Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: Password to Larkspur Lane Author: Carolyn Keene ISBN: 9780448095103 Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew Type of book: Mystery, child to young adult, 1930s, lost relatives, scamming, mental hospital, fake doctors Year it was published: 1933 Summary: Nancy’s inextinguishable curiosity leads her to another case, this time with Bess in tow. The detective speaks to a doctor who was kidnapped and blindfolded by a criminal in order to care for a young woman held hostage. Nancy’s mission: Connect the jumbled mess of clues to save a woman and catch a criminal. Characters: Nancy is obsessed with mystery as always, and just like in previous novels she survives and makes it out alive from certain situations. Other characters stay the same, nothing new about them. Bad guys are bad, and good guys are good, no one makes any surprises. Predictable. Theme: I honestly have no idea. Plot: Same old plot with Nancy discovering a myst...

Name of Book: The Sign of the Twisted Candles Author: Carolyn Keene ISBN: 9780448095097 Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew series Type of book: Mystery, feud, foster parents, happy endings, 1930s, children's-young adult. Year it was published: 1933 Summary: While solving the mystery of an old man's disappearing fortune, Nancy ends a family feud and reveals the identity of an orphan of unknown parentage. Characters: Characters are typical. Nancy doesn't reveal any special talents in this books, and she is again the active and has more of a masculine role. Her father is not a background character and is active instead, while other characters are forgettable and unimportant. The villains are who you think they are and everything is tied up in a neat bow. Theme: No idea what theme should be, except there are reasons for everything. Plot: Its written in third person narrative from Nancy's point of view. Bess and George...

Name of Book: Nancy's Mysterious Letter Author: Carolyn Keene ISBN: 9780448095080 Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew series Type of book: Mystery, young adult, 1930s, letter, heiress, Lonely Hearts Club, football game, college, wealth Year it was published: 1932 Summary: BY mistake Nancy Drew receives a letter from England intended for an heiress, also named Nancy Drew. When Nancy undertakes a search for the missing young woman, it becomes obvious that a ruthless, dangerous man is determined to prevent her from finding the heiress or himself. Clues that Nancy unearths leads her to believe that the villainous Edgar Nixon plans to marry the heiress and then steal her inheritance. During her investigation Nancy discovers that Nixon is engaged in a racket that involves many innocent, trusting persons. The thrilling hunt for Nixon and the heiress takes Nancy in and out of many perilous situations. How the teen-age detective saves the Britis...

Name of Book: The Clue in the Diary Author: Carolyn Keene ISBN: 9780807216767 Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew Series Type of book: Mystery, Swedish, immigrants, lost mail, puppy love, translation, helping out, young adult Year it was published: 1932 Summary: Nancy and her friends witness an explosion and the burning of a beautiful country mansion. Fearing its occupants may be trapped in the blazing building, they rush to the rescue--and unexpectedly find themselves confronted with a mystery that seems insoluble. The first clue is an anonymous diary--its entries in a handwriting difficult to decipher. Who dropped the diary? Was it the stranger Nancy saw running away from the fire? What was he doing there? Finding out how Nancy discovers the answers to these questions makes for another exciting Nancy Drew mystery. Characters: In this one Nancy knows a little bit of Swedish and yet once more she's right and correct and on target about ...

Name of Book: The Secret of the Red Gate Farm Author: Carolyn Keene ISBN: 9780448095066 Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew Mysteries Type of book: Oriental, offensive, nature cult, counterfeiting, passive, farm, boarders, young adult Year it was published: 1931 Summary: When Bess Marvin purchased an expensive bottle of Oriental perfume, she never expected to stumble into a mystery. Now Bess, Nancy, George, and their new friend Jo are out to unravel the secrets of a mysterious conspiracy, a secretive cult, and a ring of counterfeiters in The Secret of Red Gate Farm. Characters: Predictable as always, although I couldn't for the life of me understand the whole code system, and I'm beginning to really have a hard time believing that these things couldn't be solved until Nancy comes along. The evil characters are very one dimensional and are evil because they are evil. The good characters are good. There really is nothing to talk a...

