Nancy Drew Mystery Stories # 144 - The E-Mail Mystery

 "Nancy uncovers intrigue on the internet ... and the password is danger!" (cover blurb)

 

 "Nancy goes on-line and keys into a criminal conspiracy" (back cover blurb)

 

This book is definitely a product of its time!  While it moves Nancy further into the technological age, what with the e-mail and internet usage, it is certainly date specific, with its talk of floppy disks and dial-up modems! First published in August 1998, which was defined by slow, audible 56k dial-up modems, where you had to pay monthly fees for access to the internet through sites such as AOL and where you communicated in group chat rooms or message boards.  The internet was nothing like it is today; so, naturally, a book published in that time and read by today's readers would seem greatly antiquated (even though it was less than 30 years old at this point!).  That being said, it was a fun read, mostly because in addition to the e-mail/internet focus, but also the fact that it is set in Carson Drew's law office and the mystery itself pertains to some of his legal cases!

 

The E-Mail Mystery finds Nancy accepting a short summer position at her father's firm to help transfer some closed files off of the office computer system and onto portable disks.  "Summer vacation at last!" she exclaims at the opening of the story (p. 1), and she is excited at the prospect of going sailing with George up in Bridgehaven (p. 2), a fictional city that is apparently not far from River Heights.  Before she goes, however, she gets caught up in a mystery at her father's office - it seems several recent clients have all demanded Mr. Drew accept exceptionally low settlement offers on their cases just shortly after he starts to represent them.  The only apparent connection between the cases is that all of them have the same law firm representing the insurance companies: Williams and Brown.  While Mr. Drew thinks it is a coincidence, Nancy smells a mystery!  Thus, her summer internship begins, and she heads to her father's law firm to find out what is really going on!

I have to applaud the ghostwriter for this book, Denise Hildago, as she brings back Carson Drew's legal secretary and assistant, Miss Hanson, who long-time Nancy Drew fans will recognize from her appearances in The Bungalow Mystery, The Clue of the Tapping Heels, The Spider Sapphire Mystery, The Mysterious Mannequin, Clue in the Ancient Disguise, and The Mysterious Image.  It is nice to see some continuity with those pre-Simon & Schuster-owned days.  In addition, Nancy does something she says she has not done since she was in the third-grade: brings "out an old blue notebook" and writes down a list of clues and suspects (pp. 112-14).  This, obviously, is a reference to the Nancy Drew Notebooks series, which ran from 1994 - 2005, having been first published just four years prior to this one seeing print.  Thus, the author was definitely tying in some continuity from the various series.  Even the e-mail and cyber cafe plot-points hearken back to the final Nancy Drew Files mystery, Crime at the Ch@t Cafe, published just one year before this one.  The plot of this book, however, differs greatly from that of the final Files book.

 

The mystery gets underway when Nancy discovers that someone at her father's firm has sent e-mails to the Williams and Brown law firm on the very same day that each client engaged her father's services.  She is unable to discover what exactly was sent to the other firm, but the fact that each case settled so quickly thereafter, and each of those clients now refuse to talk with her father sets off any number of alarms in Nancy's mind.  The question is - who did it?  Was it Blaine Warner, Mr. Drew's new associate at the firm?  She graduated top of her class, wrote for the law review, and won a number of mock trials.  Is the fact that she went to school with the son of one of the partners at Williams and Brown a telling clue?  Or was it Henry Yi, Mr. Drew's new paralegal?  He's a hot shot computer whiz, who is also quite nosy, always sticking his nose into everyone else's business - plus, he knows the passwords of everyone in the office!  Or was it Byron Thomas, the summer intern?  He is a quiet, nervous young man who is nicknamed "the poet" because of his name and love of poetry.  Is his nervous nature a product of his shyness, or is he hiding something?  When Nancy, with Bess's help, learns the identity of the e-mail sender was Miss Hanson - does that mean Mr. Drew's secretary, after so many years of loyalty, would betray her employer?

 

While we are on the subject of Bess, let's talk about that sudden knowledge of computers and the internet that Bess has! It appears in this book Bess "has joined an Internet chat group about historical and contemporary romance novels" and that being "on-line was so interesting to her that she earned all about computers, communication systems, Internet links, Web browsers - all that stuff" (p. 10).  With George out of the picture in this story, Bess manages to develop some skills, other than eating, that can help Nancy solve the mystery!  It is funny that Bess gets the computer skills here, but when S&S rebooted the series in 2004 with the Nancy Drew, Girl Detective series, it was George that suddenly had the computer skills, while Bess became more of a mechanic.  Not sure which version I prefer - in either case, it does expand the character somewhat, and give her more depth than just someone who is always on a diet!  Plus, the skill really comes in handy in this particular mystery, as even Nancy admits she knows very little about e-mails and internet (which opens the door for the author to have Bess explain quite a bit about online communication throughout the story).

 

A rather unusual reference in the book is the name of a restaurant that John Brown Jr. suggests to his father as a place for lunch:  Steak and Ale (p. 25).  This is actually a real restaurant, that was founded in 1966 and eventually went out of business due to bankruptcy in the early 2000s (although a quick search online shows that a new Steak and Ale opened in 2024 in Minnesota!).  It's not very often that a Nancy Drew mystery uses real locations, such as restaurants, within the stories.  The restaurant plays a rather important part, as well, as Nancy happens to see some of her suspects at the restaurant, wondering just which one is actually working with the Williams and Brown law firm.  Another name brand reference comes in the form of a joke made by Henry, when he startles Nancy while she is the copy room.  She responds with "Oh, Henry," to which the young paralegal quickly retorts, "No, that's a candy bar" (p. 59).  Oh Henry! was a candy bar containing peanuts, caramel, and fudge that was sold in the U.S. up until 2019 (with a slightly different version still manufactured and sold in Canada).  Again, it is surprising to see the author use specific brand names.

 

The final "brand name" use was when Nancy learns that Byron, the summer intern, has been going online to use Lexis-Nexis to perform legal research (p. 74).  Working as a paralegal myself, I am very familiar with the platform, and I was not aware that it was available online as far back as 1998!  I remember using Westlaw first, and later learning about the online offerings of Lexis-Nexis.  A quick search online reveals that Lexis-Nexis began making legal documents accessible online as early as the mid-1970s!  Thus, I learned something new about my own profession by reading this Nancy Drew novel!  And I will say this was probably what I enjoyed most about reading this book, was the legal aspects of the story.  The author did get most of the facts correct about legal research, the civil process, and client confidentiality.

 

And, okay, I lied.  There is one more "brand name" reference, although whether it was intentional or a joking nod, I'm not sure.  When Bess is helping Nancy find out who was e-mailing the opposing law firm, she sets up a new screen-name for them to use while communicating online.  They debate about whether to use "B and N, for Bess and Nancy" or "N and B, for Nancy and Bess" - and they ultimately settle on "B&N" (p. 82).  I found this humorous, as any book lover will immediately recognize that as the shorthand name of Barnes & Noble booksellers, which actually began using "B&N" in May of 1997, when they launched their online website, BN.com.  I would be curious to know if the author did that intentionally as a nod to the store that sold Nancy Drew books, or was it simply pure coincidence?

 

The cover art, depicting a scene straight off of page 105 when Nancy is being followed as she leaves a cyber cafe, holding a rose and some important papers, is once again provided by Ernie Norcia.  I find Norcia's art to be very detailed, and his renditions of Nancy to be truly beautiful (although I wish he gave her hair a more reddish tint).  The model for this cover appears to be the same model used for a number of the Files covers, making me wonder if perhaps the model was somehow contracted by Simon & Schuster, or whatever company they used to obtain their cover art, since her likeness appears in both the Mystery Stories and Files series.

 

This is another one of those digests that rates high on the scale in my book - great story, some crafty plotting, and the legal-aspect was definitely an added plus!

 

RATING:  9 pancakes covered in motor oil out of 10 for bringing Nancy back into a less dangerous world of legal-intrigue mysteries with a bit of humor thrown in to keep it light!  

