Review: Nancy Drew and the Mystery At Lilac Inn (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #4) by Carolyn Keene

 

 

Nancy and her friend Helen are canoeing to see their mutual friend Emily at her soon to open Lilac Inn, when the canoe strikes something in the water, and the craft overturns.

Luckily she and Helen have their things in water proof bags which they grab and they go overboard. They're able to swim to land, then go back out and right the canoe.  They see nothing that could have caused the accident, but will try to come back later to investigate.

At the Inn, they find Emily worried about many things. Her upcoming marriage. Opening the Inn in July.  Odd goings on, perhaps even a haunting of the Inn. Her fiance isn't at the Inn yet, but his best man John is here.

While John appears sympathetic and helpful, he also seems to be holding something back and Nancy isn't sure he can be trusted.

There's an activities director who is rude and snide to everyone, and who intrudes whenever she can.

To add to Nancy's troubles, someone has apparently broken into her house, stolen her identity and used her charge plate to purchase nearly $2000 worth of goods!  The store employees identify Nancy as the one who made the purchases.

Carson Drew is once again out of town so it's up to Nancy, Helen and Emily to figure out how all of these things are connected.

I liked the scenes where Nancy and the erstwhile John are skin diving.  She thinks she sees a shark in the water!   Nancy tries to disguise herself as a ghost, only to meet up with a ghost who looks just like her.

There's never a dull moment.

Trixie Belden #3 The Gatehouse Mystery by Julie Campbell

 

The Wheeler's large property includes an old abandoned Gatehouse that the girls and Bobby decide to explore.

Bobby rushes in the doorway before he can be stopped. He trips and lands on a sharp piece of glass that turns out to be a diamond.  It's not even buried, it was just lying non the surface of the dirt floor.

Naturally Trixie speculates that jewel thieves dropped it here, and will be back for it.  She wants to hold onto the diamond till they can figure out who the thieves are, and why they were here.  Honey reluctantly agrees and says she has a safe place for it.

Suddenly both girls hear a rustling in the shrubbery outside the Gatehouse and as they run out to see who has been listening, the person gets away.

Trixie's brothers are back from camp, and they're all in for trying to solve the mystery as well, and capture the thieves.  This is the first time we meet smart aleck Mart and cool headed Brian.  They're perfect additions to the group we know of Trixie, Honey and Jim.  Everyone brings something useful to the solving of mysteries.

Two suspicious new hires are watched carefully in case they're the thieves.  All possible clues are examined.  A club is formed and the Gatehouse is eyed as a possible club house.

I mostly enjoyed the introduction of the brothers to the group, and how easily everyone got along right away.  The mystery of the jewel thieves was intriguing though one of the thieves gave himself away pretty quickly.

Review: Trixie Belden and The Red Trailer Mystery by Julie Campbell

 

Picking up almost exactly where Secret of the Mansion left off, Trixie, Honey and the governess Miss Trask leave in a trailer called the Silver Swan to find Jim before he leaves the area forever.

They know Jim will be trying to get work at a summer camp relatively nearby.  He's had a head start, but they think they can catch up, stopping at campgrounds along the way.

At their first campground, they're parked next to a luxurious, large red trailer for the night.  It's called the Robin.  Trixie and Honey are certain a wealthy family must own it. They long to get a peek inside.

When they see the owners, however, they see a family in worn clothing looking completely dispirited. A couple with several children emerge briefly, long enough for the girls to see the trailer is definitely luxurious, but it doesn't fit this family at all.

As Trixie, Honey and Miss Trask travel looking for Jim, they hear radio alerts saying thieves are stealing and hijacking trailers, and everyone should be wary of leaving their keys in their cars, and their trailers unattended.

They wonder if the red trailer has been stolen, but they can't see the sad family as part of a gang.

It's a book that makes you want to hit the road in your trailer (Scamp), solving mysteries, eating cake and pie baked by a kind farmer's wife, and fresh fruit and vegetables from road side stands. 

There's something about this series that's like a big hug for the reader.

