BSC Mystery #1: Stacey and the Missing Ring

Tagline: Stacey has to find that ring - or business is over for the Baby-Sitters Club!

Stacey is shocked when a new family accuses her of stealing a valuable ring from them when she was baby-sitting. Stacey would never take anything from anyone!

Even worse for the Baby-sitters, the Gardellas are threatening to tell their other clients about the missing ring.

Will everyone in Stoneybrook think the Baby-sitters are stealers? Not if Stacey can help it. She's going to find out what happened to that ring!

The book opens up with Stacey having a nice Saturday with her mom. Her mom makes Stacey her favourite breakfast, blueberry pancakes, and then they spend the morning cleaning the house. They're listening to her mom's favourite songs, and generally having a great time. So great a time, that Stacey decides now's the time to broach a sensitive subject: Stacey wants a ring. But not just any ring. She wants a real ring. Real jewelry. Of her birthstone. The only problem is, Stacey's birthstone is a diamond. Understandably, Mrs McGill is upset and refuses to buy Stacey a diamond ring. Their morning soured, Stacey then goes to the mall with the Club.

At the mall, Stacey drags her friends around to the jewelry store, and again expresses a desire for a diamond ring. Stacey expects friends to all be on her side, but they're all skeptical of any of them owning such an extravagant item. Stacey's a little miffed, but lets it go. Overall, the girls all have a great time at the mall.

A few days later, a Club meeting, the girls get an exciting call: a new client! Mrs Gardella has a regular nanny, but she's currently out of town on a family emergency, so Mrs Gardella needs a baby-sitter to come over a few nights to watch their baby. Stacey gets the first job.

Stacey gets there and immediately is charmed and befuddled by the Gardellas. They're clearly super rich, with a nice house and fancy things, but they're also really friendly and down to earth. Mrs Gardella answers the door in an evening gown, wearing diamond earrings and a diamond necklace, but is very welcoming, even picking up the cat, despite getting covered in cat fur. The thing that throws Stacey off the most is the fact that they talk about their dog (Bird) and their cat (Mouse) more than their actual baby (Tara). Stacey meets the dog and the cat and all their dietary and care instructions long before she actually sees the baby. Soon, the Gardellas leave for their dinner party, and Stacey is left alone. It's a pretty easy night for Stacey, and she's happy for the money.

The next morning, Stacey is awoken by her mom at her bedroom door. Being Saturday morning, Stacey is less than pleased at being disturbed at the crack of dawn. She tells her mom to go away, but her mom tells her that it's Mrs Gardella on the phone. Immediately, Stacey wakes up and starts worrying about Tara, and then Bird and Mouse. Mrs Gardella is confused, and immediately tells Stacey that no, everyone is fine. It's her jewelry that isn't. Mrs Gardella goes on to explain that while she was putting on her jewelry last night, she forgot to put on her diamond ring. Now it's missing. She continues, saying that she's sure that Stacey didn't mean any harm, that Stacey probably was just trying it on, or wanted to show her friends, but now it's time for Stacey to return the ring.

That's right: Mrs Gardella is accusing Stacey of stealing her diamond ring. Stacey immediately defends herself, but Mrs Gardella isn't convinced. Furthermore, she thinks it's her duty to let other people know that the Baby-Sitters Club is full of thieves, and to warn their other clients of this. Stacey is completely numb and doesn't know what to say or do.

Despite the weird coincidence of a diamond ring disappearing right after Stacey mentions wanting one, her mom is immediately on her side. The Club decides to hold an emergency meeting about the situation, and the other girls are also sympathetic to Stacey's plight. They discuss what to do, but eventually decide that there's nothing they can do, and that they'll have to sit tight and see what happens.

Over the course of the next few meetings, things are quiet. Their phone isn't ringing as much as usual, and when it does, it's mostly clients looking to cancel. Things are looking grim, and Claudia, needing money to make up for her splurging at the mall at the start of the book, is starting to get frustrated. She's baby-sitting for the Prezziosos (a job she lined-up before the missing ring fiasco), when things seem to take a turn for the worse: the Prezziosos return early. Turns out they were at a dinner party, and they ran into the Gardellas. Mrs Gardella starts telling Mrs P. about how the Club isn't trustworthy, and Mrs P, her mood ruined, decides to just leave. Of course, this means Claudia's job is cut short. Pissed off, she heads to Stacey's to vent and hang out.

