"We Investigate Anything"

  Avant d'attaquer en profondeur chaque tome de la série, j'ai eu l'idée de présenter certains quatrièmes de couverture. Cela s'adresse surtout à ceux qui n'ont pas lu ou souhaitent relire les livres sans être trop spoilés. Ces petits résumés officiels des éditeurs originaux sont une des meilleures façons de donner un aperçu des intrigues. Édition britannique, Armada 1971-1979: Traduction:   "Quand M. Silver meurt, il laisse derrière lui un véritable "casse-tête" que les Trois Jeunes détectives ont à élucider. Ils doivent retrouvé un chef d’œuvre côté et les seuls indices dont ils disposent sont sept perroquets - qui ne veulent pas parler!   Et Huganay, le trafiquant d'art international, se trouve être sur la même piste!" Hachette, Idéal-Bibliothèque, 1967 (Jaquette): Hachette, Le Livre de Poche Jeunesse, 1982 : Hachette, Bibliothèque Verte, 1995 : Yves Beaujard (Détail) Hachette, Le Livre de P...

  Hans et Konrad sont des personnages dont on ne sait pas grand-chose. Sont-ils jumeaux? Sinon qui est l'aîné? Quel est leur nom de famille? Des bribes de leur passé nous seront-elles dévoilées de temps en temps?   Ils participeront de temps à autres à l'action de quelques romans, serviront de chauffeurs occasionnels au Trois Jeunes détectives, mais dans The Secret of Terror Castle / Au Rendez-vous des Revenants , les frères Bavarois jouent un rôle très effacé, n'ont aucune réplique et surtout ne sont malheureusement pas illustrés.   Les premières mentions au Chapitre 3 ne sont même pas des apparitions physiques. Ainsi, Bob entend juste la tante Mathilda:   "Over in the main part of the yard [Bob] could hear the voice of Mrs. Jones, giving orders to Hans and Konrad, her husband's two helpers."   "De l'atelier, il pouvait entendre Mme Jones donner des ordres à Hans et Konrad, les deux employés de son mari."   Et il nous est également...

Jacques Poirier, 1966.   "[...] They were suddenly aware that someone was beside them in the darkness. Jupiter was taken totally by surprise, his camera still in his hand. Pete had just time enough to jam the "on" button of his torch into position. The beam of light revealed two men, one quite short, both dressed in the flowing burnouses of Arabs. Each of the men was casting something white into the air.   A large net came down over Pete's head. It knocked the torch from his hand, putting it out, and enveloped him all the way to his feet.   He tried to run, caught his foot in the meshes of the net, and fell to the carpeted floor. He rolled over, struggling desperately, and realised he was as thoroughly trapped as any fish in a landing net. The more he struggled, the more tightly he bound himself in the clinging loops of the net.   "Jupe!" he yelled. "Help!"   His partner did not answer. Rolling over and twisting his neck, Pete co...

  La mère de Bob Andrews/Andy est le deuxième personnage, après Bob lui-même, à apparaître au tout début de The Secret of Terror Castle / Au Rendez-vous des revenants . Ce dialogue entre une mère et son fils est la toute première scène de la série: Jacques Poirier (détail), 1966.   "Bob Andrews parked his bike outside his home in Rocky Beach and entered the house. As he closed the door, his mother called to him from the kitchen.   "Robert? Is that you?"   "Yes, Mom." He went into the kitchen. His mother, brown-haired and slender, was making doughnuts.   "How was the library?" she asked.   "It was okay," Bob told her. [...]   "Your friend Jupiter called." His mother went on rolling out the dough on a board. "He left a message."   "A message?" Bob yelled with sudden excitement. "What was it?"   "I wrote it down. I'll get it out of my pocket as soon as I finish with this dough....

Harry Kane, 1964. Roger Hall, 1967.   "There seem to be several doors," Jupiter remarked. "I wonder which we should take?"   "As far as I am concerned - Ugh!" Pete let out a strangled exclamation as he half turned and saw a woman in long flowing robes looking at them. She wore clothes such as Pete had seen in pictures painted three hundred years before, and tied around her neck was a rope. The unattached end of the rope fell down across her robe to her feet. She had her hands tucked into her flowing sleeves, and was looking at the boys with an expression of sorrow.   Pete reached out and tugged at Jupe's jacket. "What is it?" Jupiter asked.   "L-look," Pete stuttered. "We aren't alone. We have company."   Jupiter turned an Pete felt him stiffen. That meant he saw her - the woman who was watching them, not moving, not breathing, just standing there watching. Pete guessed he knew ...

  Skinny Norris est l'ennemi juré de Jupiter/Hannibal, Peter et Bob. Chacune de ses interventions n'a pour but que se moquer d'eux et de parasiter l'enquête en cours. La première allusion à ce personnage se trouve dans le Chapitre 3 de The Secret of Terror Castle / Au Rendez-vous des revenants . et c'est l'occasion pour le lecteur d'en apprendre beaucoup sur ce personnage malveillant:   "[...] First I ought to tell you that Skinny Norris kept hanging over my shoulder all morning, trying to snoop into what I was doing."   "I hope you didn't let that goop know anything!" Pete exclaimed. "He's always trying to poke his nose into everything we're doing."   "I certainly didn't tell him anything. But he was awfully insistant. When I arrived at the library, he stopped me to talk about Jupe's winning the car for thirty days. He asked me how I thought he was going to use it."   "Skinny is...

  Jupiter/Hannibal, s'étant bêtement blessé à la fin du Chapitre 10, ne peut temporairement pas poursuivre l'investigation sur le terrain. Au Chapitre 11, il envoie donc Peter et Bob pour une autre expédition au Château des Épouvantes. La séance photo effectuée au chapitre suivant par Bob tourne soudain à la petite frayeur:     "Let's look at the pictures," [Bob] suggested. "Which one looked at you with the living eye?"   "Over there," Pete pointed across the room to a picture of a one-eyed pirate. "One minute the eye was alive, and the next it was just painted."   "That's something we can investigate," Bob said. "Stand on a chair and see if you can reach it."   Pete pushed a carved chair underneath the picture. But even on tiptoe, he couldn't reach the painting.   "There's a sort of balcony up above," Bob said. "The pictures are hung by long wires from the balcony. Maybe if...