Sweet Valley Twins #64: The Charm School Mystery

Elizabeth and Amy see a new antique store/gallery opening and meet the new owner Monique Beaumont. Her husband runs the store downstairs and she has a charm school on the second floor. She tells them that she mailed invitations to attend a special party the following night.

Lila tells the Unicorns that her cousin attended charm school and married royalty, so they all decide to attend. Jessica is especially excited about the party, but she gets annoyed when their invitation arrives so late. They all agree to go, but Elizabeth refuses because she thinks charm school is lame. She and Amy hang out instead, and while flipping through her mom’s yearbook, she sees a woman who looks like Beaumont.

Jessica is in her element at the party. Beaumont thinks she looks like a princess (of course), and takes her aside. She tells her that she needs help deciding who to let into the charm school and insinuates that she only wants the wealthy kids. Jessica feels bad about it, but then gives her a list of names to add.

Elizabeth finds out that a rash of antique forgeries recently hit the market and decides that it most be Beaumont and her husband. She, Amy, and Marie agree to do whatever possible to get their parents to let them attend charm school. Amy’s mom thought the lessons were too expensive so she acts like a huge klutz and her dad decides to send her. Maria’s mom thinks the lessons are too similar to the Hollywood life they once led. Maria acts really rude at dinner with her mom’s boss and she sends her. Elizabeth makes fun of Jessica until Jess points out the benefits of charm school. She acts like it never occurred to her before and joins the class.

Beaumont announces that the best girl in the class will win the title of queen and get to lead the girls into the big party at the end of the program. Janet and Jessica make a bet about who will win. They keep doing random crap like tripping each other and making snide comments, which irritates the teacher.

Elizabeth and her group sneak away to check things out. She sneaks into the husband’s office and hears him on the phone and she thinks he’s suspicious. She gets back inside his office again and they find documents that proof the authenticity of the stuff they sell. They almost get caught, but pretend that she lost her backpack.

Meanwhile, Beaumont tells all the girls to write down a list of the most expensive items in their house. She claims that it will help them learn how to appreciate what they have. Jessica is upset because they only have a few things, while Lila has thousands of things. When Beaumont’s helper Richard stops by, she lies and tells him that they basically have two of everything that Lila has. Beaumont later comments on the differences between what she said and her list, so Jessica tells her that their mom likes her privacy.

Elizabeth finally decides that the Beaumonts must be forgers. Maria calls Mr. Fowler and a few other people and sets up a sting. Alice, Beaumont, and Mr. Fowler all arrive at Fowler Crest thinking that Alice arranged everything. An art professor walks in and Elizabeth announces that a painting Fowler recently bought is a fake. Oopsie, turns out it’s the real thing. All three girls get grounded and have to keep going to charm school, and Elizabeth can’t read her Amanda Howard books anymore.

Elizabeth gets picked on in school for what happened, and Beaumont teases her in class. She still thinks something is going on, but no one will listen to her anymore. She starts investigating on her own and hears Beaumont talking about robbing the parents during the special party. She also discovers that she’s going to be named queen to get her out of the way. Jessica won’t listen to her, but she does agree to help if Elizabeth actually gets named queen.

The ceremony/party night arrives and Elizabeth earns the queen title. Jessica runs out of the room yelling and crying and Liz runs after her. They switch clothes in the bathroom and Elizabeth runs to catch the robbers. Jessica pretends to be her through the ceremony, and she takes turns with Amy and Maria waiting by the phone for her to call.

Elizabeth goes to Lila’s house and sees no one. She also checks Ellen and Janet’s houses before deciding to run to her own house to call. While she’s on the phone, someone grabs her and throws her into the kitchen closet. It turns out that the robbers used Jessica’s list and thought they had the most valuable stuff.

Naturally the cops arrive in the nick of time and catch Mr. Beaumont and Richard. It turns out that Mrs. Beaumont really is the woman from Alice’s yearbook. They made a living robbing people and selling their things in the next town. Beaumont knew that Sweet Valley had a lot of rich people so they came back. The girls get their photo in the paper and everyone loves them again.

*Jessica tells her dad not to act “grosh” and it takes him a few seconds to realize that she meant gauche.

*The Jessica Janet bet is that the loser has to curtsey to the winner for one week.

*Someone says they should do an Elizabeth Wakefield mystery TV show where every week it turns out that there isn’t a mystery.

*Bruce pretends like someone killed him and Ellen asks Elizabeth who did it in a teasing way, and she snaps back that since it’s Bruce, it could be anyone in school LOL.

*What is up with Alice’s class? It’s way worse than the twins’ class. Not only did she have this chick, but the one who tried to steal her face in SVH.

*I’m not sure how well this scheme would work. They basically steal from one town, go to the next town, and sell all the stolen goods. Where do they get the fake histories for the items? And how do they not get caught?

*It’s nice to see Elizabeth actually get in trouble for something that has nothing to do with Jessica, but it would be nicer if she didn’t wind up being right.

*You have to love Jessica. She makes a little speech as Elizabeth, her parents realize that she’s Jessica, so she sticks her tongue out at Janet and basically tells her to suck it because she won.