I am reading through the series in order. I loved this one.
Simple, predictable, mysteries that remind me of my childhood.
I especially love the dated language, although sometimes it would be considered offensive these days, but, it reminds me of what things used to be like, and how far we have come from that time ( )

When Uncle Ned tells Louise and Jean about a woman who went missing from his ship, the girls realize that her name matches that written on the gate of a house in Penfield. They take their uncle there, only to be told conflicting information about the woman, Katherine Blore. First, the Chinese servant Charlie Young reports that she says she has a headache and is not receiving visitors. Then, a very short time later, David Blore insists that the Katherine in residence is actually a young child.

The mystery of who exactly Katherine Blore is and why she disappeared from the Balaska leads the Dana girls to another mystery about Charlie Young: why does he disappear, too, apparently kidnapped? What does Wu Sing who runs the laundry have to do with it?

A third mystery crops up when people start suffering from a strange sleeping sickness at the house where the Blores used to live. First Louise falls asleep while searching for clues to the Blores' identity, then the property owner, and then children of the new family who move in.

Clues lead Louise and Jean to New Mexico, where their schoolfriend Frances Roy graciously invites them to her ranch, which is conveniently near a ranch owned by Katherine and David Blore's mother. Once there, the girls get involved with cattle rustlers, jewel thieves, and Frances risks death!

Of course, being a Stratemeyer book, the mysteries are all intertwined and resolve nicely by the last chapter - with the detective who comes to work on the case conveniently suffering from the same sleeping sickness while the girls find and disable the culprits. Naturally Jean and Louise are able to do anything they need to solve the mystery, and they're given many privileges by Mrs Crandall that might otherwise not even be thought of. Somehow, despite all the time they miss from school, they still manage to perform well.

One of the more distinguishing parts of The Clue in the Cobweb is the presence of the Chinese characters. From a modern perspective, their treatment is horribly and rather non-chalantly racist. The first scene in which he appears has Charlie Young giving lines such as "Missee Blore here," he announced cheerfully. "You talkee with her maybe?" and "Velly solly," he said with a shrug. "Charlie Young make mistake-error. Missee see no one now." He and Wu Sing, who are both always deferential to the girls (who are rather condescending) and described in a stereotypical fashion, maintain this form of speech throughout the book.

On the whole, The Clue in the Cobweb isn't a particularly great book, but the things the characters get up to are absolutely crazy and a little bit absurd, and I loved every minute of reading it. I have to admit that I rather adore Lettie Briggs's character, and she gets plenty of time here to be silly and petty and totally ineffective, as she tries to sabotage Jean's newest invention. ( )