Nancy Drew Books

For the feminist historian looking for a book length essay on Nancy Drew's influence on Betty Friedan, this book is a must read. For the casual fan of the world's greatest girl detective and anyone interested in the prolific Stratemeyer Syndicate roughly half of this book will be interesting. Unfortunately the history of Miss Drew and the heavy handed feminist rhetoric are intertwined in alternate pages and sometimes alternate sentences. Fans of Nancy rather than Betty will probably find themselves scanning through pages of social commentary looking for the next mention of their heroine.
Those who preserve will be rewarded with the story of Nancy's two literary mothers and an inside look at the declining years of the greatest children's book mill ever created. Unfortunately, the story of Edward Stratemeyer and his struggles to become the king of the juvenile serial are glossed over in the rush to get to his invention of Nancy Drew which came very late in his life.
In the final analysis, this book is a worthwhile read however those peering over the fence from outside the author's world view will find the reading dry and often tangential.

This is a well-researched account of the Nancy Drew book series. The writing style is dry along the order of a graduate thesis. The larger print of the book makes for slower reading since it's hard to breeze along. It is not until after the first hundred pages that the author gets to the story of Nancy Drew. Along the way, there are long side trips depicting the woman's movement. In fact for a while I thought I was reading the history of the women's movement in the USA instead of the account of the Nancy Drew books. However, the reader does finally learn how the books came to be written and how the series was continued. After a slow beginning, I did enjoy reading this account.

Though I was a huge Nancy Drew fan as a kid, I was rather underwhelmed by this book. I thought the writing was poor and the book as a whole was pretty boring.

As an avid Nancy Drew fan, this book did not disappoint! I had known about the Stratemeyer Syn., Harriet S. Adams, and Mildred Wirt Benson, but to be able to take the journey back into history and see how the Nancy Drew books came to be, as well as many others that the Syn. wrote, was priceless. The incredible amount of time and effort that author Melanie Rehak took to research this book shows and Girl Sleuth a definate MUST for any Nancy Drew fan. I only have one question for the author . .where is Mildren Wirt Benson's only daughter, Peggy Wirt, now?

If you had asked me, when I was twelve years old, who I wanted to be when I grew up, I wouldn't have hesitated an instant.

"I want to be Carolyn Keene!" I would have said. "I want to write Nancy Drew mysteries!"

So you can imagine my surprise and delight when I picked up the phone one day in the mid-1980s and heard the question, like an echo of a nearly-forgotten dream, "Would you like to be Carolyn Keene?"

Would I like to be Carolyn Keene? Would I like to win the lottery, hang the moon, be queen for a day or a lifetime? Or as Nancy would say, "Now, that's the silliest question I've ever heard!" Of course I would love to be Carolyn Keene! I felt as if the universe had suddenly opened up and smiled straight down at me. I was about to join the magical, mystical, mysterious team of writers who created the most famous Girl Detective of all time. I was going to be Carolyn Keene!

As a result of that phone call, I wrote five Nancys and a pair of Hardy Boys, working alone or with my husband, Bill Albert. And as a result of that apprenticeship, I went on to be a writer of many other mysteries, a profession and a vocation that I am still happily pursuing twenty years later.

So it was as Carolyn Keene that I happily opened Melanie Rehak's biography of Nancy, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, and Mildred Wirt Benson--and I wasn't disappointed. Rehak's book begins with the first chapter of Nancy's adventures, with the story of Edward Stratemeyer, boy literary wizard and his remarkable children's book syndicate, which got underway with the Rover Boys (1895), carried on with the Bobbsey Twins (1904), and produced the Hardy Boys (1927) and Nancy Drew (1930). Stratemeyer produced the concept, the plot outline, and the publishing contract (much of his work was published by Grosset & Dunlap), and hired out the writing to nameless authors who did the actual work for a flat rate of around $125, under a series pseudonym: Franklin W. Dixon for the Hardy Boys, Carolyn Keene for the Nancy Drew series.

