#1 The Secret of the Old Clock; revised with comparison

The is the very first Nancy Drew book I ever read, and I'm finally going to compare it to the original.

It starts out very different from the original, which opened up with Nancy and Mr. Drew talking about the greedy Tophams and the Crowley will dispute. In this, Nancy saves a little girl, Judy, who's run into traffic and then fallen off a bridge (she doesn't appear in the original). The Turner sisters from the 1930 text are back, but are Judy's aunts.

Nancy's introduction to the Hoover girls starts with Nancy nearly running over Allison Hoover as Nancy drives into the barn to take shelter from the storm. The Hoover girls' storyline remains much the same as in the original 'Clock' except that Allison wants to take singing lessons instead of growing a chicken farm.

Abigail Rowen gets a little more "screen time" here after she furnishes the most important clues of the case to Nancy. From that point the story basically follows the original, but is faster in pace. Jeff Tucker, the groundskeeper for the Topham cottage where Nancy finds herself locked up, is no longer a minstrel-show-type black man, but a generic elderly man. The story concludes as it did in the original, with some minor changes to the Crowley will.

#15: The Haunted Bridge; original text

Our adventure finds Nancy, Bess and George residing at a fancy motel. Nancy is an almost expert golfer at the hotel's course (of course) and enters a competition; her father also needs her help in solving the mystery of a jewelry theft gang, so she manages to fit in both golfing practice and investigation. Her father tells her that one of the suspects is a young woman, Miss Judson, who owns a sparkling "vanity case" (contains face powder). Nancy goes to a hotel where the woman is probably staying, and she just happens to see a sad-looking young woman pull out a jeweled vanity case! The woman leaves before Nancy can ask her name, but their idle conversation revealed that the woman's house burned down near the hotel Nancy is staying at. It's sort of a vague clue. But near ruins of the house Nancy finds the real jeweled case!

This plot is written and handled somewhat clumsily in my mind, so, in short, here is the basic story: Miss Judson was falesly accused of stealing the jeweled vanity case by another woman,. This woman, Mrs. Brownell, was a guest at Miss Judson's estate. Mrs. Brownell lent it  (the vanity case) to Miss Judson to look at. A fire broke out late in the night, and though Miss Judson took out the vanity case as she fled, she lost it, and was accused of stealing. This estranged her from her fiancee. At the end, though--no surprise here--she was cleared of any accusations and it turns out that Mrs. Brownell was part of the jewelry theft ring. Miss Judson happily marries her fiancee, and all is well.

• A subplot in this book involves a man named Mortimer Bartesque, a twenty year old who is very attracted to Nancy, whom in the original texts is sixteen years old, not eighteen. He is always flattering her and talking about her lovely "feminine charms" (in a G-rated way, of course, but still very embarassing for poor Nancy). He sends her flowers and asks her to a dance, but is oblivious to her scorning of him. She's originally suspicious of him because she soon notices that his signature is always different--on a card he sent with the flowers, in the hotel registration book, on the golf ball he gave to her (vainly thinking she would find his autographed ball to be a great honor). She wonders for a short time if he's involved with the jewelry thefts, but quickly realizes he's just playing a game. He had heard of the famous Nancy Drew and wanted to see if he could outwit her.
• George gets a call from her mother, whom mentions that this vacation will be a nice, relaxing time before George goes back to school. This adds, at least in a small way, more realism overall. In the revised texts, the girls are eighteen and apparently not in college or working. 
• It is interesting to look back on these books and see how different Nancy's social life is from in the revised editions. Though Nancy of course attended dances and social events in both old and revised editions, they are "a bigger deal" in the originals, such as this. Nancy wears a "sports frock" when she is golfing; is adamant that she requires an escort for a hotel dance, demure as it is, so she reluctantly ends up with the only man who asked her--Mortimer Bartesque; pays meticulous attention to what she wears to the dance; and despite walking and scrambling about among the woods looking for a lost golf ball, always manages to look like a fashion plate.
• Nancy wins the golf tournament (surprised?).
• There is another instance of describing a black woman as "colored". 
• Ned is in this, but really doesn't play a big role until the end.