 

 

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #2)

 

Nancy's father has a huge case involving a railroad claim that results in threats against his life.  

Issuing the threats is Nathan Gomber, who comes to the Drew house and tells Nancy her father is in danger.   She'd better stick right by him or she'll regret what happens to him because she doesn't care enough to be there.

Nancy has just agreed to help her friend Helen with the strange case of a haunting at her aunt's home called Twin Elms.  The haunting is recent, and old though the house is, there's been no history of ghosts there.

Furniture moves, music plays, food is stolen from the kitchen by the ghost.  A chandelier sways. 

Carson insists she go help her friend, as he needs to go out of town for a few days to work on his railroad case.  With misgivings, Nancy agrees.

Arriving at Twin Elms, it isn't long before Nancy experiences the disturbances that Rosemary and Flora have asked for help with.

Nancy is on the job immediately. checking all around the outside of the house for foot prints, looking for unlocked doors or windows.  With no luck there, Nancy decides this old house could have a secret passage that someone very human is using to terrorize Rosemary and her mother.  She conducts a thorough search of the house. Every room, every wall, every piece of furniture that could conceal a secret door.  She searches the outbuildings and the cellar for underground tunnels.

To her surprise, the awful Nathan Gomber appears at the mansion, trying to cajole Flora into selling the house to him cheaply, as no one would want a haunted house.

Nancy has to find out how the "ghost" is getting in and out of the rooms of the mansion, disappearing at will after frightening everyone.

She becomes frantic when her father is kidnapped on his way to the house after arriving at the local  train station.

Logic, steel nerves, quick thinking, that's Nancy.

I wish I'd read these when I was young.  So far, Nancy's a great amateur detective.

Review: Trixie Belden #1: The Secret of the Mansion

 

It's going to be a long boring summer for Trixie.  Her brothers are away at camp as counselors, and she's stuck at home doing chores and babysitting her little brother Bobby.

She doesn't see her school friends in the summer time and it's lonely at Crabapple Farm.  As she's complaining to her mother about these things, she spots a moving van in the driveway of the long empty mansion across the street. 

Off she goes, Bobby in tow, to meet the new owners. There's no shyness in Trixie, just curiosity and an inborn friendliness. 

To her surprise, there's a girl her age moving in. Honey Wheeler seems way too cautious, timid and serious to Trixie.

Before you know it though, Trixie is on one of Honey's family horses, a dream of hers, and they're off exploring.  The neighbor who lives in a rundown mansion next to Honey's place is in the hospital and the house is empty right now, Trixie knows, so over they go to investigate the house.  Not content with peeking in the windows, Trixie wants to go inside "to make sure everything is locked up".

She's not usually a breaking and entering person, but Honey insists she saw a face in the window earlier in the day. This makes it Trixie's "duty" as a good neighbor to make sure the house is secure.

Inside, it's more than run down.  The house is piled in every room with trash and old papers.  The upstairs part of the house has been blocked off by the owner.

Once she's in, Trixie has to look around and tells Honey it's rumored the old man who lives here has a fortune hidden in the house. They should look for it while they're here!

Trixie has no fear.  She heads right for trouble and is fiercely loyal.  She also speaks her mind, saying things she shouldn't before she can stop herself.  

Having Honey as a friend, particularly during this boring summer is a dream. She gets to learn horseback riding, and canoeing.  Her new friend knows nothing of the sort of life Trixie leads, but she quickly joins Trixie in her chores, including working in the garden and doing dishes.

The two are a natural team, finding out the secrets of the tumbledown old house, and helping a new friend escape a terrible life.

I enjoyed it as much as I did when I first read it long ago. When I finished, I reached for the next book,  The Red Trailer Mystery to see what happened next.

Review: Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Old Clock: Nancy Drew Mysteries #1

 

 A little girl is nearly run over by a moving van as Nancy Drew approaches along the same road.  The girl manages to cross the road and climbs up onto a short wall.  Safe for a moment, she then loses her balance and topples to the ground below.