Stratemeyer died just twelve days after Nancy's launch, and his daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, took over the Syndicate. Harriet, who graduated from Wellesley and married a stockbroker, had been raised to enjoy life as a well-to-do socialite. She didn't find it easy to take over Stratemeyer's desk, for (believing that women's place was in the home) her father had kept all of his business dealings separate from the home he made for his now-ailing wife and two daughters. What's more, Harriet had young children at home, and had to juggle her work with her family and social obligations. She had a lot to learn, but learn she did, and under her direction, the Syndicate not only stayed afloat but prospered, even through the dark days of the Depression.

But it wasn't just Harriet that kept the Syndicate from going under; a young writer named Mildred Augustine Wirt (later Benson) played a major role in its survival and success. Mildred was a small-town Iowa girl with one compelling passion: "I . . . wanted to be a writer from the time I could walk. I had no other thought except that I would write." Her motto was "Thou shalt not quit." She didn't, either. Aiming for a career as a writer in a time when the words women, career, and writer were rarely spoken in the same sentence, she graduated from the University of Iowa's School of Journalism at the age of 20, got her master's two years later, and the next year, 1926, landed a job with Stratemeyer's Syndicate.

It is to Mildred Wirt that Nancy owes her original feistiness, pluck, and never-say-die determination, for Mildred wrote 23 of the first 30 Nancys: Books 1-7, 11-25, and 30. She would have written more, but when Harriet reduced the writers' pay to $85 a book, Mildred quit, and Walter Karig filled in the gap. Mildred returned for a second stint, then left for good in 1952. After that, Harriet assumed full responsibility for the series. She rewrote many of the earlier books and herself wrote most of the later ones, making Nancy into a rather different character, more tentative, more polite, a little less sure of herself. Harriet later testified: "I felt that she [Nancy, as Mildred had written her] was too bossy, too positive. . . she spoke to people too sharply" (Girl Sleuth, p. 296).

Mildred Wirt also recognized the conflict: "There was a beginning conflict in what is Nancy . . . Mrs. [Harriet Stratemeyer] Adams was an entirely different person; she was more cultured and she was more refined. I was probably a rough and tumble newspaper person who had to earn a living, and I was out in the world. That was my type of Nancy. Nancy was making her way in life and trying to compete and have fun" (Girl Sleuth, p. 297).

None of this came out until the spring of 1980 (a scant five years before my incarnation as Carolyn Keene), when Harriet Adams tried to accept a lucrative offer from Simon & Schuster to publish all future books in the Stratemeyer list. Grosset & Dunlap sued, and the ensuing trial made clear to the public what the Syndicate had tried for years to conceal: that Harriet Stratemeyer had not written all the Nancys (as she claimed); that Mildred Wirt (who like the rest of the writers in the Stratemeyer stable had signed a pledge not to reveal her authorship) had had the most enduring influence over the shaping of the character; and that if anybody was going to wear the title of the "real" Carolyn Keene, it ought to be Mildred.

Melanie Rehak's book is a fascinating study of the cooperation and conflict between the two women who shaped the most famous Girl Detective in the world--and who, in turn, shaped many of us. Speaking for myself, as a young reader I much preferred Mildred's Nancy to Harriet's, for I was growing up in a rough and tumble world where I (no socialite) knew I would have to make a living and compete: Nancy--self-assertive, self-confident, self-reliant Nancy--showed me how to do that. And speaking for myself as a writer, both as Carolyn Keene and as the author of my own three mystery series, I have to say that it would have been a lot harder to learn what I had to learn about making mysteries if it hadn't been for Nancy the indomitable, for never-say-die Mildred, and for Harriet, who saved the Syndicate and kept it going through the dark times.