 

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories # 143 - Mystery on Maui

 "Surf's up - and so is the crime on Nancy's Hawaiian holiday!" (cover blurb)

 

"Nancy rides a wave of danger in pursuit of a surfing saboteur!" (back cover blurb)

 

Published in June 1998, it turns out this particular Nancy Drew mystery was written by the same author as the last book - Elizabeth Nugent (or so it says on Wikipedia, so take it for what it's worth).  While I can find no real information regarding this particular author online, it does not surprise me that the same person wrote books 142 and 143.  Both books have more of a Nancy Drew Files feel to them, rather than the standard digest stories.  Both books have considerably more high-stakes danger, and the mysteries themselves are definitely more adult themed - with villains who will not hesitate to kill in order to keep their activities from being brought to light!  Since the Files series ended in 1997, it makes sense that there were some left over stories, perhaps even some completed manuscripts, that simply got repurposed for the digest series in order to meet deadlines.

 

Mystery on Maui takes Nancy, Bess, and George to Maui, the second largest of Hawaii's islands, for a vacation (and we all know how vacations always turn out for Nancy!).  They were invited by an old friend of Nancy's, Danny Takemura, "who had spent his junior year of high school in River Heights" (p. 3).  The author indicates Nancy and Danny had become good friends and stayed in touch as "E-mail pen pals" (p. 3).  This poses an interesting question - if Nancy and Danny have stayed in touch via e-mail since they completed their junior year (and if Nancy is eighteen, as stated in the previous book, which means they just finished their senior years), then they would have been in communication via e-mail for a little over a year.  So, in all the time that Nancy has been solving mysteries (142 of them in just the span of a year!), why was this "good friend" of Nancy's never mentioned before?  Of course, this series boasts countless "good friends," for whom Nancy solves mysteries, and who we never see or even hear mention of ever again - so how good of friends could they really be?  But, I digress...

 

Now, about the mystery itself. It involves the Golf Coast Surf-Off, in which one of Danny's friends, Josh Brightman, is a contender (p. 5).  Nancy indicates "Golf Coast" is what the western part of Maui is called, and Josh tells them it is also the name of a big chain of stores in Hawaii and California; however, neither of those things are true.  (While the book does contain fictional locations, the city of Lahaina, used in the book [p. 17], is an actual city, located on the northwest coast of the island of Maui; however the reference to the run-down harbor town of Point Guerre [p. 116] is purely fictional.)  Nevertheless, Josh is predicted to be the big winner of the contest, with the chance to win $75,000!  When Josh explains that his two top competitors have both had to back out - one due to food poisoning, and the other due to a fall that injured his leg - Nancy starts to wonder if someone is eliminating the competition in the hopes of winning themselves.  Josh scoffs at the idea until his surfboard is stolen ... and then he receives a note warning him to drop out or else ... and then he finds a deadly snake in his gym bag ... and ultimately he is kidnapped before he can finish the tournament!  With a huge and potentially deadly storm ready to strike Maui, Nancy realizes she must race against time to find her new friend before someone decides to eliminate him from the contest - permanently!

 

Nugent (a/k/a Carolyn Keene) provides the readers with several likely suspects.  First is a fellow competitor, Hank Carter, who is cocky and determined to win at all costs, even if he has to use underhanded tactics to do so.  Second is Manny Monolo, a lifeguard who has an ax to grind with Josh after a fight they had that cost Manny his chance to become a paramedic.  Third is the stranger who tries to steal Josh's surfboard, a man they refer to as "the Snake" because of a tattoo he has of a snake going around his arm.  Fourth is Ruby Blackwell, a former surfer who has opened a surf shop on the beach and is trying to market a new surfboard - and who also happens to be a former girlfriend of Hank Carter.  Last, but not least, is the unsavory Russell Frye, a boat captain who takes tourists out for shark watching, illegally dumping chum into the water to attract sharks.  It seems Josh had reported him to the police, and Frye is none-too-happy with him, vowing to get revenge one way or another.  Thus, with all these suspects, Nancy must find out every thing she can about each of them in order to narrow down her list to the real culprit.

 

As with the last book, the danger levels and violence in this book definitely give it the feel of a Files rather than a standard digest Mystery Story.  For instance, near the start of the story, George is out surfing and gets pulled out by the riptide and knocked unconscious in the water.  By the time they get her to shore, she is not breathing and it appears touch-and-go for a moment before a lifeguard is able to revive her (p. 35).  Later in the story, when Josh finds the snake in his gym bag, it turns out to be a death adder (p. 87), a very venomous snake that originates from Australia (as accurately referenced in the book).  Near the end of the book, when Nancy is tracking down the Snake, she finds him facedown on the floor, with a knife next to him and "a tiny trail of blood" (p. 118).  Finally, near the climax of the mystery, when the real villain has Nancy and her friends trapped, the villain splashes kerosene all over Nancy's clothes and holds a plastic lighter with the threat of burning her alive (pp. 134-35)!  These type of scenes are definitely not the kind one would normally find in a standard Nancy Drew Mystery Story.

 

The cover art, yet again, is provided by Ernie Norcia.  The scene appears to be taken from the moment near the beginning when George is knocked out while surfing, with Nancy running to her aid.  The scene does not really have any connection to the mystery, other than to provide a way for the author to introduce the lifeguard, Manny Monolo.  It truly amazes me how life-life Norcia is able to paint Nancy and her friends.  The art almost appears as if it were a photograph taken at a real beach, with those waves crashing down on the sand. Simon & Schuster definitely picked the perfect artist for these covers - it is a shame they eventually moved on to a different artist.

 

RATING:  9 squadrons of shadowy sea creatures with dorsal fins out of 10 for a fast-paced mystery filled with ever-increasing danger and deadly villains! 

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!) 

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories # 141 - The Wild Cat Crime

"Nancy faces a dangerous threat when danger is uncaged!'  (cover blurb)

 

"A hunt for missing cougar cubs leads Nancy into a sinister trap!" (back cover blurb)

 

It is interesting that Simon & Schuster would publish two Nancy Drew books back-to-back where Nancy and her best friends, Bess and George, are holding down jobs of sorts.  Since the series inception back in 1930, Nancy and/or her friends having an actual job, or even an internship, has been seen only on rare occasions; here were are, though, at the beginning of 1998, and Nancy and her friends can be found working - volunteering for an after-school program in the previous book (140 - The Door-to-Door Deception), and now interning at a local television station (Nancy and George) and at a zoo (Bess) for this book.  Although both volunteering and interning are jobs that normally come without any salary (it's not like Nancy needs money!), it is rather unique to find the girls doing something other than simply solving mysteries in their leisure time.

 

The Wild Cat Crime, published in February 1998, lets readers know from the very first page of the story that Nancy and George are interning at Channel 9 news (p. 1).  I believe this is the first reference we have ever seen of an actual television station, and it is further identified as "WRVH-TV" on the next page (p. 2).  The mystery, however, has little to do with their work at the television station; instead, the mystery comes from Bess's own summer internship at the River Heights Zoo - an endangered cougar successfully gave birth to four baby cubs, and shortly after one cub is thought to be missing (but is thankfully found having somehow gotten beyond the door into the habitat area), all four cubs disappear!  When Bess's boss, Sally, finds out Nancy is a detective, she asks her to look into the matter and find the cubs quickly, as they were still newborns who needed to be fed on a strict schedule or they could be irreparably harmed!  Needless, to say, Nancy is on the case.

 

What gives this story a bit of a twist - or should I say WHO gives this story a bit of a twist - is the investigative news reporter for whom Nancy and George work, one Christy Kelley.  Christy is not the easiest woman to work for, and Nancy and George have spent most of their internship doing menial jobs, barely saying one word to the girls since they started.  When Nancy shares the news of the cubs' birth with Christy, thinking it might make a good story, Christy takes it out of Nancy's hands, deciding it is best to do it with just her camera and sound men.  George believes Christy is jealous of Nancy, as she was hired because of her fame as a detective.  "Christy seems pretty ambitious," George tells her.  "She might be worried you do a better job investigating stories" (p. 4).  Thus, from the get-go, the reader knows that Christy Kelley is going to be a foil during the investigation.  One might say she is the "Brenda Carlton" character in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series (Brenda, for those who do not know, was a recurring character in the Nancy Drew Files series, which ended in 1997, and she was a reporter who was constantly causing problems for Nancy during her investigations).