Name of Book: The Secret of Shadow Ranch Author: Carolyn Keene ISBN: 9780006925262 Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew Series Type of book: Western, cowboys, ghosts, 1900s, mystery, young adult Year it was published: 1931 Summary: Nancy drew arrives in Phoenix, Arizona, eagerly looking forward to a fun-filled vacation at Shadow Ranch, but abruptly finds herself involved in a baffling mystery. The ranch is being haunted by a phantom horse and maliciously damaged by an unknown enemy. Local people believe that the ghostly animal is carrying out the curse of Dirk Valentine, the romantic outlaw who was killed many years ago at Shadow Ranch, where he had gone to fulfill a promise to his sweetheart. Suspecting that a treasure hidden by Valentine may be at the root of the Shadow Ranch mystery, Nancy undertakes a challenging search, aided by her friends Bess Marvin and George Fayne. The first vital clue is found in an antique watch and sparks a serie...

Name of Book: The Mystery at Lilac Inn Author: Carolyn Keene ISBN: 9781557091581 Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew Mysteries Type of book: Mystery, lilacs, codes, skin diving, 1900s, young adult, children, revised 1960s edition Year it was published: 1930 Summary: Teenage detective Nancy Drew finds herself in danger when she sets out to track a jewel thief. Characters: Nancy still remains herself, and in this book its revealed that she can skin-dive. (What does that mean by the way?) The other characters are flat and aren't very interesting unfortunately. Helen Corning is still engaged to someone and she doesn't play an interesting part. I have to admit that very little of the book seems interesting to me. Theme: Actors tend to be bad people. Plot: This is written in third person narrative from Nancy's point of view. I have to admit that the story wasn't interesting and it didn't grab me. The only plot twists ...

Name of Book: The Bungalow Mystery Author: Carolyn Keene ISBN: 9780448095035 Publisher: Gross and Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew series Type of book: Mystery, death, guardians, 1900s, bank fraud, young adult, feminism, detective, River Heights Year it was published: 1930 Summary: While trying to help a friend out of a difficulty, Nancy has a perilous experience in and around a deserted bungalow, from which only her bravery and quick thinking save her. Characters: In goodreads reviews, there is a description of Laura being horrified by doing housework. Unfortunately I might have missed this scene in the book. The book is more of tell rather than show and tell variety. Multiple times I am told to hate a character simply because the woman had a terrible experience of having a flat tire and so forth. I actually sympathized with her instead of hating her. There is also a very negative attitude towards actors (oh how times change!) Nancy is very independent and tu...

Name of Book: The Hidden Staircase Author: Carolyn Keene ISBN: 9780448095028 Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew Mysteries Type of book: 1900s, hidden staircases, girl detective, ambitious, old houses Year it was published: 1930 Summary: (from wikipedia.org) In the beginning of "Nancy Drew and The Hidden Staircase" Nancy gets a summary call from her friend Helen Corning and is introduced to the Mrs. Flora Turnbull and Mrs. Rosemary Hayes, by Helen, who is the great- grand-daughter of Miss Flora and great niece of Aunt Rosemary. Miss Flora believes that their home, Twin Elms Mansion, is haunted. Nancy agrees to help solve the mystery of Twin Elms when a man named Nathan Gomber tells Nancy that her father, Carson Drew,is in grave danger. Nancy tells her father this and he says that Gomber is just a little rat and trying to throw him off by making him worried about danger and not focusing on the new railroad he is helping to get fini...

Name of Book: The Secret of the Old Clock Author: "Carolyn Keene" ISBN: 1557091552 Publisher: Grosset and Dunlap Part of a Series: Nancy Drew Mysteries Type of book: Mysteries, lost will, young adult, strong feminism Year it was published: 1930 Summary: In this first of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, Nancy, unaided, seeks to find a missing will. Her search not only tests her keen mind but also leads her into a thrilling adventure. This volume presents the original, 1930 version of the story. In 1959 the story was rewritten and condensed and this original version went out of print. Characters: The characters all remain the same pretty much. Nancy remains her resourceful forceful self where mysteries are always at a forefront, the villains got punished and the nice people won the day. In other words, no change passes through her personality. Other characters like the villains and heroes and Nancy's father strike me as stock characters than as real p...