The following information added February 24, 2003. Mark, a
member of my Brains Benton
Discussion List, provided the following:
By the way, I did speak to author Charles Spain Verral over the phone years ago.
He has since died. But he told me that he created Crestwood to be Anywhere, USA.
I believe him because I've tried to find a geographical equivalent to Crestwood
on the map, and I just can't.
Verral also told me that Brains and Jimmy were inspired by his young son's and a
friend's interest in detective work. And Verral implied that George Wyatt, who
appears to be the author of the last five books, was a pseudonym. In fact,
Verral told me that he himself was so involved in the process that he
practically wrote the remaining books himself....
...When I talked to Verral on the phone years ago, he said in effect that George
Wyatt was a pseudonym and that he practically wrote the remaining books himself.
How involved he was in particular with each individual book was not clear. I
wondered at that moment if he wasn't admitting he wrote them all. But he seemed
to be holding back some information for whatever reason, possibly, I thought, to
protect private publishing industry agreements.
I have read one or two descriptions of the Brains Benton series that say the
shift in authors is undetectable. So perhaps Verral did write them all. Or, as
he said, he "practically" wrote them.
I've noticed, too, that number 6, The Case of the Painted Dragon, is, as
you said, different. For one thing, it appears to be about twice as long as the
earlier stories, making me think that the writer knew this was Benton and
Carson's last hurrah, the end of the series.
But more importantly, everything about the characters and friendship of Brains
and Jimmy in Painted Dragon seems to me to be more intensified and magnified.
Jimmy was always a chicken in the earlier books, but in Painted Dragon it may be
that he's chicken more often. Jimmy has goofed up before, but now he goofs up
royally. And Brains may have been sarcastic towards Jimmy in the past, but in
this last case he's harsher. Their friendship seems more strained while at the
same time their loyalties to each other are even stronger.
In a word, by the time he wrote book six, Verral seems to have fully developed
the personalities of Brains and Jimmy, highlighting the antagonism and
cooperation that makes the firm of Benton and Carson interesting. Then he just
turned the boys loose on the story.
Most of all, they act even more realistically, even more like friends really
treat each other.
By the way, when I called Verral, his wife answered the phone. She started to
tell me he was in bad health, but he overheard and gently insisted on talking to
me. He told me that he got calls from fans every now and then. To hear him
speak, one would never know he was aged and ailing. His voice was young and
lively, full of enthusiasm and friendliness. After I heard of his death later, I
was very glad I'd spoken to him...
...Verral was born Ontario, Canada, Nov. 7, 1904, and died Apr. 1, 1990. He was
85. I talked to him either 1988 or 1989. He would have been about 54 or 55 years
old when he wrote "The Case of the Missing Message." Now that I know
this, it strikes me as funny that Jimmy Carson described Bimbo the clown as
"...pretty old, close to fifty, anyway." Verral must have chuckled as
he wrote that. When I talked to him in his eighties, he seemed so young at
heart.
I just found a letter I wrote to a friend in 1997, and in it I say that Verral
told me he stayed in touch with the other writers to make sure Brains and Jimmy
stayed in character. Character must have been his main concern. It's just my
guess that he was even more involved with the final book, "The Case of
The Painted Dragon."
I wish we could discover who wrote those last five mysteries. My favorite will
always be the first in the series, "Missing Message," because I read
it so many times without even knowing the other books existed. Plus, we know
it's pure Verral.
By the way, there is more information on Verral in a reference book called "Something
About the Author," (Vol. 65). From 1934 to 1943, Verral wrote numerous
stories for the "Bill Barnes Air Adventurer" magazine under the
joint pseudonym George L. Eaton. Bill Barnes was a pilot who demolished villains
in dogfights.
I also have information that Verral wrote "...The Frenchy Beaumont series
(six titles published 1953-56), which had a strong family focus, described the
adventures of a boy participating in various sports." I've never seen or
read any of them.