The Clue in the Old Stagecoach

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #37

by Carolyn Keene

While vacationing at Camp Merriweather near Francisville, Mrs. Strook, an elderly citizen, asks Nancy to find an old stagecoach her great-uncle had hidden. This stagecoach may contain a valuable treasure that would benefit the town that needs funding to build a new school. This book is the original text. A revised text does not exist.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Middle Grade, Classics, Juvenile

180 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Carolyn Keene is a writer pen name that was used by many different people- both men and women- over the years. The company that was the creator of the Nancy Drew series, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, hired a variety of writers. For Nancy Drew, the writers used the pseudonym Carolyn Keene to assure anonymity of the creator.

Edna and Harriet Stratemeyer inherited the company from their father Edward Stratemeyer. Edna contributed 10 plot outlines before passing the reins to her sister Harriet. It was Mildred Benson (aka: Mildred A. Wirt), who breathed such a feisty spirit into Nancy's character. Mildred wrote 23 of the original 30 Nancy Drew Mystery Stories®, including the first three. It was her characterization that helped make Nancy an instant hit. The Stratemeyer Syndicate's devotion to the series over the years under the reins of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams helped to keep the series alive and on store shelves for each succeeding generation of girls and boys. In 1959, Harriet, along with several writers, began a 25-year project to revise the earlier Carolyn Keene novels. The Nancy Drew books were condensed, racial stereotypes were removed, and the language was updated. In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.

Other writers of Nancy Drew volumes include Harriet herself, she wrote most of the series after Mildred quit writing for the Syndicate and in 1959 began a revision of the first 34 texts. The role of the writer of "Carolyn Keene" passed temporarily to Walter Karig who wrote three novels during the Great Depression. Also contributing to Nancy Drew's prolific existence were Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Nancy Axelrod, Priscilla Doll, Charles Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., and Margaret Scherf.

Reviews

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nancy searches for an antique stagecoach that, according to legend, contains something of great value to the people of Francisville." [x]

This book holds memories for me because it was one of the Nancy Drew books in my elementary school library. I never read it then but I looked at the covers of all the books a lot so this one has been ingrained into my mind.

I didn't read this one until I was an adult and owned a copy, I recall loving it the first time. However not so much the second time...in fact I'm not even sure I finished it the second time. My GoodReads rating was 4 stars so lets see if that holds true.

- I've always enjoyed the bet Nancy and Bess make against George. If George loses she has to knit the girls each a sweater.

Ok wow, so I ended up taking no notes. There just wasn't much in this book to comment on. It was a good story, I thought the locations were very cozy from the camp to Ms. Snook's home to the Zucker farm and even Art Warner's office.
The location of the old stagecoach is quite unique I think, although something about it reminds me of the ending to Clue in the Diary.
I was a bit surprised by who the culprit was even tho it was obvious but the character just seemed like more of an annoying nuance wrapped up in some other underhanded scheme.
You can read the rest of this review and many others at VintageGirlsBooks.blogspot.com

You can see all the illustrations from this book at www.pinterest.com/Nancydrewart

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

So cute! Camping resort, tennis and badminton competitions, a runaway stagecoach that perhaps has CLUES inside, which leads Nancy and her gal pals George and Bess to explore the option of at least one other stagecoach that has for some reason been dismantled and buried on a farm.

Naturally, because the team hasn't managed to destroy all the stagecoaches in town, the locals decide to invite the young folks to participate in a parade. The girls need to wear those awful prairie dresses and bonnets; the boys are given vests and breeches, whereupon either Burt or Dave (they are interchangeable) complain how skinny their legs are.

And Naturally, because this is Nancy Drew's team, during this parade, no doubt at least one of the girls falls out of the stagecoach in a near catastrophe.

The story features not one, but TWO widowed ladies who are called "Mrs." or "Aunt" Something-or-Other, and they are trying to find some stolen or lost money that will benefit the needy townsfolk or a school or something.

And as usual, the bad guys, a caucasian gang of ne'er do wells, are rude to Nancy, and she gets assistance from the local police.

Nancy Drew can handle kidnapping and stolen goods, but when someone is rude, it's time to get the law involved!

[Kavita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy and her friends are enrolled at Camp Merriweather for a vacation, but once again mystery knocks at Nancy's door. She is asked by an old lady to help find a valuable old stagecoach that belonged to her great uncle. Nancy, of course, cannot refuse a challenge and agrees to help out.

Meanwhile, she has to deal with a raging lunatic who hates outsiders coming into his small town, claiming they raise taxes. I rather enjoyed him. Also, at Camp Merriweather are a brother and sister duo who are constantly snooping after Nancy and stalking her, trying to make plans with her. Is either malicious or just some of the weird people we all come across? I rather liked that the villain of the piece was not very clear in this one from the beginning.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There could have been more camp activities but all they did was play tennis and clown around in the pool. That said, the characters were rather fun, even the villains. The girls appeared to have a gala time and even dated other boys (gasp!) until Ned and his friends show up. And of course, we see a new school for the city at the end, all thanks to Nancy.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved this one!!

