Where's my Girl? (by Malcolm Saville)

(Amazon UK link)

I’m so glad I decided to re-read the ‘Lone Pine’ series by Malcolm Saville. I started with ‘Mystery at Witchend in August 2020, and - interspersed with many other books - I’ve gradually read them, some in the full ‘Girls Gone By’ editions for the first time.  I’m almost at the end now; I’ve just finished reading the 19th in the series, ‘Where’s My Girl?’. I have a hardback edition, which I apparently bought when I was seventeen, the book was only published a few years earlier so I have a full edition of the original text.

However although I’ve re-read the books several times, I’d entirely forgotten the plot of this one. I last read it twelve years ago, and apparently it didn’t make much impression. I did vaguely recall the early chapters, where 18-year-old Tom has a nasty accident and temporarily loses his memory, but I had no idea what the story was going to be about.

In a somewhat convoluted opening, we learn that Jon and Penny, who are in France with her parents, have invited the other Lone Piners to stay in a guesthouse which Penny’s parents have bought. It’s being managed by a Colonel and his wife, and they want to see how it goes with a group of young guests. It’s supposedly for horse-riding enthusiasts, so they want Peter (Petronella) to take a look at the three horses they have already, and maybe look at advising them on getting some more.

The Colonel and his wife seem pleased to see them, and friendly. The Colonel, it turns out, is an accomplished craftsman who makes carvings of horses, and has quite a trade in selling them as a sideline. They have three members of staff, a Cypriot family - father, mother and teenage daughter - who don’t seem particularly friendly. And there are a lot of comings and goings at the Colonel’s workshop which seem a bit odd to the Lone Piners, but they try not to be suspicious…

The guesthouse is in Devon, and is a place they had previously visited so they’re interested to see the renovations, and familiar with the area nearby, so they go out in pairs to explore, wondering why the Colonel’s wife is so keen to know where they’re going all the time. Their previous acquaintance Dan Start, a journalist, pops up and tries to flirt with Peter, but she really has no eyes for anyone except David.

The book feels more up-to-date than some of the earlier books; unsurprising as it’s set in the 1970s rather than the 1940s, although the older Lone Piners are only a couple of years older, and the twins Mary and Dickie just one year older than they were in the first book. They’ve matured somewhat, and the real risks of danger are not minimised when some very unpleasant activity is uncovered.

It’s a good story, one I liked reading; I wonder if I’ll remember the plot better when I re-read it in another decade or so. Recommended to younger teenagers who want a good adventure story - no need to have read any earlier ones, although I feel it adds to the books to do so - or to nostalgic adults like myself who remember the books fondly from our teenage years. Unfortunately it's very expensive and hard to find - but libraries might have a copy.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's Book Reviews