Book #17: The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk (1940 Edition)

Nancy vs. The Misplaced Luggage  ...oooohhhhh!

Not to give too much away, but this original edition is just about as thrilling as it sounds.  Before I start the summary, though, I want to make a brief clarification.  This is the 1940 original edition, so a few of the core plot points directly relate to the original edition of The Clue of the Tapping Heels.  In that original version of tapping heels, the older woman they help out is named Miss Purdy.  She is also a cat lover, and gives Nancy one of her prize Angora cats at the beginning of The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk as she has moved to Buenos Aires which is (in a Nancy Drew Mystery Story-esque coincidence) exactly where Nancy, Bess and George are sailing to with a group of college-age girls.

Starting off with some drama, a mother of one of the girls from the upcoming trip, Ms. Joslin, drops by the Drews to announce that no daughter of hers will be sailing with that impudent, man's-work-doing Nancy Drew!  A relentless chore of a woman, Ms. Joslin is described as both "shrewd" and having "sharp, dark eyes," which tells me that she will either be a thorn in Nancy's side to rival the likes of Mortimer Bartescue, or that she will be the villain.

(Villain, by the by.)

Either way, she insists that her daughter, Nestrelda Darlington (she named her child Nestrelda?  VILLAIN.) is of high moral character and cannot be mixing with the likes of Nancy Drew.  Nancy, who always seems to suffer fools (although not gladly) offers to withdraw from the school group, but secures a ticket for herself and her friends on the ship anyway.  

Meanwhile, Carson Drew asks Nancy for a favor: his client Mr. Trenton wants Nancy to talk some sense into his daughter Doris (who is, by the same ludicrous coincidence, traveling to Buenos Aires on the same ship.  Seriously, guys.  Was the world that much smaller in 1940 or do we have a highly localized disturbance in the space-time continuum?).  Doris Trenton doesn't want to marry the son of her father's partner and is therefore OUT OF CONTROL!  Nancy seems irritated at having to take on a girly girl's errand, but does so to pacify her father.

Nancy, Bess and George are just on their way onto the ship, gossiping about what a bitch they think Nestrelda will be, when they realize that Nancy's trunk has been switched with another girl bearing the initials "N.D."  

You think it could be Nestrelda Darlington, guys?

A-DOIIIIIII

Anyhoo, much comical trunk swapping ensues on their journey, and attempts on the trunk continue when the girls arrive in Buenos Aires.  The whole book is pretty much like: "Is that the right trunk?  Where is the trunk!  The trunk has a secret drawer.  The TRUNK the TRUNK!"

As it turns out, Nestrelda is a really nice girl despite her wildebeest of a mother and she helps them solve the mystery of the constant trunk theft.  Unfortunately, Nancy realizes that Ms. Joslin was using her daughter's trunk to smuggle fine jewelry. Orphaned, Nestrelda is left to languish in South America, as her mother and stepfather are no-good thieves.  

Poor Treldy :(

And, just to sum up the lame Doris Trenton story-line: the girl seems adamant that does not love him but eventually "comes to her senses" and marries Henry Washburn.  Laaaaammme.  Although, I guess relevant to the times.  I'll tell you this: I will not be at all surprised if I see the names "Trenton" and "Washburn" over at the Divorce Court.  Which I guess is just "court."

This one was good in parts but just too ludicrous  in others--the trunk-swapping, Doris-Henry-Nestrelda love triangle, and the fact that somehow Ms. Purdy and Ms. Joplin are half sisters in particular.  It felt like they went back in and added these plot points to make the story tie together more but it ended up making it tie together in a way that just wasn't believable.  

Also...NESTRELDA?!

3 out of 5 mags 

 

Head Injury Count: 1 (6 total)