River Heights Fangirl

#10: The Password to Larkspur Lane; and the first old vs new edition compare and contrast!

2012-02-05T16:30:00.009-06:00

Mousecliffe had the amazing idea to read the first editions and revised editions and compare them! So I'll get my hands on as many as I can. Not all in the series are originals that have revised text. Later in the series, they were written for more modern settings, and stayed that way through all 56 yellow-spine volumes.
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I'll post about the originals first, then the revised compared with the originals. The revised editions won't get their own posts, and I'll put both posts under the same title on the list. Moving on...
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Our happy blonde (not titian in these originals) detective is swooning over her larkspur plants, which she is going to take to a flower show, when a plane almost crashes. Also, a pigeon comes down, and the pigeon has a weird note in the container under its wing: "Trouble here. Blue bells are now singing horses". Trouble! Oh, no, no trouble shall exist when Nancy is involved! Also, Nancy seems to be an expert on pigeons. Of course.

On the way home from putting her flowers among with all the other flowers in the competition, Nancy notices Dr. Spires, the family doctor, driving along. He suddenly stops behind a "touring car" on the side of the road. The touring car has curtains instead of windows and the curtains are rolled down. Dr. Spires gets out, and gets yanked into the car. Instead of going to the police, Nancy sees that the Dr's car is locked, the keys gone. Well, that means he'll come back, she reasons. I'd err on the side of caution, Nancy...but I am questioning your super sleuth powers! Elementary, my dear Drew.

Hannah falls down a flight of stairs, and they go to Dr. Spires, who wasn't kidnapped after all. Instead, he was blindfolded until he was taken into a house to treat some elderly ladies. Now he's checking Hannah. She'll be okay, she just needs rest. Meanwhile, Dr. Spires asks for Nancy's help regarding his bizarre not-kidnapping. Dr. Spires thinks that someone is running an illegal, unregistered nursing home/retirement home. At this alarming conclusion, Nancy and her father go to the police station. Mr. Drew goes in first, and Nancy gets accosted by a man demanding her name. Unfortunately, a friend of Nancy walks by and says, "Hi, Nancy". The man is all, "oh, you're nosy Mr. Drew's daughter!"

Officer Mulligan, a stout, brash, mumbling Irishman, greets Nancy. "Sure, and we know all about ye, Miss Drew. I'd be honored if ye'd...join the force, so I would. 'Tis a strange story...but with your brains and my muscle, we'll get at the bottom of it" Nancy is not amused. She gives Mr. Bumbling Irishman two clues; the license plate of the suspicious car and a necklace Dr. Spires slipped from an old lady, in hopes that it'd be a clue related to their case. On the way home, Nancy and Carson are followed by Adam Thorne, a disbarred lawyer, who is also the man who accosted Nancy. Nancy manages to shake off the lawyer.

Not much happens until Nancy takes the bracelet to be inspected by a jeweler; perhaps he can trace the family crest. The jeweler makes a copy of the bracelet, and Nancy plans to bring it home for safekeeping (wouldn't it be safer secured at the jeweler's shop?). Not two steps out of the door, and the woman snatches the bracelet and Nancy's purse. Nancy chases her through a department store and almost catches her in the "silverware department", which I guess would now be part of the home products department. She checks the dressing rooms. No regard for privacy, Nancy whips open every curtain, only to find an overweight woman trying to squeeze into some clothing, which highly amuses Nancy. She jogs to the elevator, who asks the "colored starter" (way back when, elevators were attended) if the woman went into the elevator. She didn't. Eventually, the purse is recovered by an employee, but the woman and the bracelet get away.

Nancy is invited by Helen to go to Sylivan Lake to take a short vacation. Ned is working there, and Nancy somehow surmises that the illegal retirement home might be in that area, so she accepts. She also concludes that "singing horses" is a code for "larkspurs". Because larks sing, silly, and spurs are used on horses! Okay then.

The pigeon escapes through the fault of Effie, Hannah's feather-brained niece, who was brought in to help Hannah. The girls follow the pigeon, Effie blabbing about boyfriends and movie stars, driving Nancy crazy. The pigeon goes home to a large mansion. A nasty-looking man comes down the driveway, a whip in hand, demanding to know why Nancy is there. She pretends to want to buy some pigeons, but he tries to force her to go see the coops. He's getting pretty nasty when Effie, who's hiding in the car, starts laughing like a lunatic. This weirds Evil Man out and Nancy jumps into the car and speeds off. Effie explains that she saw "a [moving] picture" where a fictional actress does the same thing when faced by an evil guy. Nancy drives to a small town nearby and they have dinner at an inn. Nancy quizzes the waiter about the mansion. The family that lives there is the Tooker family. Apparently they are not well liked, not only because they aren't the social type, but also don't go to church or subscribe to the town newspaper. THOSE BASTARDS! However, the waiter tells Nancy that those things COULD be looked over, if not for the Tookers' plane "a'roarin' and a'hoppin' every day".

Another visit with Dr. Spires, and Nancy Holmes determines approximately where the place with larkspurs could be. Dr. Spires remembers that he was driven far, went over a dirt road and then a gravelled place. Sounds vague to me, but I'm not Nancy.

As they leave Dr. Spires' place, his phone rings, and its a frantic phone call from Effie. Someone tried to force his way into the house! Effie is so worked up that, when after the villian leaves, she does not recognize Mr. Drew when he comes. She barricades the front door with the couch. Eventually, all is settled. Effie describes the man. He's not Adam T.

Nancy wants to go to Sylivan Lake, but Carson is worried. Eventually he grudgingly agrees, on the condition that they trick the stalker. He buys he a new car, but has the car shop owner drive it to the dead of night so it doesn't arouse suspicion. Nancy drags herself over the back wall, is handed her luggage, and she heads off to Sylivan Lake, where she apologizes to Mr. and Mrs. Corning, her hosts, for coming in so late.

The next day promises to be awesome. Nancy competes in an informal diving competition, and, of course, she wins, defeating a former professional girl diver, who is about her age. Applause and prays! Nancy basks in the sun, but when she gets up, a little girl stumbles off of a dock and into the water, into the path of an oncoming motorboat! Nancy immediately saves the day, and also finds out that the girl and her mother have the last name Eldridge--which happens to be the family name traced via the bracelet's family crest. Nancy shows Mrs. Eldridge the bracelet, and the woman surmises that it belongs to her husband's Aunt Mary.

Nancy and Helen spy on the Tooker place again, but don't have much time to do anything. A dance hosted by Sylivan Lake's yacht club is taking place that night. The girls dress in their "frocks", "admiring each others' dainty lingerie". Nancy is the star of the show, and poor
Ned barely gets a dance in.

Well, I think I'll complete my tome in a short paragraph; Nancy and Helen dress as a nurse (Helen) and an old lady (Nancy), and get passed through the gate of the Tooker estate, Helen claiming to be bringing the new patient they overheard. Nancy is found out, though (Helen goes for help). Nancy is thrown into an old, dank cistern, but she uses shards from a broken ladder to clamber up. Maybe I should make a tag called "MacGyver style getaway". She ends up in the pigeon coop. She slips away, and disables the Tookers' cars and plane. She is almost captured again when Carson, Ned and the police save the day. Turns out that the Tookers swindled old ladies (via tricky contracts and drugging them so they don't think twice about it) into giving large sums of their fortunes in exchange for nursing care. Old Mrs. Eldridge and all the other old ladies are reunited with their families, and Nancy has saved the day.

The Cornings' cook, who is, thankfully, described as black, not "colored" (the latter term is sort of insulting--aren't we all "colored"?), serves Nancy and Helen breakfast in the morning after the ball. She says "Miss Helen, de missus done tole me to let you gals sleep. She an' de master, dey done gone fo' de day. Dey say dey be back before supper, but on no 'count to break you' slumbers, c'ase you' wore out yo' shoes last night". Now I know that back in the 30's, when this book was written, there were many black Americans who were uneducated, and probably spoke in a similar way, but this just seems overdone.
Effie hides in the "rumble seat" when Nancy first found the Tooker estate.

I hope it wasn't too long, there was so much to review!

Put down that book and LOL: Best Book-Related Blogs

2011-11-04T09:14:00.004-05:00

Hi, friends. I'm just returning because I totally had to post about these blogs I've been insanely following. A couple are on my sidebar by they need the limelight! I love blogs that poke (satiric) fun at books (mostly YA books), such as Sweet Valley High or Twilight.
.....

Dan Bergstein is the awesomest awesome Twilight blogger that was ever awesome. Check it out. I hope you aren't planning anything 'cause you won't stop at the first post (or the fifth...or the tenth...or the fifteenth...or...)
Remember the Little House books? Whether you read one or all of them, this insane blog will get you laughing. Didn't think one could "snark" children's historical fiction books that have been cherished by generations? Hahaha.
Here is a blog about old/outdated/useless books that have to be pulled from library shelves. Sound boring? Na, these librarians will make you laugh, taking on every "weeded" book from a book about the wonders of TV, circa 1965, or a kid's book about a drinking, drug-taking horse.

BLOG closing temporarily

2011-09-08T17:11:00.001-05:00

I don't know if I've had any visitors lately, but I need a break from Nancy Drew. River Heights Fangirl will be back January 2012.

If you're looking for a great book to read, read Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman, a great physicist. But it's not just for "nerds" [sorry, nerds ;)]--it's really smart, snappy and funny! Feynman is hilarious and this is a book anyone can read!

#38 The Mystery of the Fire Dragon

2011-08-01T19:26:00.008-05:00

Nancy Drew is on a case...which is in the USA and in Hong Kong! This is the first book I've read where she solves the case first in one country and then the other. Anyway, for fun I put the
Norwegian cover up. (Image is from Series Books.com website)
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The plot of this basically involves a group of strong-arms and a couple of women. Nan's aunt Eloise, who lives in NY, tells her that her neighbor's granddaughter is missing. Nancy to the rescue! Also, the granddaughter's (Chi Che Soong) possible abductors are also involved in a smuggling ring. How original.

So I'll just list some of the crazy things that happened to Nancy and friends. The plot skips around too much to really "snark" without being too long.

When Nancy first gets into the hallway where Eloise's apartment is located, a gigantic firework goes off. It's probably meant to Chi Che's grandfather, but of course, something crazy has to happen to Nancy soon.
Chi Che goes to Columbia U. Nancy helps George put on makeup and dress up like Chi Che, to see if she can get any info from the students. Later, George is almost kidnapped b/c she looks like Chi Che--the captors think she (as Chi Che) escaped. Didn't see that coming.
Bess is missing. Yawn.
Mr. Drew just happens to have a case in Hong Kong, a debate over a will (so he's working international now?) and Ned is at a college course in Hong Kong! How convenient.
Near Hong Kong, Nancy is waiting for a flight that will take her to inland Hong Kong. A girl who looks like Chi Che is standing outside a small plane. Nancy takes the girl's word that she must come in. "Chi Che" needs to give her grandpa a message. But it HAS to be in the plane. Stupid Nancy falls for this and is kidnapped.
Nancy is able to discreetly write 'SOS' on a window in the plane--while being bound w/ rope! The Navy, which was sent after her, sees it and forces the kidnappers to land. Incidentally, the real Chi Che was on the plane. Happy ending!

Want a certain 'Nancy Drew' book reviewed?

2011-06-22T15:40:00.005-05:00

I can't decide what to review next, so I'm asking YOU to suggest any book in the original series (1-56 only) that you want reviewed! Just make a comment with the book you want reviewed. Also, check the Nancy Drew Booklist page to see if it isn't already reviewed first.

Note: "First come-first serve" basis.

#11: The Clue of the Broken Locket (somewhat long)

2011-06-20T15:07:00.009-05:00

Image courtesy NancyDrewSleuth

I thought I had read this, but I found the plot completely different. The one I read in youth involved baby twins illegally adopted by jerks. I must have had an original copy. Damn..I sold it when I was a teen... Anyway, this is a fairly short summary. It was kinda boring, (but still LOL-full).
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Nancy helps her father on a case. The girl involved, Cecily Curtis, is renting a cottage near "Misty Lake". She was supposed to get the key from groundskeeper Henry Winch, who was also supposed to watch the cottage. But Henry Winch is scared! He wants someone else to do it.

Who else but Nancy? Nancy, Bess and George are soon at Misty Lake, but not before for lunch at a quaint restaurant. While waiting for the food, they walk a pretty bridge so that they can spend some time in a pretty garden until the food comes. They overhear a red-haired girl arguing with her BF, but it's not significant--yet. After lunch, Bess realizes she lost an earring. They go back to the bridge to find it; Nancy nearly kills herself trying to reach down to the bank, with George holding her feet, to get the one earring. As she fishes for this all-important earring, the red-haired girl carelessly walks on to the bridge and Nancy, the girl and George, fall off the bridge! Nancy saves the girl from falling into the water. After thanking her, the mysterious girl runs away.

The trio goes back, get cleaned up and eat. They finally arrive at the cottage (this is at night, FYI) and unlock the cottage. They also see the mysterious girl again; she runs away when Nancy asks her if she is Cecily. The girl also shouts "you can't stop me from getting the babies!" as she runs off. Nancy is mystified because the girl ran off. Uh, Nancy, I'd be a little startled too, if some stranger shone (shined?) a light in my face and demanded who I was w/o introducing herself!

The girls spend the night in the cottage, as Cecily doesn't arrive until late. Cecily's cat escapes from its carrier as Cecily arrives, but don't worry, 'Satin' is found. While looking for him, the girls hear a weird humming noise coming from a stone house. NOT A HUMMING NOISE! OMG! So suspicious! It couldn't just be some ordinary machine, right? Also, Cecily says she wasn't the girl in the garden. She says she must have a double, and isn't at all worried or curious about that.

One night, the girls see a mysterious, 'haunted' boat. It had scared Mr. Winch. Then it suddenly disappears! (b/c the lights were turned off, perchance?) Nancy also sees a mysterious signal from a round upstairs window in the stone house. At least, Nancy assumes it is a signal.

The rest of the mystery is all mushed together. Nancy tries to find out who [might] be trapped in the house. The owners, the Driscolls, pretend to be nice and let her explore the house, but Nancy can't get into the room with the round window. Cecily tells the Driscolls about the clue to her mystery (found on a paper in a broken locket, which claims a fortune will be found near 'an iron bird'). Nothing bad could come of revealing that to strangers, right Cecily? Cecily is also trying to figure out why her fiancee/BF (the dude with her at the garden) , Niko Van Dyke, a famous bandleader, is not getting the royalty payments he should get. They are about to sue the record company when Nancy finds out that some of the records are pirated!

After a lot of threats, attempts to hurt Nancy and the others, and random wandering around, the girls and Ned, Burt and Dave, who came to see Niko's concert, prove that the Driscoll's run a pirated records business and are also keeping twins who are really the children of the other red-haired girl--Susan! And Susan was being held prisoner in the round-window room. Because the one real clue, the flashing light, convinced Nancy that this had to be the case. Nancy is never wrong! This girl owns the other half of the locket, which Nancy found. Susan and Cecily are cousins. The bad guys are caught, and Niko and Cecily can get married now, since Niko is getting the money he deserved, and of course, the fortune is found. Happily ever after! Nancy gets most of the credit. Bess and George and the boys must have been totally no help! *end sarcasm*

Nancy convinces a reluctant police chief to help her search in the round-window room for a prisoner. When this prisoner is not found, the chief is pretty p*ssed off. He also says that Nancy "may have overstepped her rights" because she was poking around the Driscolls' propery w/o permission. Now Nancy is offended and p*ssed off! The rules don't apply to her, because she is trying to DO GOOD!

#40 The Moonstone Castle Mystery, P2.

