Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #17 - The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk

Our latest book as we traverse the wonderful world of Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, as written by ghostwriter Mildred Wirt (Benson), is the seventeenth, The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk.  Published in 1940, the original version of this book was written by Wirt (Benson) from an outline provided by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and featured both cover and interior art by Russell Tandy.  An interesting note - when the text was eventually revised in the 1970s, the word "The" was dropped from the title, and it became simply Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk.  As with all of the previous books our little Central Florida Sleuths group have been reading, we have discovered that this book has a treasure trove of things to discover as an adult that, as a child, we completely missed or otherwise did not give any thought about.

The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk finds Nancy, Bess and George planning a trip to South America aboard a boat.  The three chums are to travel with a group of girls from Laurel Hall (p. 2), although trouble quickly brings the trip into doubt!  First, a large white Angora cat is left for Nancy on her doorstep (p. 4), left there by someone Nancy helped in the past (p. 5) - which turns out to be one Mrs. Purdy, who lives in the nearby town of Weldon and who Nancy once helped from being swindled (p. 41).  This, of course, was an "off-screen" mystery, as Mrs. Purdy had never appeared previous to this book.  Then, Nancy is involved in a car crash with a red-haired man (p. 8), who is in such a hurry that he simply hands Nancy $100 to repair her car and takes off (p. 10)!  Finally, a Mrs. Thomas Joslin - described as a rude, apparently wealthy woman - appears at Nancy's house to warn her away from the cruise, as she does not want Nancy anywhere near her daughter, who is a student at Laurel Hall (p. 17).  The only problem is, Carson wants Nancy to assist her with a case by watching a girl by the name of Doris Trenton, who will be on the same cruise as Nancy, and whose father wants to make sure Doris does not disappear on the cruise and elope with someone other than Henry Washburn, the man her father wants her to marry (p. 14).  Whatever will Nancy Drew do?

With a set-up like this, it's easy to see that this book is going to be very busy, indeed!  There's the mystery of why Mrs. Joslin does not want Nancy near her daughter.  There's the mystery of the red-haired man that ran into Nancy's car and then took off in a hurry.  There's the mystery of why Mr. Trenton is so determined to see that his daughter marries the son of his business partner rather than a man of her own choosing.  And, ultimately, there is the mystery of that mysterious brass-bound trunk - the one that Carson buys for Nancy with her initials "ND" on it (p. 2) along with the similar trunk with the same brass bindings and the same "ND' initials on it (p. 72).  All of this, plus a love triangle - Henry is supposed to marry Doris, but Doris doesn't want him; in the meantime, on the cruise, Henry meets Nestrelda (Treldy) Darlington and begins to fall for her, as she does for him - but Nancy is there to ensure that Doris ends up with Henry.  Of course, with all of the mysteries to solve, does Nancy have time to play matchmaker?  Well, this is Nancy Drew, so what do you think?

This is most certainly not one of Wirt (Benson)'s better Nancy Drew books, but it does have its moments.  The return of Effie is definitely good for a laugh (p. 47).  From sweeping the carpet with a broom (p. 47) to carelessly sewing a skirt way too short (p. 49), the poor maid just can't seem to do anything right!  And there's adorable little Snowball (p. 5), named so by Nancy because the little kitten is so white and soft.  It's funny that when faced with the question of what to do with her new pet while she is on the cruise, Nancy's response is, "I'll take Snowball with me! ... Snowball would love to travel, I know!" (p. 5).   Speaking as someone who had numerous cats in the house growing up, as well as some of my own as an adult, I've never met one cat that "loves to travel," as Nancy thinks Snowball would!  Yet, poor Snowball is nothing more than a plot device - first, to connect Nancy to Mrs. Purdy (p. 41), and then later still, to trip a man picking up Nestrelda's trunk (p. 148).  Otherwise, the poor cat not only gets no mention again, but there is no reference made to Nancy taking the cat back home with her, nor does Snowball ever appear in the Nancy Drew series ever again!

There are a few odd things about this book.  The first is when we get the standard review of Nancy's prior mysteries, it states that "[y]ears earlier she had aided her father in solving a mystery case, familiarly known to her friends as 'The Secret of the Old Clock'" (pp. 10-11).  Now, in real life, it had been 10 years between publication of that first book and this one; however, in the series, Nancy was still only 16 years old, so now did she help her father "years earlier" yet still remain only 16 years old? But she is not the only character to return - Bess's Aunt Helen Miller returns (p. 77)!  Introduced in the previous book, The Clue of the Tapping Heels, when the girls head to New York City to board their cruise ship, they stay with Aunt Helen leading up to the departure date.  Still have to wonder why Aunt Helen was all but forgotten when they later introduced Nancy's Aunt Eloise, who also lives in New York City...

 

Next is the very unlikely coincidence that Mrs. Purdy (who gave Nancy the kitten) and Senora Zora (the headmistress of Laurel Hall) are sisters - and the rude Mrs. Joslin is the women's half-sister (p. 126)!  That truly is too much of a stretch even for the most casual reader to accept.  Of course, it is any easier to accept that the cruise ship would stop and pick up the crew of a sinking lumber freighter (p. 135) in the middle of a storm - a storm strong enough to cause that freighter to sink, but Nancy tells her friends, "The storm is beautiful" (p. 135).  But, it's a good thing Nancy, Bess, and George learned how to tap in the previous book, because just one page later, the three girls are assisting the cruise ship provide entertainment for the crew of the sunken freighter!  They "executed an intricate tap dance which was well received" (p. 136).  Apparently, what started out as fun for Nancy turned into not only a life-saving device in the previous book, but a means by which she and her friends could entertain some rescued seamen in this book!

