A review by leighannsherwin
Stacey and the Missing Ring by Ann M. Martin

4.0

I would give this five stars for all the nostalgic moments alone! Pre Wee Hermann! Walkmans! Landlines! Movie rental stores! My 80's and 90's childhood come alive in one book. But there was an actual story, a mystery sort of. The first of a spin off series dealing with the mysterious happenings of Stoneybrook. A new family has arrived in town. The Gardellas. They are wealthy and a bit eccentric. They have a seven month old daughter who's remarkably well behaved and a dog Bird and a cat Mouse. The cat and dog are treated the same as maybe even better than the baby is. The get fancy food made and the cat even eats at the table with them. The job goes well until the next morning when Stacey gets a phone accusing her of stealing a diamond ring. Stacey denies this and all her fellow club members rush to her defense, but Claudia who even searches her jewelry box and causing a huge fight. Of course the accusation comes just as Stacey has started asking her parents for a birthstone ring. Her birthstone just happens to be a diamond. Of course as always things do work out in the end. It wasn't the strongest start to the series. I found it far fetched that a woman who has two pets who will probably either eat, play with or hide things immediately jumps to the conclusion that a baby sitter took her ring or that she didn't search said hiding places. Especially when that baby sitter had no reason to go into the room where the ring was, and if she did why take a ring out in the open and not dig for something that would take longer to figure out was gone? Also considering that Mrs. Gardella got rave reviews about the club that she believed she sure did rush to judgement on not just one of them but all of them in an awful hurry. Of course the missing ring and threats to expose their thievery also coincided with a sudden uptick in cases of strep throat, vacations, and relatives arriving in town so business slowed down and the fear was it was really connected to the missing ring. But otherwise it wasn't terrible. Not a strong start to the spin off but okay and Stacey reminds me of days spent with my mom, reading out loud to each other so that's always a plus in my book.