THE MYSTERY OF THE TARNISHED TROPHY

When seventeen-year-old Walt Campbell and his mother move to the midwestern town of Saxton, they hope to find information concerning Walt's father, who was reported missing in action in World War II. However, Mrs. Campbell's nearly twenty-year-old belief that her husband is still alive wears down after a few sharp realistic shocks. Instead of searching for a missing father, Walt begins a feverish hunt for the missing trophy which his father had won, and which was thought to contain fifty thousand dollars that many townspeople accused his father of stealing. The fantastic plot is not unlike a three-thousand word jumbled jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces fit tightly--remarkably--together in the end. Walt's changing relationships with people in the town are worked out with a certain degree of realism, but the successful search may seem too close to strange coincidence for some readers. Mother's requited love forms the cumulus cloud side-plot.