That's all for now!

#13: The Mystery of the Ivory Charm; original text

We find our trio (Nancy, Bess and George) at a train station, feeling rather disgruntled. They have just finished yet another camping vacation at a lake and are, naturally, not pleased to find their train very late. A circus train distracts them, however. They watch as as a little boy from India leads an elephant off of the train without using any physical restraint on the big animal. The Indian man standing nearby is apparently pissed off at that, revealing a frightening power complex.  The man (his name is 'Rai') beats 'Coya' right there at the station, whilst claiming that Coya is his son. Nancy steps in to boldly push Rai away from the child (you go, Nan!)and tells him not to hit Coya again. They argue for a while, and suddenly a snake in a tree drops on Nancy. It's a boa constrictor, and Nancy is nearly choked to death. A reptile keeper pries the snake from Nancy just in time, but Rai attributes Nancy's escape from near death to mystical powers and gives Nancy a "lucky" ivory elephant charm. After warning Rai again not to hurt Coya, the girls hurry to their train, only to find that Coya has sneaked onto the train. Nancy decides to pay his fare and take him home. Mr. Drew comes home, and agrees that Nancy did the right thing; also, Coya can stay with them! Just send a letter to Rai, it'll be ok! No need to contact any officials!

The Drews and Coya are suddenly brought into a complicated mystery involving Ms. Allison, a dippy young woman who puts on a charade of believing in mystic powers, and find out that she worked with Rai to kidnap Coya from India. Coya was supposed to be the new raja (ruler) of India, but in exchange for lots 'dough' and jewels, Rai and Ms. Allison took Coya to the US and got the wannabe raja a spot on the throne. But all is unveiled, and Coya goes to India, but not before inviting Nancy and co. to India.

• Ned invites Nancy to an Emerson U. baseball game and says proudly that this is a "crack" baseball team. Holy cats, they're on drugs? (kidding, kidding)
• A professor from Emerson talks about the various beliefs and rituals of the Indian people. Ned proclaims "I'm glad I live in America." I'm so glad, Ned! I was afraid you hated living in the USA!
• Ned invites Nancy to a dance, and Nancy frets because she doesn't have a new dress to wear. Ned tells her to "wear any old thing". Smooth, Ned.
• Nancy continually tells everyone around her that she doesn't believe in mysticism and magic charms. We know, Nancy. You've told us at least fifty times!
• Hanna has doubts about housing Coya; she's worried about having extra work, and also proclaims that she won't be raising a "brown-skinned boy". 'Caus brown-skinned boys are the worst, you see.
• Hannah eventually takes pity on the boy. It also helps that Coya volunteers to work around the house and in the garden (and he does) because he is very grateful for the Drews' kindness. 
• ...but when Coya learns that he might be a lost raja, Hannah gets an idea in her head that Coya will start acting like a snob and lets Nancy know it.

There you have it! Time to compare the original to the revised edition.
FYI: Some posts have not been linked to their respective titles the book list pages. I'll be doing that soon.

#53: The Sky Phantom

When I saw the cover of the book (which is also boring, IMO), I thought "oh jeez, Nancy is FLYING now? Is there anything she can't do?" Well, no, apparently. She's taking flying lessons, and at the beginning of the book she's already doing advanced flying, such as doing fast circles. Her instructor tells her that he won't tell her the most loops a student had done, because she would probably try to break that record. While they're flying, Nancy sees Bess and George, who are on a horseback ride (the Golden Trio is visiting a ranch. Again), waving frantically. It turns out that they saw a plane in trouble, but don't know where it is. They soon find it, pilot-less and without any identification. The instructor radios to the tower, and it turns out that the pilot, Robert, is missing. Everyone who knows Robert loves him, and our mystery begins.

Bring in the stolen ponies, angry threats, attempt to kill the girls by sending a big log down a trail, and all kinds of cooky stuff. You see, Nancy inadvertently led to the firing of this guy Ben Rall's dismissal from Hamilton Ranch. He purposely put a burr under her horse's saddle when saddling it and the pain made it flip out. Ben has some major issues about city girls who fly planes and try to solve mysteries.

