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Ginny Gordon #1
Ginny Gordon and the Mystery of the Disappearing Candlesticks
The Hustlers start a swap shop as a money-making project, but have to deal with the disappearance of Ginny's Great-Aunt Betsy's heirloom silver candlesticks, and along the way tackle a jewel thief.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1948
7 people are currently reading
149 people want to read
About the author
Julie Campbell
54 books183 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Julie Campbell Tatham
aka
Julie Campbell, Julie Tatham and Julie C. Tatham
Julie Campbell was born on the 1st of June 1908 in Flushing, New York and shares the same birthday as her character, Mart Belden. As the daughter of an Army Officer, she travelled widely during her childhood and, at the age of eight, won her first short story contest while living in Hawaii.
Campbell married Charles Tatham Jr. on the 30th March 1933 and they worked together on many magazine stories and articles. Campbell lived in a remodelled farmhouse in the Hudson River Valley with her husband and two sons when she began writing the Trixie Belden series.
She had her own literary agency in the 1940s when Western Publishing invited literary agents to find authors who could produce mystery and adventure books that would be marketed to children at an affordable price. Campbell proposed four series, two that would be written by herself and the others by two of her authors Hal Burton and John Henry Cutler.
Both series were published under her maiden name, Julie Campbell. The Ginny Gordon series consisted of five books published between 1948 and 1956, while her contribution to the Trixie Belden series consisted of six books between 1948 and 1958. At the same time, Campbell stepped in to take over the Cherry Ames and Vicki Barr series and wrote twelve books in total for these series over the same time period. It is believed that Campbell wrote Cherry Ames, Cruise Nurse in three weeks during the same period she was also writing the first Trixie Belden and Ginny Gordon books.
Campbell wrote the series under her married name of Julie Tatham. There are several similarities to the Trixie Belden series. Cherry Ames: Dude Ranch Nurse is set in Tucson, Arizona which is the setting of Campbell's last Trixie Belden Mystery. The last Cherry Ames book Campbell wrote in 1955, Cherry Ames: Country Doctor's Nurse, is set in Sleepyside-on-the-Hudson, the setting of the Trixie Belden mysteries. So is a wonderful book called To Nick from Jan, which has many similarities to Trixie Belden except the main character is almost 17 years old.
She is also credited for writing "Rin Tin Tin's Rinty" for Whitman in 1954, but in an article Campbell denied having written that book and wonders why Whitman credited her with the title.
The Trixie Belden series was set in "Sleepyside" but was based on the town Campbell was living in at the time in the Hudson River Valley near Ossining. Her home, "Wolf Hollow", was the model for Crabapple Farm and Campbell actually lived on Glendale Road.
After completing Trixie Belden and the Mystery in Arizona, Campbell decided to stop. Her experience as a literary agent assisted her in negotiating a royalty on the next six books of the series as she owned the characters, but it meant her giving up the originator rights to this series. Western Publishing decided to continue the books under the pseudonym Kathryn Kenny.
Campbell also relinquished the Cherry Ames and Vicki Barr series when Helen Wells decided to return to writing them. The Ginny Gordon series was not continued.
There is evidence that Campbell sought a writing position with the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1957. Timothy P. O'Herin spent an afternoon going through the Stratemeyer archives and found correspondence between Campbell and Harriet Adams, the daughter of Edward Stratemeyer.
"The letters occurred around 1957 and they consisted of Ms. Tatham seeking a writing position with the syndicate. Mrs. Adams responded with glowing praise for her work, but questioning whether Julie would want to relocate for the job. Julie indicated she would be willing to commute. There were only a few letters in this brief correspondence..."
Julie Campbell Tatham
aka
Julie Campbell, Julie Tatham and Julie C. Tatham
Julie Campbell was born on the 1st of June 1908 in Flushing, New York and shares the same birthday as her character, Mart Belden. As the daughter of an Army Officer, she travelled widely during her childhood and, at the age of eight, won her first short story contest while living in Hawaii.
Campbell married Charles Tatham Jr. on the 30th March 1933 and they worked together on many magazine stories and articles. Campbell lived in a remodelled farmhouse in the Hudson River Valley with her husband and two sons when she began writing the Trixie Belden series.