 

The ghostwriter for this book definitely throw Nancy into one dangerous situation after another.  She and George face off against a deadly Cobra snake;  Nancy and Bess are on a monorail that derails right next to a hyena pen; Nancy is held by knife point by a store owner who mistakes her for the kidnapper; and Nancy is pushed into a cougar habitat with a deadly male cougar ready to attack!  Whoever stole the four cougar cubs is definitely not playing games!  There are suspects galore: Christy (who is said, more than one, bears a striking resemblance to Nancy) seems a little too determined to find those missing cubs before Nancy; Hawk, the cameraman, goes a little overboard in his defense against locking up animals in cages; Joey, the sound man, is evasive and acts very suspicious every time Nancy questions him about the day of the kidnapping; Eduardo Vallejo, the cat trainer who knows more about the cougars than anyone; Randy Thompson, the assistant vet, whose position gives him easy access to the cougars at any time (and he would know how to sedate the mother to nab the cubs!); and even Sally Nelson, the main zoo vet and the woman for whom Bess works.  While Sally seems to be the most unlikely suspect, we all know that in a good mystery, anyone can be the culprit!

 

While the story is very fast paced, due to the limited page count (149 pages with the not-so-small font), the mystery actually develops nicely, and the clues are somewhat subtle, so as not to be glaringly obvious to the reader.  It make for a pretty good read.  One of the things that did annoy me was the number of times George and Bess referred to Nancy as either "Drew" or "Nan."  I realize by the time this book was published in the late '90s, using nicknames, such as a last name or a shortened version of a first name, was a long-established thing, the Nancy Drew series has always, for the most part, given Nancy Drew a level of respect by having everyone refer to her by her proper name.  Calling her by a nickname may modernize the story somewhat, but I think it also takes away from the strength that her name gives the character.  I mean, even the director of the zoo, when he meets her, asks, ""Are you, by any chance, the Nancy Drew - the detective?" (p. 46).  This is a prime example of where the name really matters!

 

(On a side note, the author does manage to throw in a Sherlock Holmes reference, when Nancy first notices the monorail track, which lead "to a quaint, old-fashioned-looking train platform and station.  It looks like a station where Sherlock Homes might catch a train, Nancy thought" [p. 8].  Nice to see one great detective make mention of another!)

 

The gorgeous cover art is provided by Ernie Norcia, who, as fans of the digests know, provided the art for a large majority of these half-white covers.  The scene captures the climatic moment near the end of the mystery, when Nancy is pushed into the cougar habitat and must find a way to escape before a deadly male cougar makes a meal out of her!  Not so sure the outfit Nancy is wearing matches the clothing she had on in the story, but that black dress does work perfectly with the dark, night scene pained by Norcia, and her expression captures her realization of just how much danger she is in!

 

I would go so far to say that this is one of the better digests, as it provides a well-plotted mystery with characters who are not just cookie-cutter stereotypes.  I'd recommend this one.

 

RATING:  9 missing B-rolls of film out of 10 for a really wild mystery set in one of the most unlikely of places (let's face it - how many crimes really happen in a zoo?) - and Nancy had to match wits with a criminal who seemed to always be one step ahead of her! 

Dorothy Dixon and the Double Cousin - the fourth (and final) Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Story

With this book, we reach the final adventure in the Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Stories.  First, our young heroine had to learn how to fly (Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings), after which she stopped some smugglers (Dorothy Dixon and the Mystery Plane, and then she had to help find a young man find his stolen inheritance (Dorothy Dixon Solves the Conway Case).  I was curious to see what type of flying would lead Dorothy into her final mystery; what I discovered, however, is that the author (Noel Sainsbury, Jr. writing under his wife's name of Dorothy Wayne) must have run out of flying tales, as our title character never sets foot in a plane in her last adventure!  Instead, readers get a tale that is yet another twist on the whole "twins switching identities" trope in an outlandish adventure involving the United States government, spies, international thieves, and a deadly invention that could kill millions! 

 

Dorothy Dixon and the Double Cousin begins with what appears to be a simple case of mistaken identity.  While purchasing a Christmas gift for her father, Dorothy Dixon is accosted by a young man who wants to know "[h]ow in the world did you escape?" (p. 15).  Dorothy tries to ignore the man, but when he finally addresses her by the name "Janet" (p. 16), she has no choice but to set him straight.  What is rather odd is that without knowing who this man is, or ever hearing Janet's last name, Dorothy somehow knows he is referring to Janet Jordan, her first cousin (p. 17).  The author explains that Janet's and Dorothy's mothers were twins, which could account for how closely the two cousins resemble one another (p. 18), and Dorothy admits she has been mistaken for Janet before (p. 18), although this must have happened "off-screen," so to speak, since there has never been any mention of a cousin, or of the fact that Dorothy's mother had a twins sister.  In any event, this sets the stage for the latest mystery, because Dorothy learns her cousin is in serious trouble, and, of course, she is only too willing to jump in and help.

 

This final story is a departure from the previous three books.  While the first three stories involved Dorothy flying (albeit only briefly at the beginning of the third book), this book does not see Dorothy go anywhere near a plane.  Instead, she agrees to aid her cousin's fiance rescue Janet Jordan from the dilemma in which she has found herself!  Janet awakes from sleepwalking in her apartment home to find herself strategically hidden behind a screen in the room where her father is meeting with a number of business associates - unscrupulous business associates, that is!  When they discover her, she pretends to still be asleep, but the crooks do not believe her, so her father (Dorothy's uncle!) is forced to keep her locked in her room until they can determine what she knows.  Dorothy's friend, Bill Bolton, enlists the aid a Secret Service agent (Ashton Sanborn) to help them.  He immediately comes up with a plan that involves Dorothy switching places with her cousin, so she can be taken captive to the home of a professor who is creating a formula for the United States government - and who is, unwittingly, housing two foreign agents in his home who plan to steal that formula once it is complete!  It is up to Dorothy to play the innocent young Janet, who purportedly knows nothing of what is going on, while at the same time, work undercover to steal the formula before the foreign agents do!

 

This is far from your typical girls' series book mystery.  The danger is considerably greater, as Martin and Laura Lawson, the foreign agents, are murdering thieves who will not hesitate to kill anyone who keeps them from their objective (p.135)!  Dorothy is kept on her toes, especially with Mrs. Lawson, who is constantly trying to trip up "Janet" to reveal what she knows.  But Dorothy is too smart, and she eventually pits the Lawsons against one another, accusing Mr. Lawson of making overtures to her, which starts the accusations flying between the two crooks!  Meanwhile, Dorothy makes a friend in a young made named Gretchen who recognizes Dorothy as the aviatrix who she once met and got an autograph (forcing Dorothy to reveal herself and enlist Gretchen's aid).  She also has the help of the major domo of the house, Mr. Turnbridge, who, it turns out, is a Secret Service agent himself!  Dorothy has to use her wits to escape being revealed when Mr. Lawson captures her in the library right as she is about to get away with the formula!  It's a deadly showdown, with the cavalry (including Bill Bolton and Ashton Sanborn) arriving at just the right moment to save the day!

 

The book offers up some fodder for discussion, that's for sure.  First, the entire "twin cousins" premise makes me think of The Patty Duke Show (1963-66), which featured cousins, Patty and Cathy Lane, who were identical in appearance.  In more general terms, it reminds me of Mary and Marilyn: Double-Trouble Twins, published five years after this book came out, in which twin sisters that were separated at birth switch places to experience once another's life.  Then, there is the more easily recognized story, The Parent Trap, which also features twin sibling separated at birth who switch places.  This idea seems to be a common trope for children's stories.  Second, the book features some very high-level vocabulary, with words that even an English-major like me did not recognize - such as "equinoctial" (p. 31), which in this case, refers to strong storms, usually experienced in autumn; "demitasse" (p. 39), which refers to a small cup, typically of ceramic or porcelain, used to serve strong coffee; "legerdemain" (p. 62), which is the skillful use of one's hands, normally when performing conjuring tricks; "trousseau" (p. 65), which is a collection of clothing, linens, and personal items a bride assembles for her marriage; and "somnambulistic" (p. 174), which refers to the actions, characteristics, or state of being one who sleepwalks.  The book definitely offers some interesting new vocabulary!