Nancy pulls her own car over and rushes to the girls aid.  Assessing the girl and judging her to be unharmed, Nancy carries her home.

The girls aunts come running out.  As they make sure the girl is ok, they pour out their hearts to Nancy, saying they took her in when her parents died, and they wish to give her a good life, but fear as they grow older it may not be possible.  They had expected an inheritance from a relative that did not come through.  

Greedy relations who didn't need the money at all had cared for the relative, and a will was drawn up leaving them all of his wealth.

They mention other relatives and friends had been given the impression that they'd be taken care of as well.  They're sure that another will exists that would have taken care of everyone as promised.

After speaking with the friends and relatives involved, Nancy believes them, and that there must be another will.

Taking on the investigation, Nancy questions everyone she can think of, she eavesdrops shamelessly, and has several rough encounters with thieves who may possess a stolen clock that holds the key to everything.

In this first Nancy Drew mystery, Nancy and her family and friends do everything they can to right wrongs and solve the mystery of the missing will.

Nancy is clever, fearless and big hearted. I love how she tools around the countryside in her blue convertible.

Plotting and pacing are fast, and characters (who are not villains) are likeable.

Nancy Drew and the Voices in the Frost

 

Lots going on in this episode!

Apparently Nancy thinks the Historical Society is being haunted by Temperance's daughter Charity. She thinks, if they can find something that belonged to Charity, they can contact her and ask about the division of her soul and thus rescue the next two victims of the Frozen Heart Killer before he strikes.

Confusing, eh?  So, Charity and her husband Beckett planned to split her soul into four pieces upon her death so Temperance could never find them.  They did this on the battlefield at Gettysburg, and her soul went into four people nearby.

Temperance has been trapped for two hundred years by the Women in White, and was released upon Horseshoe Bay at the beginning of the season.  That's when the Frozen Heart murders began.  It appears that The Man in the Hat, aka Copperhead, is Beckett, Charity's husband. He's been trapped in his cage beneath the Historical Society, until someone set him free, to become the Frozen Hearts Killer, and to kill the last four bits of Charity's soul before Temperance can get to any of them.

Temperance has been playing the long game, it appears, writing letters to Charity she hides behind a grate.  She said something in the last one about reuniting with Charity "and finishing what they started".

Surprisingly, Bess, who is always so gullible, is feeling as if she was ill used by Temperance.  She does not like at all Temperance suddenly taking on her daughter's face.  Why, she thinks, is Nancy still taken in by Temperance? A new tough, hard Bess emerges this episode.

Off to Icarus Hall she goes, knowing Temperance isn't there (some text exchange with Temperance).  She's looking for something to prove Temperance is up to no good so she can convince Nancy.  She finds Temperance's letters behind the grate, and tries to photograph the recent one, but it doesn't work.  Thinking she hears someone coming she tries to just leave with the letter in hand but it burns up before she gets far.

Nancy and Agent Park have some romantic vibes and they search Beckett's cell, trapped below the Historical Society by whatever is haunting the place.  They find two things belonging to Charity, and try to find a way out, running into Ace, who senses something between them.

Ace has been all in trying to solve the mystery of the haunted historical society. He's getting messages in a variety of ways, knocks, radio, video clips he decodes for missing pieces.

One of the things Nancy found in the cell is an arrow shaped object. It turns out to be the second piece of the key to Beckett's cell.  He puts the key together, inserts it in the cages lock, and poof.  He has forgotten he asked Nancy to meet him at the Historical Society, she comes there but now doesn't see him. He doesn't realize that's the case, so he follows her home and goes to knock on her door to explain. There, Hannah, the missing proprietor of the Historical Society, is standing at the door knocking too. She has been the phantom knocker all along.

Trapped somewhere, and now with Ace trapped as well, she's been trying to get Nancy's attention for a long time.  Nancy opens the door to the phantom knocker and sees neither of them.

There's the key, literally.  Hannah for some reason opened Beckett's cage.  She disappeared.  We don't know why the key was broken in half, but now we know using the key in the lock transports you somewhere else.