Thank you, Nancy, Mildred, and Harriet, for making it all happen. And thank you, Melanie Rehak, for telling us their story.

by Susan Wittig Albert
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviews.org
reviewing books by, for, and about women

This was my very first Nancy Drew book. Yep, and I a little older than what would be considered young adult these days! Tee Hee! I am hooked. I will tell you I was a little afraid of starting with Book 7, but I didn't feel left out at all. The author made it possible for me to catch up with Nancy, her family and her friends. I even got to meet the new "guy". I love stories about diaries, add in a mystery, a fire, some great adventures and a romantic interest, and I was extremely happy. Now, I will say that I did find some parts that dated the book, but for the most part I was very happy living in Nancy's world and I expect to do so again very soon.

I think the book is great and full of suspense. Nancy, Bess and George are driving in a beautiful neiborhood when suddenly a grand house bursts into flames. Nancy later learns it was home to Felix Raybolt. "Foxy Felix" stole peoples inventions, and one of his victems is Joe Swenson. Joe is getting acused for setting the Rabolt house on fire, and only Nancy Drew can clear his name...

When I was in elementary school most of the boys read books in the Hardy Boys series and a lot of the girls read books in the Nancy Drew series. While I have read many of the Hardy Boys books, this is the first Nancy Drew book that I have read. I spent a lot of brain cell electricity contrasting the two series as I went through the pages. In the Hardy Boys series their father is a detective and in the Nancy Drew series her father is a lawyer. Nancy has two best chums, the plump Bess and the masculine George. They go everywhere together sharing adventures and concerns.
While there is some boy interest in this book, the girls do not fawn over the fact that an attractive male their age is present. That is an aspect of the story that was impressive. The girls are business-like, trying to solve the problems at hand and determine who is guilty of what. The crime is the apparent arson destruction of a house owned by a wealthy man who has made a lot of enemies. Nancy and her friends are there when the house explodes and Nancy sees a man fleeing the scene. He is the prime suspect, as he is an inventor whose invention was stolen by the owner of the house. Since the owner has disappeared, there is a suspicion of murder.
One common thread in this book and the Hardy Boys series is that the local police are incompetent simpletons. They start with a simple theory and refuse to deviate from it, even when it appears to be wrong. Of course, Nancy and her pals solve the mystery and the innocent man is spared a jail sentence. Nancy and her friends are also portrayed as very good-hearted, as they befriend a young girl and her mother who are obviously poverty-stricken.
While reading this book, I kept the historical context in mind. This book was written in 1932, a time when women were still very much considered the "weaker sex." Yet, Nancy drives skillfully and generally avoids accidents, the men are the ones who drive foolishly and recklessly. The girls are all portrayed as being competent and capable, not shrinking from the prospect of danger. Nancy's father is portrayed as being supportive of her endeavors and makes very little attempt to shelter her from the nastiness of the world. Strong female characters were a rare thing in the literature of the 1930's, a fact that makes this book a trailblazer in many respects.

Do NOT read any Nancy Drew books! They're boring and girly. If you want a real mystery, read a good one like Chasing Vermeer or The Witches of Worm. THIS BOOK IS SO STUPID, I CAN'T BELIEVE ANYONE LIKES IT!!!!

they are just as good as they were when I was 10 years old!!! Nancy and her convertible!!! :-)

Nancy Drew and her friends are involved in a line of odd events when they visit Misty Lake.the very same day they arrive, they meet a beautiful, red-haired Cecily Curtis. Who asks Nancy's help in solving two mysteries:one that deals with Cecily's fiance, Niko Van Dyke, a popular singer who belives that his record company is cheating him out of royalty payments;the other, involving a family treasure hiddenbefore the start of the Civil war-Cecily's only clue to being half of a gold locket. Nancy's investigation lead her to Pudding stone lodge where ,the Driscoll family lives.Elusive humming noises,a flashing light in the attic of the lodge, the periodic apparition of an excrsion launch which had sunk in Misty lake years ago ,and the fleeting appeances of a scared girl who looks a lot like Cecily gave Nancy plenty of chances to test her sleuthing skills.

I am doing my book report on the book The Clue of the Broken Locket. This book is written by Carolyn Keene. This book is a fiction book which means it is not real.

