Nancy Drew Mystery Stories # 142 - The Case of Capital Intrigue

"Nancy's in Washington, D.C., and she's uncovered a monumental mystery!" (cover blurb)

 

"Nancy investigates a shocker of a crime - at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!" (back cover blurb)

 

Published in April 1998, this Nancy Drew digest is unique - in some ways, it follows the books that have come before; yet, in other ways, it digresses greatly from the typical Nancy Drew Mystery Stories formula.  According to Wikipedia (and yes, I do realize, you can't take everything there as the gospel truth), this particular book was ghostwritten by Elizabeth Nugent.  I am not familiar with this name, and I only find two authors by this name:  Liz Nugent, a bestselling author who also worked in film, theatre, and television and who currently lives in Dublin; and Elizabeth R. Nugent, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University, whose research and writing focuses on the politics of authoritarianism and religion in the Middle East.  Quite honestly, neither of these seem to fit the bill, with the latter being (I believe) too young to have been writing books back in 1998.  It is coincidental, however, that the latter Ms. Nugent teaches politics, and that's exactly what this mystery is all about!

 

The Case of Capital Intrigue takes Nancy Drew to Washington, D.C., where she is visiting her best friend, George Fayne, who has an internship as a photographer's assistant at the White House. Now, those who have read the past couple of books are probably asking yourself - didn't George and Nancy just have an internship at a television station in the last book?  And were they not volunteering (interning) for a non-profit organization that helps teenagers in the one before that?  What was going on at Simon & Schuster around this time, that all of Nancy's mysteries seemed to center around some form of internship to get the mystery off the ground?  And let's be completely honest here - how in the world would an eighteen year-old girl with absolutely no photography experience get selected to be an intern at the White House, of all places?  And how in the world would she be allowed to invite her best friend, who is also just eighteen years of age, to come visit her on the job?  Talk about some major suspension of disbelief!  Even in 1998, I do not believe the White House and jobs associated therewith were that easy to get.

 

Aside from that, Nancy gets involved with some political intrigue, as a precious gift that was being presented by the President of the fictional South American country of San Valente goes missing, right under Nancy's nose (quite literally, as she is looking at the gold hummingbird statue when someone konks her on the head, knocking her unconscious, so they can steal the statue (p. 24)).  If news of this theft gets out, then it could not only destroy the treaty being signed between the countries, but it could look very bad for the current administration (and, this being 1998, that would have been Bill Clinton's administration).  Thus, Nancy sets about trying to find the thief, while trying to navigate all of the game-playing that goes on in Washington - and, oh, yes, there is plenty of that.  It seems everyone is out to get everyone else's job, and that includes poor George.  I mean, seriously, who would really be so interested in getting an assistant photographer job that they would send threatening notes and even poison George's food?  Well, that someone is definitely there, and unfortunately, those incidents become red herrings in Nancy's search for the hummingbird thief.

 

Now, if George getting the internship and Nancy being allowed access to the White House weren't enough unbelievable events, then I won't even bring up the moment where Nancy sneaks into the office of a secret service agent, figures out what the password to his computer is, peek at some highly classified files, and then talk her way out of the whole thing when the agent's secretary returns before Nancy can get out of the office (pp. 58-65)!  I realize this is fiction, and the story is not intended for adults, but seriously?  I think even pre-teens would be intelligent and savvy enough to know there is no way an eighteen year-old girl would be able to get away with that.  And let's not discuss how the White House security not only believe her in the climactic moments of the story, when Nancy figures out who the thief is and goes about to set a trap for him in the White House, but they allow Nancy to plan out the details and direct them in what they need to do!  Even my ability to suspend my disbelief was pushed to the limits with that one.

 

All of that being said, the story was not really bad at all (when you overlook those unbelievable scenes).  The danger is extremely high, as not only do George and Nancy nearly get run off of the third story of a parking garage, but Nancy actually gets shot at not once, but twice, over the course of the story!  I was rather surprised, as I recall one of the Stratemeyers' big rules was that there was never any guns in play.  Of course, this was years after Simon & Schuster took over the properties, so those rules were likely thrown out the window some time prior; however, that level of threat, along with the political intrigue, made this feel more like a Nancy Drew Files mystery than a regular Nancy Drew Mystery Stories tale.  In fact, since the Nancy Drew Files came to an end in 1997, one has to wonder if this was perhaps a left-over story that got repurposed from the Files to the Mystery Stories series.  This might also explain why Nancy has an admirer in the story that she not only encourages, but she allows him to kiss her - twice!  What in the world would Ned think of that?

 

A few fun facts come out of this book - first, Chicago is firmly established as "the neareset big city to her hometown of River Heights" (p. 2).  I don't recall any of the digests so blatantly making such a statement, but if I recall correctly, a friend has told me the Files make reference to Chicago more often than not (which would support my believe this manuscript was originally intended as a Files story).  Second, George is said to be "five foot eight," while Nancy is "five foot seven," both eighteen years old (p. 31).  We knew the age, but I cannot recall if these heights were ever stated so definitely before.  Third, ipecac, which is used to poison George, is an actual mediation that is used to induce vomiting and could potentially cause dangerous complications, as described in the book (p. 77).

 

The cover art is one again by the super-talented Ernie Norcia, who manages to create a somewhat dramatic scene with Nancy and Eduardo (the son of the San Valente ambassador, who, by the way, gets kidnapped towards the end, with his life threatened if Eduardo does not makes sure the treaty never gets signed!).  I had always thought the man in the cover art was Ned, but nope - it's Eduardo, as he and Nancy make a run for it in the rain when a sniper tries to shoot them while they are visiting the Lincoln Memorial (p. 107).  And, surprisingly, Norcia very nearly got the clothes the two of them are wearing, based on how they are described n the story.

 

Setting aside the hard-to-believe elements of the story, the book was actually a pretty solid read, with good pacing and a well-plotted mystery.  I would mark this as one of the better of the Nancy Drew digests.

 

RATING:  8 regular turkey and Swiss cheese sandwiches out of 10 for upping the ante a bit for Nancy Drew, giving her a more mature and far more dangerous mystery to solve than she is used to (in this series, at least!)