The Red Trailer Mystery is the second book in Trixie Belden

Trixie Belden

Trixie Belden is the title character in a series of 'girl detective' mysteries written between 1948 and 1986. The first six books were written by Julie Campbell Tatham, who also wrote the Ginny Gordon series, then continued by various in-house writers from Western Publishing under the pseudonym...

series.

Plot summary

Jim Frayne ran away at the end of The Secret of the Mansion, but then his great uncle's lawyer showed up, revealing that Jim inherited half-a-million dollars and is going to be removed from his abusive stepfather's custody. So in The Red Trailer Mystery, Trixie and Honey set off in the Wheeler's trailer with Honey's governess Miss Trask to find their missing friend. They decide to check the boy's camps upstate, since Jim mentioned getting a job there, but the redheaded boy always seems to be one step ahead of them.

On the trip, Trixie and Honey are faced with a strange and poor family in a luxurious trailer; their missing daughter; Mrs. Smith, a fat and motherly woman who's missing her locket; a trailer robbing ring; and two suspicious workers at their trailer camp who may or may not be involved. Trixie knows that the mysteries are all tied together and the answer lies somewhere in the nearby forest, if only they could find it.

At the end of the book, Honey's parents return. Honey runs to mother and gives her a hug, something she has never done before. Her mother forgets her own shyness and hugs her daughter back. Jim is adopted by the Wheeler family, giving Honey an older brother. Trixie runs out of the room, overcome with happiness. Jim comes out to get her, and they go back inside. Before they go back in, Jim tells Trixie that he is in charge now, but Trixie tells him to wait for her older brothers, Mart and Brian, to get back from camp.