Nancy Drew Diaries, No. 24 - Captain Stone's Revenge

So, the one and only book in the "Nancy Drew Diaries" series was published this month - yes, that's right, Simon & Schuster has made the decision to only publish one book in each of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series per year, which means after this one, we will have to wait until January 2024 for the next book to come out.  This news comes with mixed emotions - back in the '70s, the Nancy Drew books published by Grosset & Dunlap only came out once a year, and most would agree that they were of a higher quality than the books that S&S have been publishing for some time now.  Thus, if S&S is now going to once a year, perhaps we will see better quality stories and writing; yet, if this book is an example of what is to come with once-a-year books, I'm not holding my breath.

Captain Stone's Revenge has a pretty good plot.  Nancy, Bess, and George head up to Vermont to visit one of Nancy's friends who is opening up an eco-friendly resort on the lake.  But accidents are happening that are increasing in number and intensity, to the point where Megan Cho wonders if she will be able to open as planned.  Nancy learns that the property was built by an old pirate, Captain Stone, and that there is a legend he buried a treasure somewhere in the area.  Years later, the property nearly burned to the ground, and while a toddler escaped the fire, the body of his babysitter was never found and presumed to have died in the fire.  Now, nearly two decades after the fire, Megan Cho is hoping to revitalize the property, turning it into an eco-friendly sailing club and resort.  Only, accidents begin to happen - one of Megan's boats is cut loose to drift away from the dock ... several of Megan's life-jackets for guests go missing ... someone paints a warning sign on the back of Megan's boat ... Megan nearly sprains her ankle from an unexpected hole in the ground ... and when Nancy, Bess, and George find themselves stranded in the middle of the lake during a horrible electric storm, the engine not working and the radio sabotaged, the girls realize the threats are becoming more dangerous.   Who is behind the sabotage and why?  Is someone searching for the lost treasure of Captain Stone?  Is someone not wanting the resort to be re-opened on the property?  Or has the ghost of Captain Stone really come back to take revenge on anyone who trespasses on his property?

As I said, the underlying plot is pretty good, but it's the execution that leaves a little to be desired.  While the author throws in a few possible suspects, it is pretty easy to discern from the get-go that none of these people are the actual villains (although one of the characters has the opportunity, means, and motive, but for me, it was way too obvious, meaning I could remove him from the equation).  This left me feeling like the first Friday the 13th film, where there is very little, if anything, to give a clue as to the identity of the villain of the story.  In fact, it's not until page 152 that the very first clue as to the saboteur's identity is actually given.  In fact, now that I think about it, there are several similarities to that first Friday the 13th in this book ... the setting is on a lakefront property where someone is trying to re-open a place that burned down years ago (on page 127, Megan even talks about the fact that others have tried and failed to re-open something on this very property) ... there's a disgruntled old man that is warning everyone away from the place ... there is someone unseen that is threatening the people there (although no one is actually killed in this book, as in the movie) ... there is a scary legend of someone who died many years ago ... and the identity of the villain is a complete surprise, with very little, if any, clues to the identity throughout most of the story leading up to the revelation.  Makes you wonder if perhaps the author was not a bit of a Friday the 13th fan.

I did, though, enjoy the use of George's computer/technical skills in this book.  Her constant hunger and desire to eat anything and everything in sight felt a bit out of character, and based on the long history of these characters, it should have been Bess that was the one fascinated with food.  It felt a bit like the author was trying to over-compensate here by taking away the cravings for food from Bess (who was always teased in the original series for being hungry all the time and being "pleasantly plump") and putting them on George, the thin, athletic one of the pair.  Otherwise, I though the actual personalities of Nancy, Bess, and George were captured pretty well.

One thing I want to note is about the cover.  I realize this series has rarely, if ever, actually depicted an actual scene from the story, but has merely created images based on the title or plot; but this cover left me a little bit annoyed.  The scene seems to be taken from chapters nine and ten, when Nancy, Bess, and George are trapped in the middle of the lack during a horrific storm.  First, where are Bess and George on the cover?  (For that matter, where are the two of them on ANY cover of this series?  why does S&S refuse to allow Nancy's best friends, who are in every book, to appear on the covers of this series?)  Second, where is the engine on that boat?  And third, this small sailboat in which Nancy is sitting is nowhere near the boat described in the book.  As much as I love Erin McGuire's art (especially compared to the clip art and live-model covers of the previous series), I really wish we could see Bess and George with Nancy, at least once in a while, and that the scenes would be a closer depiction of what is happening in the book.

Now, I know, I know, it seems I'm being nit-picky.  But I did not completely dislike this book. In fact, there are a couple of lines that brought a real smile to my face when I read them.  On page 11, for example, while the girls are enjoying some local crepes, Nancy watches as Bess pours half a container of syrup on her crepes and wonders, "if the reason Bess is so sweet is that she's 99 percent composed of sugar."  Definitely speaks volumes of Bess's character, and s pretty spot-on.   Much later in the book, when Nancy and Bess are searching for information at the local library, they discover they will have to view old newspapers through microfiche (and the author gives a pretty good description of how that works), and the scene on page 144 reads:

"Unfortunately, it's not quite like an internet search-you actually have to go through every date to find what you're looking for."

"Wow," Bess said.  "Can you imagine George's face if she saw this?"

"I was thinking the same thing," [Nancy] said with a grin.  "She'd probably self-implode."

"I should introduce you to our old card-catalogue system next," Mrs. Sofferman said.  "We still have it up in the attic.  It used actual cards!"

Not only does this scene remind old readers like me just how much things have changed (yes, I'm old enough to remember the card catalogue system and used it at the library quite often to find things!), but it acknowledges that it's been a while since Nancy even used a microfiche machine (p. 143, when Nancy is asked if she has ever used a machine, she responds, "Long time ago ... Might need a refresher.").  Perhaps this was a nod to the fact that back in Nancy's early days, she actually did research the old fashioned way - first with card catalogues, later with microfiche, and today - viola! - it's at the touch of your fingers on the internet!

As always, Nancy ultimately solves not only the mystery of who is sabotaging her friend's efforts to open the sail club, but she also manages to help out a local family by finding Captain Stone's hidden treasure.  

Sadly, there is no picture of the cover to the next book on the back cover, as has been the practice for this series since its inception.  This, at first, led fans to believe the series was over, but it's been revealed that it is simply because production is slowing down to just one book a year, so I suppose S&S does not have painted cover ready for the next volume in the series (let alone a title).  I guess we'll be keeping a watch on Amazon to see when book 25 is listed and keep our fingers crossed that with so much time between books, we'll start getting longer and better mysteries in the tradition of the original series!

RATING:  7 small bottles of paint thinner out of 10 for taking Nancy and her friends to a new locale to solve a mystery.