In this book the main character is Nancy Drew, a young detective who has solved many mysteries, and now is going a long way from home. She and her two best friends, Bess and George, are heading down to a lake house the mystery of why a man who has been taking care of a lake house has suddenly gone away and claims to have seen a ghost ship on the lake. In this book they overcome multiple dangers and each one takes them either closer or farther away from solving the mystery.
I really enjoyed this book because it keeps you in suspense and makes you want to read on to the next chapter! I would recommend this book to pretty much anyone who loves a great mystery and especially people who love Nancy Drew books.

Nancy Drew and her friends are involved in a line of odd events when they visit Misty Lake.the very same day they arrive, they meet a beautiful, red-haired Cecily Curtis. Who asks Nancy's help in solving two mysteries:one that deals with Cecily's fiance, Niko Van Dyke, a popular singer who belives that his record company is cheating him out of royalty payments;the other, involving a family treasure hiddenbefore the start of the Civil war-Cecily's only clue to being half of a gold locket. Nancy's investigation lead her to Pudding stone lodge where ,the Driscoll family lives.Elusive humming noises,a flashing light in the attic of the lodge, the periodic apparition of an excrsion launch which had sunk in Misty lake years ago ,and the fleeting appeances of a scared girl who looks a lot like Cecily gave Nancy plenty of chances to test her sleuthing skills.

Nancy Drew and her friends are involved in a line of odd events when they visit Misty Lake.the very same day they arrive, they meet a beautiful, red-haired Cecily Curtis. Who asks Nancy's help in solving two mysteries:one that deals with Cecily's fiance, Niko Van Dyke, a popular singer who belives that his record company is cheating him out of royalty payments;the other, involving a family treasure hiddenbefore the start of the Civil war-Cecily's only clue to being half of a gold locket. Nancy's investigation lead her to Pudding stone lodge where ,the Driscoll family lives.Elusive humming noises,a flashing light in the attic of the lodge, the periodic apparition of an excrsion launch which had sunk in Misty lake years ago ,and the fleeting appeances of a scared girl who looks a lot like Cecily gave Nancy plenty of chances to test her sleuthing skills.

I would highly recommend this book for any Nancy Drew book collection.
It all starts when Nancy sees a key near her place at breakfast. Mystery & Suspense build as she investigates the double of Cecily Curtis, a phantom launch that was drowned years ago, & the mysterious noise coming from the location of Pudding Stone Lodge. How Nancy Drew solves a family mystery involving a Iron Bird & kills a counterfeit operation will keep the reader in suspense from beginning to end!

In "The Red Gate Farm" I thought that the setting was a perfect place to have the plot. I thought it was a good place because it was a perfect place to have counterfeit money making place where nobody ever goes to and where people would never think of a cave and a farm to do all the making of fake money.
"The Red Gate Farm" was a very good book I thought. The events that I liked were the beginning when the man comes up to Nancy in the train because that's when the first start of the mystery begins to show up. Also I liked how nice and kind Nancy was to Joanne because she was having such a rough time with her grandma's farm. I thought Nancy was nice because she helped Joanne when she fainted from the perfume, and when Joanne needed to find a job and a place to stay for the night. A third thing I liked was how each character acted, like it just gave them character. Like Mr. Kent, Maurice Hale, Mrs. Hale, Nancy, Yvonne, Joanna, and others, but those were the ones I thought were good because how they acted I thought just gave them a lot of a variety in each character. Another thing I liked was when finally they got all their costumes ready to go and sneak into the Black Snake Colony Cult. I thought it was very brave of them all to do this very risky thing to do. When they snuck in and found a lot of information of what the Cult was doing and who a lot of the people were. I guess I just liked how exciting and sometimes suspenseful it was to see what was going on and what was going to happen. Lastly I loved when at the end when Nancy and her friends were caught, and you thought it was the end for them, suddenly you read that the secret service was there to arrest the criminals and then when the mystery was finally solved. I liked the book, but those were the few events in the "Red Gate Farm" I really like.
I really liked "The Red Gate Farm" but there were some thing's I didn't like that much. Some things were that I thought the snake biting George part didn't really matter all that much. Also I thought some things could have been cut out and get right to the point, but I guess the author was just making it a little suspenseful. The things that could have been cut out a little bit were the parts of them making the costumes; to me they weren't that all important. Also I thought that some of the spying on the Cult wasn't as important because no real significant events happened, and sometimes the Cult wouldn't even gather, so sometimes I thought it was kind of pointless. Other than those couple of events I thought the book was really good!

