This one is great. You wouldn't think that a Nancy Drew mystery where the main plot is carrier pigeons and elderly people could be exciting, but it really is action-packed.
Nancy Drew is engaging in one of her thousand talents--horticulture--when she sees a pigeon fall from the sky, seemingly struck by a low-flying plane. Upon realizing that this is no ordinary rat with wings, but a carrier pigeon, Nancy decides to nurse it back to health and figure out who the pigeon was carrying a message to. The message the pigeon was carrying says: "Blue Bells now Singing Horses," hinting at the password to what we will soon know as Larkspur Lane. Soon thereafter, she sees a neighbor and family friend, Dr. Spires, pushed into an unmarked black car. When she calls on him later to see if he is still missing, she discovers she has yet another mystery brewing. Dr. Spires has been returned, but was kidnapped in order to treat an elderly woman at a reclusive estate. The good doctor was able to slip a bracelet off of the apparent prisoner, Nancy's only clue in finding out about these shenanigans.
Meanwhile, back on the Drew homestead, Hannah takes a nasty fall and a housekeeper must be sent to replace her for a few weeks. Unfortunately, they send the WORST PERSON EVER. Effie is scattered, clumsy, and constantly talking about an imaginary boyfriend that drives an ice truck (the ice truck killer?!). It's pretty obvious that she will be a thorn in Nancy's side, a theory proven when Effie lets the mysterious pigeon escape and Nancy has to break about seven laws to follow the bird to its homing location. All the while, Effie is sobbing and babbling like a godforsaken loon, and I really want to physically slap the book, but Nancy does my work for me by practically biting the girl's head off during their chase. At one point Effie, already crying, says "Oh, I could just cry!" and Nancy basically says: "Yeah, well DON'T. Shut your frikkin' pie-hole, Effie." Or at least that's what I imagine she says. It was basically the sentiment.
I admit, even though I am one who prefers the 1960's re-writes, I like this impatient bitchy Nancy. Nancy discovers a connection between the old woman imprisoned in the estate and the carrier pigeons--they are both going to a mansion on Larkspur Lane. At this point, the gang of ne'er do wells, including a disbarred lawyer and enemy of Carson Drew, Adam Thorne, are after Nancy. She can't step outside her home without being accosted, or having her purse stolen. It soon becomes evident that she needs to get the F out of D, so they say. Carson Drew has the solution--he was going to buy Nancy a new car anyway (really?! how rich is a single father? I feel like this is her third new car...) so they pull a fast one on the gang by slipping Nancy out in an unfamiliar car.
She goes off to stay with the Cornings at Sylvan Lake, one of the many lakeside cabins the Corning family seem to own. In the older edition, Helen Corning is not about to be married, but is dating a "deeply tanned" friend of Ned Nickerson's named Buck Rodman. I admit this and the introduction of Buck Rodman in Nancy's Mysterious Letter had me a bit confused and thinking that Helen Corning was having a cheap affair with some Muskoka Shore Guido. Anyhoo, The girls and their dates decide to take a load off by hitting the beach, but Nancy of course manages to find more clues to the mystery. She saves a little girl from drowning (add lifeguarding and CPR to her list of skills) and discovers that the girl's mother is named Eldridge and is a relative of the missing elderly woman at Larkspur Lane. Nancy and Helen head over to Larkspur Lane and discover that, along with the woman Dr. Spires treated, there are several more elderly people being held against their will, seemingly part of a plot to steal their money. Nancy makes contact with the elder Mrs. Eldridge and promises to come back.
Nancy and Helen decide to go undercover, with Helen pretending to be a nurse and Nancy pretending to be an old widow. They manage to pull the old switcharoo, getting Mrs. Eldridge out with Helen, but Nancy ends up trapped by Adam Thorne and his gang of miscreants. They shove Nancy in an old subterranean cistern but, since she is basically MacGyver, she climbs her way out. The gang are about to escape in a small plane (the same one, incidentally, that hit the pigeon and started all of this craziness) but Nancy pulls a John MacLane and sets the fuel gage on fire.
That's right, Nancy Drew SETS HER ENEMIES ON FIRE. Don't mess with this bitch.
The slightly charred criminals are taken into custody, Mrs. Eldridge is reunited with her family, and the pigeons are set free--free to take a dump on the nice buildings of River Heights and eat discarded food. Awwwwww.
This one is pretty awesome. I took off a mag because it's a bit slower generally--there are several of those scenes that annoy me where Nancy is interrupted from her detective work but too polite to just peace out. I added another half a mag because Nancy Drew SETS HER ENEMIES ON FIRE. Kick-ass. This one gets 4 1/2 mags out of 5.
1966 Review
This plot unfolds in a pretty similar fashion, but with an added mystery at Sylvan Lake with the Cornings. Nancy Drew is asked by the Cornings to investigate a recurring apparition--a ring of blue fire that appears a distance from the cabin. There is also the matter of the Corning's groundskeeper, Morgan, who seems unwillingly connected to Adam Thorne and the gang of swindlers. In this book, Adam Thorne is not a disbarred lawyer but an ex-con who was put away by Carson Drew.
In addition, Bess and George play a far bigger role in this book, and Helen Corning is now married to Jim Archer (thus, she is now Helen Archer). During the climax, Nancy drains the fuel from the plane's fuselage but does NOT set her enemies on fire. Booooooo!
This one is similarly great. The action moves quickly and the addition of Bess and George make for a lighter read during the lead-up to the climax. I took away a half mag, due to Nancy not SETTING HER ENEMIES ON FIRE. I really did miss that. So, another 4 1/2 out of 5, but for different reasons.
Points for the 1933 version
*Nancy is kind of a bitch--in the most delightful way
*Nancy SETS HER ENEMIES ON FIRE
*I get to make fun of Buck Rodman
Points for 1966 version
*The pacing is far better
*At least 60% fewer annoying interruptions
*Bess and George
*No racial slurs
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