Nancy Drew Diaries, No. 19 - Hidden Pictures

This year marks the 90th anniversary of Nancy Drew, whose books first hit the shelves of stores way back in April 1930.  There are very few ongoing book series that have endured continued publication for that many years.  While the Chronicles of Narnia, Little House of the Prairie, the Wizard of Oz, and other classic series have certainly been around for many decades, none of them can boast what Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys can – continued publication of new, ongoing series for 90 years (or more, in the case of the Hardy Boys). That is quite an accomplishment. And, yes, everyone’s favorite female sleuth has certainly undergone a number of changes over the years – from 16 to 18, from blond to titian, from hardcover with dust jacket to picture cover to paperback, from third person to first person – what hasn’t changed is her perseverance, her dedication to helping others, and her ability to solve even the most complex mystery.

Hidden Pictures, the 19th book in the Nancy Drew Diaries series and the first Nancy Drew mystery of 2020 and the first mystery published during her 90th year, certainly presents this pop culture icon with a unique mystery (and it’s not sabotage, a trope that has been greatly overused in recent years during the Girl Detective and now the Diaries series). A museum is hosting a photography exhibit in the nearby town of Shady Oaks – but something is wrong. A museum employee goes missing; but she inexplicably shows up in one of the old photographs!  Nancy receives the clipping of a news article about the disappearance, and never one to turn down a good mystery, soon she, Bess, and George are on their way to Shady Oaks. Upon their arrival, there is another disappearance – a young man goes into the museum, but disappears and never comes out. The next day, he suddenly appears in the background of another old photograph. How is this even possible? And what is really happening to the missing people?

The quality of writing in this particular book is nearly on par with that of A Nancy Drew Christmas, which, by far, was the best Nancy Drew Diaries book to date.  Not just the length (this book clocks in at 182, making it the third longest book in the series, with A Nancy Drew Christmas topping the list and The Sign in the Smoke coming in second.   Of course, with the larger font, the actual page count if the font were normal size would probably be more around 140 or possibly 150 pages, that is still longer than most of the other books in the series, meaning the author has more time to flesh out the story and characters and provide readers with a bit more descriptive storytelling.  In this particular book, readers will enjoy getting to “see” a bit more of Shady Oaks, the museum, and the small downtown area.

The mystery itself is rather intriguing, and even as an adult, I admit wondering how in the world the missing people were actually showing up in photographs that already existed (and it is NOT photoshop, if that’s what you are wondering).  There are definitely clues throughout the story, though, if you are discerning enough to pick up on them.  The culprit, on the other hand, was not really that much of a surprise, and it wasn’t overly hard to figure out why this person did what he/she did. It is a bit unbelievable, though, that even a small town in today’s world would not have cell service, but I can understand why the author did that, as it was nice to see Nancy, Bess, and George resort to solving this mystery the old-fashioned way – without immediate access to the internet and information at the tip of their fingers.

The one thing I did not like about the book was that Nancy lied to Bess and George about why they were going to Shady Oaks. Nancy pretended to be a big fan of the photographer in order to get Bess and George to go with her.  This makes no sense, since Bess and George have been helping her solve mysteries for nearly nine decades, so it kind of goes without saying that if she told them she was off to Shady Oaks to solve a mystery, they would be right by her side.  Not sure if the author did it this way thinking that today’s children could identify with telling white lies to try and get friends to do things, or if the author simply thought it was a great way to show some conflict among the friends. Regardless of the reason, this element strayed away from the true essence of who Nancy is and felt very out of place in the story.

Otherwise, this book definitely rates as one of the best in the Diaries series so far, and I am pleased to see that Simon & Schuster is finally realizing that quality storytelling is much more important than the quantity of books they publish each year.  Personally, I would much rather have one or two really good books each year than to have three or four that are only okay or subpar.  With this book, S&S seems to be headed in the right direction!

RATING:  9 plates embossed with images of dogs out of 10 for bringing Nancy Drew closer and closer to the greatness she once was!