 

There is one particular scene of dialogue that made me do a double-take (no pun intended) and had my laughing out loud.  When Janet's fiance is describing the trouble his bride-to-be faces, he informs Dorothy, Bill, and Ashton that she is to be moved from her apartment to the professor's house at midnight that very evening, to which the Secret Service agent replies, "It is now one-thirty.  That gives us exactly eleven and a half hours in which to get her out of their hands" (p. 29).  Now, I may not be a fan of math, but even I know that eleven and a half hours after one-thirty would be one in the morning, not midnight!  Apparently, not only could the author not count, but neither could the editor nor the publisher, since no one caught the error before the book went to print!

 

And with this, we've reached the end of the Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Series (although this book had no airplane flights or mysteries in the air!).  There is a possibility that Dorothy appeared in at least one of Bill Bolton's books, as this one has a reference to Bill Bolton and the Winged Cartwheels (p. 24), and a quick glance through the pages of that book reveals several references to "Mr. Dixon" - so, at some point, I'll have to read that one and see if our adventure-loving aviatrix appears there.  I would be curious to know if this series ended due to low sales, due to lack of interest by the publisher, or due to Sainsbury's own lack of interest in continuing the series.

 

RATING:   8 shivering fox terrier puppies out of 10 for sending Dorothy Dixon off with one wild tale of spies, deadly weapon formulas, undercover work, and cousins ... identical cousins ... two of a kind!

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories # 140 - The Door-to-Door Deception

 "Nancy's on a crash course with crime!"  (cover blurb)

 

"A very good cause puts Nancy in the middle of some very bad business!" (back cover blurb)

 

It's been quite a while since I've read any of the Nancy Drew digests (those paperback books published by Simon & Schuster as a continuation of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories started by Grosset & Dunlap back in 1930).  Over the years, I have heard many fans of Nancy Drew make disparaging remarks about the digests, claiming they lack the quality of the original series, and that the stories are nowhere near as good as "the first 56 books" (which certain die-hard fans claims are the only true Nancy Drew canon).  However, having read (thus far) books 57 through 139 (and now, with this one, 140), I can say that a number of these digests have some very well-written mysteries, some of which I would consider superior to the last five or six mysteries published by Grosset & Dunlap. However, as the series progressed, the stories did start to become more hit or miss, with some not quite hitting the mark.  This, I would have to say, is one of those.

 

The Door-to-Door Deception is not your typical Nancy Drew fare.  This is more of a story about embezzlement and burglaries.  Nancy and Bess agree to join George, who has been volunteering with a local after-school program for junior high students (called "CARING"), unaware of the trouble they will soon find themselves facing.  It seems not only does CARING have another organization, known as "YES," that is competing with them for funding from the community, but one of the counselors and one of the teenagers are not too fond of Nancy and her friends.  When some incidents take place - such as hot sauce being put into Bess's water bottle and the brake on Nancy's inline skate being tampered with - Nancy suspects that the counselor and student may be pulling such stunts to get them to stop volunteering.  When George is accused of stealing some of the organization's funds, Nancy realizes things are much more serious than she realized.

 

Meanwhile, after Nancy is stopped by the police while trying to sell energy bars to raise money for CARING, she learns from her father that there as been a string of burglaries in River Heights, all during broad daylight.  Every home had belonged to wealthy families, and somehow the alarm systems had been bypassed by the thieves.  Of course, Nancy begins to suspect that her two cases might be connected (and let's face it - when has Nancy ever had two cases in the same book that were not connected?), and soon enough all of the clues lead her to the same place.  And while one suspect is clearly involved, I will say the ghostwriter for this book gives readers a bit of surprise with the other culprit - quite frankly, it was the last person I would have suspected being involved in the whole scheme!

 

This is another one of those books that seems to place River Heights in or around Chicago, Illinois.  The CARING center is said to be located "on the South Side, across the street from Washington Park" (p. 4).  In the real world, there is a Washington Park, which is a historic neighborhood and park located on the South Side of Chicago.  Later in the book, Nancy is selling energy bars on Markham Lane (p. 26) - while there is no Markham "Lane" in Chicago that I could find, there is a Markham "Avenue."  Thus, one can assume that either the ghostwriter is from or familiar with Chicago, or specifically chose identifying places from that area to keep River Heights central to the part of Illinois.

 

Food-wise in this book, Hannah is said to have prepared a dessert she calls "raspberry fool" (p. 87), which, as it turns out, is a real thing.  A little searching online reveals it is a traditional English dessert that is easy to make - you simply stir the berries, sugar, and liqueur together and let it sit for 15 minutes; whip up some cream with powdered sugar until soft peaks form; mash the berry mixture until the liquid and fruit are mashed together; spoon half the fruit into the cream, fold once or twice with a rubber spatula, add the remaining half of the fruit, and fold again - serve in glasses with crumbled cookies on top!  (Recipe taken from:  Pioneer Woman - Raspberry Fool).  Sounds mighty tasty, I might have to try this myself!

 

Something else I learned in this book is all about the game of "newcomb," a sport which the author spends pretty much an entire chapter going over how the kids played it (pp. 45-50).  Newcomb ball is similar to volleyball, in that two teams are on either side of a net and hit the ball over the net to each other - the major difference being, in newcomb, you catch the ball and throw it back - you don't hit it back.  I had never heard of this before, and perhaps that is because newcomb is not widely played today (although it appears to still be somewhat popular in some northern New England states.

 

The cover art for this book was provided by Ernie Norcia (who provided art for 21 of the 31 covers during this particular era of Nancy Drew).  The scene is drawn from the moment where Nancy discovers, to her chagrin, that someone has tampered with her skates, and the brake part has come loose, causing her to be unable to stop herself as she speeds downhill toward a riverbank (p. 99).  For me, this cover has always appeared awkward, not really providing the reader with any idea of what the mystery is about - I mean, let's be serious for a moment: Nancy stumbling while on skates does not truly scream "embezzlement" or "burglary" at all.  The only reason I can come up with as to why the publisher chose this scene for the cover is that the book does not really have any cliffhanger moments or spooky scenes; rather, this is one of those cerebral mysteries that depends more on Nancy's analytical side than any actual physical detecting (although there is a moment where someone grabs Nancy around the neck from behind and holds her in a headlock - p. 117 - but that might have been too much for a Nancy Drew cover).

 

This was not an overly exciting mystery, was not fast-paced at all, and the introduction of little Dino (a young boy who persistently wants to help Nancy solve the mystery) is rather annoying - he sort of reminds of Midge Watson, the little detective wannabe who attaches herself to Nancy in book 73, Enemy Match.  The character is not an integral part of the mystery, but rather, is used for nothing else other than to feed Nancy clues that she could have otherwise discovered through her normal detective work.  I applaud S&S and the ghostwriter for attempting to give readers a different type of mystery (hey, it's not sabotage!), but I feel like this one simply did not read like a normal Nancy Drew mystery - no suspense, no real danger, no truly dastardly villains.  But, here we are at book 140, so I supposed with this many mysteries in the series, they can't all be winners!

 

RATING:  6 shopping bags filled with dozens of CDs out of 10 for at least trying something different and introducing readers to a tasty new dessert to try! 

Dorothy Dixon Solves the Conway Case - the third Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Story

And so we come to the third book in the Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Stories.  After an introductory story in which Dorothy earns her wings and captures some thieves (Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings) and a follow-up tale in which she foils the plans of some smugglers (Dorothy Dixon and the Mystery Plane), I had hopes that we would have yet another challenging adventure that Dorothy (and, yes, Bill Bolton returns once again - poor girl cannot seem to have her a story without him!) would have to weather - and when I say weather, I mean it (see below)!  Author Dorothy Wayne (better known as Lt. Noel Sainsbury, Jr.) seems to rely on a number of the same tropes as this third book in the series features many similar scenes that we saw in the first two books - although, Dorothy does finally shine as the quick-thinking sleuth and strong leader we all knew she could be if given the chance!

