Writer: Mildred Wirt (1937).
Revised by: Priscilla Baker-Carr (1972).
Nancy Drew and her friends spend a few weeks at the Deer Mountain Hotel as guests of Nancy's father, Carson Drew. He had come on legal business and had hinted that he might ask Nancy to assist him with a puzzling case. While playing golf at the summer resort, a golf caddy warns Nancy not to go to the wooden footbridge near the dense woods because he believes the bridge is haunted by ghosts. Meanwhile, Martin Bartescue, another guest at the summer resort, keeps following Nancy and bragging to her about his famous connections and golf skill.
Meanwhile, Mr Drew is working on a smuggling case involving an international ring of jewel thieves. Nancy is asked to replace a woman detective who is sick. Nancy has to look for a woman who carries an expensive jewelled compact set with diamonds and precious stones with a small picture of a child in the case.
The entire story can be summarised as follows -
- Nancy Drew is so skilful in golf, and she still can play very well with her injured hand.
- Martin Bartescue keeps harassing Nancy Drew, but she doesn't stand firm in rejecting his advances even though she is often portrayed as a strong woman. She accepts his invitation to go for a dance so that she can investigate Margaret Judson but ends up she has to dodge his flirt, leading her to fall into a flower bed and injure her hand.
- Nancy Drew wanders around looking for Margaret Judson with her insistence in asking for help from her friends and others working or living there, including the caddy, caddy's mother, postmistress, realtor, professor, gardener, and probably more.
- The only exciting part is Margaret's account of what happened before and after the fire in her mansion.
- Martin Bartescue's existence complicates the story, causing more confusion to the readers than making the story more interesting.
- Many golf terms can be boring for someone who already feels it's a boring sport to watch on tv.
Almost every Nancy Drew story has at least one rainy scene, especially during an emergency. I wish I had been more accepting of Nancy's personality; primarily, this was written in the 1930s, and everything is perfectly planned. Unfortunately, my frustration with Nancy returns again when reading this book. She always abandons her friends to pursue her own dangerous adventure. This time, she can even persuade the doctor to allow her to play golf with her injured hand. I wish her friends acted more like her friends than as fangirls.
I often have divided opinions about Nancy Drew every time reading the series. I still feel we should keep this classic alive and hope no one figure out something that can lead to banning the books. As I mentioned before, it was written so long ago, and most things are not applicable in such an era. The world is more complicated now, and I strongly advise any girls not to seek any possible dangerous adventure by themselves. I'm probably too old to read this series, and I keep telling myself that I should shut off all the modernisation thoughts and travel back to the 1930s. I must learn to suppress my frustrations that creep out once in a while and think of the book's publication year.
ISBN: 9781101077160 (eBook)
Number of Pages: 192
Rating: ★ (1/5)
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