[Jessica Petrovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

I unexpectedly loved this one. The random accidents interspersed throughout, including a random circus bear, were awesome.

Nancy also got some help from a guy OTHER than Ned for 60% of the story, a nice break for her 😂. The girls in general felt very fully characterized in this story. Lots of wit and sass.

Would have been five stars if not for the overload of irrelevant characters and side quests, including a tennis doubles match that had no bearing on the plot lol.

[Josiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun and exciting book! Nancy is is danger all the time, and there were a wide variety of suspects, unlike having only like 1 or 2. The wild west theme just makes it more exciting. This book is for any ages who enjoy mystery and adventure!

[Emma Malme · Rating 3 out of 5]

er man på hytta, så er man på hytta

[John Yelverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another great addition to the Nancy Drew mystery book series.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

While vacationing at Camp Merriweather Nancy, Bess, and George find themselves in the middle of a a hunt for an old stagecoach. Mrs. Strook, an older citizen of Francisville, wants to help her town build a new school. Family stories say that her great-uncle Abner Langstreet hid a treasure that he wanted to be of use to his old town, if ever the need were great enough. Her great-uncle had been a stagecoach driver in the days before trains ran most coach drivers out of business. A letter that Mrs. Strook found which Langstreet began to write to her grandmother gives more details:

You will find a clue in the old stagecoach which may prove to be of great value to my beloved town of Francisville. I put it there because I wanted it to be found some day, but not for many years.

But Langstreet was ill and the letter cuts off before he could reveal where he had hidden the stagecoach. Mrs. Strook asks Nancy to help her find the coach and the clue mentioned in the letter.

There's a couple staying at the camp who are way too interested in what Nancy is doing and who seem to be on a hunt of their own. And there are a couple of tough customers hanging around as well. Oh, and don't forget the the grumpy townsman who keeps popping up and warning Nancy off. It isn't long before a stagecoach is stolen, an abandoned barn is burned down, and Nancy is in danger. But the intrepid sleuth and her friends prevail (of course!), the real stagecoach is found (who knew there might be multiple stagecoaches near Francisville?), and the town is all set to build their school.

This was a fun revisitation of one of the Nancy Drew mysteries that I didn't reread much. I'm not sure why--there's plenty of mystery, a treasure to find, and lots of action with the baddies. It was nice to see Nancy make a few mistakes (as a child I didn't mind Nancy being perfect, but as an adult I appreciate a more realistic Nancy) on the way to the solution. I had no recollection of the girls dating other boys at the camp. I guess they have open relationships with their "special friends" Ned, Burt, and Dave. When the boys write to say that they'll be coming to visit the girls at the camp, Bess asks,

But, Nancy, what are you going to do about Rick? [what about the guy Bess was dating?]
Nancy pretended to look worried, then said, "Some situations just solve themselves."

And, of course, it does. Rick and his friends conveniently have to leave the camp right before Ned, Burt, and Dave show up. Gotta love how Nancy deals with multiple guys...

Overall, a good mystery with several suspects (instead of the usual obvious one) and lots of adventure.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block

[Maritza · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The Clue in the Old Stagecoach" was the very first book I was able to read in English when I was 11 in school. We had this library in school and I chose it and brought it home, thinking that I may not be able to understand it, but with my English/Spanish dictionary I was so proud a few weeks later to have finished it. So, thanks to Amazon I was able to read it out of nostalgia of my childhood memories. Unfortunately I could not remember a thing. However, this was a pleasant read which I think is very suitable for kids starting in literature. The characters are genuine, relatable and the writing very approachable.

[Sarah Hymans]

comfort read fr🫶 I always pick up a nancy drew book when I go to the library.

[Merin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent mystery, and a bit different from the norm when it came to how the mystery was sussed out. Nancy surprisingly wasn't kidnapped even once!

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter enjoys these. The ending about the postage stamps was pretty silly and unrealistic, but what do you expect from Nancy Drew.

[Apurva Khadye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting read. Bit different than others in the series. Here there are wide range of suspects than usual.

[Ariail Heath · Rating 3 out of 5]

An overall good, typical Nancy Drew story. All the typical characters are back and of course a mystery just finds Nancy when she isn't even looking for it!

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy dates some guy other than Ned while at camp! Luckily that guy's father becomes gravely ill right before Ned and co show up to help the girls.

At some point, the girls have lunch that consists of chicken sandwiches and "molded vegetable salad." I have no idea what that is, and they're visiting an elderly widow, so it could either be something made of gelatin or something made during the Roosevelt administration.

