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4.0 out of 5 stars
Robert Arthur's Last Three Investigators Mystery, Sep 2 2001
The Mystery of the Talking Skull is the last Three Investigators novel by Robert Arthur. As such, I was a little hesitant to read it because Arthur's genius and talent created this series and made it into a staple of many young people's lives. No one made reading as fun as Robert Arthur did for untold numbers of children over the last thirty-plus years. Arthur's previous two entries in the series, the mysteries of the silver spider and the screaming clock, were brilliant and, in my opinion, his best, so I had high hopes for this book. I must admit, however, that this book is somewhat flawed and is, to my mind, Arthur's most disappointing 3I story. Let me make clear, though, that Arthur's worst is many times better than almost everyone else's best. This is a ripping good story and is well worth a read, despite the flaws I perceive in it.In terms of critiquing the story, I have to say that the last few chapters seemed somewhat rushed; the boys' actions, especially those of Jupiter Jones, seemed somewhat out of character, and the ultimate explanation of the mystery was not completely satisfactory to me. While Jupiter is not always right, of course, his deductive and reasoning skills were not too sharply honed in this book. Early on, once he has the skull and has heard it sneeze, he is supposedly too drowsy after supper to set his mind to figuring out how the skull talks--this does not sound like the Jupe I have come to know. Later on, he is actually "suckered" quite easily, much to my consternation and disbelief. Were it not for unexpected outside help, the boys would have bungled this whole case. In terms of the ending, the explanation of how the skull actually talked did not thrill me, and that is the primary reason I must give this book four stars rather than five. That explanation was a little contrived and unoriginal, I felt. Despite these faults, I did find several clues to be rather ingenious, and I experienced a few "Aha" moments of a quite satisfactory nature. Sadly, as I write this review, this is the last Three Investigators book to have been recently reissued by Random House. The reissue of the first eleven books in the series (including all ten of Arthur's 3I books) is of great importance because this action not only reintroduced me to the friends and heroes of my youth but introduced the Three Investigators to a whole new generation of young people; these books have induced a love for reading in countless numbers of us all. I would implore Random House to continue reissuing these books until the complete 3I library is readily available to one and all--how these books ever went out of print is a mystery not even the great Jupiter Jones could solve. As for me, I have my own case to work on now, an undertaking that will not be completed until I have assembled a complete collection of the Three Investigators series.
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