One of the books I enjoyed reading when I was really young was Karin Anckarsvard’s The Mysterious Schoolmaster. Anckarsvard was a Swedish author, and the book was about two kids, Michael and Cecilia, who come upon a mystery in their little Swedish town, and get to the bottom of it by being plucky. There were sequels, but I could never get them all in the right order.

Fast forward to about a year ago. I determined to track down all these books and read them in order and see if I liked them as much now as I did then. There were four of them: The Mysterious Schoolmaster, The Robber Ghost, Madcap Mystery, and Riddle of the Ring. I was able to order the first three from a used-books website, but not the last one. That was okay; I’d get the last one some other time. But then I read some kind of suggestion someplace that Riddle of the Ring wasn’t a Michael-and-Cecilia mystery. So when I finally did order it earlier this year, I was curious about just what the deal was.

Turns out that the deal is that RotR does take place in the Michael-and-Cecilia-verse, but the main characters are Tommie, another girl in the same town, and Henrik, Cecilia’s younger brother. Since Madcap Mystery, Michael and Cecilia have grown up and gotten married. Michael has joined the navy, and is therefore hardly ever home, and Cecilia has had a baby, and they’re very happy.

Nothing against the story of RotR, which was perfectly serviceable. And nothing against Tommie and Henrik, who were engaging enough characters. But what I wanted was more of Michael and Cecilia. In particular, if they were going to fall in love and get married and stuff, I wanted to read about it. Even worse, I think it sucks that Cecilia goes from solving mysteries to being cooped up in an apartment with a baby and acting like she likes it.

Oh well.

I imagine Cecilia’s not as good in a fight as Lisbeth Salander. But she’s better company and just as reliable.