The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure

by Robert Arthur

Book Overview

The three investigators take on two mysteries: the disappearance of an ancient jeweled Japanese belt from a museum exhibit and the strange antics of a group of gnomes around an elderly woman's house. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394864050
• ISBN13: 9780394864051
• Release Date: July 1985
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 7.5"
• Age Range: 10 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 8

Customer Reviews

All you can ask for in a juvenile mystery

The Three Investigator series have that necessary attribute that all good juvenile books have - the ability to be enjoyed by adults. The mystery in this book is quite good. This is #5 in the series. Interestingly, #2 through #5 have each featured a boy tied to the plot of different nationalities - #2, Mexico, #3, Egypt, #4, China, and #5, Japan. One wonders if the streak will continue in #6? These books can't really hold up when compared to the current Harry Potter or Twilight series but they have a charm all their own. They are dated somewhat, but not horribly. If you know a child who likes to read you might point him in the direction of these books.

As a child, parent and grandparent!

Each Christmas, Santa would deliver one book to me, one to my sister! We would read them promptly to share and re-read at our leisure! As a parent, my daughter had the opportunity to read them... but Babysitter Club and Amelia Bedelia were more to her liking. As a grandmom, I am re-purhcasing this series for my grandchildren. My sister ended up with the series for her three boys! These books probably got my love for reading started. I encourage promoting these books - good stories and no need to "pre-read" for safety! These are "good" - period!

I always wanted to be Jupiter!

This is the best juvenile seried there is. I only owned 4 books as a kid, but I read them over and over and over. Now I am trying to buy the rest of them and some are out of print! Oh that I had bought them wheni could (especially since they used to be $$$). I tried to pick up (being a girl) the babysitter's club, but that just didn't do it for me. They were so shallow and predictable. The three investigators series are quality literature, which is rare nowadays. PLEASE reprint all the out-of-print titles. Judging from others comments, many people would buy them! It would be a shame to let these go because there isnt the same calibur of books to replace them!

Good but not Arthur's best

While this is far from a bad book, it does fall short of the standard Robert Arthur established in the first four books of this series. The story line was rather loosely put together and failed to merge the two sub-plots to my satisfaction. Honestly, even though I am quite open-minded about the paranormal and such matters, a story centered around "gnomes" begins life with some disadvantages. Be that as it may, it may well be that young readers would be attracted most by the things my adult mind shied away from--after all, what kid doesn't like to read about gnomes? As for the "vanishing treasure" at the heart of this mystery, the means by which it was stolen seemed a little far-fetched to me. As for the investigation, the boys sort of stumble through it. While I guess it is important to show Jupiter Jones as human after all, I frankly don't like seeing the youthful genius miscalculate and overlook clues. Jupe's a little slow in this book, but he fortunately does make up for his mistakes in the end. Finally, while the boys do figure a lot of things out (eventually), the sad fact is that luck, even more so than in the previous books, basically saves them from disaster. Success often depends on luck as well as skill, but the boys just seemed a little too lucky this time. All in all, it is certainly an enjoyable story. If you've never read a Three Investigators book, I wouldn't start with this one, but I would certainly give it a place on my bookshelf and make a point of reading it after gaining a satisfactory introduction to the young sleuths elsewhere. I personally am reading all of these great books from my childhood in order of publication.

Exciting Detective Fiction for Young Readers

Think the Hardy Boys are too old-fashioned? Had enough of Scooby Doo and "those meddling kids?" Here comes a great alternative. I admit much preferring the Three Investigators to the Hardy Boys, et. al., when I was a kid, and with good reason. Unlike the fairly old-fashioned Hardys, the Three Investigators books always had a contemporary feel. It's three appealing heroes, Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews, unlike the too-perfect-too-be-real Hardys, were everyday, ordinary kids, much like those you knew. And, as befitted Hitchcock and his literary right arm, so to speak, Robert Arthur, there were twists and turns and "hare's breadth 'scapes" aplenty, more than enough to keep your interest.And what great news to see that "Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure" and the other early Arthur volumes are back with us again. This book was probably the best of the eight that Robert Arthur wrote, and an excellent introduction to the series, for this is a book where all the elements I spoke of earlier come into play. Robert Arthur, incidentally, was the editor of the earlier, and better, Hitchcock anthologies, and contributed several excellent stories to them, as well (Don't read his "Death is a Dream" late at night!). But the Three Investigators were his greatest legacy. As a librarian, I recommend them to my patrons all the time. None of the later authors of the books really got the formula right. Robert Arthur did, and we "Three Investigators" fans, young and old, are grateful.