As other reviews have noted, this mystery is haphazard and stretched beyond rational understanding. At most the story deserves 2 stars, BUT I was so impressed in how many different, random things the author shoed in that I had to award an additional star. Flying lessons, cowboy ranching, oil prospecting, unexpected marriage proposals, revolutionaries, cloud climatology, and run-ins with the FBI would be a hard sell in the best of circumstances. In the confines of a Nancy Drew children's mystery, it's a hopeless, unintentionally hilarious jumble.