- This article is about the original novel. For the graphic novel, see Mary Anne's Bad Luck Mystery (Graphic Novel).
Mary Anne's Bad Luck Mystery is the 17th book in the original The Baby-Sitters Club series.
Back Cover[]
Mary Anne should never have thrown away that chain letter she got in the mail. Ever since she did, bad things have been happening — to everybody in the Baby-sitters Club. With Halloween coming up, Mary Anne's even more worried — what kind of spooky thing will happen next?
Then Mary Anne finds a new note in her mailbox: Wear this bad-luck charm, it says. OR ELSE. Mary Anne's got to do what the note says. But who sent the charm? And why did this person send it to Mary Anne?
If the Baby-sitters don't solve this mystery soon, their bad luck might never stop!
Summary[]
Main Plot[]
Set before Halloween, Mary Anne gets a chain letter in the mail which orders her to send out 20 copies of the letter or not only she would have bad luck, but her friends and family will too. After Mary Anne ignores the letter, bad things start happening to her & her friends.
A few days later, Mary Anne gets a necklace in the mail which orders her to wear the bad luck charm. Even though Mary Anne doesn't want to, the rest of the BSC thinks that she should. The BSC tries to find a good luck spell, but to no avail.
After Mary Anne attends her school's Halloween Hop with Logan, she finds a note taped to her door telling her to appear at Old Hickory's grave at the cemetery on Halloween at midnight. After calling the rest of the BSC, everyone decides to go for it (with Kristy using a late night slumber party as a cover).
In the end, it is discovered that Cokie Mason was responsible for the whole thing, so the BSC decide to get back at Cokie and her friends. The BSC goes to the cemetery, rigs up some bedsheet ghosts with a sound effects tape, flashlights, and scary masks for effect. When Cokie and her friends arrive, the BSC scares them.
Subplot[]
- Jamie Newton is afraid of Halloween. Jessi helps him overcome his fear by showing him friendly ghost books at her house.
- Claudia and Mallory babysat for the Pikes which caused chaos due to Mary Anne breaking the chain letter. Byron (who didn't want his parents to leave) lets the Daddy Stew running, a bird flies in the house which led the Triplets and Vanessa go wild (Margo manged to let the bird out), and Vanessa loses her tooth after eating hard candy.
- Dawn babysits Jackie Rodowsky. Jackie wants to build a robot for Halloween, but it ends up failing due to him knocking things over. Dawn believes it because of her soon-to-become-stepsister breaking the chain letter. At the BSC meeting, Jackie was born to knock things over.
Characters[]
Mary Anne's Family
BSC Members
Kids
- Lucy and Jamie Newton
- Jackie Rodowsky
- Nina and Eleanor Marshall (mentioned)
- David Michael Thomas, Karen and Andrew Brewer (In a call)
- Jordan, Adam, Byron, Vanessa, Nicky, Margo, and Claire Pike
Teenagers
- Cokie Mason
- Grace Blume
- Rick Chow (mentioned)
- Dorianne Wallingford (mentioned)
- Pete Black (mentioned)
- Shillaber Twins (mentioned)
- Trevor Sandbourne (mentioned)
- Austin Bentley (mentioned)
- Charlie Thomas
Adults
- Mimi Yamamoto (mentioned)
- Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer
- Mr. Halprin - school janitor (mentioned)
- Mrs. Newton
- Mr. and Mrs. Rodowsky (mentioned)
- Tabitha Porter (Morbidda Destiny) (mentioned)
- John Pike and Dee Pike
- Rioko Kishi
- Kathy Kilbourne (mentioned)
- Firefighters that put out the trash can that was on fire
Locations[]
- Stoneybrook Middle School
- Spier House
- Kishi House
- Newton House
- Ramsey House
- Rodowsky House
- Pike House
- Brewer/Thomas Mansion
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- This book mentions that Mary Anne and Dawn watched Night of the Living Dead and the former also watched Halloween and Halloween II.
- References the play Cats
- Little Women, Nancy Drew, Georgie's Halloween (books)
- Pollyanna and Hayley Mills
- Stephen King
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- This is the second time there's a Halloween Hop in the series, the first was in Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls. The phantom caller is also mentioned on page 81.
- Jessi has been regularly sitting for the Braddocks on Monday and Wednesday since Jessi's Secret Language.
- On page 66, Jenny's fever and Buddy's disappearance from Mary Anne Saves the Day and Dawn and the Impossible Three is brought up.
Inconsistencies
- Claudia keeps saying that she hates the library and doesn't know her way around, yet in later books she knows exactly how to use a card catalog and other materials. But she could’ve been lying as a way to try to get out of going because she just didn’t want to go.
- When the girls are at school eating lunch, Mary Anne mentions Dawn brought her lunch from home, except she had cottage cheese which would not hold in her locker. But if Dawn had a cold pack in her lunch bag, the cottage cheese would’ve been fine.
- In this book and former books it was Grace that had a crush on Logan, but in later books it's Cokie that has a crush on Logan.
- On page 85 the library is described as a newer building when in later books it's described as an older building.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader,
Mary Anne’s Bad-Luck Mystery is the second spooky book in the Baby-sitters Club series, and the first book that takes us to Old Hickory’s grave in Stoneybrook’s cemetery. When I was young, I was fascinated by graveyards. And like the rest of my friends, I believed in a superstition about them — that I must hold my breath if I went by a graveyard. For this very reason, when my family was on long car trips, my father would often park our car in front of a graveyard. Then my sister and I would try to hold our breaths for as long as we were parked there!
The idea for this story, however, came to me after I received a chain letter in the mail. It was not an eerie chain letter like the one Mary Anne receives. It was just a regular one. But I hate chain letters, and began to wonder if this would make a good plot for a mystery. I think it did. And later, it led to The Baby-sitters Club Chain Letter book, which is all about an unusual chain letter that is passed through the members of the BSC.
Trivia[]
- First appearance of Cokie Mason.
- A reprint of the book was released August 3, 2021 [1]
- On the dedication page it says "This book is for Aunt Martha and in memory of Uncle Lyman."
- Kristy buys the hot lunch just so she can make fun of it.
- Jobs lined up but never seen: Mary Anne for the Newtons and the Marshalls,
- Jackie plans on being a robot for Halloween.
- Some bad luck everyone has includes:
- Claudia hasn't been flunking spelling tests lately and yet failed one.
- Jessi fell in ballet class
- Stacey broke her dad's paperweight
- Kristy lost her watch
- Mallory got in trouble for talking during math
- Logan sits with the BSC at lunch twice in this book.
- The Braddock kids caught the flu.
- Claudia doesn't think that she'll live to be 90.
- There's 2 emergency club meetings in this book.
- This is the first time Jessi learns about Old Hickory.
- Richard is a light sleeper and Sharon could sleep through WWIII.
- Richard mentions that his grandmother used have a necklace like Mary Anne's "bad luck charm."
Gallery[]
