![Alice I Have Been: A Novel [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover)](http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B0034BXXGK&tag=widgetsamazon-20)
Best Adult Fiction (Historical Fiction) - Alice I Have Been, by Melanie Benjamin
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Thirteenth Pearl, by Carolyn Keene
Stolen jewelry, mysterious socialites, pearl cults, and bopping around Japan in kimonos. Great finish to the series, and I like it that the last mystery is one where money is no object, where Nancy Drew in disguise can pass as a Japanese girl, where it starts and ends in River Heights, but goes everywhere on the way. The ending, though, where it is clear that Nancy has no more mysteries to come- ouch!!!!
"She paused a moment, then said "Do you think we'll ever get another mystery to solve?"
Ned chuckled. "It's just like you to say that, Nancy. It seems to me that you have had quite a few mysteries to solve since The Secret of the Old Clock."
And I have read all 56 of them in the last surreal month.
Mystery of Crocodile Island, by Carolyn Keene
Down in the Florida Keys, Nancy and friends help a client of Carson Drew's find out what is really going on at his crocodile sanctuary (weapons smuggling). Lots of boating, boat crashes, Bess being made fun of, and a sense of weariness with the whole enterprise.
The Strange Message in the Parchment, by Carolyn Keene
Back near River Heights, Nancy + friends go to visit June, a girl who lives on a sheep farm, and helps solve the mystery of the surly foreman and the kidnapped small boy who lives there. The almost go to Rome, but, as in some of the later books, it is mentioned that sending a batch of people on a wild goose chase to another country might not be cost effective. Damn reality, seeping into my Nancy Drews!!!
The Sky Phantom, by Carolyn Keene
Wow- lots going on in this one!Nancy, Bess, and George are on vacation on a dude ranch/flight school (?). Bess falls in love with a cowboy, forgeting about patiend Dave back home, and receives the first proposal of marriage out of the 3 main characters. Nancy is taking flying lessons, and when a plane and pilot go missing, she and her instructor help find him and solve the mystery, but the most interesting parts of this one are the plot-moving devices, you can see the end coming in this one. Bess eventually decides to turn down the cowboy and to wait for Dave, but it is clear that their lives will be changing soon.
The Secret of the Forgotten City, by Carolyn Keene
Desert Southwest, and more unfortunate Native American scenes, although the River Heights gang are trying to help some of the tribes.
The Mystery of the Glowing Eye, by Carolyn Keene
Ned is kidnapped by a crazy and evil grad student intent on using Ned's work to help him build lasers, and Nancy goes to Emerson College to help save the day. Another one where Nancy + technology = fail.
The Double Jinx Mystery, by Carolyn Keene
Nancy and Ned get involved in solving the jinx placed on an exotic bird farm by an unscrupulous property deveoloper. Both get ill with ornithosis, but this is one where Nancy saves Ned, over and over.
The Secret of Mirror Bay, by Carolyn Keene
Nancy, Bess and George go to visit Nancy's Aunt Eloise at Mirror Bay, and get involved in a mystery involving phosphorescent mushrooms and smuggling. As in so many of these later Nancy Drew's, changing societal norms really enter the picture, and poor Bess is increasingly devalued.
The Crooked Bannister, by Carolyn Keene
Nancy matches her wits against a crazed inventor, and this is one where you can really see the Nancy formula kind of breaking down. The crazed inventor has a robot, which really is problematic with reading it now- maybe when it was first written the robot might have been scary, but there are just a lot of issues that make this an astonishingly dated and almost sad read.
The Mysterious Mannequin, by Carolyn Keene
Very odd Nancy Drew, taking place in River Heights and Istanbul. Hidden messages woven into rugs help Nancy reuinite lovers.
The Invisible Intruder, by Carolyn Keene
4 mysteries in one, Nancy and a group of friends go on a trip to test out some "haunted houses", and get caught up with a fake fortune teller and her shell-collecting gang of no-goods.
The Phantom of Pine Hill, by Carolyn Keene
Unfortunate Nancy Drew, with some very dated Native American scenes.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Inspired Wire, by Cynthia Wuller
This would be very good for someone who never worked with wire before.
The Spider Sapphire Mystery, by Carolyn Keene
And another international adventure! Nancy, Bess, George, and a troop of Emerson University students including Ned, Burt, and Dave head to Kenya, and solve the combined mysteries of a missing safari guide and a stolen sapphire.
The Mystery of the 99 Steps, by Carolyn Keene
Another one where Nancy and the gang are far from home! Starting out in Paris, and heading out to Versailles and then through the Loire valley, Nancy and her equally fluent-in-French friends solve the mystery of Madame Bardot's nightmares and that of the frightened financier, who is being fooled by a con artist who claims to be an alchemist (!). Oh, yes. lots of running around chateaus. Lucky Nancy.
The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes, by Carolyn Keene
As the series moves into the 40s, Nancy goes further afield, improbably taking Bess and George and even Ned, Burt and Dave with her. This time, its Scotland, to visit Nancy's great grandmother, Lady Douglas (!), at her ancestral manor (!) before it is given to the National Trust, to help find a missing brooch and to solve the problem of sheep rustlers. Nancy Super Skill- Bagpipe playing!!!
The Moonstone Castle Mystery, by Carolyn Keene
Epic and dangerous shenanigans for the Drew crew! Moonstones, Deep River Valley, lost inheritance, the usual.
The Mystery of the Fire Dragon, by Carolyn Keene
Nancy and the gang are in Hong Kong in 1961 in this one! Very exotic, and surprisingly, George can pass as a Chinese girl named Chi Che, when wearing a cheong sam. Lots of eating things and Hong Kong trivia, and an exciting finale on the boats in Aberdeen.
The Clue in the Old Stagecoach, by Carolyn Keene
Nancy and her chums solve the mystery of a hidden stagecoach (!) and it involves a lot of digging and dynamite.
The Secret of the Golden Pavillion, by Carolyn Keene
Nancy and the gang are off to Hawaii, the recently added state, in this one. Hula dancing, hidden Hawaiian royal treasure, and a lot of flying about in helicopters.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
