Rereading: THE HOUSE ON THE MOOR by M. E. Atkinson

Cover and illustrations by Charlotte Hough

The twelfth book in Atkinson’s Lockett family adventures gets back to the core group of the three Lockett children: Oliver, Jane, and Bill, and their artistic and somewhat hands-off Aunt Lavinia, with good results. An old house in Dartmoor has come to the Lockett family through the death of an elderly relative, and the Lockett parents have decided to live there for six months while Mr. Lockett is on leave from his post in India. The parents don’t come into this book, as the children and their aunt drive to the house first to set things up and get ready for the longer stay.

On the way, adventure and trouble strikes before they even get there. The moor is wrapped in thick mist, and when they’re nearly at the house, the aunt’s car has a blowout. They manage to change the tire, and then a stranger appears who offers to help turn the car around and get it out of the ditch. He does that, and then drives off, stealing the car! Soon, other help arrives from a passing motorist, and they learn the first stranger was probably an escaped prisoner at large from a nearby prison.

When they get to their house, things continue to be strange. The housekeeper has gone away to help an ailing sister. A neighbor comes in to help out, but acts nervous about things like some locked doors that can’t be opened, and soon the Locketts are building a case for her helping the escaped convict. More adventures follow as they try to figure out what’s going on.

This is better than the previous book, “Chimney Cottage,” though one of the characters from that book, Caspar, does make brief appearances. My only criticism is that the Locketts seem less able to succeed in solving their mysteries than usual. The illustrations are better than the previous book, but still not nearly as good as earlier work by Harold Jones and Stuart Tresilian.

Recommended.

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