2011-06-11T07:09:00.004-05:00

The girls DO NOT DIE! But the old man is injured. The other careless boat driver[s] get away! But don't worry, some canoeists come along and help. The police come along too--and blame Nancy and friends for the supposed theft of the boat. No argument will help--until back at the station, where Nancy innocently mentions her father. Hurrah! Carson Drew's daughter and her friends could do nothing wrong!

A girl at the party mentioned an adoptive girl named Jodine Armstrong. Nancy has a hunch. Jodine sounds SO much like Joanie (Hornton). They visit Mrs. Armstrong. Jodine, aka Jody, isn't there, but they don't give up. Maybe Jodine Armstrong is an alias!

The girls also keep exploring the castle along with Ned and crew. On one visit, Nancy disappears, of course, and the girls lament leaving her alone! But don't worry, Burt finds her in a tiny hidden room, disguised in the wall.

Well, long story short, the head of the operation, Peter Suggs, confesses that he and some other men and a woman were working to steal Joanie Hornton's estate. Oh, and Jody Armstrong is Joanie Hornton. The person who sent Nancy the moonstone for good luck is her Joanie's Aunt Elaine. Nancy met her once, via her Aunt Eloise, and found her nice. But the woman inadvertently got a really sh1tty husband and it took a long time for her to get out of the mess.

All is well, until #41, The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes.

#40: The Moonstone Castle Mystery, P1

2011-05-19T22:25:00.007-05:00

*I've decided to start splitting long posts into two parts*. Compliments to Series Books for Girls for the cover.

Once upon a time, a teenage girl named Nancy Drew got an unmarked package...

Inside was a beautiful moonstone. There is a printed note that says it is from "a well-wisher". Nancy goes to the post office to find out about the sender. George and Bess are, of course, with her, and they note a man in an ugly plaid suit. He is following Nancy! Boy, doesn't Nancy ever get a day where she isn't followed? The man runs off before the girls even get a chance to report him.

Meanwhile, Mr. Drew has a case he must find a young woman whose parents died in an accident when she was a little girl. The girl wasn't seen after that accident, and the parents' estate is just sitting there. The girl's grandparents were missionaries in Africa when the girl, Joanie, was just over two years old. They want to find their granddaughter.

The Drews have another watchman at the house, just in case the spy comes by. Sure enough, Mr. Drew sees something in the night, and both he and the watchman chase the mysterious man, but don't catch him.

Not long after, the client, Mr. Bowen calls. He's gotten a threatening message: Anyone who goes to the town where Joanie was last seen to try and solve the mystery is in danger! He begs Nancy not to go. Nancy is all, "Oh, it would be wimpy to ignore a serious warning!" and he's all, "Ok, that's fine, just remember the warning, okay?"

Nancy, Bess and George are soon in Deep River. There's a castle in it! From the hotel, Nancy trains her binoculars on the castle. It is so friggin awesome, isn't it!

Mrs. Thompson, the hotel owner, comments that if the girls want to know more about the castle, they go to the Brass Kettle restaurant, where an elderly "town gossip" hangs out. Mrs. Hempstead tells them that odd, tragic events happened around the castle. The original builder abandoned the project without adding the last turret. Someone is paying taxes on it from Europe, though.

George does some sleuthing, following a suspicious-looking man, Mr. Seamen (again). She loses him, but soon someone realizes that someone else is following her. Meanwhile, Nancy and Bess delve a little more info related to Joanie...Joanie Horton's...mysterious vanishing.

George and Nancy swim across the moat around the castle--despite a mysterious voice warning them to go back. The drawbridge is up, but once across the moat, the girls explore the castle. Nancy manages to get to the area where the drawbridge can be manipulated, and learns how to make it go up and down.

The girls tie the bridge down with some wire and rocks, and meanwhile discuss some car tracks they found near the castle. This is a sure sign that something's up--because anyone visiting the castle is suspicious. Except them. Though later, driving back, Nancy reflects that maybe they've been tampering with private property (securing the drawbridge down), but George scoffs it off. They need to save the world!

Later, Nancy's car is stolen, but Nancy, Bess, George and Bess's new "interest", Alan Ryder, go to a picnic and have fun, and forget about it for a while. The picnic is for Alan's grandmother's birthday, and Alan was just so taken by Bess that he invited all three girls, whom Grandma doesn't know, to a picnic.

And after the picnic is a cliff-hanging boat ride. Will the girls crash and drown in the river?

Find out in PART TWO.

#50: The Double Jinx Mystery (long)

2011-03-30T17:10:00.010-05:00

This is one of the craziest ones...a lot of convenient coincides, ridiculous events, even a freaky clan.

The book starts out with Nancy, Bess and George discussing a mystery. Carson Drew's latest case involves Oliver Thurston, an elderly man who is being pushed and threatened to sell his home and private zoo to make room for a company that will build apartments.

Carson Drew was warned (not by Mr. Thurston) that he'll be "jinxed". A few minutes into the girls' conversation, the bell rings, yet there is no person or package. On the lawn is a bird. The girls look at it and then Hannah comes along. Most conveniently, Hannah is studying birds for fun. This bird is a wryneck, a Eurasian bird, and a type of woodpecker, and it was often used "in the old country" to jinx people.

Nancy panics. "There might be a bomb in it!" The police come over. Teehee..."Hi, police? There's a stuffed bird on my lawn and it might be a bomb!". But there is no bomb.

The trio of girls goes to Mr. Thurston's farm. Right away they see a man trying to cut open the bird cages! They chase him away--Nancy and George then go after him. Bess stuffs branches into the hole in one cage and tries to keep the birds in. Nancy and George have no luck, and Rausch, an employee of Mr. Thurston, queries them about the hole. When they prove their innocence, they all go to see Mr. Thurston.

Mr. and Mrs. Thurston are quite pleasant. Mrs. Thurston is superstitious, especially after several "jinxes". There is a Eurasian girl about Nancy, George and Bess's age, boarding with the Thurstons. She is emotionally sensitive, especially when Bess accidentally insults her by asking if wrynecks are really used for jinxes in Eurasia.

Carson finds out that the wryneck was stolen, yet only certain people have a key to the glass case in a university where it resided. Then there is a bomb at the Thurston farm. It was found because Nancy found a large pit near the aviary. Suspicious, Nancy throws a stone into it--staying back, of course--and the bomb goes off!

Nancy searches for clues, looks for the wire-cutter dude, and tries to convince the VIPs of the council who are trying to get the Thurston farm that it isn't fair to force the Thurstons to leave.

One night, Mr. Thurston and Ned investigate the mysterious things happening near the aviary. When they seem delayed, Nancy goes to the aviary and finds them unconscious.

When Ned and Mr. Thurston recover, Mr. Thurston goes to check on the birds and Ned and Nancy look for clues, following footprints leading away from the aviary and past the Thurston property. Again, they find an easy clue; a new but empty chloroform bottle. It's lucky that the suspicious man just happened to lose it, right?! :)

A few days later, Nancy and a reluctant Ned go to visit the ballet. Ned is disinterested and embarrassed by being at the ballet. But Nancy is trying to get a clue; someone disguised as a "ghost" frightened Mrs. Thurston at her house, and leapt away very gracefully. Like a dancer.

There is a high-leaping performer, Boris Brovsky, at the ballet. But after talking to the ballet director and meeting Boris, Nancy doesn't suspect him. The director said that an excellent dancer was fired for his unprofessional and suspicious behavior. He is under the stage name Merv Marvel.

Soon after, Ned gets ill from ornithosis picked up from the birds. During one of his confused sleeps, he mutters "Slick Fingers [the main suspect] has this." Nancy thinks he's referring to the ornithosis.

Nancy finds out that a man of Slick Fingers' description had an appointment at an area doctor's office, but he never appeared.

The girls continue to convince (hassle?) the councilmen not to force out Mr. Thurston. Nancy continues to sleuth vigorously. One day Nancy and Ned try to find the head of the company who wants to force the Thurstons out. At a construction site, where they were told he'd be, they ask they ask one of the employees if he is really there. While Ned and Nancy wait for the councilman to arrive, they walk along the river and stop near a dam. As they are looking at it, they are pushed into the river! They go down the dam! They save themselves!

All of the sleuthing leads back to the Thurston farm. Someone was trying to poison the birds, but Mr. Thurston saw the man in time to scare him away. Nancy and Ned follow the footprint trail;
and find two envelopes, one filled with cash and the other with a "jinx" symbol and an expensive ring! WOW! These clues just happen to turn up, eh?

Merv Marvel eventually captures Nancy while she sleuths at the Thurston property. He warns her not to do anymore sleuthing, and then forces her to dance with him toward "headquarters". Nancy tries to gather more clues by asking cunning questions until they end up at a queer old barn, home of a strange commune.

Everyone is wearing weird costumes, and Merv brings Nancy to the "grand master" so she can be 'baptized' as a witch. The grand master is a con man. But in the nick of time, Ned, Bess, George and a police group arrive. The con dude is arrested.

And soon after, the head of the construction company and several other executives are arrested for fraud and trying to force people out by way of illegitimate behavior.

Again Nancy is a hero; Mrs. Thurston is overcome with gratitude. Nancy has rescued another helpless, elderly woman. :p

~Funny Tidbits!~

Boris wants Nancy to try dancing with him. Of course, Nancy is an amazing dancer and the ballet director and Boris praise her to the sky. However, Ned is a wee bit jealous seeing Nancy dance with Boris.
Nancy is taking some little kids--nine in all--to Thurston's zoo, along with Bess and George. She puts most of them in the back seat. The kids on the seats hold the other kids on their laps. Yeah, real safe. A police officer stops and is going to ticket Nancy because the car is overcrowded. Nancy innocently claims she didn't know the rule...and besides, they aren't going far. The officer relents. "Evidently you're doing a good deed...and you're not far from the Thurston's...But from now on, no more than six people in a car!" (Not twelve!)
Also: "Bess and George gasped at the idea that he evidently was accusing Nancy of breaking the law" (see above). No, NOT NANCY! The officer should arrest himself for even thinking about it!
The kids are from a house where Nancy stopped to ask directors to a council member's home. The kids live with their grandparents, who happen to be threatened by "jinxes" too, for their property is also wanted. So Nancy uses the kids to tell their grandparents how much they like the zoo, and to declare that jinxes aren't real--Nancy's hidden motive for doing something nice for the kids ;)

I wanted to really ride races at 16, too...Thoroughbred #4: Wonder's Victory

2010-06-13T00:22:00.012-05:00

Ashleigh is getting Wonder, Derby winner, ready for the Preakness. She is more popular at school and is now really chummy with Mike "Just a friend!" Reese.

Pretty soon, the entire Griffen family is driving down to Pimlico, Maryland. Rain is coming down, and everyone is fretting about it. The track is an oval of mud. There is more worry-disguised-as-speculation.

Wonder loses to Townsend Prince and a horse named Wanderkill--but she only loses because Wanderkill interfered with her! Thus she is put up into second place, behind Prince. Of course, Wonder couldn't have just had a bad day or JUST LOST! Oh, no! Losing is not for Superfilly!

Back in Kentucky, Ashleigh does a little catfighting with Brad, her rival, which will continue through the books focused on Ashleigh.

Three weeks after the Preakness, Ashleigh is in Elmont, NY for the Belmont, staying in a motel with Wonder's jockey, Jilly. Brad is actually exercise-riding the Prince himself. Ashleigh is disgusted because he acts like it's a personal contest with Ashleigh and Wonder, even though she herself rather gloats with her friends and gets overexcited when Prince is defeated.

Oh, woe! Before the race, Wonder is acting superexcited and a little bitchy, and all the talking and patting in the world won't help. Jilly thinks that trying to hold Wonder in will only freak Wonder, and basically lets her go wire to wire 1 1/2 miles. And Wonder wins. Not only that, she TIES THE TRACK RECORD! Whether or not Joanna Campbell knew this was Secretariat's insane record, will leave that to doubt*.

Mike invites Ashleigh to the junior prom. After a lot of encouragement from sister Caro and friend Linda, and a lot "but-he's-not-my-boyfriend!" angst, she agrees. But Ashleigh doesn't have fun at the dance, so Mike and Ash get burgers and fries and eat by Wonder's stall. Wonder even eats french fries. I still think that this scene is soo cute.

Wonder is working on the trails with Charlie, riding an old Appaloosa, coaching her. Mike is along for the ride as well. Brad comes along on a horse at a gallop, and Ashleigh nearly falls as Wonder freaks, but Mike catches Wonder. Brad's girlfriend broke up with him and he took it out on his horse. Yawn...next!

Wonder is soon in the Travers Stakes in Saratoga, NY. Terry, who actually is Wonder's official groom, keeps an eye on her, as this time Ashleigh can't spend every waking moment with Wonder. He leaves for a minute to help another groom, and when he gets back, Wonder is in a meltdown. All of Ashleigh's coddling can't do anything. About an hour later, Jilly is lying on the track with a broken leg and the Travers is running away without Wonder.

Who will ride Wonder now since she is an obsessive horse who was "abused" with whips before? Back at Townsend Acres, though, Wonder is behaving beautifully. There is a new jockey Jimmy, who does a little better with her, riding in the Fayette before the Breeders' Cup Classic. But Wonder comes in fourth place!

Townsend Prince's jockey suggests that Ashleigh ride Wonder. I'll save all the drama and tell you she gets to ride, even though she's barely gotten to sixteen (and the story isn't clear on that either) and just got her apprentice jockey license! She rides in a much less important race first for practice. Brad Townsend is disgusted that she'll ride, taunts her, and catfighting is narrowly avoided.

Charlie and Mike set up a "sting" operation to see who might be upsetting Wonder (keeping it from Ashleigh by making an excuse to send her away, as they don't want her to be worried).

Charlie, Mike and some track officials hide in the barn and wait. A groom appears and starts spooking Wonder with a whip! You see, Charlie noticed that Wonder could get unusually keyed up, but only at races and certain times. Jim Jennings, assistant trainer at Townsend Acres (taken off of training Wonder), is in gambling debt and to get out of it, gets Wonder spooky, so the longer-shots win.

Well, as the title says and the scripting of series books predicts, Wonder and Ashleigh win the Classic mtogether! Mr. Townsend also gives Ashleigh half interest/ownership of Wonder. :-o. Then Ashleigh, Mike and Wonder walk off to the barn, and Wonder nibbles on Mike's sleeve like a happy Superfilly.

"I think she's trying to tell you she wouldn't mind having you around, too" [Ashleigh said]. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she blushed. But Mike looked over and gave her the warmest smile. "I'd like that." Wonder threw up her head, loudly whinnied her approval, and the three of them walked off to the backside.

Twelve-year-old me thought that was adorable, though I was sick of Wonder whinnying for joy/victory.

Extra Tidbits...for your amusement

When Linda is trying to get Ashleigh to tell Mike 'yes' about the prom: "Can just picture what Jennifer and Corey will say? They'll be green [with envy]!" That's right, Ashleigh. Go to the prom to see if your good friends will be jealous of you.
After another one of Mike's visits, Brad taunts Ashleigh and asks if Mike is visiting Townsend Acres to snitch the farm's "secrets" for training and winning, as Mike is training a horse himself. Ashleigh insists he's just visiting for the fun of it and that MIKE IS NOT BOYFRIEND!! Brad's answer rules. "Glad you're smart enough to know he's just been using you."

...
That's all for the four books featuring Wonder/Ashleigh. The next book transitions to its new main character, Samantha McLean, which you probably already know if you're reading this. I think I'll stop now. Thoroughbred has 72+books and a spinoff, and several main characters.

*Thanks to Whitebrook Farm for the info about Secretariat.