Then, there is the case of the mysterious Miss Brownley, who is a blind woman who happens to be on the same cruise ship.  Introduced shortly after the cruise gets underway, Nancy has the opportunity to assist the woman when the cruise ship lurches and she nearly falls over (p. 128).  Later, Miss Brownley's police dog performs tricks for the rescued crew of the lumber freighter (p. 138), and she plays several selections on the piano and even gives a reading (p. 138).  Once the ship reaches South America, Nancy steps in once again to help the poor blind woman when she has difficulty making it through customs (p. 142) - Nancy puts in a good word for her, and the customs agent just let her in!  Finally, she makes her last appearance when Nancy and her friends are taking a taxi to Nestrelda's home and the cab driver makes a sudden stop to avoid hitting a woman in the middle of the street - and that woman is, you guessed it - Miss Brownley (p. 166)!  Some street urchins took her dog from her and left her stranded, but leave it to Nancy to come to her rescue (pp. 167-68).  The character adds absolutely nothing to the story, she is not involved in any of the mysteries, is not related to anyone, and seems to serve no purpose other than to simply add padding to the story (perhaps to meet the page or word count requirement for the book).

 

And we must make mention of that poor girl's name - Nestrelda.  That has to be one of the most unusual names I've ever read.  I tried doing a search for the name, to see if I could figure out where it might have come from.  It's so unusual, I though perhaps either Wirt (Benson) or Adams had heard it at some point and wanted to use it in a book.  The only thing I could find on the name, other than its use in this book, was a Nestrelda Gross out of Ithaca, New York, who was born in November 1979 (just three years after the text for this book was revised) - and I did find a "Nestrelda Darlington" who lives in Rumson, New Jersey on Facebook!  Seriously!

 

Now, the one thing about discussing these books with my fellow Central Florida Sleuths is that they come to the table with some very interesting things of their own!  One of my fellow Sleuths shared that this book was originally going to be set in England, and not South America - but, because of the war going on at the time, they changed the country to Argentina (who was still neutral at the time).  According to correspondence between Wirt (Benson) and the Stratemeyer Syndicate, the setting for the story was still England as late as August 1939, when Wirt (Benson) was asked whether she could write the dialogue for the British characters in the book.  According to her response to the Syndicate on August 18, 1939, Wirt (Benson) admitted to having spent a few days in London.  So, somewhere between August 1939 and its publication date in 1940, the story was changed to reflect Argentina instead of England.  Such an interesting behind-the-scenes tidbit!

Finally, let's take a look at that love triangle.  SPOILER ALERT - if you don't want to know how this all ends, then read no further.  Otherwise, proceed at your own risk....

By the end of the story, Nancy and her chums make the observation that even though Nestrelda had fallen head over heels for Henry, "Marriage with Treldy is out of the question," declares Nancy (p. 218).  "Treldy wasn't his type, and he doubtless realizes it now," George adds (p. 218).  Nancy observes that Treldy is too young to be sure of her own feelings, and George believes Henry should thank Nancy for saving him from that (p. 218).  Oh, but wait!  It gets worse!  Once Henry takes a more active role ins his father's business, suddenly Doris has a change of heart and agrees to marry him (p. 219)!  Nancy talks with Mrs. Purdy, and they agree that it would not do for Treldy to return to the United States, and Mrs. Purdy unilaterally agrees to take in the girl - "Treldy needs discipline and I shall provide it, together with loving care" (p. 219).  Mrs. Purdy acknowledges that Treldy's real father left her a swmall income, which she will use to send Treldy to a school in South America (p. 219).  There are so many problems with this whole scene, I don't even know where to begin!  First, who are Nancy and George to make any decisions about whether Henry and Treldy have any real feelings for one another or not?  And who are they to get to determine that Treldy does not know her own feelings?  Then, who gave Nancy and Mrs. Purdy the right to (a) put Tredly under Mrs. Purdy's care without any legal authority to do so and without even questioning the girl about what she wants, and (b) to take the girl's income and use it for their purpose for the girl?  There seem to be a LOT of liberties taken with this, and I have to wonder if it was not just rushed into these two pages simply to give readers a quick resolution.  For me, this was by far the most ridiculous part of the whole book, and I think Wirt (Benson) would have been better off leaving the whole romance angle out of the book.  (Thankfully, this whole thing was removed when the text was revised.)

Oh, one last tidbit - the next mystery is advertised at the end of the story as "The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion" (p. 220); yet, the original book that came out was The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion, not "of."  When Brass-Bound Trunk was revised, the title of the next book at the end was changed to Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion; yet, when the revised Moss-Covered Mansion came out, it was actually titled Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion, not "at."  Apparently someone was having problems with remembering which preposition to use in the title!

 

***And just to whet your appetite - stay tuned for my next blog post, as it will feature a book that has a (somewhat) connection with this one! 

RATING:  7 cases of mistaken identity out of 10 for throwing so much into just one book, yet managing to get it all to make sense by the end of the book (albeit in some crazy ways!).