 

Dorothy Dixon Solves the Conway Case opens with our young aviatrix doing what she loves most - flying her plane, Will-O-The-Wisp (or "Wispy," for short) with her best friend, Betty, along for the ride. The only problem is, they are flying in the middle of a rough storm, and good ol' Wispy is running extremely low on gas.  Thus, Dorothy is forced to find a place for an emergency landing in the torrential downpour while flying over a dark area of forest!  Leave it to Sainsbury to put Dorothy in dire danger from the very first page - this type of situation definitely catches the reader's attention from the get-go. Of course, Dorothy, being the hero of the story, manages to set the plane down safely, and she and Betty make their way through the storm and find a secluded house (gee, it seems like each of these mysteries involves a secluded house in some form) where they think they will get shelter.  But, alas, fate has other plans - instead of a welcome party, the girls peer in the window to find a young man tied to a chair, while two other men are questioning him harshly about something (hmmmm, this also seems to be a recurring theme in this series - someone being held captive in the secluded house).  And so, the mystery begins!

 

This time around, Dorothy uses her own ingenuity, rather than relying on Bill Bolton, to rescue the young man - and Sainsbury, to his credit, gives her the quick thinking needed to get the men out of the house so she and Betty can rescue the captive man.  He turns out to be George Conway, and once untied, he and Betty form an immediate attraction; but Dorothy does not give them time to think about that, as she calls in some aid in the form of Bill Bolton, who brings along Terry Walters to help him refuel Dorothy's plane.  It is at this point we get some of the story about George Conway and the mystery surrounding his father and why so many people are interested in George, that small house his father left him, and a book titled Aircraft Power Plants.   None of it makes sense to George, but Dorothy suspects it all comes down to money in some form or fashion.

 

Sainsbury spends in inordinate amount of time on Dorothy and Bill's tramp through the woods, as they try to escape the men with guns who are after them (mistakenly believing Bill is actually George Conway!), and chapters are spent on their running in the rain through the wooded forest and up a dangerously steep cliffside (that, conveniently, Terry had previously hiked and found a secret way to climb up the side of it).  He eventually gets the duo to a cabin in the protected woodland area, which is inhabited by an old man named Abe Lincoln River "known to the world at large as Ol' Man River, but to his friends he's Uncle Abe" (p. 160).  He takes an instant liking to Dorothy and Bill and helps them out of a number of tight situations through the rest of the book.  

 

What the reader must realize is that Uncle Abe (or Ol' Man River, if you prefer) is a character that is a product of the time when this book was written. From the moment his is introduced as "an ancient, white haired negro" (p. 152), to the dialect he is given by Sainsbury (i.e., "Lordy, Lordy, you chillen is sho' 'nuf half drown'. But we's gwine ter fix date sho' nuf in a jiffy" [p. 154]), it is clear he is an over-the-top stereotype of how African-Americans were portrayed in the early part of the twentieth century, particularly in literature.  The references to Uncle Abe as "the old darky" (p. 156) and even the self-proclaimed "ol' niggeh" (p. 161) must be read in the context of the time, with an understanding that such terms, while not appropriate today by any means, were not considered in same way back in 1933 when this book was published.  Uncle Abe is a lovable character in the story, and he has no problem standing up to the white landowners who try to bully him into revealing Dorothy and Bill's whereabouts. In fact, without Uncle Abe, the two heroes would never have been able to sneak their way into the great house on the hill, rescue their friends, and reveal the crooks for who they are!

 

Sainsbury once again keeps his story real by integrating non-fictional locations into the book, such as references to "Route 124," a road "from Poundridge Village that runs to South Salem..." (p. 96).  Some quick research reveals that New York State Route 124 (called "Salem Road") is a nearly 5-mile road that connects Pound Ridge to South Salem, running through a forested area, just as it is described in the book.  And since the previous books have made it clear the Dixons and Boltons live in New York, around the tip of Long Island, then this area would not be far-fetched at all as a place where Dorothy is forced to land while flying.  There is also an interesting reference to "Bull" Durham (p. 78), but not the one from the real world.  In the story, Bull Durham is Terry's cousin, Ed Durham, who played football for the Lawrenceville university team; in the real world, however, Bull Durham was a baseball player who played for various teams in the first decade of the twentieth century.  While not a direct reference, it was probably a subtle homage to the sports hero.

 

Something else I found interesting is the author's use of the Bible in the story.  At one point, Uncle Abe is telling Dorothy and Bill how he came to be there in that cabin in the forest, and he says, "De Good Book say, 'Him what has, gits, and him what ain't got nuffin' gits dat nuffin' tak'n away'..." (p. 165). This is a paraphrased version of Matthew 13:12, which says, "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath."  This statement was made by Jesus to his disciples, just after telling the parable of the sower and the seeds.  Commentaries on the matter indicate the verse is referring to spiritual awareness: a man who has a desire to learn more about God and to do His will shall see his knowledge and understanding increased, but those who refuse to listen and believe will have what little understanding they may have had taken away.  Sainsbury takes the verse to refer to Uncle Abe and the comfort he lost with his previous master in the South to the lonely, impoverished existence he now lives.

 

While the adventure and danger are kept at a high level throughout the story, the mystery itself is somewhat subdued and not a major portion of the story; in fact, its solution is done "off-screen," so to speak, and we learn of how Dorothy uncovered the whereabouts of the missing patents owned by George's father from the crook's cook, who helped Dorothy, Bill, and Uncle Abe when they snuck into the great house in order to rescue their friends.  I found that to be somewhat of a let down, as I would have loved to have seen (or, rather, read) Dorothy's making the big find in the presence of George Conway and all of her friends.  I supposed Sainsbury may have been running out of room, so he had to wrap up this adventure so as to not exceed whatever page count or word count restrictions he had for the book.

 

Before I end this post, there is one scene at the end that had me scratching my head.  After everything is wrapped up, Dorothy and Bill take a test run in her plane in order to test one of Conway's patents - and after spending more than 100 hours straight in the air without refueling once, the plane comes in for a perfect landing.  What is unexplainable is that when the mechanics open the door, they find "side by side, grimy, worn, unkempt, were Dorothy Dixon and Bill Bolton, sleeping like children!" (p. 247).  How in the world did they land the plane if they were both fast asleep?  I did a search to see if there were automatic pilots in the 1930s that could have landed a plane, but it seems the first successful, fully automatic landing did not occur until 1937, some four years after this book.  Thus, we are left with one mystery that will never be solved...

 

RATING:  8 faded blue flannel shirts with matching overalls out of 10 for a mystery that has very little flying and lots of running, sneaking around, and climbing!

Nancy Drew Diaries, Not. 27 - Vans & Villains

The new year got started with a new book in the Nancy Drew Diaries series.  With volume 27, plus, the Christmas special some years back, the Nancy Drew series has surpassed the Hardy Boys Adventures series, which ended back in 2023 with its 25th book.  The fact that the name "Nancy Drew" has achieved a certain level of pop culture status (even people who have never read a Nancy Drew in their life seem to know it refers to a female detective whenever they hear the name used on a television show, in a movie, or in a book), and at this point, one has to wonder if that is the only thing keeping this series alive.  Despite the Hardy Boys having been published three years prior to Nancy Drew, their level of popularity has never really reached the same heights as Nancy Drew.  But that popularity is dwindling down.  The books have gone down to only one being published per year (which would be okay, if the page count were higher and the content stronger!), and the companion series for younger readers, the Nancy Drew Clue Books, seems to have ended in 2024 with the publication of its 19th title.  Perhaps Simon & Schuster is gearing up for some really big re-boots in 2027 (the Hardy Boys) and 2030 (Nancy Drew), which is why the various series have been allowed to end - one can only pray this is the case, since these series are both nearly 100 years old, and it would be a shame to see them both be laid to rest so close their centennial celebrations.  I suppose we can only wait and see...