#4: The Mystery at Lilac Inn (long)

2010-05-31T11:28:00.008-05:00

This was one of the dull ones, but I remembered when I reread it, what a fairly b1tchy character it had. :)

Nancy Drew and Helen Corning are canoeing to Lilac Inn. Along the way, they stop by the riverside backyard of a mutual friend, Doris. Doris is startled. She claims that another friend of theirs told her she saw Nancy a few minutes ago at a drugstore. But that's the least of Nancy's worries when the canoe hits something and capsizes! But there is nothing around that could've caused the boat to flip! Right?

At Lilac Inn, the girls greet Emily Willoughby. Emily is going to marry Dick Farnam and they will take over the inn. Because taking on a small business right after marriage is a great idea! Dick's best man, John, gives Nancy and Helen a tour of the inn. When girls go to the to meet Emily's Aunt Hazel, they overhear her arguing "I can't loan you more money, Maud!"

Maud is the know-it-all social director, who controls Aunt Hazel as if Aunt Hazel was dog. When the Drew house is burglarized (one in many burglaries over the course of the series), Aunt Hazel drives Nancy home and Maud invites herself along. She asks Nancy about Mr. Drew "I'd love to meet your father. I understand he is a widower." Giggle. Nancy replies that Carson is busy with his job. "I see. No time for a social life," [Maud] said sarcastically.

Nancy's charge plate from Burk's Department Store has been stolen, and she is accused of stealing thousands of dollars of goods there, (turns out, by her double). Luckily, she has vouches for her good name--because she's the (real) Nancy Drew, perfect and flawless in every way! Chief McGinnis is always a convenient backup.

For her twenty-first birthday, Emily is inheriting from her deceased mother's twenty unset diamonds. Emily tells everyone around her when she'll get them, and they have a dinner where she'll receive the gems. Wise move, Emily.

Bang! As she stares at the sparkly diamonds, the lights go out, and when they come back on, the jewels are gone! Then Nancy finds out there is a sliding panel in one wall and that is how the thief slipped between rooms unnoticed. How original.

Well, a few days later, they find the diamonds and the case on the grounds. But when they are appraised at a jewelry store, turns out, they are fakes! Gee, didn't see that coming.

Nancy goes out skin diving in the river (she was going to meet John there, but he doesn't show up) and sees....a shark? But there is no time to think about that. Suddenly a spear almost hits her, landing in the lens of the camera she took with her. When she returns to the inn, John asks her why she didn't come to their meeting place to go to the skin-diving dock together some time ago. John had met another Nancy, who had made this arrangement.

After ghosts, bombs in cottages, and rocks thrown at Nancy's convertible, everyone's pretty edgy. Now, they also have a shy, nervous little waitress now. The waitress' name is Jean, and she warns Nancy about Maud. Unfortunately but Maud quits after a fight with Helen before Nancy can question her. It turns out, however, that Maud was just being mean to Nancy because she was jealous, and Maud took her sadness from her husband's death out on Hazel. Aww.

One day, Nancy goes to the river to start solving the mystery regarding the shark and spear. After getting some excellent (and much-too-convenient) leads. Nancy finds Jean near the river! Nancy follows and Jean goes into an old shed. Before Nancy can decide what to do, a miniature sub rises from the river--Nancy's "shark"!

Then all the formulaic stuff happens. Nancy is caught from behind! A cloth is tied over her mouth! She is dragged to the shed! Jean is there, along with another man--the gardener at the inn. The man who caught her, the gardener, and Jean discuss what to do with Nancy, and drag her to the sub! Horrors!

Jean is really actress Gay Moreau. She has been playing as Jean (and Nancy...and an imaginary person, Mary, but it would make this post too long to try to add that part of the plot here) in order to get the jewels. She's also vengeful against Mr. Drew, Carson once prosecuted her in a check forgery case.

There is no indication of the real reason for the sub, or for taking Nancy into it it (wouldn't the usual shed tie-up have worked as well?), except as a plot device. Another plot device happens; as "Jean" snidely tells Nancy all about how she and her accomplices worked together to get the diamonds. Their theory is that explaining the plot will torture Nancy, as Nancy now has no power to bring Jean and crew to justice. (But Jean doesn't know she's in a Nancy Drew book! ;) ).

Then the sub hits a log and a fire starts in the engine!"Jean" and the men flee, leaving Nancy bound. In a very deus ex machina moment (I use this phrase sooo much in these posts), River Heights police in boats come just in time to get Nancy out. Carson was getting worried about Nancy's absence.

When Gay and her accomplices are captured, Gay is wearing her Nancy Drew disguise AND has Nancy's license, causing people to doubt the real Nancy. She almost fools Carson until he gets up close to her (I guess Nancy's and Gay's voices and mannerisms are so similar that they even trick a father!). To prove herself to the police, Nancy grabs Gay and wipes off part of her makeup. All the bad guys/girls arrested and the world is at peace. The diamonds are found in the river (they were in the sub) and the world is at peace.
---
I never did like this one, but I admit, it is one of the few of the rewritten originals that gets so close to actually having a murder/death. I know this probably isn't one of my better posts, but this was such a choppy plot.
...
Extra Fun Tidbits, Non-Essential to the Story:

A meal served at Lilac Inn: Beef broth, creamed chicken on toast, peas, salad and iced tea. Um...yum? Sounds nice and light. But the beef broth alone sounds odd, and the the name "creamed chicken" just hints of a strange consistency. But it turns out to be this in most recipes online.
This book was rewritten and released in the 60's, you can see that 'charge plate' term has been and gone.
A great quote from Nancy: "I have a feeling the thief substituted these fakes for the real diamonds." Well, duuuur.

I wonder what this could be about?: Thoroughbred #3: Wonder's First Race (semi-long)

2010-05-29T19:31:00.013-05:00

Fresh from curing Wonder the Horse from her inane fear of cruel, cruel whips, Ashleigh Griffen, Wonder's savior; the elderly out-of-retirement trainer Charlie and Wonder's jockey, Jilly, are at Churchill Downs for Wonder's first race! Nobody believes in Wonder--except for the Three Wise Persons. And Ashleigh's family and friends. And a bunch of staff at Towsend Acres.

After a messy start, Wonder wins her first race! OMG, what a surprise! A couple of weeks later, Wonder is in an allowance race at Pimlico. Ashleigh is allowed to exercise her at the track the day before the race (because track officials are just fine with an inexperienced fourteen-year-old girl riding a "green" 3 y/o at a busy track). Ashleigh gets so nervous that Wonder ALMOST runs away. The following race is almost a disaster, but Wonder does come in third. Charlie learns that the sight of whips terrifies her so much, she'll need to wear blinkers. Those awful, awful whips!

The book is really rushed in the first few chapters, jumping from summer to fall. Townsend Prince, sired by the same stallion as Wonder and the pride of Townsend Acres, is also training, but then suddenly he's juvenile champion and going for a juvenile race in the Breeders' Cup.

Ashleigh's older sister Caroline misses school one day, and Ashleigh soon finds out why. Brad, the owner's rich, whip-using and therefore evil son, broke up with her over the telephone. And then when Caroline went to the barn to beg him to come back, he broke up with her "again"! In front of the grooms! Brad interrupted his conversation with the grooms (since when does he talk to grooms?) and is all, "Yeah, it's over, f--- off!"

One day, when at one of Wonder's races with Ashleigh, Caro sees Brad with his new girlfriend, runs off in hysterics and drives away in tears, crashing the car into a tree and breaking her arm. Ashleigh is so mad at Brad! Of course Caro's erratic and dangerous behavior is Brad's fault! She confronts him in the barn and tells him off for what happened to her sister. Brad is pissed and threatens to take training privileges from Charlie and riding privileges from her. Ashleigh is so nervous about that possibility that she rides badly at the next workout. Well, Ashleigh can't ride anymore. Hmm.

Jilly rides Wonder until she (Jilly) gets a cold. Then Brad rides Wonder on a day when the ground on the track is too hard, and the filly bruises a leg and pulls a muscle hard, sending Ashleigh into a spiral of Brad-hating. Wonder will be out of commission for a long time.

Luckily, Ashleigh has something to take her mind off of Wonder's fate. A boy! But he is just a friend! Really! Or so Ashleigh tries to tell herself. Mike Reese is handsome, loves horses and is training a Thoroughbred himself!

Wonder eventually heals, comes in second for the Swale Stakes, and everyone frets because Mr. Towsend wants to send her to the Jim Beam stakes in under two weeks.

Townsend Prince is scratched from the Jim Beam when Wonder enters, which makes no sense. Both Pride and Wonder have basically the same talent and chance for winning. Of course, Wonder wins. Mike calls Ashleigh to congratulate her, and she gets all silly. No, he's just a friend, really!

Wonder also goes to the Bluegrass Stakes too soon after the Jim Beam. Wonder comes out completely worn out. Can she really take the Derby?

Of course she can! The Griffens, Caro's new BF, Justin, Mike, Linda and her family, Charlie and Ashleigh, of course, are all there to see Wonder win. It was a dramatic battle to the finish! The networks are all over Ashleigh's and Wonder's story. (Can you imagine how big a story it would be if it happened in real life? Girl saves weak horse and helps train it, a woman jockey wins the most celebrated horse race in America!)

Wonder nuzzles Ashleigh all over in blatant affection, just like all horses, and gives a piercing whinny of victory at the end. Again with the whinnying of joy/victory.
**
Here are some odd/funny bits from the book:

"Ashleigh flung across her room and out the door." How do you "fling" across your room? jump off a trampoline? Propel yourself from a huge rubber band?
A scene involving Brad's new girlfriend: "Melinda Westwood...was dressed in expensive fawn riding boots. Her fair hair was ruffled from the wind...Melinda stopped beside Brad. She glanced at Ashleigh and Hank, decided they were only lowly staff, and turned her attention to Brad." Oh, really? Is that what she thought of them. It's so easy to read people's thoughts in Kentucky society!
When Wonder comes out exhausted in the Bluegrass, Charlie describes his plans to Ashleigh for prepping for the Derby: "'People may say I'm crazy, but I'm not going to work her at all for the next week...let her fatten up some. Then we'll take her out cross-country, build her up nice and slow. I'm not going to work her out on the oval until a few days before the race...then we'll wake her up and get her buzzing." Yeah, people would say he's crazy,. especially today. The American racing industry has fallen prey to quick-fix drugs and too much of a concentration of speed...there needs to be more concentration on stamina. But I won't bore you. Go Google something about horse racing and read it yourself.

Wonder's victories continue in...Wonder's Victory.

Trixie Belden #2: The Red Trailer Mystery (long)

2010-04-23T11:07:00.009-05:00

I'm back! "My" new library is open. It's very big, with two stores. There are some "quiet rooms" for studying and it's easier to find books as well. It's not quite cozy, but well structured. I'll shut up.
**
I bring you the next installment of my Trixie Belden reviews. If you need to catch up, clue in here. Trixie, best friend Honey and Miss Trask, Honey's governess, are driving all over in Honey's parents' trailer, trying to find the girls' mutual friend, Jim, who ran away, fearful of his stepfather and unaware that he's an heir to a good bit of money.

Mystery starts right away. Their neighbors in the first trailer camp they park in are very strange. The Robin is a fancy red trailer, but oddly enough (to Trixie and co.), the family is unhappy, unsociable; despite their flashy vehicle, the family is poorly dressed; and the husband is unkind to the wife (in a rated-G kind of way).

But one night, Trixie finds the husband crying at night (he is unaware that Trixie overheard him). Crying! A man crying! GASP! How dare a man cry! But Trixie really wants to help the family's two girls, especially the typical cutsie-pie, sweet, innocent little girl.

The older girl runs away, upset by her family's weirdness. The little girl, on the verge of a life of thievery ;), steals Honey's puppy. The "Robin family" soon leaves after Honey gets her puppy back. Trixie, Honey and Miss Trask leave a little later, continuing the search for Jim.

At the next camp, the girls obtain horses and ride around in the woods in a random search for Jim. As they are riding, a state trooper informs them about some camping-trailer thefts. One trailer especially (for some reason) is the biggest on the hit list--a red trailer called The Robin!

Trixie & Honey think they don't have enough evidence (even though the red trailer in camp was called The Robin) to "betray" the family that lives in the said trailer. They decide to let the troopers keep working on the case. After all, the two friends surmise, if the man of the pitiful family did steal it, he had to. Even though it was wrong, he was desperate because he was homeless...I can actually understand Trixie's and Honey's reasoning.

Gaah, I'll get it over with now. Eventually the girls find Jim and the older girl, Joeanne, camping together in the woods. But this is after Trixie & Honey, in running into an abandoned barn to get out of the rain, discover two men arguing over plans for the trailer-theft racket! They were accidentally discovered and despite Trixie's good attempts to help herself and Honey get away, they almost got in major trouble...until at the deus ex machina moment, some troopers burst in to arrest them (the thieves, not the two girls. :p ).

Everyone involved in the mystery learns that the police were tipped off to the trailer thieves from an anonymous tip by Joeanne's father. Eventually the Robin's owner forgives the family and says he (the owner) shouldn't have left the keys in the ignition. Besides, he understands why Mr. Darell needed to "borrow" it.

Jim is adopted by Honey's parents. Yipppee! Gag. This was so saccharine and contrived...I don't know why. The plot wasn't any more ridiculous than a Nancy Drew plot. Maybe it was because Trixie and Honey are fourteen y/o and the idea of Miss Trask driving them all around different towns to search the countryside for Jim just doesn't float. And everything comes out a little too "adorably right" in the end, even for a children's series book.

(Cover image courtesy of Series Books for Girls)

#29: Mystery at the Ski Jump (long)

2010-03-16T12:26:00.005-05:00

Drama happens right away. Nancy is walking in her neighborhood on a snowy day, when suddenly a car crashes into a nearby house. The driver, Mrs. Channing (to be called Mrs. C forthwith), is brought into the aforementioned house. The resident, Mrs. Martin (not related to Bess), and Nancy attend to Mrs. C.

When Nancy gets home, Hannah Gruen shows her a mink stole and says she bought stocks in, Forest Fur Co., the manufacturer of the stole. And...Hannah bought it from Mrs. C! Nancy's Mystery Sense is tingling!

The same day, Mrs. Martin consults with Mr. Drew and Nancy; Mrs. C. sneaked out without paying for the damage to the house. Mrs. Martin, who also bought fur and company stock from Forest Fur, thinks the company should pay, since Mrs. C is involved with the company. Dr. Britt, a doctor who was called after the crash but found no Mrs. C at the house, lets Nancy call patients of his who could have been duped also. (No doctor-patient confidentiality there.)

Mr. Drew and Nancy were to going to go to Montreal together so she could help Mr. Drew on one of his cases, but she decides to stay behind for a few days to work on the fur mystery. The next sighting of Mrs. C is her car. Nancy, Bess and George start a chase (they are in Nancy's car) but a few minutes later, Nancy is pulled over! Nancy explains that she was chasing a possible criminal, but the excuse doesn't fly. To top it off, Nancy's license is gone! George immediately speaks up. "Officer, this is Nancy Drew!" The officer merely replies "then there are two reasons for taking you [Nancy] to headquarters." OMG. Burn!

Of course, Chief McGinnis is lenient with Nancy, his reason being that he knows Nancy has a license, and she's been soo frickin' helpful to the police (although not in so many words).

While Nancy waits for her new license to arrive, Bess drives her to visit Mrs. Packer, an elderly woman Nancy suspects was duped by Mrs. C. Mrs. Packer also asks Nancy to find a pair of earrings that disappeared around the time Mrs. C visited.