She had her own literary agency in the 1940s when Western Publishing invited literary agents to find authors who could produce mystery and adventure books that would be marketed to children at an affordable price. Campbell proposed four series, two that would be written by herself and the others by two of her authors Hal Burton and John Henry Cutler.
Both series were published under her maiden name, Julie Campbell. The Ginny Gordon series consisted of five books published between 1948 and 1956, while her contribution to the Trixie Belden series consisted of six books between 1948 and 1958. At the same time, Campbell stepped in to take over the Cherry Ames and Vicki Barr series and wrote twelve books in total for these series over the same time period. It is believed that Campbell wrote Cherry Ames, Cruise Nurse in three weeks during the same period she was also writing the first Trixie Belden and Ginny Gordon books.
Campbell wrote the series under her married name of Julie Tatham. There are several similarities to the Trixie Belden series. Cherry Ames: Dude Ranch Nurse is set in Tucson, Arizona which is the setting of Campbell's last Trixie Belden Mystery. The last Cherry Ames book Campbell wrote in 1955, Cherry Ames: Country Doctor's Nurse, is set in Sleepyside-on-the-Hudson, the setting of the Trixie Belden mysteries. So is a wonderful book called To Nick from Jan, which has many similarities to Trixie Belden except the main character is almost 17 years old.
She is also credited for writing "Rin Tin Tin's Rinty" for Whitman in 1954, but in an article Campbell denied having written that book and wonders why Whitman credited her with the title.
The Trixie Belden series was set in "Sleepyside" but was based on the town Campbell was living in at the time in the Hudson River Valley near Ossining. Her home, "Wolf Hollow", was the model for Crabapple Farm and Campbell actually lived on Glendale Road.
After completing Trixie Belden and the Mystery in Arizona, Campbell decided to stop. Her experience as a literary agent assisted her in negotiating a royalty on the next six books of the series as she owned the characters, but it meant her giving up the originator rights to this series. Western Publishing decided to continue the books under the pseudonym Kathryn Kenny.
Campbell also relinquished the Cherry Ames and Vicki Barr series when Helen Wells decided to return to writing them. The Ginny Gordon series was not continued.
There is evidence that Campbell sought a writing position with the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1957. Timothy P. O'Herin spent an afternoon going through the Stratemeyer archives and found correspondence between Campbell and Harriet Adams, the daughter of Edward Stratemeyer.
"The letters occurred around 1957 and they consisted of Ms. Tatham seeking a writing position with the syndicate. Mrs. Adams responded with glowing praise for her work, but questioning whether Julie would want to relocate for the job. Julie indicated she would be willing to commute. There were only a few letters in this brief correspondence..."
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 12, 2020
Ginny Gordon and the Mystery of the Disappearing Candlesticks is a book by Julie Campbell, never heard of her, in 1948, and illustrated by Margaret Jervis, never heard of her either. When I read about the author I found that she also wrote the Trixie Beldon series, the Cherry Ames series, and the Vicki Barr series. I never heard of any of them either, I guess I don't read as much as I thought I did.
In fact there is nothing about this book I ever heard of before. Not Ginny Gordon, not the rest of the "Hustlers", not Mr. Shoemaker, none of them. The Hustlers are what Ginny and her friends have named their club. There are five of them I think, it's been awhile since I read it and if I knew my computer troubles would have gone on this long I would have taken notes. But I didn't know and I didn't take notes and now I think there are five of them but I just don't know.
Anyway, the Hustlers decide to start a "swap shop" and Mr. Shoemaker lets them use a little empty store building next to his big full store building to have their shop in. The little building was where Mr. Shoemaker started in business long ago before he outgrew it and built the bigger one. So there it sits empty until now - that is important if you want to figure out where the candlesticks disappeared to, before they reappeared on their own that is.
If that doesn't make sense it doesn't matter, think Nancy Drew. Someone is doing things they shouldn't and the only people trying to solve the problem are the kids. I often thought that with Nancy Drew, I wondered why her lawyer father was okay with her running after criminals all by herself. You can read this book in a few hours, if you can find it, so go ahead and help find the missing candlesticks. After that there are other Ginny Gordon mysteries you can help figure out, although the biggest mystery would be where to find them. And now I'm done, there is only so long I can stand to write reviews on my phone. Happy reading.
