Beverly Gray's Scoop

Beverly Gray's Scoop by Clair Blank (1954) This is the first Beverly Gray book I've read. It's one of the later ones, the second to last of 25 or so published from the Thirties into the Fifties. I decided it would be too much to try to find them all and read them in order, so I just tried this one—but I liked it enough that I want to read more. There were a lot of characters for a relatively short kids' book, and a pretty good mystery. Beverly Gray and her three friends live in New York City—all young professionals—Beverly works as a reporter for a newspaper. There is a young woman named Kay who is Beverly's rival at a competing newspaper, so they're always trying to “scoop” each other on stories. This mystery involves the secret of the uncle of one of Beverly's roommates' fiance. The uncle has just returned from an excursion in Egypt, has some kind of secret, but dies before he can reveal it. The whole thing gets pretty convoluted—there are multiple underworld figures involved. There's even a subplot involving jealousy and romance. They all have pretty vibrant lives in Manhattan and surrounding areas, and they eat at restaurants and diners quite a bit, which is, of course, my favorite element. But I also found the mystery and intrigue pretty satisfying.