The Case of the Missing Message by Charles Spain Verral

Author Charles Spain Verral and his creation, Brains Benton, are legendary among us literati who came of age in the 1960s. Verral was a pulp writer who published under the pseudonym George L. Eaton and wrote most of the Bill Barnes, Air Adventurer stories. He also wrote scripts for the 1940s Mandrake the Magician radio program, and he was employed as an editor for Reader’s Digest for several decades. He wrote several titles for young readers, including books about The Lone Ranger and Lassie. The Bill Barnes, Air Adventurer pulp magazines command high prices today, especially those with covers by artist Frank Tinsley; and the Brains Benton novels are coveted by those of us that read them in our childhood. The Case of the Missing Message was the first Brains Benton novel and was published in 1959. Whitman Publishing reprinted all six Brains Benton novels in the 1960s and I read them in order. The illustrations are by Hamilton Greene and evoke a nostalgia for a bygone era. Brains Benton himself is like a youthful Sherlock Holmes. He’s the brainy kid in the neighborhood who excels in Science Class and knows a little bit about everything. Hamilton Greene draws Benton with his fingers making a triangle just like Sherlock Holmes. In fact, Verral describes Brains Benton as if her were a kid turned scientist and half-brother to Sherlock Holmes himself: “He had on a long white coat, the kind scientists wear, and his fingers were pressed tightly together to make a church steeple.” Benton’s deductions are usually based on his observations and practical knowledge, just like Holmes. The novels are told in the first person by Jimmy Carson, an average kid who wears his jeans cuffed, gym shoes, and short-sleeved shirts. The Case of the Missing Message is a classic youthful adventure, long out of print, and deserving of a reprint with the original covers and illustrations. In this premier tale, Carson explains that Brains and himself run the Benton and Carson International Detective Agency and Carson is Operative Three. The allure is the direct connection to young American boys, and Jimmy Carson exemplifies the average kid who loves baseball and bicycles. The images and scenes in The Case of the Missing Message are incredible – A spooky place called the Madden House, a man wearing a blue and white striped bathing suit and goggles, a charging elephant, a fortune teller named Cleopatra and her screaming parrot, and various daring ventures. This first Brains Benton novel is undoubtedly the best, followed by five more, all credited to author “George Wyatt.” According to several Internet sites, the books were commissioned to another author but Verral was dissatisfied with the quality and rewrote all five books from a submitted outline. The five subsequent titles are all quite good, with my other favorite being The Case of the Stolen Dummy. The Brains Benton series retains a loyal following, and new Brains Benton adventures have been published by several authors.