Password to Larkspur Lane (Nancy Drew #10) by Carolyn Keene

Writer: Walter Karig (1933).

Revised By: Patricia Doll (1966).

When Nancy is on the flagstone path of her garden, a wounded bird plummeted down and landed among the flowers. The homing pigeon has a thin piece of paper on its leg. And the message indicates trouble will occur and after five o'clock blue bells will be singing horses. Come tonight.

When Nancy is returning from the charity flower show, she sees a black sedan car with a licence plate which matches the first four numbers on the pigeon's leg band. A moment later, Dr Spire reaches the car, and it roars away. Meanwhile, Hannah has strained her back in the cellar, and Nancy drives her to see Dr Spire. When Mrs Spire is busy preparing for dinner and Nancy helps to take a message from a call, the message is related to blue bells again.

Then Dr Spire asks for Nancy's help to solve the mystery he encountered on that day. He received a call in the afternoon about a patient had a minor car accident, and she wants him to meet her there. When Dr Spire reached for the black car, he was seized, and a hood was dropped over his head. When the hood was removed, he found himself in a regular hospital room. There was an elderly woman who is suffering from a dislocated shoulder. He was ordered not to talk to the patient when examining her, but the woman slipped a gold-chained bracelet into his hand. Although Dr Spire was hidden from the details of the trip, he remembers the password of the gate is 'Bluebells'. Nancy is surprised that the mystery is related to the note that she found from the pigeon.

At the same time, Nancy's friend Helen has another mystery for her to solve. It's related to her grandparents seeing a blue circle of fire appears in front of their house every night.

When there is more than one mystery, and one mystery has more than one story, my mind starts to get haywire. Oh my! How I'm going to read a more complicated book, I can't even understand children stories? I have a lot of questions come into my mind. Did I miss the information somewhere that Nancy met Morgan before? How does she know how Morgan looked like when he returned home? How can she differentiate the pigeon which was injured earlier with other pigeons?

I felt disappointed because of Nancy back to being pushy again. And Nancy seems to show more authorities on everyone around her. I felt sorry for Effie for Nancy's inconsiderate behaviour. I wondered whether I will snap on Nancy if I were Effie. Also, I was surprised when Nancy asked the old couple whether they wanted to open the parcel delivered to Morgan. "Under the circumstances". What? Under whatever circumstances, nobody should open anyone's parcel. Can't believe this comes from a lawyer's daughter.

Oh, dear! I'm getting more critical and criticising a lot. Maybe the adult world has changed me. Perhaps if I read this book when I was a kid, I will probably think lesser and enjoy the adventure with Nancy. I won't overthink her aggressiveness. The funny thing is another side of me wanted to continue reading this series, treating Nancy as a real person. Her personality varies in different stories, and it makes me feel curious to know which side of her before I read the story. Maybe because it was written by various authors, it makes the character has a different personality throughout the series. I really love mystery, and the combination of mystery and classic is always the best.

Rating: ★ (1/5)
More reviews can be found on Goodreads: Password to Larkspur Lane (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #10)by Carolyn Keene.