Edit:  As soon as I re-read this I'm remembering that FBI Agent Park is in Horseshoe Bay because he's a profiler who has been tracking the serial killer known as the Frozen Hearts killer for a long time, in other places.  There has also been evidence that the victims of the Frozen Heart Killer in Horseshoe Bay were killed, their hearts frozen, by two different methods.  Aha.  

The show is back January 7, too long to wait!

Nancy Drew and the Myth of the Ensnared Hunter

 Nancy and her recently found dad Ryan go alone to search for the lair of The Man With The Hat.  Following a trail through the woods, they find the lair in an old building.  They get lots of pictures, and note there’s a bloody cloth in the creature’s cage.  The blood is relatively fresh. There’s also a very old doll that Nancy picks up to examine later.  A final item is a seemingly broken old key, which clearly is what was used to release the creature.

Just as Nancy deduces the creature hasn’t given up his old lair at all, but he’s been returning to it regularly, the lanterns go out. Nancy fumbles with her flashlight and when it comes on, the creature is in the cage with them, right in Nancy’s face. His face looks like it’s made from ash. 

There’s a chase as Ryan and Nancy try to get away. At a dead end, rather than harming them, the creature reaches for the doll Nancy took. Dropping it, they run once more, and eventually find a ladder leading to a strange room. From there, another door leads to the always mysterious Horseshoe Bay Historical Society and a shocked Bess and George.

According to footage from security cameras Ned had installed, Hannah, the missing keeper of the historical society, took a key and went through the hidden door. So she, not my girl and all around villainess, Temperance, let the Frozen Heart Murdering Creature out?  Did it kill her and hide her body?

In side stories tonight, Bess and George learn of a device called a Soul Splitter invented during the Civil War that may save George.

Ace finds Mr. Bobbsey thanks to his daughter’s return to town, clearing his name with police. His father offers to let Ace come home, but Ace says he’s not planning to return.

The search for a Soul Splitter should be good. 

Now that the Creature’s lair has been found, will they bring in the police to capture him? Nancy and Ryan thought he sniffed them then left them alone once the doll was returned. Is it because they both have Hudson blood and he’s also long lost family?

Two more episodes before mid-season break.

Nancy Drew and the Vision of the Birchwood Prisoner

 

 

Notice how Temperance wears long flowing gowns from another century and nobody comments.  It's that sweet face of hers.

Trott, the Serial Killer currently in jail as the Frozen Hearts Killer will be released because another similar crime was committed while he was in jail.

Nancy is determined to find a way to nail down his guilt. She asks Temperance to go with her to the jail and create a shared vision with him to find answers.

What they find is a memory of ten year old Trott finding a strange trapped creature in a cage underground. The creature has long claw like fingers that he uses to catch and extract the hearts of small creatures (mice/rats litter the floor).  Fascinated by this thing, he says he does not bring it any creatures to feed on and he did not release it from its cage. He merely watches it.

The Creature is the same "Man in a Hat" that attacked Nancy in an earlier episode.  She's seen him near the scene of the death of several teens.

At the end of Trott's memory, Temperance pushes Nancy away to get more information from Trott.  She also seems to have caused him to have a stroke.

 

Elsewhere, Ace was caught on camera picking up Bertram Bobbsey, the Bobbsey family patriarch recently released from prison at a Cannery.  That night, when he saw Bertram's knuckles were all bloody, he kicked him out of his car, unwilling to have anything to do with a crime.

Now Ace is charged with aiding Bobbsey in that crime. Ace also had passed out some chocolates for Bobbsey which were tied to drug transactions.

Carson tries to tell Ace to go to the police and tell him everything he knows, but instead Ace grabs the laptop with the screenshot and the drug packages and runs.

In a confrontation at the local library, there's a drug bust and the police arrive to save Ace just in time, led by Ace's former policeman father.

In an argument between father and son, Ace slips out a comment on his father's hidden son just as his mother walks out of the library.

Ace's father is furious having to face this with Ace's mother and kicks Ace out of the house. Now.

