Review of "Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators in the Mystery of the Nervous Lion," by Nick West

Review of

Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators in the Mystery of the Nervous Lion, by Nick West 


Four out of five stars

 I devoured the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift books when I was in my teens and even though I am well past that, if I encounter an adolescent adventure book in another series, I often read it. Until I encountered this book in a used bookstore, I had never heard of the “The Three Investigators” series, so I had to acquire it and read it.

 The three male teen adventurers are Jupiter Jones, Bob Andrews and Pete Crenshaw and they live in Rocky Beach, California. Their base is a mobile home hidden in The Jones Salvage Yard and when they are not working a case they help out in the scrapyard. In this book, they receive their next assignment directly from Alfred Hitchcock after he calls them.

 In this case, George the tame lion at the Jungle Land park is exhibiting atypical behavior. He lives in the house with the owners of the park, where there are many other animals. At this time, a movie is being shot on the grounds of the park and there are other mysterious events that could be an attempt to sabotage the making of the movie.

 The story moves along in a manner typical of such adventure stories, although in this one, the three main characters face genuine and immediate mortal danger. Which is atypical of most adolescent adventure stories written in the early seventies or sooner. It involves a real criminal conspiracy with large amounts of money at stake. It is a good story, albeit a bit dated in the sense that the only female character is the mother figure that makes them sandwiches.