 

Vans & Villains, while not an overly exciting "mystery" title, sadly falls back on the sabotage trope that has plagued this Diaries series, as well as its precursor, the Girl Detective series.  It feels like either the ghostwriters being selected to write the books, or perhaps the publisher itself, has little to no creativity left when it comes to creating plots for mystery stories.  No missing wills, no kidnapped heiresses, no stolen heirlooms, no haunted castles - literally, nothing other than just someone trying to sabotage a wedding, a play, or any other event you can come up with.  In this case, someone is sabotaging George Fayne's dream come true - to experience life on the road with #vanlife (as it is referred to over and over in the story)!  When she wins a contest that will allow her to take a social media travel influencer's van across the country for a week, she of course begs Nancy and Bess to go with her.  They reluctantly agree (since when has Nancy never really liked the outdoors?), and the adventure begins!  It should be a simple trip - follow the travelogue prepared for them by the van's owners (Matt and his wife, Sammy) and post photos and videos of their fun experiences along the way.  What could possibly go wrong?

 

Well, for starters, Nancy Drew is going on the trip, so you know there's going to be trouble.  She is a trouble-magnet like no one else (well, except perhaps Jessica Fletcher - you never want to be invited to on one of her parties!), and this time is no different.  Before they even finish their first day, the van has car issues, and it turns out the engine has a major oil leak.  Matt and Sammy are not pleased the girls are already delayed, but they find them a new campsite, since they won't be able to make it to their originally intended first stop.  Okay, does not seem too bad yet.  But that night, Nancy hears noises outside, and when she goes to investigate, she discovers two of their tires have been slashed!  Nancy is confident someone did this intentionally, but Bess and George convince her she probably just drove over some sharp rocks the night before when they pulled in.  So, there's another delay, which makes Matt and Sammy even more upset.  And, as if that were not enough, when they finally get on their way and stop to eat, Nancy catches someone who she believes was casing the van - she even finds the side door open and several coffee mugs shattered.  Once again, Bess and George come up with plausible explanations, but Nancy is no longer believing it.  Someone is following them, and she's determined to prove it.

 

And so the mystery goes, as every stop along the way produces one more problem after another.  Until, as the girls are nearing Las Vegas, they van is stolen in a small town that claims to never have any crime!  Matt and Sammy have reached their breaking point, and they threaten to sue the girls for the cost of the decked-out van if they do not find it.  George is heart-broken that her dream trip has been ruined; Bess is upset to the point where she is ready to go home; but Nancy is more determined than ever to prove someone has been intentionally stalking and sabotaging their trip.  She also believes it has to be an inside job, as George has told her that no one outside of Matt and Sammy and their assistant, Lilah, knew the itinerary for the trip, and no one could have possibly known of the change in campgrounds due to the various delays.  Yet, someone managed to find out, and Nancy is almost certain it is one of the esocial media followers who has been dogging them online since they started the journey - now all she has to do is find him, prove it, and get the van back before their deadline to have it to California!

 

While the sabotage trope is a tiresome repeat, I will say the whole #vanlife adventure trip was rather a unique twist on it.  Following Nancy, George, and Bess as they take a road trip "through Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, on into Nevada, and then California" (p. 8) was actually kind of fun - particularly when the close quarters lead to some rather testy arguments (which would only be natural, even among the best of friends!).  It was also interesting to see that Bess is taking a university class on poetry, and for part of the trip, her focus is on finishing a paper that she has due on Wordsworth (p. 9).  It is not too often they talk about the girls being in school, and it's refreshing to have it mentioned she is taking university classes (as it means she is not a pre-teen or in her early teens, as the cover art always seems to infer).  We also get absolute confirmation that River Heights is in Illinois, because as the girls head out on their trip, and they cross over their first state line, George cries out, "Good-bye, Illinois" (p. 30).  e

 

Now, something I did find odd is a reference to Bess having tried out for the track team in high school (p. 40).  I realize that since the Girl Detective series, the characters of Bess and George have had some depth added to them - George has since become a tech guru, and Bess has become a mechanical genius.  But at no time has Bess ever shown any inclination to enjoy sports, let alone try out for a track team!  Makes me wonder whether the author was simply not familiar enough with the past history of the character, or if the ghostwriter simply wanted to put their own creative touch on Bess.  Either way, this aspect of the character simply did not click for me.  What did click, though, is later in the story when Nancy and George are trying to convince her to stay with them and not go home, and Nancy suggests that when they make it to California, "Maybe we'll run into Pedro Pascal" (p. 121).  It seems in this incarnation, Bess is really infatuated with the famous actor!  Now THAT seems more like the Bess I know and love!

 

There are a couple of elements to the story that I thought were unnecessary and certainly did not belong in a book aimed at 8 to 12 year olds.  I understand these are modern times, and kids are exposed to a lot more "adult" themes than children the same age 20 years ago or more; however, I still think books for this age group should maintain a certain level of innocence about them, and certain subject matter (such as extramarital affairs or other sexual references) has no business being placed into the story.  The references to the small toilet in the van, and how one goes about flushing it is one thing - that's something kids this age would probably laugh at and find a bit "icky," yet funny.  But references to mistresses and lovers is going too far in my book, and those scenes immediately took me out of the story and definitely left a distaste in the my mouth for a story I was otherwise trying to enjoy.  Children grow up faster than they should these days anyway, so why add to it in a children's mystery book?

 

Since we no longer get any references to the next mystery (no ad for it on the back of the paperback or on the inside back flap of the dust jacket for the hard cover), guess we are going to have to wait a number of months before we find out if a 28th book is going to be solicited and published.  We are only four years away from Nancy Drew's 100th birthday, so here's hoping Simon & Schuster can at least give us four more books so we can hit that centennial mark!

 

RATING:  7 fried laptops out of 10 for a somewhat decent story that could have offered up a much better mystery if it had involved a "ghost" or missing treasure or literally anything other than sabotage! 

Dorothy Dixon and the Mystery Plane - the second Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Story

The second book in the Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Stories was just as enjoyable as the first.  Author Dorothy Wayne (in reality, Lt. Noel Sainsbury, Jr.) offers up a stronger mystery this time around, and while Sainsury's other series star, Bill Bolton, does appear in the story, he does not show up until nearly half way through the book.  The book was published with the same dust jacket cover art as the first book (as well as the third and fourth book) - seems like the publisher, Goldsmith, often used the same cover art for an entire series, such as the Penny Nichols series, the Peggy Stewart series, the Merriweather Girls series, and others.  This book does offer one difference, however - there is a dedication at the front:  "To Winkie, who has had a finger in each of her Mummy's books."  While I could find no direct link, it is likely this is a reference to Sainsbury's daughter with Dorothy Wayne Illick, his second wife (and from whose name came his pseudonym for this series), as his daughter from his first marriage died while still an infant (Noel Everingham Sainsbury).

 

Dorothy Dixon and the Mystery Plane seems to be set some months after the events in the first book.  Not only is Dorothy now a licensed pilot, having completed all of her training, but her father has purchased her a plane of her own (confirming for the reader that Mr. Dixon's job as the president of the town bank has made him quite wealthy!).  In addition, the cast of characters in Dorothy Dixon's world is expanded, as readers get to meet Terry Walters, a blond-headed young man who could potentially be a love interest for Dorothy.  Readers are also introduced to Phil Stanton and Betty Mayo, two more friends who are sharing an afternoon in the water at the beach club as the book opens.  Before the first chapter ends, the "mystery plane" in the title appears, and the bearded man flying it, after being forced to make a landing in the water not far from where the young people are splashing around in the Long Island Sound (more on that location later...), makes it clear Dorothy and her friends need to steer clear of him!

 

It seems that the "mystery plane" as Terry as dubbed it (p. 19) seems to fly the same route over that area at the same time every day.  After her encounter with the pilot, Dorothy suspects something is not right, and when Terry goes missing and Dorothy herself is nearly kidnapped, she knows for sure that the man and his plane are somehow involved.  Despite his concern for his daughter, Mr. Dixon does not stop her from investigating, particularly when Terry remains missing.  Dorothy takes her plane up into the sky, hoping to follow the mystery plane and learn where it is headed each day.  Of course, weather interferes, and she must face great danger in some thick fog before finally uncovering a small cottage some miles down the shore.  She concocts a plan that she feels will enable her to uncover the truth - but all it ultimately does is get her knocked unconscious, kidnapped, taken to another location, and ultimately rescued by none other than Bil Bolton (remember, I did say he ultimately appears in the story!).  He reveals he is working a case for the government, trying to find some diamond smugglers, and wouldn't you know it - that happens to be the very criminal activity Dorothy has stumbled upon!

