Tales from the dark woods Book

I'd heard of this mystery series since I was a kid--I think my mom read them--and given my newly acquired taste for mysteries and my current run of Judaism-related books, I thought now was an apropos time to read one. This is the third book in the series, written in 1969, and well, it doesn't really hold up to the test of time. With its quaintness and with teens figuring heavily in the story, I felt like I was reading a Nancy Drew mystery with some temple politics and pot thrown in. Plus, I didn't like the rabbi--but I guess nobody in his congregation really does (which was kinda funny). Maybe I need to read the first book.