Crooks Tour

by Jane Shaw

Teenagers Fay and Julie have a hard time keeping up with their friend Ricky on a school trip to Switzerland and Paris, as she scrutinizes everyone they meet with the suspicious eye of a detective—and comes up with some wild theories regarding their activities.

Genres: Childrens

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Jane Shaw (1910-2000), born Jean Bell Shaw Patrick, was a children's book author. She was the daughter of Dr. John Patrick, and his wife, Margaret (née Shaw). Educated first by a governess, and then at the Park School in Glasgow, she went on to Glasgow University, where she graduated with Honors in English Literature and Language, in 1932. After taking a teacher training course in London, Shaw returned to Glasgow, where she worked for the publisher Collins, and where one of the editors encouraged her to write her own stories. Breton Holiday, published in 1939, was the result.

Shaw married accountant John Evans in 1939, settling with him in Dulwich, London, where they lived with their children - daughter Jane, son Ian - until they were bombed out during World War II. A job in Johannesburg took the family to South Africa, where they lived from 1952 to 1978, after which they returned to Scotland. Shaw, who is best remembered as the creator of the eleven-book Susan series, died in 2000.

Reviews

[Catherine Jeffrey]

Written in the days when teenagers on a school trip could make their own way down a Swiss mountainside, get lost and be threatened with a gun and then travel unsupervised around Paris with hilarious consequences. Perfect holiday read.

[Swapna]

Vintage book set in the 1960’s involving a Glasgow schoolgirls’ trip to Switzerland and France. It’s all about Ricky, her (funny) assumptions based on reading too many detective books and how she ends up making a fool of herself everytime. There’s no mystery involved, it's more of a travel adventure. The book is punctuated with a lot of “och”s and “wee”s. It was heartening to read about those days when children were cost conscious (doubting whether their parents would allow them to go for the trip because of the cost involved, restricting spending while on the trip, taking taxis only when necessary) and also teachers allowing the girls to roam by themselves in foreign countries.

[Katherine]

Started off quite slowly but built up towards the middle and I then sped through it.

[Tweety]

I loved this book! The characters felt real and did things I could see them doing in real life. My Favorite character was Fay. for some reason she stood out. Ricky was unstoppable. Whatever popped into Ricky's head, Ricky did. Julie was the one who brought them all back down to earth and fixed their scrapes, usually.

[Robert Stewart]

The first Jane Shaw book I ever read. It took me 34 years to finish it... the story behind that can be read here: http://wichwoodvillage.blogspot.com.b... I loved the characters and their banter.