The girls find a medal where the plane had landed. It is monogrammed 'RP', for Roger Paine of course. Bess eventually finds that the figures on it are actually stylized letters and read 'bomb site'. Anyway, after this it gets dull. Nancy and her instructor visit the site of the abandoned plane BILLIONS of times. Nancy explores a cave (alone, without telling anyone) and discovers out. In fact, she ends up trying to flee from a wave of oil and mice. There's a weird, misty-looking shape of a man in one big cloud. Nancy and Ned escape getting suffocated (of course). A cache of (defused) bombs and rifles is found, the bad guys are caught; we learn that the man-shaped cloud was made of "magnetic dust" (???). Unless I missed something, we never really learn what the bad guys' real goal is.

• Bess has a real meltdown in this one. She's falling for this cowboy, Chuck, and he asks her to marry him. But Dave (her BF) is coming to visit the ranch and doesn't know what the hell the wants to do.
• Bess is so distraught about picking Dave or Chuck that she has a dream in which the two kill each other. Yikes! I don't think I need to tell you who she picks at the end, though
• Oooh! Oooh! Nancy makes a mistake!A MISTAKE! >:p
  

  Feeling a bit overconfident Nancy decided to show Bruce (her instructor) her mastery of steep turns. [to control the spiraling plane] Nancy pulled back violently on the stick. Suddenly the plane snapped over in the opposite direction and began a vicious spin...

#10: Password to Larkspur Lane: Revised ed. and comparison

The revised edition is "pretty much" the same core plot and characters from the original edition. Dr. Spires' mysterious disappearance (and reappearance) as well as his and Nancy's conclusion about the illegitimate nursing home, are introduced and finished earlier, with less description (par for the course in the revised books and on). Effie is introduced earlier, and her ditzy personality is somewhat toned down. Bess and George (instead of Helen) help her sneak around the mysterious house.

However, there is a subplot that ties into the mystery; there are strange doin's at Helen's grandparents' house, including rings of mysterious blue fire starting up outside--sometimes coming toward people! It turns out that the Corning's housekeeper, Morgan, is in Adam Thorne's (the debarred lawyer) debt. Due to his criminal past, Morgan needed forged job recommendations. But because Adam Thorne starts to go too far commiting crimes, Morgan tries to go back to "the good side" (I keep thinking of Severus Snape abandoning Voldemort :-p) and his life is in danger. But of course, everything does tie up in the end.

• There are no more frilly frocks, "colored starters" or bumbling Irish police chiefs.
• Nancy gets a new convertible--no more roadsters
• Nancy, Bess and George stop at a restaurant before "Mission save the old ladies" (my phrase :D ), but there is no old fogy ranting about the Tookers' noisy airplane and the fact that they dare to not go to church or subscribe to the town newspaper.
• In the revised edition, Nancy is at the flower show when a big dog suddenly attacks her--Adam Thorne's doings, Carson Drew surmises. Poor Nancy can't even go to a flower show without risking life and limb.
  

Though I usually like the revised editions because they're a quick, "take-a-break" read, the original was better. The Morgan subplot was really useless in the revised edition, and the yacht club ball was described more colorfully in the original.

Above: Nancy as she appeared in the originals: a stylish dresser with a golden bob.

#38 The Mystery of the Fire Dragon

Nancy Drew is on a case--which will find her in both 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, Chi Che Soong, is missing. Nancy to the rescue! Also, the granddaughter's 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 scare Chi Che's grandfather, but of course, something crazy has to happen to Nancy soon.
• Chi Che goes to Columbia U. Nancy helps George disguises George as Chi Che, to see if George, as Chi Che, can get any inside info from students. Later, George is almost kidnapped b/c she looks like Chi Che. The real Chi Che was captured. The captors think George is the (not) escaped Chi Che. Brilliant, Nancy.
  
