The Runaway Friend: A Kirsten Mystery (American Girl Mysteries Series Book

More like 2.5 stars. I'm not surprised that I didn't like this one as well as some of the others. Kirsten was never a favorite.

Re-read: Unsurprisingly, I liked this a lot more having read it right after re-reading the Central Series. For the record, this is set almost immediately after the end of Meet Kirsten and well before Kirsten Learns a Lesson. That alone was a bit of a surprise. I haven't re-read all of the mysteries, but Nanea's, Melody's, Maryellen's, Felicity's, and Josefina's are all set after the end of their Central Series. I was also surprised by how this book entirely revolves around the psychological effects specifically on women who moved to the American west. One woman needs to escape from an abusive husband, another is overwhelmed by totally uncontrolled anxiety, and Kirsten's mother is struggling with homesickness and depression. Being the 1850s, the only help to be had is by leaning on each other, which is indeed the takeaway. The women who are able to cope are the ones who build good support systems. This focus was totally unexpected, because these books usually concentrate on the girl stars and their own feelings and because the psychological effect on women who may have only had minimal say in the course of their lives is generally ignored.