Author: M.V. Carey

Translator: Kurt. G. Möller

Swedish cover: Tord Nygren

First Swedish edition: 1977 (1975 i USA)

Editions: 6

Spine-number: 1924-25

Original title: the Mystery of the invisible dog

Review:

The Three Investigators are going to help an old man, Mr Fenton Prentice, who lives in an apartment on Paseo Place 402. Someone is moving documents and other things and he has seen a mystical shadow. But very soon there are more mysteries. Who stole the crystal Carpathian dog from Mr Prentice in the apartment of Mr Niedland? Where is the dog? What/who did Jupe see in the Church?

On Paseo Place 402 there are many incomparable people. I have already mentioned Mr Prentice who is a reserved wealthy collector of art. Then we have the morbid and curious porter Mrs Burtz, the fuzzy religious young man Sonny Elmer, the extreme smoker and stockbroker Mr John Murphy, the friend of all cats Mr Alex Hassell, and many others in the background. MV Carey has created a perfect combination of characters. The Three Investigators are also described in an almost perfect way, though Jupe is a little bit too open-minded regarding spiritual sleepwalkers.

The book is very exciting from the start to the end. All the time new things connected to the mysteries are happening - the episodes in the church, poisoned chocolate, the carbomb, the fire and the scenes on the balcony and at the swimming pool.

This book has a fantastic atmosphere already from the beginning when the boys are walking in the dusk of December and a children choir is singing in the church. The surroundings are full of atmosphere - the house, the apartment, the church, the people and all the investigations in the evenings and the nights.

I think that the mystery of the Carpathian dog is very refined. It is a real detective story with many thrilling moments. But the mystery of the "ghost" in the apartment is only partly solved. One of the highlights of this book is when Jupe asks Mrs Bortz to show her hands. But there are many questions left unanswered regarding the "shadow" in the apartment and the "ghost" in the church. MV Carey uses scholars (Professor Barrister and Professor Lantine) when she is trying to explain the mystery of the shadow by telling that Sonny is a sleepwalker in his spirit. By so doing she gives these kind of phenomenons a false scientific reliability. I don´t believe in spiritual sleepwalkers and I think it is a lacking in judgement when a professor says that they exist. It is also very strange that Jupe believes in spiritual sleepwalkers.

The Invisible dog was a favourite when I was a child, and that is the reason why it has very high cult status and high factor of nostalgia. But if You look at many of the covers You run the risk of believing that the story is about a real ghost dog. But I think many of the covers are absolutely outstanding.

I like many of the early books of MV Carey, but this is the only one that qualifies for a position on my top ten list.

Summarize:

The Story: 10 (of 10) (but I don´t like the explanation of the "shadow".)

Characterization 10 (10)

Atmosphere 10 (10)

Thrilling factor 9 (10)

Environment 10 (10)

Original cover 10 (10)

Swedish cover 9 (10)

Cult status 10 (10)

Nostalgia 10 (10)