Judy Bolton #8 The Voice in the Suitcase

In Judy Bolton #8, The Voice in the Suitcase, some men are seen near a school picnic.  They are carrying a suitcase, from which comes a voice.  Intrigued, Judy hopes to see the men again.  Later, she has reason to believe that at least one of the men went to an old house owned by Mr. and Mrs. Brady, who are to celebrate their golden wedding.  In order to track down clues, Judy manages to get herself invited to travel with Selma Brady to help clean the house in preparation for the golden wedding.

During one scene, Judy is frightened by something that sounds like it is dragging chains.  This creature walks over her face during the night.  The next morning, Judy is frightened by the tracks that she sees on her face.  Later, Judy learns that the creature was a ferret.

From page 177:

Judy felt ashamed that such a tiny animal could have frightened her so.  The ferret was the least bit like a snake and it did have red eyes and sharp teeth and a wiry tail but Judy would never have been so horrified by those tracks on her face if she had known.

I still would have been horrified.  A ferret running walking over my face at night?  Ugh!

For years, I considered this particular book to be my least favorite Judy Bolton book.  After I finished this book, I decided that my opinion had changed somewhat.  I still do not like the part of the book where Judy and Selma clean the house.  It is too depressing.  The portion of the story that features the entertainment at the golden wedding bores me, so I skipped it.

Aside from the boring entertainment and the depressing housecleaning, I did enjoy the story during this reading.  This book is about average average among the earlier books in the Judy Bolton series.