Paddy Turns Detective illustration

A scene from Chapter 1 of Paddy Turns Detective, Exit Sir Rupert. PTD was the first of the two Spitfire books by Jean Bell, published in 1967. There were at least 24 books in this series. The books are not aimed at any particular audience and cover themes attractive to both boys and girls, including science fiction, pony riding, mysteries and adventure stories. Other titles include four books by Jane Eliot: Afraid to Ride, Jacky Jumps to the Top Pony Club Camp and First Pony. Strangers in Space by Edwin Johnson, Commando by Adrian Corbett, Duel in the Snow by Angus Cleary and Last out of Burma by Alan Carter were also part of the series. The Spitfire books cost 1/- in the UK and 29 cents in the United States.

Quote of the Day

The Forrest parents came back full of praise for the house. This was just as well, for by this time the family were wild to go. William said that if it couldn't be Greenland's icy mountains or India's corral strand, Cornwall would be better than nothing; Vivian said that she'd always wanted to live by the sea. As for Jane, who practically always had her nose in a book, she knew from her reading that Cornwall was a very romantic and desirable place to live. "Piskies, you know," she said to Vivian, "and mermaid and ogres and dragons and smugglers and things that go bump in the night-"

"What d'you mean?" asked Vivian suspiciously.

"There's a Cornish rhyme about ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night," said Jane in an eerie whisper.

"Now look here," said Vivian. "Just don't start any of your nonsense."

From THE PENHALLOW MYSTERY, Chapter 1, 

Paddy Turns Detective

In 1967, under the pen name of Jean Bell, Jane Shaw published two books for the Collins Spitfire series. Here is the cover of Paddy Turns Detective. The other book was The Penhallow Mystery, which you can read about in an earlier post by clicking here. The author also wrote A Girl With Ideas as Jean Bell, although this story was only published in 2002 in Susan and Friends. Both A Girl With Ideas and the two Spitfire books were aimed at younger readers and it may be that Collins was planning to relaunch her career. However, she continued to publish as Jane Shaw too, writing the last Susan books and Brer Rabbit before retiring in 1969.