The Girl Gang tries to trace Mrs. C through various towns. In Masonville, two plainclothes men nab Nancy, accused of stealing from a fur shop. While Nancy's at headquarters, Bess finds Judge Hart, a friend of the Drews and a prominent figure in the area. He saves Nancy by suggesting they visit the fur store owner, who right away affirms that the thief isn't Nancy. Well, THAT was easy.

Nancy discovers that the fur one woman bought was stolen. When she goes to investigate at its parent store and gives her name as she explains her mission, she is stuffed in a closet by the proprietors. They were told that 'Nancy Drew' was coming to steal more furs. George and Bess save her. Mrs. C was the one who "tipped" the couple off.

Detective work continues, and Nancy visits her Aunt Eloise in NYC so she can also look for clues. [Side-note: there is also a Mr. Channing]. Nancy's work eventually leads her to a seedy motel, where Mrs. C. could be. She only meets swanky, flirty "Bunny Reynolds" (gag). 'Mr. Sidney Boyd' sold diamond earrings and worthless stock in Forest Fur to her! And she thought she was special because she had to flirt to get Mr. Boyd to sell the stock. When she opens the earring box to show Nancy, they find that it is empty. Mr. Boyd must have stolen them after selling them. By the description they are Mrs. Packer's earrings! But Bunny will get help from the police. She has a "special friend" on the force! ;)

Nancy and Eloise see Mrs. C in a TV movie about ice skating. The actress' name is Mitzi Adele. Nancy goes home to think. Bess and George are waiting, along with a cornball, white-haired woodsman, John Horn, who dislikes cars and throws out phrases like "all we chinned about was mink" (that is, talked about while buying stock from Mrs. C).

Nancy goes to Montreal to look through random mink farms that just might be connected with Forest Fur. She also helps her dad's client, sexy, blonde Chuck Wilson, a skier who teaches Nancy to ski. Before she even puts on a ski, Nancy finds clues that the Channings could be at the lodge.

Chuck invites her to a skating show. He's a skier AND a skater! Nancy and Carson go, for they believe Mrs. C., might turn up, as she skated in the movies.While they wait for the show to start, it is announced that 'Nancy Drew' will be in the show along with an anonymous partner! Nancy goes to "her" dressing room to investigate this suspicious announcement (pretending she is the performing Nancy to get by).

Chuck and Nancy decide to save the show by going into the slot together. Nancy is immediately perfect at skating at the last minute!

Nancy takes a call meant for "Fake Nancy" at the hotel, and she discovers that a Mrs. Bellhouse is about to be duped. Via Dr. Britt they find Mrs. Bellhouse at a retirement home. Nancy and the girls find out from Mrs. B that she's going to give thousands to buy stock from her "cousin, Sidney Boyd". The girls leave to spy on the procedure. They get the police to arrest Mr. Boyd.

Nancy and the gang--including Ned, Burt and Dave--decide to take a break at Aunt Eloise's Adirondacks home to follow a clue that Aunt Eloise herself provided. There is a ski jump near the cabin. Conveniently, Chuck Wilson is there (causing a little tension with Ned), as a ski instructor.

Ned and Nancy visit a mink farm which, predictably, has had furs stolen. On their investigation, they get lost and are rescued by John Horn.

As Nancy looks out the window one night, she sees a weird light at the ski jump and goes to investigate. She is overtaken by rough men, bound, locked into a cabin in the woods, and left to die. When she is missed, the police, the gang and John Horn strike out to find her. John Horn knows all about the cabin; not many people do, it is secluded, and a perfect place to hid captives! Genius, John. They find Nancy, exhausted from cold, but of course she's up and at it in what seems like minutes.

Nancy's kidnappers are arrested. Nancy's reward is a diamond pin from Mrs. Packer, and from Chuck, enough fur to make a stole. (Chuck won his case, a lost inheritance). Maybe Nancy will wear the earrings while solving The Clue of the Velvet Mask.

"I told her how many cases you had solved yourself...like The Clue of the Black Keys and The Secret of the Wooden Lady." Mrs. Martin told Mrs. C while talking about Nancy's "cases". So the mysteries actually have their own names in Nancy's world? *giggle*. (P.S.--they are Nancy Drew titles if you didn't guess)
When Nancy is falsely arrested for stealing furs from a shop, this is the dialog at the police station: "Any relation to the lawyer in River Heights?" [the sergeant] asked. "He's my father!" said Nancy. "Good grief! You never know where these juvenile delinquents will come from." *ROTFL*
Nancy is learning to ski-jump when she must jump over a careless skier. She crashes and is knocked out for a few minutes. The only time Nancy couldn't do something, it wasn't her fault (and Chuck even assures her of that).

I wanted to have this up the week after the last week of the Winter Olympics, to celebrate a great time, but library requests get wacky long to be processed sometimes. This is one of the best Perfect Nancy books. And that cover (from Series Books for Girls)? It looks like Nancy is shaking her fits angrily at the ski jump, and an arthritic hand is superimposed over her.

There won't be any posts for about a month. Our library is moving into a new building and there's been a lot of trouble. Someone's been taking from the funds to buy new books, and the final finishes on the new building aren't as quality as they should be. Could they be connected?...I kid, I kid. But, just so y'all know, it'll be a while.

#26: The Clue of the Leaning Chimney

2010-02-21T22:09:00.001-06:00

For fun, I have included the Danish cover for Leaning Chimney, courtesy Series books for Girls.

It was a dark and stormy night...

Nancy is driving (with Bess) on a shortcut on a lonely road when she almost runs over a man. He's fallen, so Nancy goes to help. To her amazement, he rejects assistance, even threatening her. Nancy, mortified that someone could refuse her saintly help, stays. She tries to give him a package he dropped. Nancy could get brained, but doesn't heed the threats until Bess practically drags her back into the car. Nancy did see what was in the package as it was part open: a vase with a dragon pattern. Bess says it sounds A LOT like a vase in her cousin Dick Milton's pottery shop! Bess calls Dick the next day to tell him to check it out. The vase is gone! And dang, the vase was lent to Dick by his friend Mr. Soong, an older Chinese man, who wanted to help Dick attract customers. The vase is very old and worth thousands. Mr. Soong doesn't want Dick to get too upset about the theft, but Dick wants to make up for the loss.

Dick wants to find a legendary pit of fine clay used to make china. He overheard this in a random conversation; this valuable clay could be found near a "leaning chimney".

Nancy goes into Masonville, where Dick heard about the leaning chimney. She drives and looks for the chimney. At the same time. And without getting distracted and getting into an accident. must be quite a feat. And she finds a crooked chimney just before she quits for the day!

Nancy doesn't find the clay, but after she inquires the homeowner, Mrs. Wendell, Mrs. Wendell allows her to explore the attic, although it is being rented out.

When Nancy goes to the attic, she sees a man disappearing into a secret panel in the back! But Nancy can't figure out how to open the panels, and he gets away. The police smash open the compartment--which the man made himself--, and find beautiful, authentic vases. *Gasp*!

Nancy and George look for clues by the lonely road again, but run into suspicious men. This time, Nancy gets away but a George is tied up and the two men disappear. George, able to talk sensibly and stay calm just seconds after being freed from a dire situation, is unharmed. Once again, she suffers no aftereffects from being kidnapped/tied-up/left to die/treated roughly (again and again and again). Of course, Nancy doesn't, either, nor does anyone else affiliated with her.

When the men ran, they dropped a porcelain bowl, a valuable clue. Am I the only one bemused by these strategically placed clues? Meanwhile, Mr. Soong tells Nancy that the symbols on the ceramics found are important; they are the stamps of ancient pottery makers. In addition, Nancy now needs to find Mr. Soong's missing friend, Eng Moy, and his daughter, Lei, who have been missing for five years, ever since Eng Moy went from China to the US to study new pottery methods, to enrich his own pottery business. But...hey never arrived at Mr. Soong's.

Antique porcelain pieces from an in-vogue shop in NYC have been very popular lately, and a rash of thefts begins. On her quest to recover the pieces, Nancy discovers that the pieces are fakes.

And then she finds the real leaning chimney on an old mine and smelter. On some days, the chimney has a weird iron symbol on it. There is a high, impossible-to-enter fence around the building, and a woman who claims she's from an exclusive cult, threatens Nancy and George as they try to get in. The usual antics happen--Nancy is nearly trapped, she is is rescued by George, then Mr. Soong goes with them to explore the weird grounds.

They discover a fake-pottery operation, with Chinese people forced to work, making genuine-looking, fake antique pottery! And among them? Eng Moy and Lei!

Nancy and Mr. Soong hide until they can safely go to Eng Moy and Lei. Lei is despairing about her horrible life. All her and her father's attempts to escape failed. She actually says that their only way to escape is to "end it all!". This is probably the most "graphic" thing I've run across in Nancy Drew.

Mr. Soong and Nancy come out, and try to disguise themselves as workers so they can plan an escape. Mr. Soong and the 'Engs are soon trapped. But our old friend Deus Ex Machina comes along. Nancy manages to escape (climbing over the fence of the complex with a ladder they brought, used, and left on the fence), runs out to the road, and stops a State Trooper vehicle who just happens to be stopping by.

In the end, the workers (who were lured to the illegal pottery operation with promises of a better life) are free. The man who had escaped through the panel in the old house, and was also the same one who ran across the road with the vase in the beginning AND rented the attic is captured. This Mr. Carr was responsible for most of the operation, and had a clever (for a mass-market juvenile book series) plan for stealing antique ceramics to copy, and resell the copies as antiques. A brother was in "cahoots" with him.

I've read almost half the Nancy Drew's, and this is one of the most ridiculous!

#54: The Strange Message in the Parchment (LONG)

2010-02-09T23:46:00.003-06:00

~Cover image courtesy Nancy Drew Sleuth~

Nancy and a former classmate (conveniently drifting by, never to be seen again) whom she hasn't seen since high school, are standing in front of a mirror. Both are admiring a sheepskin jacket, that "Junie Flockhart" is wearing. Junie talks about the her father's slaughterhouse\ sheepskin\ parchment business, more or less hinting at a mystery. Her father recently bought a parchment with intriguing pictures painted with some intriguing. Soon after, a stranger called him, telling him that a message was on the parchment. If it was decoded, someone could "right a great wrong."

Junie and Nancy arrive at Triple Lake Farm. Bess and George as well--as Ned, Burt and Dave (of course)--tag along. Junies's BF, Dan, will also join the happy flock (pun intended) soon. Nancy's first stop is to see the parchment. It shows four pictures: a sad woman, a man with his back turned, a baby boy, and a sailboat colliding with a steamer. Okay...I had that part of the story figured out in two minutes. Anyway, Nancy and Junie visit the farm and operations, incl. the parchment factory and slaughterhouse (cheerful). They go to visit a shepherd that Junie is friends with, but find him knocked out on hill where he tends sheep. When "Eezy" is revived, he clams up about the incident, fearing the girls might get hurt. Eventually he says merely that two guys tried to get him to agree to something he felt was wrong. Eezy is a one of the rarely unique characters in the late books. He applies Bible quotes to various events and makes some fairly funny jokes.

Nancy continues to study the parchment. She even takes it out of the frame, and on the back are a few initials. Furious thinking begins! Nancy and Junie go to question the parchment's former owner, Mr. Rocco, Mr. Flockhart's best customer and neighbor. Nancy already met him once; he was very rude (read: automatic criminal)! The girls go to the gate of his house, which crests his vegetable farm. They know he's home, but there is no answer over the intercom. Nancy spazzes over how totally rude that is, then she and Junie climbs over the fence! Her reason being: because he is so rude and they need to see him for such an important reason, trespassing is ok. Double standards, Nan? Wrong is wrong. Crud for them, they are apprehended by two tough-looking men who "scold" them for trespassing. Nancy and Junie act offended. They had a right to trespass!

Nancy and Junie eventually get an appointment with Mr. Rocco to get some 'information'. Mr. Rocco is rude and (rightfully) mad about the trespassing. Nancy is "fakely" sorry so that she can get what she wants. They don't find out much, but do make Mr. Rocco suspicious. Good going, Nan.

Nan and Junie sneak around Rocco's farm to interview his workers, but the workers only speak Italian. They think a young boy, who draws beautiful pictures, might speak English, but he doesn't.

When this boy, 'Tony' (his name is conveniently on his sweater) sees Mr. Rocco in the distance, he gets back to hoeing frantically. Later, Nancy thinks 'Tony' might be the baby depicted on the parchment. Her reasoning? A is written on the back of the baby's picture and Tony is usually short for Anthony. It couldn't be Albery of Adam or whatever, now could it, or the mystery wouldn't go anywhere. :-p

Junie's boyfriend, Dan can talks to Tony, as he takes Italian in college. Tony says that Mr. Rocco is his is his uncle, but makes him work all the time.

Yawn. So various crazy things which I consider fillers happen. Nothing really important until the parchment is stolen! Nancy tries to keep the parchment from being stolen, but the parchment is dropped, the frame glass breaks, and the thief snatches the whole mess and runs. Nancy and Junie go out the next day to visit various shops to find out if someone bought glass that fits the frame. Yes, someone did! Then they inquire at a drug store see if a man bought bandages (because the thief probably cut his hands on the glass). Hole-in-one again! How lucky is Nancy, who just happens to stroll in the exact store where the bandages were purchased from!

The thief is caught! She speaks kindly to him in his cell, preaching on the wrongs of stealing. He says he's a hit man for other hit men for Mr. Rocco, but now realizes he was wrong, and thinks being in jail might be good for him. Nancy is really pleased with herself, and Junie praises her.

Fearing Tony might be in danger from Mr. Rocco, Nancy hides him with the shepherd, Eezy. To stave off claims of a crime, aka kidnapping, Tony writes a letter to Mr. Rocco, assuring him that he's fine (and he is happy), but he'll go to the police if his uncle doesn't shape up.

Then they find out that "Diana Bolardo" is coming from Italy, claiming she's Tony's mother. An Italian artist who saw the initials on the parchment, DB, said that he knew of three people with the initials DB in Rome and that that could be a lead (never mind the parchment was marked 'Milano, not Rome). This is so far-fetched I have to gag! }8-o Surprise! Diana B. looks like Tony!

Mrs. B tells of an estate left by her husband, killed in a sailing accident (sur-f*cking-prise!). Her husband's executor, his brother--Mr. Rocco!--wanted her to marry him, but she wouldn't. So Mr. Rocco stole his nephew and went to America in revenge.

Nancy and takes Mrs. B to see her son. They find Tony and Eezy bound & gagged on the hill, and then they are tied up. After the hit men leave, Nan wiggles over and frees Eezy with the ends of her fingers, and they free the others.

So, the whole gang ends up at the Rocco house. The police have caught Rocco, who is eventually found guilty of the accusations. Then! A mob of workers marches on the Rocco house to make their accusations--he gave them a fake worker's union that does nothing but lose them money--and Mr. Rocco has to go to jail. The workers get their money back, Tony and his "new" mom go to Italy; everything is happy in Nancyworld! Nancy absorbs more praise. The end. Time to go south and solve The Mystery of Crocodile Island.

Crazy Quotes:

'Mr Drew said to Junie with boyish pride, "I have a few sheepskins of my own...I'll show them to you." ' In Mr. Drew's study are some diplomas from high school, college and law school. Junie praises him for graduating with honors from all three. Now tell me he wasn't just showing the diplomas because of the parchments. xD

That's all! Sorry it isn't more concise, I'm terrible at making short, snarky blogs.

#36: The Secret of the Golden Pavillion

2010-01-17T09:36:00.001-06:00

(Cover from Series Books for Girls)

Nancy Drew is randomly flying in a helicopter above her house (it seems this happens a lot), and a burglar is climbing into the third story! (Since when do the Drews have a third story? Unless they mean the attic?)...

