. The Six-Fingered Glove Mystery, 1936

6. The Green Cameo Mystery, 1936

7. The Secret at the Windmill, 1937

8. Beneath the Crimson Briar Bush, 1937

9. The Message in the Sand Dunes, 1938

10. The Murmuring Portrait, 1938

11. When the Key Turned, 1939

12. In the Sunken Garden, 1939

13. The Forbidden Tower, 1940

14. The Sacred Feather, 1940

15. The Lone Footprint, 1941

16. The Double Disguise, 1941

17. The Mansion of Secrets, 1942

18. The Mysterious Neighbors, 1942

Main Character Kay Tracey

Age: 16

Lives: Brantwood, with her mother and cousin Bill who is a lawyer.

School: Carmont (travels there by train)

Friends: Twin sisters Wilma ( renamed Wendy in the 80's reprint) and Betty Worth 

Rivals: Ethel Eaton ( renamed Chris Eaton in the 80's reprint)

1. The Secret of the Red Scarf 1934

1. The Secret of the 

Red Scarf 1934

Review to come

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2. The Strange Echo 1934

2. The Strange Echo, 1934

This is a "vacation" mystery, where Kay is invited by her best friends the Worth Twins to solve the mystery of "Lost Lakes."

I have to say that I am a huge Kay fan. Kay and her friends are involved in a radio show also in this story and cousin Bill has a love interest which I haven't seen in other stories from the series I have read. There is even a rival for Kay's affections as Red and his friends help Kay solve this mystery.

As well as the main mystery the book incorporates other adventures as the boat that Kay is in springs a leak and the girls save a dog that resurfaces later.

The most disappointing aspect of this book is the ending. Kay faints and misses the whole thing of the police arriving and the bad guys being captured, knew I should worry when there was so much to tie up in the story with only 2 chapters to go. Worst part is they all call Kay the mystery solver and the hero. Give me a break, she was out cold and missed it all, that was lamest ending I have read to a Kay Tracey book yet.

Its a pity these books are all inidividual and not a true series in that the characters develop each book, as a result the other love interest aspect was never going to be developed and also poor Bill will be single again by the next book.

3. The Mystery of the Swaying Curtains 1935

3. The Mystery of the Swaying Curtains

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4. The Shadow on the Door 1935

4. The Shadow on the Door

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5. The Six-Fingered Glove Mystery 1936

5. The Six-Fingered

Glove Mystery

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6. The Green Cameo Mystery 1936

6. The Green Cameo Mystery

I have a few Kay Tracey Mysteries on the shelf and this is the first I decided to have a read of for 2 reasons. 1. I was traveling on a train so wanted a paperback that would fit into my bag easy and 2. I love Cameos. That said a mystery involving a dodgy Medium that can hypnotise people, this was a great book to start with.

I was quickly introduced to the Family. Kay lives with her mother who is a widow and her cousin Bill, who is a lawyer.
Kay friends are the Worth twins Betty and Wendy which are both in the story as well as a male friend Ronald and a school nemesis Chris.

The medium subplot was so interesting I had forgotten about the original mystery that Kay had set out to solve. This made the ending a bot harder for me to read as the story shifted back to the main mystery focus rather than the Medium storyline.

School nemesis Chris was a good character to add to the mix as she caused some havoc and brought the school element back into the story.

Overall a good read.

7. The Secret at the Windmill 1937

7. The Secret at the Windmill, 1937

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8. Beneath the Crimson Briar Bush 1937

8. Beneath the Crinson Briar Bush, 1937.

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9. The Message in the Sand Dunes 1938

9. The message in the sand dunes

This Kay Tracey book was written by by Mildred A. Wirt Benson under the pen name of Frances K. Judd.

Half way through reading this book I thought that it was not as full of coincidences like the last one I read and therefore the story flowed well and Kay came across more as a detective.

Even though the story in part was about finding buried treasure the premise of the story wasn't as far fetched as some previous Kay Tracey's I have read.

Really enjoyed the holiday at the beach aspect and having new characters as apposed to the old school rivalry.

10. The Murmuring Portrait 1938

10. The Murmuring Portrait, 1938

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11. When the Key Turned 1939

11. When the key turned

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12. In the Sunken Garden 1939

12. In the sunken garden

I read a 80's reprint of this Kay Tracey Mystery. This was a story about a girl that looks so much like Kay Tracey that she is mistaken for Kay and Kay is mistaken for her. I'm not personally a fan of this type of story (the exception being "Beverly Gray's Journey" which I loved.

Yes they say everyone has a double but even with the Internet now who has found one? This story left so many questions open. Is Kay now going to be mistaken constantly for this girl considering her mother lives nearby? This story was built largely on coincidences rather than detective work, in fact the first chance that Kay got to do any serious detective work she decided she was late for diner and better go home instead (would Beverly or Nancy ever do this?) Overall despite the story issues I got through this book real quick which means it interested me enough to keep picking it up to read over doing other things.

13. The Forbidden Tower 1940

13. The Forbidden Tower

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14. The Sacred Feather 1940

14. The Sacred Feather

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15. The Lone Footprint 1941

15. The Lone Footprint 1941

I started to read this book and stopped after the first page or two and looked at the cover again and then read the Chapter names in the front of the book.

Why?

Because it hauntingly seemed familiar. Didn't Kay in the Message in the Sand Dunes go on holiday with her Mother and best friend, twin sisters Wilma and Betty where a mystery was driving other holiday people away?

Once I double - checked it was NOT the same book I continued on.

The story early on mentions Kay's father having also having enjoyed solving mysteries when he was alive.

I really enjoy Kay Tracey books for their flow in style. For some reason the forced poetry in this book bothered me more than in other books of the series.

Also there seems to be a trend with arch rival Ethel. Every time there is a male described as young and good looking you can be sure within the next few chapters Ethel will have a reason to be around the said male whether he showed interest back or not. This book is no different. I think that is one of the good things about series as you see the repetition in the main characters behaviour as you would a friend.

Only disappointment I would have in this book (and common amongst a few) is the last chapter from sentence to sentence jumps forward in time dramatically to wrap up the story to create the happy ending.

16. The Double Disguise 1941

16. The Double Disguise 1941

Review to come.

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17. The Mansion of Secrets 1942

17. The Mansion of Secrets 1942

The premise of this book is one of my favourites of the series. Kay finds a map in an Old Mansion that her cousin Bill is helping to sell. The map marks out treasure that has been hidden all over the old place.

Of course life wasn't meant to be easy so the map is stolen and Kay and friends need to beat an unknown thief to the treasure.

Kay uses her memory of the red X's for finding some of the hidden items. 

Yes there were again coincidences as Kay opens a magazine at the library and spots who she thinks is the mystery thief in a magazine ad. That said the idea of the treasure map outweighed any of the non sluething aspects of the story.

The ending I thought was rushed in this story, especially since it was such an enjoyable read.  I would of liked to have seen Kay and co. go around the mansion and see what they pulled from each X spot on the map,  or at least a list at the end of the book of what they found overall rather than the "many treasures" scenario.

18. The Mysterious Neighbors 1942

18. The Mysterious Neighbors 1942

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