E.W. Hildick: A Follow-Up

So yesterday I wrote a little about E.W. Hildick, author of the McGurk Mysteries, advocating that kids ought to take themselves seriously so the adults around them will as well.

Strong evidence of that – as well as their physical location – comes in The Case of the Nervous Newsboy.

First, Kids Taking Themselves Seriously.

The Case of the Nervous Newsboy tells the story of Simon Emmet, who disappears the day the McGurk Organization uses him as a patsy for their shadowing a suspect practice. They, of course, take on the challenge of finding out what happened – deciding to find out whether Simon had had a fight with a parent the morning of his disappearance.

Here’s what Hildick says, through narrator Joey Rockaway:

“Mrs. Emmet didn’t say there’d been a fight of any kind,’ [said Patrolman Cassidy]. “But then, parents don’t always know when they have been in a fight with their kids. They just lay down the rules and sometimes a high-spirited boy or girl will object, but the parent won’t listen. To the parent it isn’t a fight, but to the kid it really is.”

We nodded. I was thinking: No wonder they send Patrolman Cassidy around the schools He really understands . . . 

Then there’s this:

Well, McGurk was being very unfair there. Hadn’t we seen for ourselves the policemen knocking on doors the day before? But when McGurk takes a dislike to anyone doe does get unfair. And his biggest dislikes are those he takes to people who give him the brush-off when he’s trying really hard.

While the latter could describe both kids and adults, given this from a kid’s perspective – when kids really do get the brush-off a lot, I think this is strong evidence of one of Hildick’s themes: Kids taking themselves seriously so others around them will.

Now, Location of, McGurk Organization.

I wrote yesterday about a vague sense that the series was set in the greater New York area, based on some clues. The Nervous Newsboy cements the New York area pretty solidly:

“If he’d [Emmet][ left the bike and taken the money, I’d have said he was counting on going a long way [McGurk said]. Like Clark Timperley when he ran away last year. Hitching as far as New York so as not to leave a clear trail. Then taking a Greyhound bus up into New Hampshire.”

Doesn’t get more clear than that.