Elsewhere, George confronts the father who left her behind as a baby because he didn't want to feel trapped.  George's father looks just her age, so it's awkward.  He's played by Osric Chau, Kevin Tran from Supernatural!  He's way too young.

It was quite emotional for both of them, even so.

Previews for next week have The Drew Crew looking for the Creature's Lair.  Or at least the cage he was held in.

Way outta here theory of the week is Temperance kept the Creature and released the Creature.  Why remains to be seen.

Nancy Drew and The Journey of the Dangerous Mind

 

 Let's start off by mentioning that the episode titles in this third season are just awful. The Journey of the Dangerous Mind?  Even after watching the episode, I can't guess whose mind they're referring to.

Luckily, the episode itself was good.

The Frozen Heart serial killer didn't take another victim this week.  There was a considerable amount of investigation tonight.  Nick and Ace tested freezing pig hearts in ice and liquid nitrogen (?) to see if that's what the killer is using.  They concluded neither was the right substance but Argon Gas could have been used as well.

Nancy, at her tiny desk at the police department, finds a neighbor complaint about someone miss-using his recycling bin for gas containers.

With Ryan in tow, she scoots off to the killer's actual house.  Leaving her new dad in the car as a "lookout," she stacks boxes and trash cans so she can break into the house via the deck door.  

You keep expecting the guy to be right behind her in the house.  Even for Nancy, doh, what was she thinking.  As it turns out, she rescues a heart from the fireplace, only to step on a pad that is connected to pipe bombs aimed right at her. It was all a trap.

Texting Agent Park (played it turns out, by John Harlan Kim from The Librarians, without his British accent!) he comes to the rescue.

So, the Mind stuff.  Temperance offers to help Nancy remember more about her sighting of the killer.  She blows some dust in Nancy's face, making her recall the day of George and Nick's proposal.  She sees the killer more clearly, including his license plates, but doesn't get a good look at his face.

Afterwards, while answering a question from Bess, Nancy seems to have enhanced memory and she can tell Bess right where something is at Temperance's place. Is this enhanced memory to be an ongoing thing?

Bess is trying to protect Ace ,and decides to use a spell from her own ancestor's spell book to protect him.  It all backfires, and Ace meets with accident after accident.

When she goes to Temperance's lair to recover an artifact, of course Temperance is there, and next thing you know, Bess is learning a simple spell from Temperance so she can be more "empowered".

Bess, as we know, is impressionable, and feels helpless, so she's ripe for being ill used by Temperance. 

Lots of good scary moments, charming bits with Ryan and Carson working out who is really Nancy's best dad.  Nick works hard to win over George's sisters who are afraid of losing her.

I love that next week the crew travels to Detective Con, to see a podcaster who says she knows the identity of the Frozen Heart killer and that she'll reveal it at the con.  What a good idea!

I almost forgot, while Bess was performing her spell something sparkly flew through the air and appeared to be eaten by THE CAT! He's at least sort of alive, with eyes that glow and a totally mechanical cat look to him. But he's ok...

Nancy Drew and the Warning of the Frozen Heart

 

It's a new season with sleuth Nancy Drew and her friends.  The frozen heart refers to a victim who has had their heart removed...after freezing it? They showed the gaping spot in his chest pretty closely.

The obvious perpetrator is Temperance Hudson, a long dead relative come back to wreak havoc in Horseshoe Bay.

They did mention that Temperance had previously tried to unleash some awful thing from beneath the town, which sounds very Buffy the Vampire Slayer inspired.

There's also a new FBI man in town to assist in solving these crimes.  While he said he admires Nancy's past crime solving (he looked her up), he doesn't want her anywhere near this case.  As if that's ever worked.

It appears he is this season's Nancy romance as well.  We'll see.

I'm wondering if this season will be more gory than in the past given the day and time slot.  There was also a cat grievously harmed, which I didn't appreciate at all.

There are always great discussions on the Nancy Drew Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/NancyDrewCW/

 

A Wiki:

https://nancydrew.fandom.com/wiki/Nancy_Drew_(2019_TV_series)