One of my neighborhood bookstores is closing soon; I went in to check out the remaining inventory and see what would be available and was pleasantly surprised to see two entire shelves of the Trixie Belden mystery series.



The Trixie Belden books, which were published first in 1948 and resurrected in the 1970’s, were fairly popular at the time of their publication and seemed to be modeled after the Nancy Drew series. None of the books were as controversial as Judy Blume’s books, but all of the books had a bit of a romantic interest that centered around Trixie and her neighbor, Jim.



I was an addict at the age of eight and nine and breezed through the entire series. (That’s the first and last time that anyone has ever called me a nerd.) But because of my interest in the series, I asked the bookstore owner who else was interested in the Trixie Belden books. I expected her to say that most of the people who were interested in the Trixie Belden books were women my age who were nostalgic for their old favorite books.



I was wrong.



The bookstore owner told me that the Trixie Belden books were popular among in her store seemed to be popular amongst guys in their fifties, which I thought was just plain wrong.



Who were these middle-aged men interested in Trixie Belden books? Were they “collectors” trolling for women my age or did they really have an interest in the Trixie Belden collection? Not that there is an official collection per se, but the store did have quite a few Trixie Belden books on the shelves.

Or were the men former Trixie Belden readers?



If so, that might be a sad thing, because that means that the men would have been reading the Trixie Beldon books in their twenties. (There is a slim chance that they read the original books, but I doubt it because the originals weren’t quite as popular.) I was a HUGE Trixie Belden fan, but even I can’t imagine reading them as an adult. However much I liked the series, I don’t think that they would have a real appeal for adults. The mysteries are too easy to solve and the “love story”--unlike the much more salacious book “Forever” by Judy Blume--never gets beyond the crush stages. I’m pretty sure that Trixie and Jim never even held hands.



What do you think? Why are men in their fifties interested in Trixie Belden books? Did you read the series? And, if so. would you recommend the books to guys in their fifties?