They all have the same generic plot to them except for
different mysteries. The end was actually surprising
with it's couple of twists. I think this book is where
I end my reading of Nancy Drew. The books were good
and occupied my time in a good way. They were fast
enjoyable reads that I could read in a few hours.

thank you for your time
and feel free to comment
this review,
Loran

If you like mysteries, than you are sure to like this one. Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, and Goerge Fay go to this new friends farm because someone is trying to buy her mom's farm and she doesn't want her to sell it. One night the girl told Nancy these people come and dance on her lawn sometimes. Nancy tries to figure this mystery out, but she learns she is going to need help along the way. The more touble she gets in, the more help she needs. See what happens to her by reading the story.

Thanks

I can't wait to read the original book. I have only read the rewrite and I am curious to see how it stacks up. I'll be sure to let you know!

Originally written by Mildred Wirt Benson from outlines by Edward Stratemeyer, the Nancy Drew series was first published in 1930s. THE SECRET OF RED GATE FARM was the sixth book in the series, and like the earlier books it presented its heroine as a rich, headstrong, and distinctly reckless teenager who sometimes carried a pistol and who wasn't above breaking the law when it suited her purposes.

As the series progressed and other writers began to generate Nancy Drew novels, the character changed and Nancy was "toned down;" instead of flatly rich, she became reasonably affluent; recklessness was replaced by commonsense caution; and while she might be willing to bend the law a bit she would never knowingly break it. In the 1950s and 1960s the earlier novels were re-written to reflect this change in character.

Originally published in 1931, RED GATE FARM was re-written in 1961--but unlike several other re-written titles the story remains much the same. In this instance, Nancy and her friends Bess and George visit Red Gate Farm, where owner Mrs. Byrd is in financial difficulty and has rented a portion of the land to a religious cult. When Nancy becomes curious, she and her friends are threatened by the cult members--and they decide to infiltrate the group's strange gatherings.

It is worth noting that the cult, which is called The Black Snake Cult, dresses in white robes with odd, peaked hoods, and Nancy and the girls consider disguising themselves with sheets and pillowcases the better to spy upon their activities. Given the era of the book's first publication and later re-write, this would seem to be a subconcious reference to the Klu Klux Klan on the author's part! As always in the original series, the story is very much of its era: there are no cell phones, computers, or modern gadgets, and Nancy is very much an ideal of the time: she can sew, herd a cow, treat a snakebite, and still seem to dress appropriately for all social occasions.

The Nancy Drew books are not great literature by any stretch of the imagination--they are too distinctly formula for that--but they are competently written, literate, and never talk down to their target audience. They are also good "comfort reading" for grown-ups who recall their childhood reading fondly. RED GATE FARM is an amusing read for old fans and newcomers alike.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Story was great -- but the reader, very poor. Reader tried to imitate voices - making the characters come off very goofy and irrating. A consistant voice telling the story would be strongly preferred.

Nancy gets involved with the United States Postal Service after her mailman stops by her house for hot chocolate. His letters are stolen and one of them is for Nancy. She tracks it down and finds that money has been left to a Nancy Drew, but it's not her. She has to find the thief and the heir. She also gets to spend the weekend with Ned and friends. I loved this book, it had so many little plots running through it and really kept my interest.

