The Case of the Crestwood Cuties

I had to follow Mickey Spillane with a tribute to my other favorite mystery writer from that period, Chales Spain Verral. My aunt bought me "The Case of the Stolen Dummy" in the winter of '64 and I must have read it a half dozen times since. Until I got on the internet in 1999, it was the ONLY Brains Benton I'd ever seen, and no one I'd ever asked about it had ever heard of the series. But then I found the Yahoo group, and since then I've managed to collect the other five titles in the series, plus enjoyed the fan fiction other members have written. The thing I liked about them was that Brains and his Watson Jimmy were real kids, they didn't travel all over the world but solved all their mysteries in and around Crestwood, the crimes they solved were the sort of thing real kids could plausibly become involved in, they didn't have a roadster, motorbikes, a motorboat and pilot's license but had to get around on their bicylces or get Jimmy's sister Ann, reporter Lew Jarman or Officer McKeon or some other adult drive them, and unlike Chief Collig and everyone else who immediately leapt to do whatever the Hardy Boys suggested, Chief Hadley despises Brains and Jimmy and even adults like Lew Jarman and Officer McKeon who don't belittle or talk down to Brains and Jimmy still have a definite adult-child relationship with them. In short, the thing I liked best about these Brains and Jimmy kids mysteries is that Brains and Jimmy are KIDS! For more information, there are Wikipedia articles on Brains and Mr. Verral written by group members and if you're a fan who somehow hasn't found it yet, there's the group. Tell 'em Gomez sent you, and see what C has to say.

 

PS: Click "ALL SIZES" to see the larger version, for a better look at the book covers.

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