 

Sainsbury created a wonderful pair of detectives with Dorothy and Bill - they are a semi-comedic duo who share some fun banter, face plenty of danger together, and manage to outwit criminals of pretty much any nature. We even get another reference to Dorothy as "Miss Sherlock Holmes, the famous lady sleuthhound who solved the New Canaan Bank mystery" (p. 181), referring to the first book.  Despite this being Dorothy Dixon's series, I am rather glad the author has kept Bill coming into the stories, as he compliments the main character nicely.  I just wish he allowed Dorothy to take a stronger role in the actual planning and executing of those plans.  Instead, Mr. Dixon has to remind her of her place, sternly telling her, "...if you're going on these patrols, just remember that [Bill] is the captain of the outfit and must have obedience" (p. 185), further informing her that her job "is to do what you're told and let your captain do the thinking" (p. 185).  At that point, I almost wished Dorothy had talked back to her father, or struck off on her own and proved she was capable on her own!  But, I supposed despite the plethora of series books sporting strong-willed and determined female protagonists, Sainsbury could not let go of some of the more male-dominated lines of thinking in those days, and it came out in his writing.

 

Since Dorothy already had all of her training behind her, the story did not delve greatly into the technicalities of aviation as the last book did, and readers get more of the mystery in this one.  The danger level is definitely high in this one, what with the kidnapping, the foggy aerial mishaps, and a purposeful ramming of boats in order to keep the smugglers from grabbing their loot from the water.  The climactic chapters find Dorothy and Bill following the criminals' trail through a dark tunnel into an old, abandoned castle, where they find the captive Terry and face off with guns against the smuggling mastermind and his henchmen.  And yes, you read that right.  Once again, Dorothy faces the enemy with a gun in hand, more than once in this book!  She carries a revolver (p. 85) without any trepidation, and in the final face-off, Dorothy, Bill, and Terry all three are brandishing guns (p. 242).

 

Now, back to the location of this mystery.  It is stated numerous times throughout the book that Dorothy and her friends live in New Canaan, which apparently located not far inland from the Long Island Sound (p. 29), on the Connecticut side.  New Canaan is "slightly under eight miles" from the coastal town of Tokeneke (p. 29) - which is true, as a map shows that Tokeneke and New Canaan are only 6.6 miles apart.  Sainsbury also references Lloyd's Neck, which he indicates is "just west of Oyster Bay" to the "farther side of Smithtown Bay, a distance of fifteen or sixteen miles" (p. 58).  Once again, a map of the area shows these descriptions as accurate, as Oyster Bay is approximately 15 - 20 miles from Smithtown, New York!  I love when authors employ this level of reality within their stories, as it gives them some grounding in reality to help make up for some of the more outlandish and unbelievable antics of the characters.

 

What is funny about the references to Long Island Sound, as well as North Fork and South Fork, is the fact that I just recently finished another book set in the same location (Secret at Orient Point).  These two books were published more than 50 years apart and intended for two completely different types of audiences; so what are the odds that in just a matter of a couple of weeks, I would have read both books set in the same location?  And here we thought it was just children's series books that were full of coincidences!

 

One final thing to note - the author not only has Bill Bolton appear and take an active part in the story, but he specifically references on of Bill Bolton's books!  When Bill and Dorothy are talking, he reminds Dorothy of his adventure with "the Winged Cartwheels" (p. 115), for which there is an asterisk that gives a reference at the bottom of the page to inform readers to See Bill Bolton and The Winged Cartwheels. Now that is an interesting cross-promotion for a boys' series book in a girls' series book.  I have to wonder just how rare this kind of specific cross-promotion was!

 

RATING:  10 small white boxes filled with diamonds out of 10 for an exciting mystery that braves the foggy skies and weathers the stormy waves to stop a ruthless gang of smugglers!

Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings - the first Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Story

It was time to start a new (well, technically it's vintage, but it's "new" to me, since I've never read it before!) series, and this time around it's the Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Series by "Dorothy Wayne."  And, yes, I put the author's name in quotes, because that name is nothing more than a pseudonym.  As it turns out, "Dorothy Wayne" was actually Noel Sainsbury, Jr., who wrote a number of children's adventure and mystery stories during the 1920s and '30s.  A former naval aviator during the first World War, it would only make sense that his stories tend to involve aviation.  Sainsbury authored the Billy Smith series, as well as the Bill Bolton series, both of which had pilots as their protagonists.  The inside front flap of the dust jacket for this book advertises the series as a "new series of mystery books for girls - the stories are told by Dorothy Wayne, wife of Lieut. Noel Sainsbury, Jr., author of the famous Bill Bolton books."  It seems Sainsbury used his first wife's name when authoring the books, likely because it would have appeared odd to have a girls' series written by a male author.  All four books in this series were published by Goldsmith in 1933, and no more appeared after that.

 

Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings reads like a spin-off of Sainsbury's Bill Bolton Naval Aviation Series, which also ran for four books, and were all published in 1933.  On the first two pages, readers are not only introduced to sixteen-year old Dorothy Dixon, but the "famous" Bill Bolton as well!  Dorothy meets him while preparing to head out into the waters in her skiff, and when she realizes who he is, she exclaims, "I've read about you in the papers - and I know all about the wonderful things you've done!" (p. 16).  So, it's clear from the start that the young man had already made a name for himself as an accomplished aviator by the time this story begins.  Dorothy, on the other hand, knows nothing about aviation and quickly proves herself not so capable in the water either when her boat capsizes in the middle of a horrific storm by the end of the first chapter.  It's Bill Bolton who saves the day, however, when he pulls her out of the raging waters with his Loening amphibian (p. 33).

 

Sainsbury clearly knows his stuff, as the Loening amphibian was a real seaplane that could land on ground or water, designed by Grover Loening and first taking flight in 1923 (Loening Amphibian).  And the author definitely shared his knowledge of aviation and planes throughout the entirety of this first book, as Dorothy immediately wants to learn how to fly, and Bill graciously agrees to teach her (with both of their fathers' permission).  Sainsbury, through Bill's lessons, goes into painstaking detail at times about the various parts of the plane, the instruments and their different purposes, and pretty much everything one would need to know before taking a plane up into the air.  I have a feeling the author fudges with the timing a it, as Dorothy learns to fly in just a matter of days, while in the real world, as quick search online reveals it can take a month or two of regular, consistent training for someone to learn how to fly sufficiently to gain their private pilot's license.  I suppose, however, in a fictional tale such as this, learning to fly in a just a few days is relatively easy - especially for someone like Dorothy Dixon, who also is skilled in jiu jitsu (George Fayne, eat your heart out!) and was trained by her father in "running, boxing, fencing, swimming..." (p. 192).  Why, it seems there is nothing Dorothy Dixon can't do once she sets her mind to it!  (Gee, sound like another female teen detective?)

 

And speaking of similarities, I did find it interesting that Dorothy is the daughter of a one-parent home, yet her relationship with her father was not an affectionate one.  The author indicates that although the bond between father and daughter was strong, "especially since the mother's death some years earlier, neither was particularly demonstrative" (p. 103).  It made me stop and think that a number of these girl sleuths had only their father to raise them, although some had live-in housekeepers.  Perhaps this is why the young detectives are so strong-willed and, more often than not, well-versed in any number of physical and mental capabilities - because they were brought up with a male perspective and strong, masculine influence, which made them more capable and independent than most girls their age.

 

While a large portion of the story focuses on Dorothy's education in aviation, there is a mystery involving a robbery at the bank of which Mr. Dixon is the president.  Honestly, it's pretty obvious from the get-go who aided the thieves, but no one (including Bill and Dorothy!) seems to catch on.  The mystery takes a back-burner to the flight lessons, but once Dorothy starts to get the hang of flying, Bill suddenly reveals a hunch about there whereabouts of the thieves (in an isolated house on a hill, some miles away from town).  Rather than tell the police, the daring duo make their own way to the house and end up captives of the criminals.  It's actually a fairly exciting climax to the story, as Dorothy reveals her jiu jitsu skills, and she proves just how much she has been paying attention to her flying lessons as she takes the amphibian from the water and flies it right up to the front porch of the house where the criminals are hiding!  (Oh, and one of those criminals is not exactly who he appears to be, which made for a good twist in the story.)