So Nancy has the pilot radio the tower, which then alerts her dad. A briefcase containing papers on one of Mr. Drew's new cases was taken from their house! Gaugh. If I lived next to the Drews, I'd move!!! They must get robbed every freaking week!

So the newest case is about a Hawaiian/Japanese man, Mr. Sakamaki. He's just inherited a beautiful estate in Hawaii, but two claimants have shown up. Suspicious, my dear Watson! Sakamaki also notices a mysterious 'ghost' who dances in--yes--a golden pavilion on the property. He wants Nancy to help solve the mystery, and says she can go to Hawaii with friends (and they're fresh from solving The Haunted Showboat!). Nan is worried about the expense, and 'Mr. Saka' says he'll finance it. Mr. Drew says he'll agree to that on one condition--Mr. Saka's generous offer will be his lawyer fee. Come on. I'm sure Carson would rather have his daughter go off traipsing in Hawaii, than to have money to invest or spend or whatevs.*insert sarcasm*

Nan and the gang stay at the home of Mr. Saka's friends, the Armstrongs. They do the typical Hawaiian things, surfing, swimming, wearing leis, eating tropical fruit, and watching and eating pig roasted on a spit :p . Nancy learns to hula, and is almost instantly perfect at it, of course. Yawn.

The ghost appears, there is a chase, blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, Nancy and the gang are being chased by the sneaky members of the 'Double Scorps', a frightening gang. One of its members even knocked out Mr. Drew in his office!!

They visit craters, volcanos, etc. George nearly falls off a cliff and takes Nan with her, but the boys save them.

Well, after a series of random, disconcerting adventures involving the Double Scorps, they're arrested. Turns out the ghost was just a dancer who knew a secret entrance beneath the pavilion and went back and forth among the estate. Duh. And there was supposed to be an treasure on the estate! Surprise. Not. The Double Scorps somehow found out about it, made up an elaborate plan, and somehow they found out Mr. Saka had hired Carson....and then they found Nancy was on the case too, and so on.

Really, how do these people randomly find out about opportunities to swindle?

This book was originally published 1959, when Hawaii was made a state. It was republished 1985, but NOT rewritten. Hannah Gruen frets about volcanoes exploding all the time, and how primitive Hawaii will be, and Nancy says "Hannah...it's time you learned about our new state of Hawaii" :p
Despite the emphasis in the above quote that Hawaii is just part of America now, it is constantly written like some freaky foreign country...

#30: The Clue of the Velvet Mask

2009-10-23T22:49:00.002-05:00

Quite possibly the most disjointed, ridiculously far-fetched and "one-sidedly dramatic" Nancy Drew I've read yet.

Right at the beginning, Nancy's about to go to a masquerade party, and Carson Drew just happens to mention that there's a gang that shows up at masquerade parties and steal valuables while they're in disguise. My, my...there's a one in a hundred chance of that happening to Nancy, right now, right? Just because she's Nancy doesn't mean...

But it does! At the party, the lights suddenly out and stuff is stolen! Nancy and Ned know a costumed figure climbed up a trellis to a second-story window, but they weren't able to get help. Nancy's only clue is a black velvet hood-mask, with eye holes.

The costumes at the party were all provided by Lightner Entertainment Corp., a party rental/hosting company. The company has been troubled lately, and some people are wondering if someone in the company is involved in shady deals. Meanwhile, an employee of the company, Linda Seeley, is one of the high suspects, but Nancy knows she's guiltless. Of course she does. As Nancy gets more deeply involved, she goes to more parties organized and supplied by Lightner....and more things happen. Mysterious men are following Nancy. Some of them try to get into the house, as always.

Everyone's convinced that Nancy's going to be mugged, so George has a *great* idea--she'll dress as Nancy, and Nancy as her! I guess the idea was, Nancy will be able to sleuth freely, but I just thought, instead of one girl getting mugged, another one will. Great chivalry, George, but kind of stupid. Nancy has to stop sometime.

And of course, George is mugged, drugged, and when the ruse is found out, she is threatened that bad things will happen if Nancy continues to sleuth! Thus, when George is found, instead of saying something right away to alert the police, George has a breakdown and is ordered to take it easy. She tells Nancy to stop sleuthing, but doesn't give a reason.

Baffled, Nancy keeps sleuthing...is kidnapped...and George, scared for her friend, gathers her strength and tells them what happened, so they can all use her clues to figure out where Nancy is! And, of course it all comes out right in the end.

#41: Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes

2009-09-18T20:39:00.001-05:00

This book is unique in that it mentions Nancy's maternal family. Carson randomly announces that Nancy is to solve a mystery and earn an heirloom if she goes to Scotland to visit her maternal great-grandmother of the "Douglas clan".

Meanwhile, Bess enters an international photography contest--submitting a photograph of Nancy sleuthing (the classic picture of Nancy with magnifying glass comes to mind). The prize is an international trip with a friend. The details are vague. Of course, Bess and George go along to Scotland with Nancy. Ned comes back from South America before they leave, though, and talks all about an upcoming dance and how Nancy should solve the mystery before. It's kind of cute, though, and in this book, . Nancy pays a little more attention to Ned, despite the prospect of a mystery. Anyway, Nancy gets threats not to go to Scotland, but off she goes!

Nancy spearheads a spontaneous rescue of some houseboat residents in a storm, but Bess has to bear the brunt of it. She is actually the hero this time!
Nancy, Bess, and George stop over at Eloise Drew's (Carson's sister) apartment in New York while waiting for a good time to leave for their plane. Aunt Eloise teaches Nancy to play the bagpipes.
There is a long explanation about driving on the left side of the road. We get it.
Great-grandmother Douglas lives in the Highlands, which are lonely but beautiful. There are actually some great descriptions.
Don't you just love Bess? While the others are listening in amazement to the deeds of Bonnie Prince Charlie (look it up) Bess swoons over his romantic deeds and how cute he looks in a painting.
Ned calls Nancy in Scotland. Nancy picks up the phone is all "OMG! NED!" What has become of her? :)
Nancy is falsely accused of a crime, but is finally believed because of her amazing detective skills. Because she's amazing Nancy Drew, don't you get it? Of course, a smart criminal could have amazing detective skills, but whatever...
Her heirloom is a beautiful topaz-and-diamond brooch.

Now Nancy can go back to America and nab The Phantom of Pine Hill.

Trixie Belden #1: Secret of the Mansion (long)

2009-09-12T00:36:00.002-05:00

I thought this German edition cover was cute. (Image from Series-Books.com)

Trixie Belden is thirteen, spunky, headstrong, and cheerful.

When the story opens, it's summer, and her big brothers, Brian and Mart, are counselors at summer camp. As for Trixie, she's at home doing chores. Everything from babysitting her little brother, Bobby, to feeding chickens. Not fun, right? But Mrs. Belden suggests that she do extra house/yardwork to earn money for...a horse!

The adventure doesn't happen until Mr. Frayne, the cranky old neighbor who lives in the book title's mention, falls ill and goes to the hospital. Trixie talks about how anti-social he is and Mrs. Belden reminds her that Mr. Frayne hasn't had an easy life since Mrs. Frayne died from a snakebite. Meanwhile, Trixie tends the tomato garden, which is cool. Well, not literally cool--it's sweaty work, but it's "cool" that Trixie is willing to work. Nancy, as nice as she is, never spent her days like that. At least not daily.

Honey Wheeler and her family move next door up the hill. Honey is Trixie's age, but her life is just the opposite of Trixie's. Honey was very sick as a young child. When she finally got well, her mother basically piled all the motherly duties on Honey's au pair, Miss Trask. Now Honey's a nervous shrinking violet, but a very pleasant shrinking violet. Her parents still don't see her often, but don't worry, there's plenty of money for Honey's upkeep, reinforcing the "rich people are snobs who put money over their kids' happiness" ideology in a lot of YA books.

Honey and Trixie become fast friends, and being able to ride the Wheelers' horses sweetens the deal for Trixie. girls ride the Wheelers' horses. On one such venture, they find a boy their age sleeping in the Fraynes' disrepaired mansion. The adventures begin! This boy, Jim, claims that Mr. Frayne is his great-uncle. His proof, he says, is a family heirloom given to him. There is also a rumor of a family fortune. Jim wants a new home, and some support--away from his evil stepfather.

A lot of crazy events happen, which are a lot of fun. They seem a bit corny now, not as rereadable in my older years as Nancy Drew, but these are enjoyable for the 10-13 group*. The girls ride horses, explore the woods and mansion with Jim, look for the fortune, Trixie saves Bobby (after he's bitten by a copperhead), Honey gets stronger, Jim teaches them about animals. At one point, Trixie tries to be a know-it-all, then feels guilty, in a surprisingly three-dimensional portrayal of her character. Well, wouldn't you know, our gang finds a will. For some reason, though, despite all his fuss and angst, Jim doesn't do anything about it, because he's afraid of his stepdad. So what was all the hunting and searching and dreaming about a life-saving will for, Jim. Eh?

Honey tells Trixie about New York, and how people lock their doors and are too busy to visit all the time. GASP! Trixie is amazed. Giggle. Mr. Frayne dies. Gasp! A man in town is curious about an occasional sighting of Jim. The gang agrees to be more careful. They run around and ride some more. The next day, an inquiry regarding the Frayne heir shows up in the newspaper. Jim, afraid his stepfather will see this inquiry and come for him. Jim stakes out the Frayne mansion, protecting the heirlooms that are proof he's the Franye heir. So? Come out, make your case that you are the heir, Jim! But Evil Stepdad comes, and when walking the grounds, accidentally starts a fire when he drops a cigarette. Trixie, Honey and Jim try to suppress the fire before the fire crew comes. The hysteric stepfather screams about his stepson being burned, but eventually shows his true colors and freaks about the money being burned, right in front of the firefighters. The next day, Jim's gone, leaving a nice letter for Trixie and Honey. He has to leave. Then Mr. Rainsford, the attorney of the Frayne estate, appears. ;:) He makes an exciting announcement, and the girls go to ask Miss Trask if she'll drive them all over the country in Honey's red trailer to find Jim. Methinks there will be a mystery involved with this red trailer.
**
Trixie vs. Nancy

Nancy, generally through the early books and completely in the revisions, had that level, genteel attitude and perfectionism that was love-or-hate. I liked it. It was escapist, because I wanted to be so cool and collected. Yet I also knew it was bad writing, even for a series (the originals were much better, though). I like Trixie because she has a lot of faults, but she's not mean-spirited. She's "3-D" and fun. She's willing to accept her faults but realizes them too, and she doesn't try to be overperfect. The adults in this book aren't overly critical or preachy, although they are on the chintzy side. The secondary characters aren't sidekicks like Bess or Ned in Nancy Drew. :) However, my impressions of the mystery elements aren't as good. I don't really remember the Trixie Belden books I read (just plots and a few scenes), and in #1, the gang doesn't really try to solve a mystery. They look around a house, try to keep Jim under cover, and discover things randomly. It's kind of disjointed. Overall, I'd give this an 8/10

Anyone who owns a whip misuses it: Thoroughbred #2: Wonder's Promise

2009-09-08T21:46:00.004-05:00

All is joyful at Townsend Acres. Ashleigh's Wonder is a healthy yearling--instead of a sick foal. Now Wonder can be trained to race. The Ashleigh Griffen who saved Wonder is worried that Wonder will have a hard time being trained. She can't watch the first day of training because of school. Damn school! But after she pratically leaps from the bus the minute it stops at her home, she runs straight to the barn. Ashleigh can tell from Wonder's mood that training didn't go too well, and surmises that it's partly because the trainer didn't take time to pat and kiss and get to know Wonder before taking her out [sic].

Soon, Wonder has to be trained to a saddle. Long, angsty story short, it doesn't go too well. Jennings, the trainer, is harsh. (that is, firm), which is not good for Wonder! Charlie, the old retired trainer, who is helping Ashleigh train to become a jockey, says he could alert the head trainer, Maddock--IF Jennings WAS abusing Wonder. But he's not. Sorry for the expert discipline you're getting, Wonder.

Conveniently, Jilly, Townsend Acre's female exercise rider and jockey, is assigned to ride Wonder during saddle train, and shows how amazing Wonder is. Then, more bad stuff happens. Ashleigh can't be Wonder's (non-official, non-paid) groom anymore! Still, Jilly's riding, right? Nope--Jilly is soon injured in a race, and is replaced by Jocko the jockey (groan). He's a new rider, and he uses a whip! Whips are bad! Jocko abuses his rights to bear ~~arms~~ whips. it. He doesn't beat her with it...but, uh...she just hates whips, okay? Even Mr. Griffen goes to watch the training, and to Ashleigh's dismay (again), he says nothing's wrong. Wonder's just not working.

A few days later, Wonder's taken out of training with the possibility of being sent to auction! BUT! When Ashleigh asks if she can ride Wonder under Charlie's supervision, Maddock's all, OK, whatevs. Heck, whats wrong with "lending" an expensive, well-bred, almost untrained filly to just anyone? Especially if one saw the first ride, which involved a skittish, scared horse and Ashleigh, who quickly realized it did take more than words and pats on the neck to handle a horse. Ashleigh falls off on the second ride, Wonder bolts, Ashleigh falls, and is embarrassed when rich and therefore snobbish Brad Townsend (the owner's son) brings Wonder back, laughing.

On January 1st, Wonder turns 2 y/o, officially. Rides, small stuff, etc. Then Caroline tells Ashleigh that she was talking to the riders, and the riders don't think Ashleigh is good enough. Caroline claims telling Ashleigh this for Ashleigh's own good, maintaining that hearing it from her first is better than overhearing it from the riders. They get into a fight when Ashleigh finds out that Caroline has been going out with Brad. How dare she! Brad has teased/"mocked" Wonder and Ashleigh. How can Caroline be such a traitor? Ash runs down to the barn and cries with Wonder.

The rides get better, though. 23 flat, at the 1/4 mi., in the mud on a trail by the paddocks. YEAH. Rachel Alexandra's 1/4 m. speed in the Woodward was just shy of 23 in the fast track. 23 in the mud, in a workout? PUHLEEZE. So one day, Charlie, Wonder and Ashleigh, Jilly and the pace horse Dominator sneak onto the track. It's dark except for light from the training barn, and most of the staff are gone, except for a couple of grooms Charlie trusts. Wonder blazes like a rocket! Ashleigh can only see the while fence rail, trusting Wonder to find the way.

But, all the secrecy was for naught. Hank, a groom from the breeding barn, "rats" on Charlie, Ashleigh and Jilly. Now Maddock and Townsend want to see Wonder work (and don't discipline anyone for working a horse in the dark). Jocko rides, and it's horrible, but of course, Charlie and Ashleigh convince Maddock to let Ashleigh ride! Ashleigh and Wonder surge past the other riders and horses. and they prove the disbelieving riders wrong. Wonder's going to be great, and Jennings and Jocko are embarrassed for always saying Wonder is bad. All it took was cuddles and keeping one or two certain riders on her.

Wonder runs her first race in the brilliantly titled Wonder's First Race.

QUOTES:

Ashleigh tries to convince Jennings to let her 'job' of grooming Wonder.

We've got this special thing. I know she'll be more relaxed if I keep grooming her."

-
Next: Trixie Belden #1: The Mansion Mystery

#1: The Secret of the Old Clock

2009-09-02T16:28:00.000-05:00

~Note: long post~

I guess it's high time I recapped the one that actually began it all. Nancy Drew #1: The Secret of the Old Clock!

