#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.

#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).
..
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!
  

#40 The Moonstone Castle Mystery, P2.

The girls DO NOT DIE, but the old man is injured. The other careless boat drivers get away! But don't worry, some canoeists come along at just the right moment 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! Um, whatever, They visit Mrs. Armstrong. Jodine, aka "Jody", isn't around, but they don't give up. What if "Jodine Armstrong" is an alias? Something must be done!

The girls also keep exploring the castle, but this time Ned and crew comes to act as personal bodyguards help Nancy sleuth. 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.

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 thought she (Elaine) was 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

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 reads "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 another case. He must find a young woman whose parents died in an accident when she was a little girl. The girl, whose name is Joanie, wasn't seen after the accident. The parents' estate is just gathering dust! The girl's grandparents were missionaries in Africa when Joanie was just over two years old. They want to find their granddaughter. Cue Nancy Drew to the rescue!

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, Carson gets a call from his client, Mr. Bowen. He's gotten a threatening message: Anyone who goes to the town where Joanie was last seen to attempt to 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?" 0_0

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!

Mrs. Thompson, the hotel's owner, comments that if the girls want to know more about the castle, they should go to the Brass Kettle restaurant. There's a gossipy elderly woman, Mrs. Hempstead, who hangs out there a lot. Mrs. Hempstead tells them that odd, tragic events happened around the castle. The original builder abandoned the project without adding the last turret, but someone is still paying tax on the castle.

George does some sleuthing, following a suspicious-looking man, Mr. Seamen (don't giggle!). 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's mysterious vanishing. Oh,yeah, Joanie's last name is Hornton.

George and Nancy swim across the moat around the castle, despite a mysterious voice warning them to go back. 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 for them (rolls eyes). Later, Nancy reflects that maybe they've been tampering with private property (securing the drawbridge), 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 to the 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.

#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.

#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!"