 

Sainsbury is not shy about his female detective using guns (something Harriett Adams would NEVER allow for Nancy Drew!).  When Bill offers Dorothy a Colt .32 to protect herself and asks if she knows how to use it, her response is, "Certainly.  What do you expect me to do - release the safety catch and pull the trigger to see if it works?" (p. 159).  Near the end, when she flies the amphibian up to the front of the house, she does not hesitate to turn "the Browning [machine gun] into action and [send] half a belt of bullets whipping through the door," careful to "aim high [as she] had no desire to play the part of executioner" (p. 245).  Definitely not a Stratemeyer sleuth! 

 

I found the constant banter between Dorothy and Bill rather humorous, and loved that Bill playfully referred to her as "Miss Sherlock" (p. 85).  He even goes so far as to refer to himself as "Doctor Watson" (p. 89) to her Sherlock!  And I was surprised at the blatant use of brand names such as "Silvertowns" and "Goodyears" when Dorothy and Bill are discussing the kinds of tires the getaway car had (p. 90).  It's not often you see specific brand names used in a series book.

 

Finally, Sainsbury had a bit of fun at his own expense in the story.  When Bill asks Dorothy to go see a movie, she declines, informing him she has a writing club meeting that night.  She invites him to join her, but he quickly turns her down - until he learns the advisor for the group is none of than ... "Noel Sainsbury, the writer ... He was a naval aviator during the war ..." (p. 143).   How many authors have the fun of immortalizing themselves in their own stories?!

 

All four books in this series feature the same cover art, which is a scene taken right out of the second chapter, where Bill shows up to rescue Dorothy after her boat overturns.  There's no signature on the art, and like most series books of that time, no cover artist is identified on the title or copyright pages.  There are also no internal illustrations, which is typical of a lot of the Goldmith books.  The paper is also considerably cheaper, as this nearly 100 year old book has pages that are very brittle, meaning it had to be extra careful when I was reading it to make sure the pages did not crack or fall apart under my fingers.

 

While I did find the abundance of technical instructions about flying to be a bit tedious at times, the characters' banter and the mystery did more than make for it.  I found that I really enjoyed the story, and I'm looking forward to reading the next three books.

RATING:   10 pairs of yellow beach pajamas out of 10 for giving readers a spunky, new aviatrtix who is daring, adventurous, courageous, fearless, and loves to solve mysteries!

Nancy Drew Diaries, No. 26 - Superstitions of "The Scottish Play"

The Nancy Drew Diaries continues with the 26th entry into the series, pushing it past the 25 books of the Hardy Boys Adventure series (which, sadly, has not seen a new book in two years, leading one to believe that Simon & Schuster has closed that series - whether there will be another reboot with the upcoming 100 year anniversary in 2027 remains to be seen...).  Since reducing the series to only one book per year, there was hope that perhaps we might see a bump up in the length and quality of the stories.  Yes, many of the plots of this Diaries series have been interesting, but with the super-large font and low page count, it has definitely not measured up to the original series.  Now we are getting books that are 190 pages in length or longer; yet, when the font size is considered, we are likely only getting 160 pages or so of actual story content.  This book weighs in at 197 pages, and with its story centered around the theater, I was truly hoping for a great mystery ...

Superstitions of "The Scottish Play" provides readers with some new insight into not only Ned Nickerson, but also Nancy Drew and Bess Marvin.  We discover in this mystery that Ned is wanting to spread his wings and try something new, so he auditions for a role in the University's upcoming production of Shakespeare's Macbeth.  At the same time, we find Bess Marvin stepping out of her comfort zone to try not only songwriting, but also singing as well!  All of which leaves Nancy pondering the question - is solving mysteries all she really wants to do for the rest of her life?  Should she not go out and try some other hobbies to expand her experiences in life?  Definitely a question the Nancy Drew of the 1900s would have never even considered; but we are living in the 2000s now, and as society changes, it is inevitable that our favorite teenage sleuth might start to evolve as well.

And speaking of "teenage sleuth" ... there are shades of fourth-wall breaking in this book, as several times Nancy makes mention of her status as a teen detective.  "...if you google 'teenage detective,' my name might come up" she muses on page 4.  Of course, in that same paragraph, she also mentions that "this girl in California named Veronica Mars" is also a teen detective, with whom she tried to get in touch!  I guess this places Veronica Mars and Nancy Drew in the same universe, according to this author anyway.  We also get references to Katharine Hepburn and Meryl Streep (p. 72), along with playwright Lynn Nottage, who slipped and said the name of "The Scottish Play" in the theater, and the next day her mother died (p. 60) - which is a true story.  This, of course, supports the superstition that one never, never, NEVER says the name of the actual play (Macbeth) in a theater, even moreso when you are doing a production of the play.  It is always referred to simply as "The Scottish Play."  Hence, the title to the book.

And this sets up the supposed mystery in this book, which, I must say, is very weak at best.  Ned, who does get a part in the play, slips up and says the word Macbeth during a rehearsal, which infuriates the overly dramatic director (who is quite the diva!) and nearly causes the show to be cancelled.  But the director will not get paid if he doesn't direct, so the show must go on.  But then a stage light falls from above (depicted somewhat on the cover to the book), giving everyone the idea that perhaps the play is now cursed.  Then the director himself falls through the trap door on the stage, which is not easily opened.  Then on the night of the play, all of the costumes are covered in mud.  The director is convinced the play is cursed, but Nancy knows otherwise.  Someone is trying to sabotage the play, but the question is who?  To be honest, there are no real clues in the story to point to any one suspect, and the ultimate revelation of the culprit comes a bit out of nowhere.  There is no way the reader would be able to figure out the identity of the saboteur just from reading the story, which is a bit disappointing.  I prefer when there are clues, no matter how subtle, that lead the reader, right along with Nancy, to solve the mystery.

Now, with regard to that new insight into Bess mentioned above.  Well, in this story, Bess suddenly has the inspiration to not only write songs, but sing them as well.  This leaves George and Nancy in a bit of a quandary, as Bess' voice is not exactly what one would call stellar.  But how can they tell her and burst her newfound dreams?  This subplot is a bit out there and really has nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the story, other than to provide Bess with the reason to pester Nancy about finding a new hobby for herself.  She gives a shot at set decorating, which, of course, allows her to be close to Ned and also to be in the theater to solve the mystery when it arises.  Otherwise, the whole "songwriter/singer" part of the book feels more like filler than anything else.

As usual, we get very little characterization when it comes to the supporting cast (other than the director), and so it makes it all the more difficult to actually feel anything for any of the characters.  Sure, the author provides some surface information - Simon is British, Cassie is a hairdresser, Ricky has a boyfriend, Dale has been an actor before, etc. - but the author spends very little time on any of the characters, so the reader knows way too little about them to sift out any possible motives for the sabotage.  While the plot itself is a good one (having done theater for some years, I am familiar with how superstitious actors, directors, and crew can be!), it simply is not executed as well as it could have been.  Whether this is because of a word-count limitation by the publisher or lack of passion on the part of the author, I suppose we will never know.

I will say that the book ends on a note that could easily be seen as the conclusion to this series.  As the girls discuss their various hobbies, Nancy makes the remark, "It's good to stretch outside your usual things ... It may not be your life's work ... but you just might find something that makes you happy" (p. 197).  And in her closing diary notation (you know what I'm talking about - how each of these books opens and closes with a "diary" page), Nancy writes, "...I really did enjoy helping to design and build the sets of Ned's play.  But you know what? I loved solving the mystery more.  Maybe I will try to do some more drawing and sketching.  But I think I've already found my true calling..." (p. 198).  And since there is no ad for the next book, but instead, and ad for the previous book in the series (which, by the way, Nancy makes reference to a couple of times in the story), one could easily see this as the last of the Nancy Drew Diaries.  I suppose only time will tell...

7 footprints in the dust out of 10 for at least attempting to take the characters in some different directions and giving us a mystery in one of my favorite places - the theater!