The original Secret of the Old Clock was released in 1930. WOWZA! 70+ years! I read the original in the reprinted Applewood Books ed.
-
We find our friend cruising along in a dark blue convertible on a country road.

"It was sweet of Dad to give me this car for my birthday," Nancy thought.

It begins! The legendary blue convertible (it was a roadster in the originals). I thought Nancy was soo lucky. Nancy thinks to herself that it's fun to help Carson with his legal cases. I always liked her relationship with Carson.

As Nancy drives along a stone bridge, a little girl suddenly from the driveway of a house, dashing in front of a truck! Luckily, the truck misses. The little girl climbs up on the wall on the other side, but she falls off. Nancy stops the car, gets and runs down the bank. This is one of the things I like about Nancy. Though she could is one-dimensionally perfect, she was never afraid to get dirty. She picks up the little girl, who is unhurt but knocked out, and takes her to the house of the driveway she ran from.

Two elderly women run out, calling "Judy, Judy!" One asks Nancy if she hit Judy with her car. Nancy says No. All go in the house to help Judy, and Edna and Mary Turner explain that Judy's parents are dead, and that they care for her. Nancy is stays to help for a long time.

As Nancy walks out, the two women realize that some valuables are missing. The people in the van came to their house and offered to buy furniture. The Turners sold some furniture, as they needed all the $ they can get. The men must've gotten the valuables.

Nancy gets the thieves' description. Oh, yeah, and the Turners, in talking about how they wish they could do more for Judy, mention that a relative of theirs, Josiah Crowley, left a will that it was supposed to include them, but after his death, the will left all the money to the Topham family. But they still think there's a final will.

At home, Nancy quizzes Carson Drew about the Crowley case.

"You might try to find a hidden will if Mr. Crowley made one?" [Mr. Drew said]. "I might." Nancy's eyes sparkled in anticipation.

This. This is what it's all about, people!

Nancy shops for a dress for a country club dance the next day. Ada and Isabel Topham, who went with her to high school, are there. They are vapid, and Nancy, though she is not spiteful toward them, does not care for them and dislikes them.

Nancy runs an errand, then takes a country road to find two girls, named Hoover, who are also to have been in Crowley's will, though no relation to him. It storms; the convertible's top malfunctions. Nan gets wet & the road gets muddy. She detours into a barn--almost hitting someone. Allison Hoover. Allison brings Nancy into the house to dry off and meet her sister, Grace. Nancy borrows a robe and her clothes are hung over the stove to dry. It's Allison's birthday; there is cake, and Grace and Nancy sing Happy Birthday. The sisters talk about how they make ends meet, and how Josiah Crowley was supposed to leave something in his will. How coincidental, as Nancy was waiting to mention the will. Nancy promises to help the Hoovers, and goes home

Nancy quizzes more people who were supposed to be in the will: Abigail Rowen, a crusty, peppery old lady who is housebound (and assisted by Nancy, of course...elderly lady #3!), and Fred and William Matthews. Abigail is the one who, after searching through confused memories, gives a clue about a clock. She also saw the second will but not what was in it!

The clue to the will is in Crowley's mantel clock, which the Tophams own. Nan goes to them, pretending she is interested in their heirlooms, and is that mantle clock the Crowley antique? They tell her the clock was so ugly that they sent it to their Moon Lake bungalow, but that the bungalow still has lots of gorgeous antiques that are better. Their caretaker, Jeff Tucker, can show her around. Nancy isn't above a little flattery.

Nancy goes to Moon Lake with Helen Corning. She has a lot of fun, but sneaks away to the Topham bungalow. There are mysterious fresh tire tracks, which leads to Nancy spying on some men who are stealing furniture, which leads to, yes, Nancy being locked up. This is actually fairly tense because Nancy is not as level-headed as in later books, and she doesn't escape by herself. She opens the door by using a clothes-rod as a ram, but not quite. Jeff Tucker comes after untying himself & threatens Nancy, who calls out, thinking she's a thief who's trapped in a room. Nancy tries to convince him she's a female, but he doesn't believe it. She screams...

"All right, all right, ma'am. I believe you! No man could make that racket. This way out, lady!" [Jeff Tucker said]

I laughed so hard. They go to the police, Nancy follows the truck and finds it at a shabby inn. She finds the clock in the van, and inside it is a little notebook. The police come and arrest the men. Nancy keeps the notebook, claiming it's legit because the police aren't involved in the Crowley case.

The notebook states that an alternate will is in a safe-deposit box in a bank. It is! A quick meeting of lawyers and people involved in the will is called up the next day. The will is read. Grace, Allison, Fred, William, Abigail (who is still housebound), Edna, and Mary each get $10,000. The Tophams, who were counting on there not being a second will, spent a lot of money. They get $5k. They have to go to a smaller house, and Mrs. Topham and the girls have to work. The Tophams make a scene. Nancy is thrilled that all the deserving people got what they needed, and she looks forward to the next mystery.

Love & grain saves filly: Thoroughbred #1: A Horse Called Wonder

2009-08-27T16:31:00.006-05:00

The premise was cliche (girl takes care of sick horse, won't let her die, proves everyone wrong), but instead of the usual riding school/horse show setting, it was centered around horse racing, which appealed to me. I gobbled these books up until the plots got recycled waay to often. Anyway...
**
Twelve y/o Ashleigh Griffen has just moved with her family to the celebrated Thoroughbred farm, Townsend Acres. Ashleigh is heartbroken--she claims she'll never love a horse again, not after a disease wiped out several of the horses at the Griffen's breeding farm. Insurance didn't cover the loss--it seems Ashleigh's parents were rather naive to the realities of what can happen at a multiple-horse farm. The family, composed of Derek and Elaine, fifteen-year-old Caroline, Ashleigh and eight-year-old Rory, now a small house, conveniently located on the farm.

The entire family takes a tour of the farm, to the dismay of Ashleigh. She'll never love a horse again! Yet she is both depressed AND intrigued about being surrounded by horses again. Townsend Acres has both breeding facilities and training facilities, so there are a lot of horses to remind Ashleigh about the tragedy at the Griffens' farm. One of the most handsome horses is of Townsend Pride, Townsend Acres's prize stallion.

Ashleigh mopes, gets attached to a gentle broodmare that looks like the special horse she used to have, mopes again, and finally loves 'Holly' completely. So much for never loving a horse again. An added bonus is that Holly is in foal to Townsend Pride! Ashleigh is appointed Holly's (unpaid) groom per her dad's approval, because the farm owner totally won't care that a kid is under the care of an expensive and valuable broodmare. Ashleigh also watches Mr. Townsend's fifteen-year-old son, Brad, ride Townsend Pride's promising colt, Townsend Prince. Brad is "curt" to the Griffens; thus, he's a jerk right away. But he's cute and Caroline crushes over him.

Ash makes a BFF at school. Linda is fun and loves horses--what more could one want? School itself, though, takes up time swooning over horses and grooming Holly. Then...Ashleigh comes back from school one day and finds that Holly's foal has just been born! But It hasn't stood for minutes and the vet suggests putting the chestnut filly down. Ashleigh cries; I can't "blame" her for that. but then there's a conference over what to do. Mr. Townsend is away, and apparently, Derek Griffen is the only one who can make decisions about what to do with problem horses in the breeding barn. Ashleigh gets the filly to finally stand and nurse, but the foal's still weak. Ashleigh begs her dad for time. Derek agrees, but the vet is like, "y'all are totally frickin' nuts."

Ashleigh stays in the stall with Holly and the filly, only crawling out to go to school, where she talks and talks about the filly. Ashleigh doesn't like that some people say the filly won't make it. But other people support her, and the filly earns the unofficial name "Ashleigh's Wonder". A groom named April, is Ashleigh's and Wonder's closest ally. Her boyfriend Jesse, who is also a groom, pretends he doesn't care about the Wonder, but he really does. April and Jesse are a cute couple. It's too bad both of them disappear after book #1.

Wonder isn't weaker, but isn't getting stronger either. Then, miracle of miracles! The crusty retired trainer Charlie, who is allowed to stay on the farm because he has no family, helps Ashleigh care for Wonder. They have a bit of conflict over Ashleigh's dream of being a [female] jockey, but they focus on nursing Wonder to strength with love, exercise, a milk substitute mixed with bran mash. All of this magical food and love improves Wonder and helps Me. Townsend rethink auctioning her off. During all this, Ashleigh is allowed to ride a retired gelding racehorse, Dominator. She also talks to Jilly, the female exercise rider who wants to become a jockey, too. Charlie eventually coaches Ashleigh to become a jockey.

Then Ashleigh's grades start to drop. She struggles to fix her grades, but she eventually has to give her parents her bad report card. Now she's banned to stop caring for Wonder until her grades improve. OHNO! Her grades get better, of course, and she works hard with to improve the filly's strength, exercising her even in the sleety winter. BUT Ashleigh gets sick! OH NO @2! Or not...Linda and Mrs. Griffen exercise Wonder in all of winter's sleety suckiness.

At last, Townsend must make a decision. Should Wonder be auctioned off? Oh the tension! Oh, the totally unpredictable ending (ha ha). In our closing scene, Ashleigh takes Wonder out to the stable yard, with Charlie silently supporting her. Mr. Townsend watches Ashleigh walk Wonder, and decides that Wonder's really improved. He'll give her another year before he makes a final decision.Everyone else is happy for Ashleigh and practically gives her a standing ovation. Wonder "whinnies for joy". Yeeeah. Now to move on to the terror-of-whips drama that is Wonder's Promise.

#43: Mystery of the 99 Steps

2009-08-25T20:09:00.002-05:00

This used to be my favorite Nancy Drew mystery. It's a fun mystery, but the plot and events are hilariously corny. I think I can summarize it quickly...

Carson Drew's case, involving "Monsieur LeBlanc"'s mysterious financial habits, is almost completely given to Nancy. Nancy is also doing an exchange program with Monique and Marie, two girls from France. Their aunt just happens also to live in River Heights, and she has a mystery for Nancy, too.

Aunt Josette has a weird recurring dream of falling down 99 steps in Paris, where she lived when she was a kid. Aunt Jossette hopes Nan will help her get closure by finding the stairs, and stop the dream.

Nancy and Bess and George go to France--after several attempted break-ins, threats from a mysterious "Monsieur Neuf" (Neuf=#9), who also puts a sign in Nancy's car--"Beware the Green Lion!". According to the story, in the Middle Ages "green lion" was a code for an acid that destroys gold. Also in the Middle Ages, people were trying to turn lead into gold. :P

After randomly looking around for 99 steps, Nancy finds it at a random ruined chateau. It turns out that Aunt Josette's childhood au pair was married to Louis Aubert, who tricked Monsieur LeBlanc into thinking coal could be turned into gold. Louis managed to LeBlanc to sell all of his (LeBlanc's) fortunes in order to purchase diamonds--so that when everything "became gold", the price of gold would collapse and they could sell diamonds for millions at a profit. Not only is LeBlanc very, very stupid, so is Aubert. Even though he might trick LeBlanc into giving him tons of money for the "experiment", LeBlanc is pushing Aubert to introduce his "experiment" to the public. LeBlanc's trick is covering gold with charcoal and then firing it off. You'd think it would be a short-lived trick, right? Wouldn't LeBlanc see past it? Nope. This is a very very clumsy mystery.

Moving on! It is revealed that when Josette was little, her au pair (who is found alive and well in France) was in love with Aubert and dated him.. One day, she had to take young Josette to the lab so she could be with Louis, but didn't want Josette to know about the lab. The au pair blindfolded Josette and pretended they were playing blindman's bluff. She started to lead Josette to the steps, but Josette stumbled and fell down the stairs. Josette was unhurt, but was (understandably) really traumatized.

The bad guys are arrested--the au pair is sorry and is innocent--and all is well.

Nancy attracts the attentions of Henri, an attractive young man, at a ball. Henri later helps her try to catch a disguised Louis Aubert. Aww, too bad Ned doesn't know. :P
During a tour of another historic site, an overweight woman almost causes an accident, making the girls stumble down the stairs. This woman is very rude and annoying. Because overweight people are always crude, selfish people, you know.
Nancy saves a little boy who climbs on a statue of Joan of Arc to see a parade. Everyone cheers for her.
As mentioned, there's no Ned. No Burt or Dave either.
The girls talk about Joan of Arc. "Joan was seventeen when she requested [supplies] to help fight the English invaders," said Nancy. "I bet he laughed at her," George remarked. Then we get a history lesson--complete with dates. Really. These "history lessons" are worked into the girls' conversations, common in the Nancy Drew international mysteries.

**
Next: Taking a break from Nancy's exploits with a recap of one of my favorite childhood horse stories: Thoroughbred #1: A Horse Called Wonder

#47: The Mysterious Mannequin

2009-08-11T13:10:00.005-05:00

Yay! My first blogged international mystery!

__
We open with Mr. Drew receiving a package. A mysterious package. There is no name or return address on the package, but it was posted from Turkey. It contains a prayer rug. Mr. Drew assumes its probably from Farouk Tahmasp, a former client and tailor shop owner. Mr. Tahmasp was falsely accused of smuggling rugs (not smuggling rugs!! OHNO!). His name was cleared, but he fled to Turkey before he was told of the sentence. Nancy thinks a message could be hidden in the rug because she "heard that years ago in Turkey, messages were hidden in rugs." Of course she did.

While Nancy unravels (no pun intended) the message in the rug, a Turkish man stalks her. One night, he tries to steal the rug, but Nancy comes down and pulls it away from him. Then he hides a scimitar in the rug (while the Drews and Hannah are away). Nancy rolls out the rug, and gosh darn, she must have unrolled it really violently. The scimitar almost stabs her. This little incident doesn't phase Nancy, though, and the scimitar-free rug is deciphered.

The message says to bring a certain mannequin to Istanbul. The mannequin, one sitting in Farouk's old tailor shop, is gone, though. Nancy remembers it from childhood; she laughs that she once thought it winked at her. Nancy gets clues from a crazy old man who loiters in the tailor shop (under new ownership). "Haw-Haw" shows her the slippers that were once on the mannequin. But..the soles are worn! Nancy surmises that the mannequin must have been dragged across the floor to storage, but a woman in a nearby apartment talks about the mannequin, saying it is strange that it wasn't in the window all the time. Hmm.

Nancy, Bess, and George go about searching for clues from this place to that person, until their adventures take them to the Turkish/Greek district, where they eat at a Greek restaurant and have grape leaves stuffed with meat (YUM). Nancy asks the owner questions about various people connected with the mystery. A man whom is dining nearby gets angry and drives the owner away. The girls get free yogurt and Greek bread as a sort of apology from the owner.

One day, they see the same man who tried to steal the rug showing a letter to a dark-haired, possibly Turkish woman. She cries and runs off. When the girls chase the man, he drops his wallet to distract them, but they keep going. All for naught--the man gets away. There is no ID in the wallet, but there's the letter, saying Farouk's dead. Nancy thinks that the message is fake and deceiving and that it was given to the dark-haired woman for a reason. (ya think?)

Nancy tracks down the young woman. Her name is Aisha Hatun, and Nancy learns that she and the mysterious man, now known as Arik, don't get along. Arik wants to date her; but she doesn't want to date him. She loves Farouk!

Arik was under suspicion at first, but is found to be innocent of the rug stealing/scrimitar crime. He has a doppelganger--his cousin.

Nancy finds discount fares to Turkey and believes that she can find out more in Turkey, and possible find Farouk! He can tell her where the mannequin is and so he can have it shipped to Turkey. What's this? Bess and George get permission to go, along with Ned, Burt and Dave! Guess Emerson has generous semesters. Aisha goes too, hoping to find Farouk.