In fact there is nothing about this book I ever heard of before. Not Ginny Gordon, not the rest of the "Hustlers", not Mr. Shoemaker, none of them. The Hustlers are what Ginny and her friends have named their club. There are five of them I think, it's been awhile since I read it and if I knew my computer troubles would have gone on this long I would have taken notes. But I didn't know and I didn't take notes and now I think there are five of them but I just don't know.
Anyway, the Hustlers decide to start a "swap shop" and Mr. Shoemaker lets them use a little empty store building next to his big full store building to have their shop in. The little building was where Mr. Shoemaker started in business long ago before he outgrew it and built the bigger one. So there it sits empty until now - that is important if you want to figure out where the candlesticks disappeared to, before they reappeared on their own that is.
If that doesn't make sense it doesn't matter, think Nancy Drew. Someone is doing things they shouldn't and the only people trying to solve the problem are the kids. I often thought that with Nancy Drew, I wondered why her lawyer father was okay with her running after criminals all by herself. You can read this book in a few hours, if you can find it, so go ahead and help find the missing candlesticks. After that there are other Ginny Gordon mysteries you can help figure out, although the biggest mystery would be where to find them. And now I'm done, there is only so long I can stand to write reviews on my phone. Happy reading.
July 18, 2019
"There is no doubt about it, two of the four silver candlesticks were gone! Yet Ginny Gordon was sure she had locked the door before she left the swap shop. Anyway who would have wanted those tarnished candlesticks? And why had they only taken two of the four?
The business of clearing up the mystery of the missing candlesticks, and at the same time running the Swap Shop, keeps every member of the Hustlers' club busy, for in solving one mystery another is turned up."
This is the first book in the lesser known Whitman series, Ginny Gordon. Although well written this series would become overshadowed by the authors other series Trixie Belden. There are many similarities between Ginny Gordon and Trixie Belden including recycled plot points and scenes. I've read the series once but don't remember too much from it so lets see how this rereading goes.
- The book starts out with Ginny sharing her plans for the Swap Shop. Her and her club, the Hustlers, plan on renting a little shop for $15 a month, collecting broken and/or unwanted items from people in the neighborhood in exchange for store credit, and fixing and selling the items. Pretty much its a thrift store and I think its a great idea.
- At the beginning of the book we also hear about Ginny's failed attempt to solve a mystery; she had previously thought a citizen was a German spy with plans to blow up the local bank. Turns out he was just an accountant. It's nice to see one of these teenager amateur detective be wrong. I wonder how many mysteries Nancy Drew stumbled on to that weren't actually mysteries.
- Ginny is 14 but already has enough accounting education from school to handle "the books". She goes all into accounts receivable/accounts payable stuff that I have no clue about. Did they actually teach this kind of stuff in school back then cause that'd be cool.
- Ginny immediately takes a strong disliking to Mr. Grinsler, an antique seller who asks the Swap Shop to give him leads to antiques in exchange for a commission. When Lucy asks why Ginny says she can't stand his lisp;
"She pirouetted around the room, taking little mincing steps and imitating Mr. grinsler's speach: "Mike hath given me permithin to ficth my mealth on an elecricth plath....Phooey!""
She also calls him a sissy for cooking his own food instead of going out to eat. I don't know if there's supposed to be a subtext here. Maybe it's because I've been reading some old Nancy Drew books where the villain is always Jewish/African American/Romani/Italian/etc. These books come from a very discriminate time so why wouldn't a villain be made a homosexual. Anyways I think Ginny's dislike is supposed to be taken as her 6th sense telling her the guy is bad news but it just comes off prejudice.
- At one point Babs gets accidentally locked in an old wardrobe and almost suffocates to death. She's in there for hours until Ginny finally finds her. Later when Ginny thinks that Babs has ditched helping her at the Swap Shop to go to a movie Ginny thinks to herself that she wishes she had left Babs in the wardrobe to suffocate to death...uhm Ginny you ok?
You can read the rest of this review at VintageGirlsBooks.blogspot.com
You can see all 18 illustrations from this book at www.pinterest.com/Nancydrewart
November 7, 2016
This series was one I read as a girl. I remember one of these being the first book that I had a hard time putting down and just read through the day. These "Nancy Drew type mysteries" instilled such a love of reading in me. I always think I will get nostalgic feelings from reading them again but I am often disappointed in them. This one was not nearly as good as the actual Nancy Drew I read recently, but I still have such fond memories of reading them as a child. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could go back and get those old feelings again?