They find treasure to help a town build a new school. The find, old postage stamps seems crazily anachronistic to me, but hey, whatever. At least it wasn't jewels or coins again.

Nancy loses consciousness when she pulls a heavy box onto her head. The Gang of Six loses consciousness when someone sprays them with "sleeping gas" as they're digging out in the open for treasure.

[Connie N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

#37 in the Nancy Drew Mysteries children's series

This was another enjoyable mystery, geared towards middle grades. I'm not sure if the idiosyncrasies are due to changing times or if they are odd when seen through adult eyes, but I'm always amazed at some of the actions in these books. For instance, when Nancy contacted the police about a clue she had discovered about the bad guys, she was asked to help with canvassing the neighborhood to help find them. And when they were arrested, she and her friends were allowed to participate in interviewing the criminals. I don't remember having a problem with any of these things when I read these books as a child, but they sure seem silly now. But the mystery was good, the action kept moving, and it was a quick and enjoyable read.

[Alberto Avanzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

E' un libro per ragazzi, ma ha un merito, che ne rende consigliata la lettura anche per noi adulti. Questa serie, pur molto vecchia, mostra una ragazza, poi una giovane donna (come Harry Potter, cresce con i romanzi) che vive avventure, indagini, situazioni che certi stereotipi duri a morire associano al sesso maschile. Invece questo libro insegna che non ci sono attività da maschi e attività da femmine, ma solo attività per chi ha entusiasmo e buona volontà (e capacità). Non a caso Nancy Drew è stata nominata pubblicamente come modello di riferimento da molti personaggi pubblici americani, come Oprah Winfrey e Hillary Clinton

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Nancy Drew. It had sense of setting which was interesting, a vacation hotel and the time period references to the old west were interesting. There was some fun humorous and campy moments with the girls. The villians were fun and will help give young readers a sense of character traits. The story plot had a poignancy and human interest angle that set it apart from some other mystery stories. The plot was action filled in way more like the first books in the Nancy Drew series!

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these books because they jump right into the story and they don't make me bored in the beginning or in the middle. Throughout the book things are always happening that make the story intense and gripping. I never get bored of them!

[Katja Labonté · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars & 5/10 hearts. This was quite the fun mystery! I enjoyed the unusual villains, as well as the unusual setting. I liked the plot line and the characters a lot too. And I appreciated the "treasure hunt" aspect to the story!

[Ashley K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nancy, Bess, and George are staying at what I imagine is some kind of summer camp for grown-ups, Camp Merriweather, which mostly consists of playing a lot of tennis. Nancy seems to have developed a close relationship with a certain Rick Larrabee, her tennis buddy, suddenly making Ned Nickerson's absence from the first half of the book rather conspicuous, especially when Ned suddenly writes to her in chapter 12 that he's coming. Guess he caught wind of some potential shenanigans. This prompts George to ask “But, Nancy, what are you going to do about Rick?” thus confirming my suspicions that Nancy is being a little ho (Well honestly, good for her. Nobody's perfect). Nancy replies vaguely that things will work out somehow and sure enough, Rick has to leave suddenly to tend to his ill father just before Ned and his Emerson crew arrive, so we don't get a dramatic showdown between Nancy's lovers. Yes, this little side-plot was more interesting to me than the entirety of the main plot about the stagecoach. From a narrative standpoint, I'm not sure why Ned wasn't just there the whole time; it's like the author forgot he existed until halfway through and decided to swap him out for the other guy.
Shout-out to the extremely random circus bear that menaces Nancy when her car is broken down in the woods.

[LilyA · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy reading a Nancy Drew mystery. It's a simple, quick read and I always love seeing how Nancy's mind works to solve different components of a mystery and bringing them together, all while always being prepared. She's a college aged girl around the 1950s and she's always out with her friends on some trip or other, she has a great relationship with her dad, and the respect of the community.

In this book she's trying to find an old stagecoach belonging to a woman's great uncle. In it, there will be a clue to what's insinuated to be money, which could help the small town she's vacationing in to build a badly needed new school. But while there, she's facing a faction of the community that doesn't want to see progress or new faces, a couple staying at the same camp as her who are super nosy, and others who are endangering the community by making explosions go off. It's seemingly unrelated to the mystery but in a Nancy Drew book it's never unrelated.

Some of the phrases in the book are old timey, but considering when this book was written it makes sense. Nancy is always so capable and she has a group of friends who are always down for anything, even when they mystery is taking up a lot of their vacation time.

[Suzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While staying at a camp, Nancy is asked by Mrs. Strook to help her find her Great-Uncle Abner’s hidden fortune. The old man passed away before he could tell anyone where it was hidden. The lone clue is an unfinished letter he wrote. Mrs. Strook hopes to use the money to fund the town’s educational program. Nancy, Bess and George quickly offer to help in any way they can. 

