THE MYSTERY OF THE VANISHING GREEN JAGUAR

Around this objet d'art is drawn a story of three girls who visit a Gulf beach inn with their father and stumble upon their favorite game--a mystery. In attempting to relieve suspicion from an orphaned boy who has had one tangle with the law, they unearth the motive and the culprit in the case of the vanishing jade. Despite a solid mystery and all the atmospheric elements compatible with tales of suspense--hurricanes, pirate legends, intimations of ghosts--Brent Locke suffers from such stylistic difficulties as to render his ingredients ineffectual; he writes as though he believed that stories aimed at juvenile readers should be written as if by a child: ""...Her black pony tail swaying and her bangs aslant in the Gulf wind..."" or ""On his angular shoulders was draped a none-too- clean white coat...Below that were faded jeans and a pair of blue sneakers..."" Locke's words, placed side by side on the surface of the white paper scream for a more careful job of editing.