• Now Bess is missing. Yawn.
• Mr. Drew just happens to have a case in Hong Kong; this time it is a debate over a will (so he's working international now?) and Ned is taking 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. This girl says she really is Chi Che and that Nancy must come into the plane to talk about a message Nancy has to give to her grandfather. They can ONLY talk in the privacy of the plane! Stupid Nancy falls for this and is kidnapped.
• Nancy uses lipstick to write 'SOS' on the airplane window. The pilot of Navy plane that sent after Nancy sees it and forces the kidnappers to land. It must be pretty bright lipstick! Incidentally, the real Chi Che was on the plane, too! Happy ending!

#11: The Clue of the Broken Locket

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. This girl named Cecily Curtis is renting a cottage near "Misty Lake". She was supposed to get the key from groundskeeper Henry Winch, who was supposed to watch the cottage. But Henry Winch is scared. He wants someone else to do it. Guess who! 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 over a 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. All for 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. Nighttime arrives, and they finally arrive at the cottage and unlock the cottage. They also see the mysterious girl again; she runs away when Nancy asks her if she is Cecily. As she leaves, the girl yells, "you can't stop me from getting the babies!". 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 without 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 royalty payments. 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' property without permission. Now Nancy is offended and p*ssed off! The rules don't apply to her, because she is trying to DO GOOD!
  

#4: The Mystery at Lilac Inn

This was one of the dull ones, but I remembered when I reread it, what a fairly b*tchy 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. Oh, burn, Nancy!

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 Nancy Drew, perfect and flawless in every way! Chief McGinnis is always a convenient backup.

For her twenty-first birthday, Emily is inheriting her deceased mother's twenty unset diamonds. Emily tells everyone around her when she'll get them, and that they will have a dinner where Emily will 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, it turns out that they are...get ready for it...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 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, because he 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.
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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.
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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.
  
• A great quote from Nancy: "I have a feeling the thief substituted these fakes for the real diamonds." Well, duuuur.
  

#29: Mystery at the Ski Jump

 Nancy is out walking on a snowy day when a car suddenly crashes into a nearby house. The driver, Mrs. Channing (to be called Mrs. C forthwith), is cared for by Mrs. Martin, the neighbor whose house she drove into (lol).

When Nancy gets home, Hannah Gruen shows her a mink stole and says she bought stocks in Forest Fur Co. Our buddy, contrivance, stops by--Mrs. C sold Hannah the stole!

The same day, Mrs. Martin goes to the Drews--Mrs. C slipped out without paying for the damages (nice!) and Mrs. Martin has some suspicions about the whole Forest Fur dealy-o.

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, 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.

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, and accuse her 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. C]. Nancy's work eventually leads her to a seedy motel, where Mrs. C. could be residing. She only meets swanky, flirty movie star, "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 ski instructor Chuck Wilson. Chuck gives Nancy some complimentary lessons. 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! Both 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 actual 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. Nancy finds 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. Alone. 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*.
• 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." YAY! Someone who doesn't just dismiss Nancy because of her perfect father.
• 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 that are supposed to be for 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

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; Nancy goes to help. To her amazement, threatens her. Nancy stays and tries to give him a package the man dropped. She is threatened again but doesn't move until Bess practically drags her back into the car. Nancy did see what was in the package, which fell 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.

Dick wants to find a legendary pit of super-special 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--and finds a crooked chimney. The homeowner lets Nancy explore the attic, and Nancy sees a man exiting the attic through a secret panel. The man gets away, but the police investigate the attic. Behind the panel are priceless vases!

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.
The men dropped a porcelain bowl. Wow, another extraordinarily convenient clue! 

 Oh...and Mr. Soong wants Nancy to find his missing friend, Eng Moy, and Eng Moy's daughter, Lei. They came to the USA so Eng Moy could study new pottery methods...and haven't been seen for five years.

A fake-pottery market suddenly springs up, and just in time Nancy 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 that the place is the site of a forgery operation-- 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 rather grim allusion is unusual in the original Nancy Drew books.

Mr. Soong and Nancy come out, and try to disguise themselves as workers so they can plan an escape. No dice--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 which 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)

~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

(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

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.

#47: The Mysterious Mannequin

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

*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.

#55: Mystery of Crocodile Island

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...

#51: Mystery of the Glowing Eye

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

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?

#3: The Bungalow Mystery

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. :)

#42: The Phantom of Pine Hill

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.