Another month means another Central Florida Sleuths gathering, which in turn means another Nancy Drew book read! With so many books to choose from, it's always fun to see which one the members of the CFS will choose to read next, and this month, Geoffrey Lapin suggested we read The Ringmaster's Secret, which is the 31st book in the original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, first published back in 1953. Of course, all of the first 34 books in the series had two versions - an original text with 25 chapters and a later, revised text with only 20 chapters and less pages (updated to speed up the action and remove stereotypes and, of course, to save money - less pages printed means less cost to the publisher). While a couple of people in the group chose to read the revised text, I opted for the original text story so I could get the full flavor of writing in the 1950s.
The Ringmaster's Secret is said to have been originally outlined and written by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (with the revised text written in 1974 by June Dunn); however, there was some discussion in our group meeting about whether this is accurate, since elements of the story and characterization did not align with the way Ms. Adams wrote Nancy Drew. Regardless, the story was chock full of mystery, adventure, and dangerous foibles that make the Nancy Drew books so entertaining.
The mystery begins when Nancy receives a mysterious gift from her Aunt Eloise (her father's sister). It is a bracelet with five horse charms - but a sixth one is missing, and therein lies the mystery. It seems the bracelet belonged to a circus performer (a woman) who did not want to part with it, for it had special meaning. Hannah Gruen, Nancy's kindly housekeeper who had helped raise her since her mother died (c'mon, who hasn't read that exact description a hundred times in the Nancy Drew series?!), readily surmises that Nancy intends to locate this circus performer and help her out of her troubled times. And, as luck would have it, a circus had just arrived in River Heights and Nancy had promised to take her young neighbor to watch the tents and displays being set up.
Meanwhile, Nancy goes for her riding lesson with Senor Roberto, who happens to have been involved with the Sims Circus that has come to River Heights. After receiving a warning from the stablehand, Hitch, to stop with the "circus riding" and being thrown from her horse when someone throws a rock at it, Nancy questions Senor Roberto about the necklace and the story relayed to her by her aunt. Senor Roberto vaguely recalls hearing a story while in the circus, but he cannot recall the specifics. Hitch, on the other hand, tells her that he remembers hearing about a horse bracelet while he was working with the Sims Circus!
Needless to say, Nancy is all set to solve the mystery while spending time at the circus. There, she meets the lovely young Lolita, who is an expert aerialist - a woman whose parents had died years ago and she was now the ward of the very cruel ringmaster, Mr. Kroon - and the love of her life, Pietro, who is a clown in the circus. Pietro recognizes the bracelet, saying that Lolita has a necklace with a horse that matches the charms on Nancy's bracelet! From that point on, clues seem to fall in Nancy's lap one after another, all of which lead her to suspect Hitch, as well as the Kroons, on somehow being involved with swindling poor Lolita out of her rightful inheritance. Plus, Nancy begins to suspect that Lolita's mother may not be dead after all!
While one would think that a mystery involving a circus would pretty much keep Nancy busy beneath the big tent, but no! Not only does Nancy travel with the circus from River Heights to Danford (she has no choice, since she has to take over the role of one of the stunt women who was injured during a performance - Nancy's expert-level skill at trick horse riding quickly earns her a place in the circus - more on that later!), but she takes a rather abrupt trip to New York to visit her Aunt Eloise, and then takes a last minute trip with her father and Pietro to London to help search for the woman that could be Lolita's mother! Oh, to have the unlimited freedom and funds that Nancy Drew has to travel the globe for the righteous cause of helping those in need!
Ultimately, Nancy solves the mystery (was there ever any doubt?) and helps reunite mother and daughter, save Lolita's inheritance, and save the Sims Circus in the process! All in a day's work for an amateur sleuth like Nancy Drew!
Now for the fun observations that were never really considered when reading this book as a child. First, Nancy's unbelievable skill at trick riding is just that - unbelievable. While the author clearly knows a lot about horse-riding, based on the detailed descriptions of the various trick riding techniques and horse riding in general (which, in and of itself is a clue to the fact that it is unlikely Harriet Stratemeyer Adams wrote this book, since [according to Geoffrey Lapin] her daughter had indicated that Ms. Adams did not like horses and was afraid of them), having Nancy be such an expert at the trick riding, so much so that the circus would ask her to join them, is a bit over-the-top! Also over-the-top is the scene where Bess stands in for Nancy to avoid detection by the evil ringmaster, but when Nancy appears again, she must look like Bess - so the circus make-up artist does a quick number on Nancy's hair and face and remarks, "You could pass for Bess's thinner sister at a short distance" (p. 87 OT). Wow, poor Bess! That girl can never catch a break from these authors who always want to poke fun at her weight!
Then there is the matter of the police in every city Nancy visits being more than willing to help out this teen sleuth - whether it's in New York or Melville, London or Danford, it seems that Nancy has such a presence that the police have no problem bending over backwards for her. And in her own hometown, well the River Heights Police Department are more than willing to overlook Ned speeding well over the speed limit when he is aiding Nancy in a case, and in fact, they are happy to give her a police escort to where she is going (pp. 114-15 OT)! Then there's the lion attack in the last chapter, where Ned pushes Nancy out of way, only to have his own hand slashed by the lion's large claws, raking it badly (p. 208 OT) and causing it to bleed profusely (p. 209 OT). Apparently, though, it wasn't bad enough to keep him away from the police station just a short while later when the police interrogate the Kroons (p. 210 OT) - which brings up a point - why in the world would the police allow Nancy, Ned, Pietro, and Lolita to observe the interrogation and to even participate?
And speaking of Pietro - is that his first or last name? All through the book, I had assumed it was his first name, but when they met his father in London, they referred to him as Mr. Pietro (indicating it was his last name). What's up with that?
At any rate, the overall plot was good, and overlooking the zaniness of some of these things, the story was enjoyable. The original cover art was provided by Rudy Nappi (his second cover in the series), and for the first time ever, I noticed that Nappi provided much detail to the cover, since if you look closely at Nancy's right wrist, just next to where Lolita has her hand, you will see the horse charm bracelet - something I never noticed before. I do have to wonder, though - why did he put a flower sticking out of Nancy's dress, just above the top button in the front? An odd place to put a flower, don't you think? Nappi also provided the cover art for the revised edition in the 1970s, but we won't discuss here the things the CFS group noticed about that cover!
RATING: 8 helicopter jaunts to Newark out of 10 for giving Nancy Drew the chance to work in a circus, help an unfortunate young woman, and become Bess's twin even if only for a few moments!
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