Propitious Portal
A historic mutiny. A midnight clue. And a family history that time forgot.
Dear Readers,
Sometimes a mystery begins as a diversion — just something to keep your hand in, if your name is Jupiter Jones — and then grows into something larger than you ever expected.
The Mystery of the Propitious Portal takes Jupiter, Pete, Bob, and Mallory to a wedding held at a Tahitian-themed resort in the Ojai Valley where the atmosphere seems more suited to celebration – and Bob’s first date with Freya – than it does to detection. But then comes a break-in at the resort library, a stolen book that reappears the next day, and a thread that leads back nearly a century.
The story quickly expands: An organized treasure hunt at the wedding reveals odd little patterns. A photograph resurfaces, strange and suggestive. And before long, the story begins to deepen.
There’s a 93-year-old bookseller who once worked for Charles Nordhoff, co-author of Mutiny on the Bounty. A string of missing Tahitian pearls. A young tennis pro who is the direct descendant of one of the last surviving Bounty mutineers. And, of course, a trail of clues that can only be pieced together by the team’s combined strengths — Mallory’s memory, Jupiter’s insight, Pete’s optimism, and Bob’s persistence.
This book was inspired by my own fascination with the Bounty mutiny, but it also grew from my desire to let Bob be the first of the Three Investigators to have a truly appropriate girlfriend. To be honest, after having written fifteen previous books in the new Three Investigators series which featured traditional jeopardy, I also wanted to try to write one which didn’t, but still kept the boys and Mallory fully engaged in the questions raised by some mysterious events.
In a way, I had done this before, several times – but in the other such novels, someone had always been in danger. This time, I wanted to write a book in which that wasn’t true in any way. In this book, there are moments of humor, moments of tension, and a final revelation that comes to Jupiter in a midnight dream, but there is no villain. Just something lost — and something waiting to be found.
I guess, in a way, this is a book about the twin pillars of a happy life - the pillar of love, and the pillar of satisfying work. Though it might also be said to be a mystery about inheritance — not of wealth, but of story – or an adventure about history, lineage, and the way families can splinter and sometimes, unexpectedly, heal.
As always, thank you for reading. In this book, Freya gets her chance to shine. As for Pete, Bob, Jupiter, and Mallory – they are almost sixteen now, and at that age, the world can be endlessly surprising.
Warmly,
Elizabeth Arthur
Cover Art By Pashur House
Book Description For The Mystery of the Propitious Portal:
In the sixteenth book of a 26-book story arc, when The Three Investigators attend the wedding of their friends Charlotte Mitchell and Connor O'Malley at The Tahitian Ojai Resort in the Ojai Valley, they don't expect to get caught up in a mystery - especially not Bob, who has invited Freya Haldorrson to accompany him on their very first date. Even so, they soon hear about a stranger who tried to break into the resort's library the night before the wedding.
During a treasure hunt, one of the wedding activities, the boys also stumble upon a series of curious events that may or may not be linked to the attempted break-in. Winning the treasure hunt gives them a prize of three days and two nights at the resort, allowing them to follow the trail of clues at their leisure.
Along the way, they meet Otis Wyndham, the 93-year-old owner of a local bookstore, whose colorful past includes dating a burlesque dancer and working as a secretary to Charles Nordhoff, co-author of Mutiny on the Bounty. The resort's owner, it turns out, is obsessed with Nordhoff's history, and to their surprise, a young tennis pro named Heramana Adams is a direct descendant of one of the last surviving Bounty mutineers.
What starts as a simple puzzle turns into an investigation full of fascinating questions. Why did someone steal a book from the library only to return it the very next day? Where have the legendary Tahitian pearls that once belonged to Nordhoff disappeared to? What's the connection between tennis and this treasure hunt? Can Mallory's unusual memory unlock the secrets hidden in a series of old photographs? As the Investigators' time at the resort draws to an end with the solution to the puzzle tantalizingly close, Jupiter has a dream that leads him out into the night - where a new revelation might just change everything.
Join Jupiter, Pete, Bob, and Mallory as they work to solve an 80-year-old mystery full of sinuous twists. As the story unfolds, you'll want to be there as families are reconfigured, villains turn out to be heroes, and a dastardly score in tennis turns out to be the guiding word.