BESS MARVIN as the "But I wanted to wash my hair!" scaredy-cat whiner that we all love anyway!
GEORGE FAYNE as Buttercup the Powerpuff...er, I mean as Nancy's fearless chum!
...and introducing NED NICKERSON as Nancy's charming new suitor!
That's right, despite the numerous errors in The Secret of Shadow Ranch, this is the book where Nancy finally meets Ned! Oh, and it's awesome, let me tell you.
This one starts out with Nancy's curiosity already piqued by a family in need, the Swensons. The father has been mysteriously absent and the daughter's name is "Honey" so you already know our heartstrings will be tugged by this book's charity case. While Bess, George and Nancy are on their way back from town, they see an enormous explosion and a mansion engulfed in flames.
Woah. There are seriously a lot of explosions in these books. Boat explosions, cabin explosions, and now a whole mansion. What I want to know is: when will we get to read about Nancy running in slow motion from the explosion like Jeff Bridges in that movie Blown Away? I guess I'm not expecting it. If Nancy ever faced a bomb before the fact, we would probably discover that, among her other varied talents, she's also a skilled bomb difuser.
Anyhoo, Nancy and her friends run up to the burning house to make sure no person or kitten is trapped inside, and sees a mysterious man running from the fire! He drops the titular diary (do you think there's a clue in it, guys?!) and escapes. A frustrated Nancy heads back to her car, only to see a young man driving away with it. "WTF?!" Nancy wants to shout. But, being a proper young lady, she merely runs alongside the car, baffled when the young man parks it at a safe distance from the fire.
And who is this young man? None other than Ned Nickerson, of course--car thief and gentleman.
Swoon!!!
Ned takes an instant liking to Nancy and soon becomes embroiled in the mystery, although it's pretty obvious that he's only doing so to get close to our heroine. As it turns out, the owner of the exploded mansion is Felix Raybolt, known to many in the Mapleton area as "Foxy Felix." Foxy Felix has been known to buy patents and promise royalties to inventors, only to renig on the contract and laugh in the inventors' faces, dancing like a happy prospector and shouting "haHA! I gots your money!" Okay, the happy prospector thing I made up, but doesn't it make sense?
The plot thickens when Nancy realizes that Mrs. Swenson's missing husband is the man whom Nancy caught running from the fire, and that the diary she found written in Swedish is his. Ruh-Roh! Of course, Nancy comes to the conclusion that I did: no one with an adorable, malnourished child named Honey is going to be responsible for a house explosion. It's just not going to happen. My money's on Foxy Felix. Mostly because of...you know...his name.
Nancy, Bess and George set out to find Foxy Felix, intensifying their efforts when Mr. Swenson is arrested. Talk of a strange unkempt man, often seen dancing like a happy prospector, has spread around the country outskirts of Mapleton, and Nancy knows this man to be Felix Raybolt. Also, she has, with the help of the kindly old Swedish baker, translated the diary and figured out that Felix must have a safe with papers that could prove his guilt somewhere in the mansion's foundation. So, despite Hannah's insistence that they "need a man" to go with them, and Bess's moaning about giving up three dates and wanting to spend the evening washing her hair, Nancy insists the three girls go to the exploded house ruins and lie in wait for Foxy Felix.
After the world's most boring stakeout (Bess keeps insisting she's heard something, George yells at her, and then they both fall asleep), Nancy comes face to face with the nefarious Foxy Felix! With the help of Carson Drew and Ned Nickerson, who show up in the nick of time (I don't love the fact that Nancy did in fact end up "needing a man," but Bess and George were off snoring in the woods, so I get that) and restrain the man.
Then, as is the case with most Nancy Drew books, everyone is happy! Foxy Felix and his Cruella Deville-esque wife confess, Joe Swenson and his family are given money for his inventions (Yay! Honey won't starve to death!), and Nancy now has a favorite date. Woo-hoo!
I really do like this one. I admit, it lags somewhat during the Swenson scenes and Bess and George are kind of pulling a Helen Corning in this one, so there are some flaws, but the early chemistry between Nancy and Ned is almost palpable and the action sequences are definitely exciting. I give this one a 4/5.
Head Injury Count: 0 (3 total)
Explosion Count: 1 (3 total)
I think this was the novel with the house keeper/maid problem b/c of the mention of Swedish people. I think at one point Nancy says, I wish I had kept that Swedish housekeeper. Wow. Really? She also mentioned an Irish one... I have to remember that in the 1930s what America must have looked like (immigration from Europe, vs... the Brits?)
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