True, I love all Nancy Drew books and would rate each one 5 or 4 stars, but this one earned it. Nancy recieves a letter for a heiress in England, by the name of Nancy Smith Drew! She intends to marry a man named Edgar Nixan, brother of Ira Nixan, an old friend of the Drew's. Little does Nancy Smith Drew know, Edgar Nixan is not who she expects him to be!
This was a wounderful book and i recomend it to anyone.

My cousin's daughter just celebrated her 9th birthday, and I plan on giving her this book, along with some other Nancy Drew books, for Christmas. I gave her volumes 1 through 6 for her birthday, and her mom tells me that she is just blazing through each book, because she loves them so much.

It warmed my heart to give her these books, as I remember reading them when I was her age. I used to borrow one book a week from the local public library in the 1970s. Nancy Drew was always a great read.

I think that we establish a great connection with our children when we share with them something that we also loved as kids. It's a joy for all involved.

In my opinion, you can't go wrong. These books are classics, and by encouraging young ones to read them, you help the children in your life to foster a great habit of reading--one that remains with them through their entire life. I think books of this nature also help to make them better critical thinkers and better writers.

Nancy's Mysterious Letter is only one of many well-written books by Carolyn Keene. Keene does it again. With each book, the action starts on page 1. Sometimes it's so suspenseful that I actually worry about Nancy's predicament. Keene's vivid descriptions of the characters really bring out the color in them. I haven't read this particular book in a few years, but the style of Keene's writing is still fresh in my mind. This series of mystery books is a must-have for Nancy Drew lovers abroad.

This is a great book for undergrad students taking any type of business law class.

I like it a lot but it needs to put into simple word for a person like me who don't known any thing about law could understand it better. over all its a very good book. A lot of good information.

Lollie L. Jefferson

The book came in a sealed cover. Although it looks brand new, it does say it is "used". You would never know it. It came in a timely manner and when I followed up w/the seller to see when it shipped, they sent me back an e-mail within a few hours. I would highly recommend using Off Campus Athens again.

The book had great case studies but the best part were the on line review tests. I got 100 on the final!!

I have been through a few bad and good text books throughout my college career, but this had to be one of the best I ever picked up. It is easy to search through and actually makes the topics interesting to read.

Sure, it could use a more Nancy/Frank romance, but the mystery was great! How they meet is really sort of funny, and the story is altogether a fantastic story!

I have to give this book a 4. But i wish it had a little more 'Romance' between Nancy and Frank. Other than that, Great Book!! All who read this book should also read "The Last Resort" That's a good one. So are The Hardy Boys Casefiles and Nancy Drew Files. Check em' out!

I liked the adventure in this story. There were a few too many potential villians, but it all made sense at the end. This is one of the funniest Supermysteries, but also one of the weirdest(in a good way). If you like the rest of the series, most likely you'll like this one.

I loved this book, and I also love all of the Nancy Drew and Hardy boys books. This one was really great because you are not really sure who are the "bad guys" and who are the "good guys". It is an exciting book with alot of action. The only bad thing about it is that you cannot put it down. I definately recomend this book if you love the series!

This was a GREAT BOOK! I agree with others that there should be a little more romance (Frank and Nancy- hey, you never know!). Read this book if you consider yourself a Carolyn Keene fan!

I have read almost every Nancy Drew book and I have to say that this is one of my favorites. I read it one day because I couldn't put it down. The plot is filled with twists and turns that make this story well worth the read. A must read for any fan.

this is an interesting book!nancy is asked to locate the missing dancer juliana johnson so she can clain her inheritaince and nancy only has three weeks to locate her.i loved every time nancy goes to heath castle,wich is going to be julianas inheirtance if nancy finds her because nancy gets in some sort of trouble when she goes there.this is a very good book.