March 21, 2026
First published around the same time as The Secret of the Mansion in 1948, Ginny Gordon is Trixie Belden's less-known doppelganger. This series quickly went out of print after it ended in 1956, so it's harder to get your hands on a copy. As a huge Trixie fan myself, when I found this at a used bookstore, I naturally had to pick it up. The books share a lot of similarities. The characters are very similar, they both take place in Westchester County, NY, and the characters are part of a club with a cute name.
However, where the Trixie books explain how the characters came to be friends and founded their club, the Ginny books throw you right into the action. The characters all meet off-page and apparently have lots of history we don't know about. The way the Trixie books are structured allows for a lot more character development, whereas the characters in the Ginny books seem more one-dimensional and definitely less likeable. (In particular, the two twins in this book, Babs and Whiz, who are extremely annoying and added almost nothing to the story.) There is also a lot less world-building in this book. The Trixie books describe Sleepyside-on-Hudson, Crabapple Farm, Honey's mansion, the stables, and the trails around her house in a lot more detail, whereas Harristown, Ginny's home turf, mostly just consists of the Swap Shop and movie theater.
All this to say, I can see why the Trixie books endured through the years while the Ginny books quickly went out of print in the 1960s and have not resurfaced since. HOWEVER, this was still a cute story that I enjoyed reading overall. The mystery itself was fun with a good twist at the end, and I loved the Hustlers' escapades in trying to start a Swap Shop. I also liked John and Ginny and their relationship (reminds me of Jixie <3). There is no denying Campbell was a talented juvenile author who knew how to write a fast-paced and entertaining story.
2.5/5 stars.
However, where the Trixie books explain how the characters came to be friends and founded their club, the Ginny books throw you right into the action. The characters all meet off-page and apparently have lots of history we don't know about. The way the Trixie books are structured allows for a lot more character development, whereas the characters in the Ginny books seem more one-dimensional and definitely less likeable. (In particular, the two twins in this book, Babs and Whiz, who are extremely annoying and added almost nothing to the story.) There is also a lot less world-building in this book. The Trixie books describe Sleepyside-on-Hudson, Crabapple Farm, Honey's mansion, the stables, and the trails around her house in a lot more detail, whereas Harristown, Ginny's home turf, mostly just consists of the Swap Shop and movie theater.
All this to say, I can see why the Trixie books endured through the years while the Ginny books quickly went out of print in the 1960s and have not resurfaced since. HOWEVER, this was still a cute story that I enjoyed reading overall. The mystery itself was fun with a good twist at the end, and I loved the Hustlers' escapades in trying to start a Swap Shop. I also liked John and Ginny and their relationship (reminds me of Jixie <3). There is no denying Campbell was a talented juvenile author who knew how to write a fast-paced and entertaining story.
2.5/5 stars.
December 25, 2019
2.5 stars, rounded down to 2.
I thought they were doing a good job setting up a red herring but then it turns out it wasn't a red herring, it really was the most obvious solution, and that was that. The "friends" continually teased each other and didn't trust one another and were constantly unreliable. Some stuff in here did NOT age well also regarding foreigners and insults.
Really what killed it was that it was SO long for such little story. Everything was broadcast from the very beginning and then you had to spend 200+ pages waiting for the kids to catch up.
I thought they were doing a good job setting up a red herring but then it turns out it wasn't a red herring, it really was the most obvious solution, and that was that. The "friends" continually teased each other and didn't trust one another and were constantly unreliable. Some stuff in here did NOT age well also regarding foreigners and insults.
Really what killed it was that it was SO long for such little story. Everything was broadcast from the very beginning and then you had to spend 200+ pages waiting for the kids to catch up.
June 5, 2019
Ginny Gordon is no Nancy Drew, but she's not trying to be. She's a 15yo with a strong friend group who happens to "fall" into mysteries. The first in the series of five, this book introduces the characters in a way that makes you feel you've missed a previous book (hint - there is no previous book). It's delightfully retro in its language and characters --they don't even lock their doors in Harrisburg, of course-- and is fun to read for that reason alone.
December 4, 2025
I so enjoy these books I read them when I was young and reread them when I got old!
December 28, 2013
Good, easy read for those who love vintage mystery novels!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews