Nancy Drew 1 Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene

Nancy Drew 1 Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene

I have been rereading the Hardy Boy series that I read as a young boy fiftyish years ago, and I decided to read the first Nancy Drew book to see how it compared. First off, The Secret of the Old Clock may be a better mystery than the first Hardy Boys book. The story opens with Nancy meeting two nice elderly women who are taking care of a young girl. They are of very modest means and it comes up in conversation that they had a wealthy relative who had promised to look after them in his will, and then didn’t. He left all of his money to a family that Nancy reluctantly admits are not her favorite people. That reluctance is an important part of Nancy’s character. She is an extremely nice and caring individual, and she does not like to speak ill of anyone.

 

Over the next days, Nancy meets other people whom the wealthy relative had been helping and had promised to take care of when he died, and finally one of them mentions having seen a will—a will that is different than the one about to be probated. This leads Nancy to start investigating what happened to that will and she wonders if some furniture thieves that keep showing up might have something to do with its disappearance. The title lets the reader know from the beginning where the will is. It’s just a question of whether Nancy can find it.

 

Nancy is empowered by a father who trusts her, much as the Hardy Boys’ parents trust them. Yet she is also more restricted in her actions and behavior, in keeping with what Harriet Adams, daughter of Edward Stratemeyer who created Nancy Drew, believed was the proper attitude of young women when she rewrote several of the books in 1950s and 1960s. In both versions, Nancy saves the day and provides a pretty good story.