Everyone can laugh, but Nancy Drew was my childhood hero, roll model, and favorite Diva! A housekeeper mother figure and a lawyer father help Nancy enjoy the freedom to help others with mysterious dilemas. This book was my favorite of the yellow bound series. The older books pre 1980 are the best of the series. Very wholesome reads for preteens. Nancy and her two best girl friends, Bess and George, use their wit and imaginations to solve mysteries and disappearances in a non violent world. I highly recommend anything Nancy Drew.

Nancy,Bess,and George are on another mystery ahead but this time one mystery leads to another and another. This book is very exciting and it will keep you thinking for hours but it's confosing. Cofosing yes boring NO.There are a lot a stuff happening all at once for that reson you migth have to read a sentece more than once.I often hound myself reading a sentece four times or more.But there is no dowtthat you will be intertain for hours.I loved this book for hours it wouldn't let me put it down.Every it seemed like nothing would happen if you kept reading they would find somthing else out and before you knew it you have you hooked again.But if you have like mysteries it will keep you thinkingfor hours.

When Nancy Drew is asked to find Julianna, a dancer that dissapeared almost eight years ago, Nancy becomes invovlved in an exciting and suspenseful case. If she doesn't find her, Heath Castle, an estate she inherited from her dead fiance, will be pulled down and used as something else. The action kicks in when Nancy investigates at Heath Cstle and finds a number of clues to help find Julianna, and mysterious dogged mn that are slowly destroying Heath Castle.
The Clue in the Crumbling Wall is an exciting, unpredictable, enjoyable, and suspencefull book. It is hard to put down and you never know what will happen next! I"ve read many Nancy Drew books in the series and this is definately one of the best. I suggest that you read it because I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it.

Omigosh, what an awesome book. It has a great plot and the criminal was totally unexpected. I've read this +10 times and I still burst out laughing at many parts in the book. It has so much action, romance, cliffhangers, the climax is amazing- I can't say enough about this book!! A must-read. 10 stars!!!

This book is one of the best books in the series, some are better. This book is packed with romance,action, and mystery all in one perfectly. If you want to see more of Nancy and Frank-let's call it friendship,yeah right,read Secrets of the Nile, The Last Resort, Dangerous Games or Danger Down Under. I haven't read them yet but I've heard of them. Anyway A Crime For Christmas is a great book to read.

In this book Frank and Joe Hardy invite Nancy Drew and her trustey companion, Bess Marvin to help find a couple of wanted jewel theifs. In the book Bess falls head over heals for a young man who the group later finds out is the prince who will be signing the countrys treatey. Joe is jelous of Bess's new found boyfriend. It turns out that the prince's superviser is behind the prince's kidnapping. Well actually the prince pays some goons to pretend that they are kidnapping him once or twice or so. The prince can get away from his body gaurds with no trouble. For all those Nancy/Frank fans this book has some romantic moments. Frank almost tells Nancy how he feels about her. It turns out the jewel theifs are a girl Joe gets a little crush on and her father. Nancy tricks the groups kidnapper into thinking she has trigered a bomb that could blow any second. This book is so enjoyable, I read this book about 25 to 50 times. I can read this in 1 hour but thats why I was nick named Book Worm. I sugest you read this book and then you decide if you liked reading it or not. Happy Reading....

Nancy Drew, and fellow teen detectives, the Hardy boys, Frank and Joe, are in New York to catch a couple of cat burglars, who they're sure are about to try to steal the crown jewels of Sarconne from a museum. Meanwhile, Bess, Nancy's best friend who has tagged along on the trip to New York to do some holiday shopping, is hanging out with John, a man she met who she feels is her absolute dream date. John is taking her to all types of luxurious places around Manhattan, including being held up at their Park Avenue hotel. Now Nancy, Frank, and Joe are trapped in a royal disaster, thanks to a blow up at a U.N. dinner.

This is one of my favorite Nancy Drew mystery. The descriptions of the sights that Nancy, Bess, Frank, and Joe see are exquisite, and the adventure is delightful. Children and teens will enjoy reading this novel around the Christmas holidays.

