Nancy and the Case of the supreme free-loaders!
So while Kate may be the extreme blogging queen I, her sister Maren, have managed to weasel myself into doing some random Nancy Drew reviews since I also have a long running love of the series. One that does not appear to be going away at any age – a fact which is just alright with me!
Now onto the douche-baggery!
This installation, akin to several of it’s predecessors, opens with Carson Drew getting
invited to stay at the home of his client in Florida while working on his case! So, naturally Nancy, Bess and George get to come along right? Also, this time Hannah Gruen actually gets to come along for the fun too! And coincidentally –of course! – Ned Nickerson’s family just HAPPENS to have a house along the same Florida river. WHAT A SMALL WORLD
NANCY LIVES IN! Which means Ned, Burt, and Dave will all be there as well! The whole gang has come to Florida and the mystery hasn't even begun yet.
Very quickly Nancy and the gang are already suspicious (even Carson!) of the supposed couple living and working in the house of their host and, since Mr. Billington isn't there, the couple, Antin and Tina, take it upon themselves to be lame right from the get go.
OH? Did I mention that this house is attached to an orange grove? And that this orange grove mysteriously was responsible for a case of exploding oranges (what?!) being sent to the space center? Which is why we’re all in Florida in the first place really....but seriously...EXPLODING ORANGES?!
Nancy and the girls visit Ned’s mother (oh la la!) in a boat down the river, which OF COURSE, Nancy knows exactly how to operate despite it being a fancy foreign speedboat.
Another point in the “Nancy is secretly an android column.” They all then go poking about the surrounding houses since Mrs. Nickerson wants to show Nancy a house a block
away that her father should buy. How much does a small town lawyer make exactly? I feel like not even Perry Mason is this well off....oh well. While looking at a dilapidated mansion covered with moss (could it be the titular mansion?!) they hear a scream. However since they don’t hear it a second time they shrug it off....because that’s what I do when I
hear a blood-curdling scream....mental note: if getting attacked make sure to scream repeatedly!
Meanwhile, back at the house, Antin and Tina continue to eat the food Hannah prepares for the Drews and co. all the while leaving their dirty dishes for her to clean up. Um when did they hire Hannah? I think they didn’t, the ass-hats!
Carson gets an urgent call to return to River Heights immediately and, while coming back from driving him to the airport, Bess almost gets eaten by an alligator! Wow this book just got exciting! OK--in reality it only snapped at her hand a little but WHATEVER!
Later that night (1789 heh heh) Nancy receives a call from a frantic Patrick Croft, who used to work at the space center, saying that he is being threatened for helping her and, in the midst of the phone cal,l has his home invaded and he is attacked while Nancy is on the phone with him!
Wow excitement! Lifetime movie anyone?
Nancy rushes over to help investigate and relays her story to a policeman who refers to her as an average person who may have witnessed a crime.
UM MR. POLICEMAN THIS IS NANCY FRIKKIN' DREW! YOU SHOULD KNOW WHO SHE IS! I mean she has solved more mysteries this year alone already then you probably have in your whole career!
Is anyone else wondering why this book is called Moss Covered Mansion yet? Because seriously we have only glimpsed it once and it’s been like 60 pages....
STILL later that night...George overhears a mysterious phone call coming from the orange packing house! When they confront the free-loader Antin he grabs Nancy and shakes her so heard she thinks “her head will snap off!”
Does that count as an additional head injury? (NOTE FROM KATE: YES, A "HALF" HEAD INJURY)
After accusations are made on all sides, Tina and Antin say they are moving to a motel until the Drews and co leave. Heh heh, problem of the free-loaders solved.
OR IS IT?!
Nope. They changed their minds pretty quick. At least this time Tina (who is supposed to be the house keeper) says she thinks that MAYBE she can help with SOME housework...ugh....
Back to the house Mrs. Nickerson thinks Carson should buy... Except first they need to get hassled by the Realtor who, for some reason, (underhanded ones perhaps Nancy??) he does not want Nancy to even look at the property. Hmm this guy seems shifty. Especially with a name like Mr. Scarlet. He’s either a villain or a lost character from Clue.
Oh well, since when does Nancy Drew take no for an answer?
Never that’s when!
Once at the house, near the titular moss-covered mansion (oh yay!) they hear the scream again! Nancy and George wish to investigate – Bess’ only response is that she would never want to live next door to something so gross....uhh, OK Bess.
LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY!
OK not really, but it looks like the moss-covered mansion is actually home to several wild animals! Including a black leopard, hence the loud screaming! Looks like the Drews' possible neighbor is a circus animal trainer...OR IS IT A FRONT???
I’ll give you a hint. It is.
It looks like the girls are not the only ones paying a visit to the mansion, Mr. Scarlett is pulling in as they are sneaking out! Hmm I knew that guy was shifty.