Adventure abounds. Bess wanders from the gang to buy perfume. Then a boy tricks her, saying her friends are looking for her, but he locks her up. Gullible Bess, after some 47 books, haven't you learned!? The boy is Arik's cousin's brother. Aslanapa, Arik's cousin, delivers an ultimatum: tell about the mannequin, or Bess goes bye-bye! But all by themselves, the crew finds Bess and has Aslanapa arrested!

Nancy, George, Bess, Ned, Dave, and Burt (oy!) goe to the place indicated in the rug, a big ancient cistern. Aslanapa's brother, angry about his brother's arrest, is back. He pushes Nancy into the cistern. The boys save Nancy and have Aslanpa taken away. Nancy insists that she's okay and continues to tour the cistern with the crew. Then a handsome young Turkish man walks in. IT'S...Farouk! There's a big dinner, praise for Nancy, obligatory praise for the others. It's told that Aisha used to be the "mannequin" for some reason. Surprise. Not.

Helen Corning/Archer appears. The girls meet her for tennis, and Helen thinks she knows where the mannequin is, but it flunks out, of course.
At a restaurant located by a scenic water wheel, a boy falls in the water, Nancy jumps in and saves him. George helps her; however, Nancy gets ALL the praise.
I love this part: Nancy is reading aloud from the rug part of the message: "I love..." Ned walks in, saying "Me? That's great!" :D The message continues to read "...her" "Carson, please bring mannequin. I love her."

#35: The Haunted Showboat

2009-07-28T18:22:00.002-05:00

*spoilers*

Once again, Nancy Drew gets a vacation tied to a mystery, this time in New Orleans. George and Bess' cousin Donna Mae Haver wants them and to come to New Orleans for her engagement ball. Her parents, "Colonel" and Aunt Stella, want Nancy to solve a mystery connected to the abandoned showboat River Princess, which got stuck in a bayou during a hurricane.

Nancy says that she, Bess and George can drive in her blue convertible to NO. She packs a trunk, taking her mother's shawl and fan to wear to the ball. But a thief steals her locked car, and the suitcase in the trunk! No worries, Carson Drew gives her a yellow convertible. Conveniently, it was going to be a future birthday gift, with the blue car as a trade-in. Lucky Nancy, being in a suspended timeline with no job, no worries, adoring friends, total self-confidence. :)

Nancy, Bess and George "roadtrip" from their home in the midwest to NO. Sounds totally awesome, if you like driving. Life before GPS and Google maps must have been kinda tough, though ;).

After they've been driving a while, they hear a ticking in the yellow car...a bomb! As soon as it is deactivated, Nancy and friends continue on their journey. Then--the rear end of the car starts falling off! A car dealer who knows the River Heights car dealer lends Nancy a car.The girls finally do what they do best--eat, then find a motel. Bess is delighted. Once on road, they almost fall off a cliff.

At New Orleans, they pass "quaint cabins, formerly used by slaves." Yes, I'm sure the slaves found them as quaint. They pass gorgeous houses and azalea bushes. I live in Texas' azalea country, and dang, they are gorgeous.

When they arrive at the Havers', they meet the Colonel and Aunt Stella, and the giggly but charming Donna Mae, who was going to be married to Charles Bartolome, but then met Oxford grad, Alex Upgrove. She broke off the engagement to date Alex, and shortly became engaged to Alex-the-jerk. Anyway, Nancy, George and Bess go sightseeing with Donna and Alex. The girls also pick up costumes for Donna's engagement ball, which will be on the riverboat, if it can be taken out of the bayou. The girls love New Orleans and the food (I love the food, too). A man who looks like the car thief talks to Alex. Let's see, car theft, car bomb, car falls apart, girls nearly go over cliff, Alex is a suspect? And we aren't even at Ch. 7. The ghostwriters outdid themselves.

Oh, anyway, the mystery is, the Havers have had repairs done on the Princess, but all work done is always vandalized, and there are mysterious, haunting-like happenings. A rusty calliope plays, a ghost appears, there are mysterious voodoo chants; I bet we can predict how these are produced.

At home, Nancy, George, and Bess have a dance rehearsal with Donna. George falls off the makeshift stage and hurts herself. Donna whines that everything will go wrong if George is out. Nancy, George, and Bess are all disgusted, so they leave and go to the "colored" (the book's words, not mine) maid and butler and ask about a river guide so they can get to the riverboat. Cue Uncle Rufus, a kind, elderly black man. The girls and Uncle head down the river\bayou.

In the swamp, Uncle's boat runs into a barricade of sharp rocks. Uh-oh. Uncle Rufus wades off to get a boat, but Alex comes just in time, in a motorboat. Nancy makes plans with Uncle to go to the riverboat later that afternoon.

Nancy, George, Bess and Uncle finally get to the riverboat. All three go onboard, and they find an ornate hairpin and Charles Bartolome, who invites the girls to his and his mother's home for dinner. When Donna finds out, she goes into hysterics, but then puts on an act of indifference. Nancy suspects she feels guilty about her engagement. Well, duh. Another Donna-and-Alex sightseeing trip turns into a sleuthing trip for Nancy, but Alex tries to follow her. Nancy finds her blue convertible, now painted black, in a junkyard. It is in a poor neighborhood, so of course, the people are slovenly. When Nancy goes back to Bess, George, and Donna, Donna announces that she's invited Ned, Burt, and Dave for Mardi Gras. She also says they can't refuse. It's implied that Nancy thinks Donna doesn't want Alex or Charles to "make moves" on Nancy, George or Bess.

Alex tries to delay Nancy, Bess and George fromf their dinner engagement, but they manage to get away. Someone throws a rock at Nancy near the Bartolome home, but it misses. They have a nice visit and go to the showboat.; they are then startled to see an elderly man and woman going to the Princess. The woman seems to be pretending to visit an old-time play, talking to invisible friends and taking imaginary tickets. Charles and Nancy follow the man and woman when they canoe off; the woman goes to her own house.

Charles and Nancy stop the man; he's Henry de la Verne and the woman is Henry's sister Louvina, owner of the hairpin. Louvina misses the old-time fun on the Princess.Their grandfather owned it (I guess it's out of family ownership now). Louvina loves to pretend that the old shows are still playing and the people still visiting the boat, so Henry lets her keep up her charade. He doesn't want the boat moved because he thinks it would upset Louvina.

Drama, drama! Louvina isn't crazy after all, and she wants the Princess restored, thanks to Nancy's communication skills. Nancy's suitcase, shawl and fan are recovered. Alex is a fraud, using Donna to get closer to the gold that is found on the boat! Donna realizes her mistake, matures, and Charles and Donna get re-engaged. After Alex tries to run away during the Mardi Gras parade, Ned does his famous football tackle and is Nancy's hero. The end! Everyone's impressed and praises Nancy. The riverboat is restored and in an amazingly short time, because everyone works together! Gag. Nancy's next carefree adventure is in The Secret of the Golden Pavilion.

Clumsy handling of a strangely good subject.

2009-07-12T21:59:00.002-05:00

Another book from Lurlene McDaniel, the woman who was (is?) fairly well-known in the YA fiction circles for her books about tragic deaths and diseases. Get ready for tragedy!
***
Lacey Duval has diabetes--and she's ashamed of being a diabetic. What will people think? Lacey's so embarrassed that she finds it almost impossible to take insulin shots at school or around friends. But there's a solution--sneaking away to give herself the shots. If she forgets her syringe before school, she makes up for it by adjusting her food and water (I don't think that would really work, but what do I know?). She does not want to be late by going back to get it. What I don't is that skipping shots increases the likelihood of having a reaction, which will reveal what she doesn't want to reveal! Oh, wait, I think I smell a convenient plot device.

Lacey is also getting tired of her parents' protectiveness. They're divorced, but still bicker about her. Her dad takes her on "dates" to special restaurants. The wording and setting make this sound kind of awkward. Her mom bugs her about seeing her doctor\uncle. Throughout scattered descriptions of her parental problems, which are told and not shown, she starts to push the rules. She stays out late, skips doctor appointments, shuffles or ignores her insulin shots and messes with her food. Lacey even starts to purge. She tried it after seeing Monet, a popular girl, do it. Lacey promises not rat on Monet, because Monet caught her doing insulin shots and thought she was doing drugs. Lacey lied: "[These are allergy shots]...to help me build up resistance." Allergy shots? Who would swallow that?

Lacey is also caught between two guys. There's Jeff, a hemophiliac whose heart (no pun intended) she "played with" when she was at a center for special-conditions teens, and Todd, a flashy, flirty guy. Who turns out to to be a jerk. Lacey tires to get closer to Jeff, but he's nervous about getting into a relationship. Katie, Lacey's best friend, knows why. Lacey messed with Jeff's mind!

Worst of all, Lacey keeps lying about her problems while complaining. One day, Katie calls and gives her tough love. The girls fight. Finally, Lacey's neglect catches up with her. In front of several kids from the school, she collapses and ends up in the hospital. Several IV and insulin drips later, counseling, and apologizing to her friends and family, Lacey is ready to go back to school and face the truth. To her surprise, there is a party to celebrate her return. Everyone accepts her, and some are genuinely curious (in a nice way) about her disease. Only Todd is uncaring and jerky, but Lacey is all, "get away, you a**".

Well, there we go.from constant drama to happy-joy. A great subject, but a rather clumsy handling of a good subject.. :)

#55: Mystery of Crocodile Island

2009-07-11T10:51:00.003-05:00

Carson Drew has a friend in trouble (again). Mr. Gonzales has a crocodile farm in Florida, and some of the workers seem to be acting rather shady. Mr. Gonzales needs help NOW, so of course, Mr. Drew enlists Nancy!

Nancy, George, and Bess fly to Florida to stay with the Cosgrove family. Big mistake! A man named Steven meets them at the airport to pick them up in his car, and suddenly Nancy, Bess and George are captives. Aready.

Nancy picks locks with the nail file and bobby pin she just happens to have. Very McGyver! Nancy, Bess and George run through a swamp eventually get back to civility so they can call the police; the police come to get their story, and Nancy, George and Bess take a cab to the Cosgrove's.

The gang visits Crocodile Island to meet Mr. Gonzales, who thinks his partners might be selling boot-leg crocodiles (WHAA?). When Nancy, Bess, and George try to visit Croc-Isle off-hours with the Cosgrove's son Danny, they are threatened by a man who man makes his point by scraping their boat with his, saying the damage will be worse if they don't get out fast.

After a mysterious nighttime delivery to the island and some threatening phone calls, things are getting scary. A.k.a, normal. Carson's worried, but Nancy convinces him that she can stay. After all, she has a sixteen-year-old boy (Danny) to protect her and her friends! She'll create a plan to keep herself from getting killed, too.

Nancy and Co. find treasure, look for clues, get attacked by mosquitoes, and discover that a suspect is an AWOL Navyman. They overhear a phone conversation; "...need five hundred" Five hundred what? Five hundred high-speed cameras from the US, that's what, smuggled out for secret operations! Freaky. Eventually, Nancy gets captured again, but not alone!

Nancy and Ned, who is visiting with Burt and Dave, get trapped in a submarine. Dave manages to radio for help. Everything is solved! No more sneaky camera operations. Everyone's safe, even the crocs.

When Nancy wants to know more about submarines (she and her friends see a periscope in the water) she is able to visit a naval base, as the Cosgroves are, conveniently, friends with a naval captain. Nancy tracks down the AWOL. Really, this is much like The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion: Florida, sneaking around the government, swamp animals threatening them...

If your mother starts to die, you must change yourself.

2009-06-27T20:10:00.003-05:00

In Mother, Please Don't Die by Lurlene McDaniel, I get my first real taste of Mrs. McD's disease fixation.

Megan McCafferey runs into her house from softball practice, totally excited about having creamed the competition. She comes full of dust and throws her dusty glove on the kitchen table. Older sister, Audrey, in a crisp, perfect dress, is absolutely horrified. They bicker over whether or not Megan should be more feminine, and then Audrey makes Megan feel guilty by saying that her storming in and being anti-feminine disturbs their weak, invalid mother.

Megan and Mom have a heart-to-heart, in which Mom essentially says "you're getting older, so you'd better start acting like a 'normal' woman so you can hook a guy." Ha. Mom is trying to be sweet, but trying to get her daughter to be a 1950's version of what a woman should be? Gag.

Audrey's getting married and is freaking out over flowers, bridesmaid arrangements, and everything else. Meanwhile, Megan's having a ton of fun playing softball with John-Paul, the "just a friend" guy who is so sexy. He also has his eyes on theshallow flirt, Becky. I can see where this is going.

One day, Mom is found unconscious in her room. Dad and family follow her ambulance to the hospital. Mom had a seizure due to...a tumor! Never saw that coming, did we. The tumor is in the brain, Mom will need to have the tumor tested, and then treated if it's malignant. FAST FORWARD. It's malignant.. Never expected that, eh? Ugh, my sarcasm mode is working overtime.

The family bravely decides to go ahead with wedding plans. Meanwhile, Megan finds herself confused about John-Paul, because she just wants to be friends with him when he's by himself, but when he's with Shallow Becky, she's mad! So she bottles it up and Secretly Hates Becky.

On the wedding front, everything goes well. After much reluctance, Megan agrees to try on the wedding dress. She stood up for herself on one small point; no frilly 'Southern Belle' dress, but a dress fitted to her, with Audrey's chosen color of lavender. Daughters and Mom bond in a surprisingly cute scene (this was just weeks after I had spent hours trying to convince my sister that her chosen wedding dress won't eat her on her wedding day). Then Audrey moves her date of her wedding up, and Audrey and Mom stop short of saying outright that it is just in case Mom dies before the wedding. So Megan refuses to have any part in the wedding. And because she's not allowed to have feelings, Mom and Audrey bitch at her.

But a few heart-to-heart talks later (after Mom spills to Megan that she was once a tomboy, but changed when she became a subservient wife) everything's great, Audrey and her fiance get married. Megan wears her bridesmaid dress, gets a makeover, and LOVES feeling feminine, thus getting compliments from John-Paul. She and John-Paul hook up. and it's all fluffy flowers and rainbows. Until Mom passes away...

Wow, total downer. But now Megan's a Perfectly Aligned Female.

#51: Mystery of the Glowing Eye

2008-12-22T10:21:00.003-06:00

This book opens fantastically! And check out the Technicolor, Hitchcock cover...

The book opens...

Nancy: "What did Marty King mean by her remark?"

And what does Nancy mean by that?

Nancy's J-E-A-L-O-U-S of her father's new secretary! Her father dares to mentions to Ms. King a new mystery involving a glowing eye. You traitor, Carson! [/sarcasm] Also, Ned has been kidnapped, and the only clue is a message from him, dropped from a robotic helicopter, which had landed on the Drews' front lawn. There is only one line--Beware of Cyclops! But Mary King, Carson's new secretary, cattily claims she's already solved part of the mystery!

Nancy admits to Bess and George she's jealous. "Jealous!" George exclaims, summing up the character profile that the ghostwriters must have had. "That's one trait you don't have!"

So let's sift it out to the best parts: There's a creepy museum with a glowing eye image in the wall. Burt and Dave hang out in a suspicious house. The gang is mesmerized by hypnotic beams of lights shaped like eyes, with disembodied voices echoing in the room. There is a mysterious experiment by Ned! It's like a Nancy Drew drug trip.

It was a really, really, weird attempt at a "sci-fi" kind of mystery. It was pretty cool, but it concentrated too much on the stupid glowing eye clue. On a 1-10 scale? 6.

And this one mentions computers! Back when the yellow-spine books were written, computers were pretty much restricted to labs\science. I think, but am not sure, a lot of people were kinda suspicious of the "new-fangled invention". Thus my tag, "OMG computers!"