At least, that's what Stacey thinks she's there to do. However, it soon becomes apparent that Claudia is there to scope out Stacey's room and jewelry to look for the missing ring. Stacey is upset at the idea that her very best friend now suspects her. She decides it's time to take drastic measures. At their next meeting, Stacey decides that if they can't change Mrs Gardella's mind, maybe she can do something to make it up to her: Stacey decides to call her up, and offer her free baby-sitting services until the cost of the ring is paid off. For some reason, Mrs Gardella goes for this, but under the stipulation that the first time Stacey comes back, it's under strict supervision. So Kristy gets roped in for the sitting job.

At the job, things go well and it's easy sailing for the girls, just as it was when Stacey first sat. They put Tara to bed, and settle in for an evening of just chilling and playing with the animals. They throw all sorts of toys and treats for Mouse, who "kills" them, and then takes them to a secret hiding spot. The girls follow him, and discover a whole cache of toys! They retrieve them and start the game over. Only this time, Mouse takes them to a different hiding spot. Again, the girls follow him and surprise, surprise, they find the diamond ring!

When the Gardellas get home, Stacey and Kristy show them Mouse's hiding spot. Mrs Gardella is extremely grateful and apologizes to the girls. The girls are just happy to have everything all cleared up, and ask that Mrs Gardella contact their other clients and tell them the truth. Mrs Gardella then admits that she's been so busy, she hasn't had a chance to contact their other clients; running into Mrs P at the party was total luck.

Sure enough, it turns out just to be a coincidence. At their next Club meeting, the phone is ringing off the hook, with various clients having been sick or out of town. Mary Anne even realizes that she had a note about some of them in the Club notebook! The Gardellas' nanny comes back, and the Gardellas let the Club know that they won't be needing their services anymore. The Club is happy: they wouldn't want to sit for them anyways. Claudia apologizes to Stacey, and everything is back to normal!

There wasn't much of a subplot in this one, nor red herrings, nor other suspects. There's a brief mention of a burglar being in the Stoneybrook area, but other than a chapter of Jessi baby-sitting for her family and being paranoid, the girls don't seriously entertain the idea that the Gardellas were robbed.


Random Thoughts:

• Yay!!! Our first Mystery!!! I loved the Mystery series as a child =)
• And another one by Ellen Miles
• That being said, I neither loved nor hated this book. On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 6 or so, tipping it slightly in favour. I have fond memories of the beginning of the book, the part about cleaning the house and blueberry pancakes particularly. I was looking forward to reading this.
• I also now really want blueberry pancakes. And I don't even particularly like pancakes =/// haha
• However, now that I've re-read it, there were a few things about it that bothered me
• For instance: why would the Gardellas ever agree to let Stacey sit again? For all they know, she really had stolen the ring, realized how much trouble this was causing her club and friends, and then offered to sit again for free, just for the chance to put back the ring and be like, "SEE?? IT WAS THERE THE WHOLE TIME!"
• Also: why the hell would you ever get Stacey a real diamond ring? Why would she think this was appropriate? When I was her age and younger, I was obsessed with my birthstone (amethyst), so I had amethyst on every single thing. Except you know what? It was probably just fake purple gemstones. And not once did I ever think of owning real jewellery with real purple (but non-amethyst) gemstones. I hope her parents buy her something with cubic zirconium haha
• I like how apparently the girls had lined up a job to sit for Betsy Sobak... but then the job got cancelled! I never realized how much that girl was mentioned. I guess it's because we never actually see the girls baby-sit for her again?
• Why the fuck wouldn't the McGills just get Stacey a cubic zirconium ring, or some other fake white gemstone. She doesn't know! Something like that could easily be like, 50$. Sterling silver and cubic zirconium. It'll look great! Seriously. I know I literally just mentioned this, but it's on my mind! This whole book could have been avoided if they'd just done that on the sly and not let her know! haha
• I really hate how much the book covers give away. As I was writing my recap, I realized, "Damn, I've written a ton already, and I'm only just getting to the missing ring now!".