Back at the mansion – OMG THE ORANGE GROVE IS ON FIRE! Possibly from an explosion, at the very least deliberately set! After helping put out the fire, (oh, Nancy!) Mr. Scarlett comes threateningly demanding the key to the house Nancy was looking at back! Could you be any shiftier, Mr. Scarlett?
Nancy and George continue on to pick up Carson and the Billingtons at the airport, but when they arrive they learn the plane's landing gear isn't coming down! Oh no! Carson’s plane is coming in for a crash landing!!
OK now that he’s safe Nancy can go back to the mystery. Not the moss-covered mansion of course, but the exploding oranges! Turns out Mr. Billington has his own doppleganger! And this somehow leads to Nancy getting to go back to the moss-covered mansion. Could they be tied together somehow?? Now Nancy really can investigate and see if the
animal training is a front for something!
Remember my hint? It is.
While inside, a stack of furniture in the basement falls on Nancy and knocks her out! And we have our head injury for the book. Naturally, Nancy gets blamed for the stack falling and they are kicked out of the house. Rude! Well of course that furniture was stacked weird. It was hiding a steel door! Duh!
I’m pretty sure there are explosives in there, guys. But whatever.
Oh yay--the boys are finally showing up! Just in time for parties and helping solve the final bit of the mystery! The group takes the motorboat back to the house for sale and what do they find? OH MY! It’s flooded! How could that have happened?? Ok Ned, that’s cool. Make a flying kick at the kitchen window to break in to stop the pipe. No need for theatrics or anything....Good thing the front door key wasn't left on the lawn by the intruder who burst the pipe or anything. Oh wait....
It’s also interesting that, while all intelligent, the group as a whole isn't super observant. Because, in the midst of stopping the flooding, they didn't notice their boat being stolen less than 30 ft away. Wow.
So instead of working on that lets go back to the space station and work on the ORIGINAL mystery! Oh hey bearded guys? You seem nice and oh you want to take our picture...oh wait....is that tear gas! What the heck!!!! Who puts tear gas in a camera! OH WAIT! Maybe villains....Yup they also found the fake beards later. Any surprise that the beards were fake?
Nope? Me either.
Now Nancy has gotten tear-gassed...goodness what wont happen to her in this book??
Let’s follow the gang the next morning! That seems smart! 4 people?! Oh my it’s Mr. Scarlett (well duh with a name like that), the crazy animal trainer’s son, the mysterious Max Iverson people keep mentioning, and Antin! Ok time to call the cops and let them know about Antin.
Any surprise at those? Nope? Moving on.
In the midst of chasing down one of the gang members Bess decides she is hungry so they decide to take a quick break for lunch. Umm really?! Right now? You were literally just chasing a dude in your car then on foot through the space station. Is now really the time for that hamburger Bess??
Action time! Going back to the Billington house, the gang discovers Antin and Tina being taken away in handcuffs as well as a cop following carrying an armful of explosives! Woa!
Ok lets keep solving more mystery aspects. Back to the Webster house! Leopard attack! Fortin, the animal trainer, shows trying to stop the leopard from attacking them after it got loose. Ned embraces his inner Indiana Jones and cracks the whip and the creature while Burt and Dave wave their arms about like ghosts to confuse it (what?). Oh well,
it works and definitely confuses the leopard. Fortin comes and manages to get the leopard in a cage in his truck to take back next door to the moss covered mansion and Nancy and Ned take advantage of the opportunity and hide on the roof on the van to sneak back inside the basement! Ninja skills to the test!
Remember the steel door? Yeah it hid some kind of crazy tech lab. It has a beam that can destroy a moving target in midair. Um woa!!! And it’s trained at the shuttle launching from the space center in 2 days! Turns out the exploding oranges were just the first attempt to blow up the shuttle.
Told you it was a front.
Nancy and Ned hide because the rest of the un-arrested gang is coming down the stairs to the basement talking loudly about their plans to blow up the shuttle and the astronauts inside it! Mr. Scarlett is whining (there’s always a whiner) and Fortin seems to be the true mastermind.
Escape? Nope Nancy and Ned get captured and are going to be thrown into a pool of boiling water! This thing isn’t here for animals or anything--apparently Fortin had it specially built to throw intruders and snoopers into. Wow, overkill and crazy much??
Luckily, Bess, George, Burt, and Dave got back to Carson Drew in time and they called the FBI who then come rushing in along with the NSA to stop the bad guys! But not before Fortin tries to sick his wild animals on the NSA. Bad move dude.
Ha ha! More villains thwarted!
Wow, this one was a crazy roller coaster of action! I may be biased as it is one of my favorites – but upon this re-read it definitely holds up to it’s previously set standards. It’s not perfect because there is almost a little too much going back and forth from mystery to mystery and you almost feel like you’re being rubber banded around at times. However it still comes in strong at a 4 ½ mags from me!
Head injury count: 1 (and a half)--7 1/2 total
Explosions: 1 (5 total)
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