#24: The Clue in the Old Album

2008-12-16T14:39:00.004-06:00

Nancy and Mr. Drew are listening a famous violinist at the River Heights Art Museum when an elderly woman's purse is snatched. She's crying so much over the music that she doesn't notice at first. Nancy gets into hero mode, stands up and runs after the man. She chases him through the museum and is about to catch him when the man pulls the contents from the purse and throws the empty purse down. Nancy returns the empty purse to 'Mrs. Sutherland', and Nancy also meets her "wild" tween daughter, Rose.

Rose's father is a famous violinist, but somehow he can't be tracked down. He's also a gypsy, which seems to be a mark of shame here. Mrs. S asks for help, and Nancy accepts with the eagerness of a dog being offered a steak. She needs to help the innocent old lady and Rose, who is so "wild" that she speaks boldly and has a high temper! OMG! In a bizarre plot involving dolls, Nancy can find something that will assure money for Rose's future--she just has to find a certain doll. If the doll is found, it could also lead her to Rose's "baby Daddy" :P Nancy also has to deal with a red-haired gypsy named Nitaka, who also wants the doll that furnishes the clue. The titian detective gets in trouble trying to discover gypsy secrets...

During a visit a gypsy camp, Ned states doesn't want his fortune read. Ned: "Not me...I'll go into business, prosper, and marry a certain ambitious young lady named--" Nancy interrupts hastily, making the excuse that a violinist is about to play. It is always clear that while Nancy likes Ned as a very close friend, she's not really tolerant of Ned's different feelings!
Nancy is very free about speaking disparagingly about the gypsy culture, despite not knowing the much about it. That changes when some girls tease Rose for being part gypsy. Ta-da! Gratuitous "some gypsies are very nice and are great musicians!" comment.
Nancy is chasing suspects when a policeman stops her. "Do you know how fast you were going? We've got laws!" Moments later, after Nancy explains (she's all, "I am breaking the laws, but that's okay, because I'm chasing bad people!1!1), the cop asks who she is. Nancy quickly answers, "'Nancy Drew...Carson Drew's daugh--' The policeman waited no more. Like a released rocket he shot down the road." Lolz...not using names, are we, Nan?

#18: The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion

2008-12-05T08:41:00.004-06:00

Like a lot of the Nancy Drew books, this tends to wander, but was enjoyable. As a bonus, it is set in my childhood state, Florida. It also centers around the Kennedy Space Center, plotwise. My mom and dad took me and my siblings there. I was seven, it was friggin hot, I was tired, and I didn't give a damn about the rockets. I'm sure I would've enjoyed it in cooler weather.

Anyway, Nancy is helping her father with a legal case (again). Carson doesn't have a Florida license, so he's working with another lawyer in Florida. Their client was falsely accused of sending exploding oranges (!) to the space center. (Let's hope our enemies abroad never read this book--or this post! They just might send the White House a gift of fruit ;).

Nancy goes to Florida and stays at the client's house. The client's foreman and his (the foreman's) wife were supposed to pick up the Drews, but they make a "mistake" and the Drews had to take the taxi to the house. Carson Drew believes the incident is deliberate, because anything disruptive is suspicious.

Par for the script, Bess and George come to Florida, too, as well as Ned, Burt and Dave. (Do the boys ever have time for college?). Well, here's your convenient plot device: the Nickersons (Ned's family) are having a party at their summer home in Florida. I'd have a tag for 'convenient plot device', except that every book has one.

The mystery starts, and soon we have a house where suspicious things happen, a plot to blow up a space launch, and devious plots to harm Nancy (and, inadvertently, Ned). That's a bit crazy, huh? I don't think I need to mention that it all comes right in the end...but I already did.

Nancy and crew get lost in an orange grove but get out by knowing that the roughest side of the tree is north. I've tried this before. I guess it only works when you're freaking out.
Bess stops at the edge of a swamp to pick a water lily and almost gets bitten by a gator. Somehow, I found this really funny.
The orange packing house catches on fire. Nancy asks what she can do to help, and one worker is all "you're a GIRL! WTF? You can't do anything." This was rewritten in '69 -'71, but I'd love to get the 1941 original to see if the original scene if it is similar (or there at all)*
While investigating a house that Mr. Drew might buy (being a Midwest lawyer must pay well!), the gang discovers that it is next to a weird house guarded by wild animals. Of course, they have to investigate, but they also have to get past the guard panther (!), so they drug it by hiding a pill meant for humans in a piece of meat. The huge panther takes the little sleeping pill, drops off in minutes. Uh-huh. But it is Bess' idea, so I have to cheer.

Overall, I'd give it a 5 out of 10...nothing special, but still fun.

*ETA: Thanks to Jennifer, @ the Series Books for Girls Blog, we have a great explanation of the role of sexism and feminism in the original books vs. the condensed\rewritten.

#3: The Bungalow Mystery

2008-11-28T05:48:00.003-06:00

Ah, The Bungalow Mystery. This one was a yawn, but I'm determined to recap all 56 books...I'm sure I'll finds something to laugh about.

Nancy and Helen are boating on Twin Lakes. A storm comes up, but they are far from shore! OH NO! As they race for shore, the boat runs into a log and capsizes. Thrown into the water, they are stunned, especially Helen. Nancy won't leave Helen, despite the latter's insistence, but they're also running out of time. She shouts for help, and lo and behold, a girl in a rowboat appears. Later, she tells Nancy and Helen that she walks the shore in a storm, ever since her parents were killed in a boating accident. Nancy and Helen are saved saved saved! The girl's name is Laura Pendleton. As soon as Nancy is out of the risk of hypothermia, Laura asks Nancy to solve a mystery. Because Nancy is totally famous, ya know.

Laura's parents are dead and her guardians are nothing like she expected! It seems that they are only trying to get her valuable jewelry. Nancy is intrigued, of course. While engaging in activities at the lakeside hotel with Helen and Laura, swimming, and otherwise enjoying her leisurely between-mysteries life, Nancy ponders the mystery and runs around helping Hannah Gruen with her broken ankle. It isn't really until the end that anything really happens.

Nancy dines at the hotel restaurant one night before she sneaks to Laura's house, where she will look for clues while the guardians are away. Other diners "observe her with interest" because the exciting prospect sleuthing brings an "excited flush to her face", making her even prettier. Even complete strangers notice Nancy's awesomeness! *snorts*
Carson Drew is working on an embezzlement case and sends Nancy to visit a few people named in the case to see if they could be involved. I'm sure his superiors wouldn't mind at all that he sent his eighteen-year-old daughter to help on the case. But, as so often happens, this ties into the main plot.

Signing off! I really want to play tennis with Helen and sunbathe at Melrose Lake, but I have to make my bed. :)

#2: The Hidden Staircase

2008-11-24T14:17:00.003-06:00

Check out the cover!. A dark, creepy passage, Nancy with her trusty flashlight ('torch' for the Brits ;) )...the classic image.

This always was my favorite Nancy Drew book. It's one of the first ones I read and I was thrilled to death. Gullible ten-year-old me. :)

Helen Corning (Nancy's best friend before George and Bess) calls Nancy with a mystery to solve. Helen's great-aunt and great-grandmother's mansion is being "haunted". Nancy is interested, but minutes after she hangs up, a man named Nathan Gomber arrives at the Drew house, scaring all thoughts about the mystery from Nancy's head. Mr. Drew is in trouble and should keep his wits about him. Supposedly this is due to some confusion over a case involving disputed ownership of railroad property; Carson is one of the he lawyers involved. Nancy is worried, but Carson says he'll be okay. With some apprehension, Nancy takes on Helen's mystery and goes to Twin Elms mansion.

Nancy's days and nights are filled with some weird happening, on top of worrying about her father. Swaying chandeliers, radios turning on by themselves, stolen items, sliding furniture, an owl somehow placed in the house are creeping everyone out. And then Mr. Drew goes missing, but of course, he is found.

Par for the course, there is at least one sweet, innocent old lady for Nancy to save; in here, there are TWO! St. Nancy to the rescue!
Some scenes from the early (revised) books read like a food fetish. Among the meals: "Hannah Gruen served sherbet dishes of grapefruit and orange slices...spring lamb, rice and mushrooms, fresh peas, and chocolate angel cake with vanilla ice cream" "'Um, steak and french fried potatoes, fresh peas, and yummy floating island for dessert,' said Helen. 'I can hardly wait.' 'Fruit cup first,' Aunt Rosemary announced."
This book is pre-Ned, and Nancy goes out for a date with Dick, the high-school tennis champion. Nancy is always getting the sports champions...

#42: The Phantom of Pine Hill

2008-11-21T15:24:00.004-06:00

This is one I never read as a kid, and it was hilarious. As in the WHAT??? kind of hilarity. It was one of the most predictable and laughable Nancy Drew mysteries ever. I'll keep this review short and just point out some of the hilarity. It was one of the few Nancy Drew books I (really) disliked and can completely "snark".

The culprit was introduced very early and did some very suspicious\silly things, leaving the complete plot obvious to the reader. By the middle of the book I knew most of the solution!
There's a sweet elderly lady to be saved! Surprise!
Bess flunks another diet :) George quietly sets most of the conclusion to the mystery in motion with little help from Nancy and a lot of help from Bess!
Ned dresses up as a Native American chief for an Emerson college parade. Snigger.
This one has the classic secret passages. In fact, it's oddly similar The Hidden Staircase.

So it was predictable and boring, but I liked that Nancy had more of a social life in this one. Also, the cousins had a big part in the solving the mystery. So, it was lame, but had its good points.

Check out the cover. Ned in a completely awful Indian costume. Nancy in a dress. A dress? Really? Hiking around to find clues in a dress sounds a like it would be a bit awkward. Oh, well...maybe she's practicing to be elegant for when she goes overseas in The Mystery of the 99 Steps.

#6: The Secret of Red Gate Farm

2008-11-20T13:00:00.006-06:00

Image courtesy: Series Books for Girls

We find our gang, Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, and George "the girl" Fayne, hurrying to catch a train back to River Heights after a day of shopping. George is chiding Bess for buying a one ounce bottle of "Jade perfume" for an outrageous price. The girls are also wondering why the cantankerous salesgirl almost refused to sell it to them. Of course, only Nancy thinks that there could be more to that odd behavior. Because Bess and George don't have intuition, you know.

Bess uncorks the perfume while riding the train (smart move, Bess!) Consequently, the train jogs and perfume spills on Nancy. Then! A shifty-eyed man passes by, happens to smell it and asks Nancy, "Any word from the Chief?". Then he looks at her and slinks away. Uh-oh.

The scent of the perfume fills the train. A girl, about same age as our three friends, faints; Nancy, George, and Bess rush to revive her. When she recovers, we find out that she is Joanne Byrd. Ms. Byrd has to get off at River Heights, too. Unfortunately, Joanne sick from fainting. Good going, Bess. Anyway, Nancy takes Jo (her preferred nickname) to the Drews' house.

Jo tells her life story. She is helping her grandma keep her (the grandma's) farm; thus, she is applying for a job as an "office girl" to earn money for the upkeep. Oh, feminists! Note the label, "office girl"! Grandma's farm is in danger of being taken away by the bank. Poor grandma :(.

In a convenient plot device, Jo is realizes that she should've gotten off at Riverside Heights, where she hopes to get the job. The two towns conveniently have very similar names. Oh, convenient plot device, I love you. :)

Nancy drives Jo to the office in Riverside Heights, where the interview will take place. Nancy goes into the office with Jo to give moral support. Al, the interviewer, is very loud and rude--thus being automatically detected on Nancy's "something's up!" radar. Only "shady people" are loud and rude, you know. But even more oddly, Al is strangely reluctant to interview Jo. But just as Al finally sends Jo into another room for the interview, the phone rings. Al picks it up, writes something on a note and hangs up. His conversation was a bit strange, so while Al interviews Jo in another room, Nancy furtively copies some of the note, which turns out to be some sort of a code. Way to butt into a stranger's business.

Back at home, Nancy quickly decodes the code...because she is amazing! Her father, Carson Drew, the intelligent, revered lawyer, is all "OMG, Nancy, how did you do it? You're a modern day Sherlock Holmes!!11!!!"

Jo tells Nancy, Bess and George that Grandma Byrd is ready to sell her farm because of unsettling, bizarre events on the farm. However, Nancy, with her seemingly limitless pocketbook, boards at the farm, along with Bess and George.

Mrs. Byrd tells Nancy that a mysterious cult (which seems like a watered down version of the KKK) pays rent on part of the land. She is afraid that this will eventually scare other boarders away or cause trouble.

Things do continue to happen. The girl who sold Bess the perfume is seen applying for a job at Al's office. Her name is Yvonne Wong (fyi). Nancy by chance meets a middle-aged woman near the farm. The woman says she is sneaking away from the cult to deliver a letter. Nancy drives her to town and, of course, asks about her troubles. Though the woman seems nervous at first, she confesses to Nancy that she wants to leave the cult, but is afraid to.

Later on, Nancy and friends watch the odd rituals the cult performs in plain view on moonlight nights . Soon after, a very belligerent man tries to force Mrs. Byrd to give up the farm.

Long story short, Nancy and crew end up in a sticky set of scrapes...and get out of it through a series of deductions and coincidences. The cult (two of the members being Al and Yvonne Wong) is just a cover-up for a counterfeiting ring,. The cult does its counterfeiting in a cave near where the rituals are performed.

It turns out that the perfume was a signal among the cult; only the members were supposed to wear it. Looks like Yvonne screwed up. And why would the secret perfume be in sight at the store if its, well, secret?...?

And would you believe, Nancy solves a case that confounded the FBI!

While eating at a cafe with Bess and George, a waitress accuses Nancy of using counterfeit money. Nancy protests, but the police aren't convinced. Well, guess what? At the precise moment, a young man named Karl, a is the son of one of the boarders, walks in at the precise moment. He not only vouches for her, but also makes sure they know she's Carson Drew's daughter! Being Carson Drew's daughter is very convenient, although Nancy herself never mentions her dad's name intentionally. It just happens to slip out from time to time ;)
Nancy and friends end up trapped in a cave by the weird cult. This is the end, my friend, my only friend, the end! Not. Karl and several policemen arrive at the critical juncture--again! Mrs. Byrd just happened to figure out what the girls were up to and sent Karl out at the right moment! Deus ex machina, anyone?

The Plans for RHF

2008-11-20T09:27:00.002-06:00

RHF will have a lot of snark--but it is mostly for nostalgic purposes. There will be homages to the quaintness and excitement of the books as well as comments on my fave charries...

The blue convertible, the freedom, the perfect self-control, the friends who could almost always drop everything to be with Nancy, the visits to exotic places, the open pocketbook, the poise, the looks, the charming and (almost always) safe town...Nancy may have been tied up, threatened, left to starve, lost, etc. several times but she had it GOOD.

Other notes: Books will be reviewed in order read "at my whim", not how they are numbered. I was going to review The Secret of the Old Clock first but I just returned it to the library. Later, when I want another re-read, I'll pick it up again.

Welcome to River Heights Fangirl!

2008-11-20T09:02:00.002-06:00

Welcome to River Heights Fangirl. I am not a Nancy Drew purist--I grew up with the yellow-spine, flashlight covers . Though I really loved reading the Applewood book reprints of the original Secret of the Old Clock and The Hidden Staircase, I preferred the faster conclusions, and more modern (though dated now) setting of the yellow hardcovers.

I read many of what are considered the "original" 56 Nancy Drew mystery stories. A full list with links to recaps can be found here or click on the 'Nancy Drew Booklist' tab above.