The Secret Pact: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Secret Pact, credited to Mildred A. Wirt Benson, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Secret Pact by Mildred A. Wirt Benson. Read in English by Cheryl Adam PENNY PARKER is a teen-aged sleuth and amateur reporter with an uncanny knack for uncovering and solving unusual, sometimes bizarre mysteries. The only daughter of widower Anthony Parker, publisher of the "Riverview Star," Penny has been raised to be self-sufficient, outspoken, innovative, and extraordinarily tenacious. Her cheerful, chatty manner belies a shrewd and keenly observant mind. Penny was the creation of Mildred A. Wirt, who was also the author of the original Nancy Drew series (under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene). Wirt became frustrated when she was pushed to "tone down" Nancy Drew and make her less independent and daring. With Penny Parker, Wirt had a freer hand and received full credit. Wirt once said, " 'I always thought Penny Parker was a better Nancy Drew than Nancy is." In THE SECRET PACT, Penny sees a man savagely pushed off a bridge into the river one foggy night. The man is rescued, but his stubborm denial of the attack, combined with the grotesque octopus tattoo he bears on his back, alerts Penny to the possibility of a deeper mystery. When her editor father, reporter friends, and even the highschool newspaper all reject her story about the incident, she takes matters into her own hands. With her friend Louise's help, Penny starts her own local paper, operating out of a formerly abandoned newspaper plant. As new clues emerge to the "Octopus tattoo" mystery, she enlists the help of anyone willing, even persuading Mrs. Weems to go "under cover." Nothing, not even threats and an unexpected tornado, can deter the determined Miss. Parker. - Summary by Cheryl Adam

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Secret Pact
• Author credits: Mildred A. Wirt Benson
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 25
• Listed recording duration: 4:27:05

Catalogue topics

• Mystery
• detective stories
• newspapers
• penny parker
• girl detective
• girl reporter
• nancy drew
• female reporters

Opening tracks: first 24 of 25

1. 01 - Aboard the Goodtime — 12:37
2. 02 - The River's Victim — 10:24
3. 03 - The Octopus Tattoo — 10:37
4. 04 - A Prospective Tenant — 12:16
5. 05 - Cobwebs and Rust — 11:51
6. 06 - Headlines and Headaches — 11:43
7. 07 - Peter Fenestra — 10:40
8. 08 - The Storm Cave — 9:40
9. 09 - A Fallen Tree — 9:54
10. 10 - A Word to the Wise — 9:55
11. 11 - Mr. Judson's Daughter — 8:16
12. 12 - Old Horney — 12:17
13. 13 - Paper Problems — 9:35
14. 14 - An Empty Bedroom — 7:35
15. 15 - Information from Tillie — 8:51
16. 16 - Behind the Lilacs — 10:52
17. 17 - The Art of Tattoo — 9:27
18. 18 - Pauletta's Explanation — 15:39
19. 19 - Mrs. Weems' Report — 11:00
20. 20 - Picnic by Moonlight — 10:00
21. 21 - Ellis Saal's Customer — 12:06
22. 22 - Ghosts of the Past — 11:32
23. 23 - Penny's Plight — 9:15
24. 24 - A Barrier of Flames — 10:32

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.