Famous as a young teen detective, Barclay "Brains" Benton and his best friend Jimmy Carson have grown up. After college Brains has gone to work for an electronics company while Jim is now a crime reporter for a newspaper in Los Angeles.Time, work and circumstances have drawn Jim back to his old home town of Crestwood while he takes a summer break from reporting. Brains joins him to take his mind off his girlfriend having moved away from California for a year. They rent an attic room and decide to take on a few small cases.But, when a mysterious woman gets word to them through Jim's sister-she was one of Ann's favorite, if a little eccentric, teachers-that she is being stalked by aliens from outer space, both young men are drawn into one of their weirder mysteries ever.It gets even stranger when the woman's own daughter turns out to be nearly as eccentric. The two have been living in a house where it seems the only way to get in or out is to climb up the side to a second-story window! But when the old woman disappears almost out from under Brains' and Jim's noses, they just have to get to the bottom of it.The original Brains Benton series ran just six books in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Since then, only a few authors have attempted "fan fiction" to the extent of writing additional novels. This one follows onto the first three by author Scott Lockwood and uses some of his situations. It is the first of a planned pair of Brains and Jim as adults novels by this author.If you will, please note that the style of the writing is designed so the story can be enjoyed by young adult readers as well as old coots such as myself who can recall when the first books arrived on store and library shelves!ALSO--There is now a juvenile version of this book "Brains and Jimmy: The Mrs. Periwinkle Case" meant to be read my younger readers while their parents enjoy this one.
About the Author: Thomas Hudson is one of several names the author writes under. Or, to be grammatically more correct, under which the author writes. A long, long time ago-even before Star Wars-he studied English and wrote far more than teachers were interested in reading. He was even cautioned, twice, to stick to the 1000, 5000, or whatever assigned words and not turn in twice or three times that amount. Now living the retired life in a significant Pacific Northwest state and only near to, but not in, a large city, he writes Tom Swift fiction among other things. Never destined to make a ton of money, he writes more for fun and to stay out of his wife's hair (a lesson any a retired man could/should learn!). Hudson is somewhat prolific having published some five dozen works in a scant 7 years. He is a man who has 95% of his own hair and 100% of his own teeth. One of those categories is a beautiful shade of silver gray and the other still fairly white. You decide which is which and then picture him. He and his wife of some 34-plus years enjoy each other's company so much they never muddied the waters by having children preferring to have a short series of good and faithful dogs share their lives. He has a friend or two and is active in the theater. No, that does not mean he ushers at the local cinema! He is a member of the Board of Directors for a delightful professional theater company and generally has an incredible time with the actors. He has acted, having been acclaimed in the role of Prince Charming in a neighborhood production of Cinderella (acting in his mother's chiffon blouse as it was the closest thing to an olde tyme shirt they could manage) and receiving his fist stage kiss at the age of 10.