Erika Sorocco

I love nancy drew and hardy boys supermysteries. that's the only time i read them now cause i love it when they're 2-gether!!This book is the absolute best one!!!

I swear Ned and Callie hold nancy and Frank back. And you know when he started to say something what it was!!! But i love that Jean-Claude is a prince!!! He seemed sooooooooo awesome.

Back to nancy and frank I totally agree with those who think that they should hook up!! I mean they never bring Callie with them so i mean COME ON!!!! Bring on the romance!!! (between nancy and frank that is, ned doesn't deserve her he'd rather study than be with her.)

I also love Bess she's a lot like me but then again i guess i am a mix of george and bess a shopping girl but tomboy in one.

This book is about another exciting adventure with Nancy Drew and her two friends Bess and George. It all starts when a pigeon drops down from somewhere in the sky. Nancy reads a secret message and the mystery begins. Before she can solve that mystery, however, she gets involved in another mystery involving a girl's grandmother. She eventually finds out that the two mysteries are linked. This is an exciting, suspenseful book, full of twists and turns. I highly recommend it!

Enjoyed these books as a young girl. Like the updated versions for readers today. This is a great gift for a young mystery reader.

i suggest u read the rewritten nancy drews you need to give them a try. they are as exiting and suspenceful as this exiting mystery!!!!!!!

I really liked this book!! I have about 16 other Nancy Drew Books and I love them all, but this was one of my favorites!
I became unaware that I was even reading a book! I was like I was watching a movie in my head.In this book, Nancy discovers a carrier pigeon that has a note attatched to it's leg it says something about Larkspurs and Bluebells so she becomes suspicicious and finds a............. well, you'll just have to see!!! YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have read BOTH versions of Password to Larkspur Lane, AND have seen the movie Nancy Drew Detective (1938) on televsion more than once. I have always liked this Nancy Drew like many others that I have read; though I have liked both versions. I have in general liked the originals better than the "new stories for today's readers". The original Nancy Drews paint a picture of life in the Thirties and early Forties, when there were no automatic transmissions, dial phones, transistor radios, or televsions, much less DVD's, audio CD's, automated teller machines, PC's. Indeed, in the era when the original Nancy Drews were written, THERE WERE NOT EVEN MUNTZ TV'S! Two facets of Password to Larkspur Lane stand out, and are particularly funny. One is the use of the phrase "singing horses" as password, changing it from "blue bells". Imagine horses singing into microphones! I can see WHY those gangsters chose "singing horses" as password, as larks are associated with singing, and spurs with riding horses.
That is NOT the REAL origin of the word "larkspur", but the gangsters knew that Dr. Spires HEARD the word "blue bells" used, so changed it to something SUGGESTING larkspurs. Nancy at first could not figure out why the flowers were called larkspurs, as horses do not sing and larks do not suggest horseback riding, but THEN could see why "singing horses" was chosen. (Mister Ed can sing, but that's about all.) The other funny part was Dr. Bull's use of a dummy telephone to pretend to call the cops.
Dr. Bull, called Bell in the new version, could not see why Nancy WANTED him to call the cops, or why she called it a dummy telephone. Nancy wanted him to call the police to get the racketeers arrested, and she declared "the telephone is a dummy because there are no___" but stopped short of saying "wires"
as the quack nut-doctor saw HIMSELF that this telephone was not hooked up to switching machinery, and ccould not fool Nancy. As there were no cell phones in 1933 or even 1966, such a phone as Dr. Bull/Bell used WAS a dummy telephone! (Whether this counterfeit sanatorium HAD a real phone is not clear.) At all events, a friend of mine called a dummy telephone a BULL TULLOPHONE, Bull Tull for short, and drew pictures of pairs of phones, one hooked up with letter-number phone number, the one with no wires all-digits, to show dislike for digitization! Then there was the happy ending when police, her father, and Ned flew in to arrest the participants in this racket, and Mrs. Mary Eldridge's reunion with her nephew John, his wife, and little Marie. ALl in all, a very good Nancy Drew.