Nancy comes to the conclusion that the key to solving the mystery is in Uncle-Abner’s old stagecoach. The problem is, nobody knows where it is. So as she hunts about for clues someone seems to be one step ahead of her. 

This mystery was simple but kind of boring. From the get-go we are introduced to a couple that cause nothing but trouble for Nancy. I did find it funny how she and her friends continually blew them off. Nancy even dates Rick Larrabee, some college engineering student. But when he is quickly called back home due to a family emergency, who should show up but Ned and the guys. Yeah. 

I didn’t hate this mystery. But I didn’t exactly love it either. Like I said, it was kind of dull. My over all feeling: meh.

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Nancy Drew book has intrigued me for years because the title led me to believe it would have something to do with the old west. Imagine my surprise when I finally read it and realized it was actually about a "young adult" version of summer camp. Despite my initial disappointment, this is a solid entry in the Nancy Drew series, though not one of my favorites.

There were definitely a few "WTF, Nancy??" moments. Like when she lets herself into a woman's home so she can show her friends how cute it is even though the woman supposedly isn't home. Or when she and her friends make fun of an annoying couple at camp and, when she finds out that they overheard everything, she hopes the couple learn a lesson to not suck so much. Honestly, those moments are my favorite part of Nancy Drew books (aside from the descriptions of their clothes and meals, of course), and I always find myself busting a gut at how outrageously rude Nancy can be sometimes.

The actual mystery in this book wasn't that interesting, but the adorable camp scenes more than made up for it. Tennis matches? Water ballet? Dances? NED?! Sign. Me. Up.

[Yna Paez · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Oh Nancy, maybe you’d better give up this mystery,” Bess said fearfully.

Typical Bess. No mystery adventure of Nancy’s is complete without you.

I don’t appreciate Nancy being in the companionship of and semi-flirting with another guy in this story though. Fans like me demand exclusivity to Ned Nickerson only.

It’s always a wonder how Nancy comes to find clues and come across solutions conveniently though. How convenient that Rick Larrabee and the boys should leave days before Ned, Burt and Dave come. Now, there would be no need to be a two-timer LOL. How easy.

Anyway, I appreciate this mystery story just fine. I liked the method of sleuthing done here and the feels of this new setting, Francisville. Seemed like a very homey vintage town.

[Zach Wolf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nancy Drew is back at it again with the latest installment in her ever growing collection of adventures. This time Nancy has to solve a mystery that is generations in the making to save a small town from going bankrupt. To do this her and her friends must track down a mysterious old stagecoach that may hold the key to uncovering a great treasure for the town. Along the way they must outmanuever angry townspeople and greedy outsiders who want the fortune for themselves.

I probably would have loved this book if I were a teenaged girl living in the 1960's. But I am not. This book is very formulaic with pretty predictable plot points and developments. There is also a lot of fluff here, things happen that really aren't important to the story and never come up again.

[gowri · Rating 3 out of 5]

No racism as far as I could tell (kinda zoned out during a good portion of it) but I was just so put off by Nancy's hypocrisy lmao she's got a problem with a couple being nosy when she's literally puts the Nancy in Nosy Nancy. Like if you're gonna be a detective at least own up to being snoopy and meddlesome and don't pretend you're better than other people doing the same, even if their reasons aren't morally good lol. Also Nancy almost had two situationships meeting each other but when confronted about it she was like we'll just cross that bridge once we get to it. I like the messiness because at least it steers away from the formulaic nature of the book, but seriously why does she and everyone else around her act like she's the pinnacle of morality?

[Jess-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was overall really entertaining and the search for the clue was fun to follow. The writing felt a little slow at first with a lot more telling than showing, but picked up as the story progressed.
My main issue with the story was that the bad guys in this one were (to quote Ray Stevens) about as "subtle as a chainsaw." They were constantly confronting Nancy, questioning what she was up to or even threatening her to her face! Losing the who-dun-it? aspect of the mystery was a little disappointing, but again, the search for the Clue in the Old Stagecoach and figuring out what that clue led to were very entertaining.

[Krissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

First read (at age 49,) a Nancy Drew that had eluded me until this summer. (I now own all of the Original 56, in various editions and conditions.)

Not one of my favorites, it doesn’t have the nostalgia factor of something like The Sign of the Twisted Candles or The Mystery of the Fire Dragon, or the excitement level of, say, The Clue of the Leaning Chimney.

(Spoiler?): I wonder if George actually knitted the sweaters for Bess and Nancy. Would love to see a call back to those sweaters in one of the subsequent books!

3 Stars-nothing super interesting or noteworthy about this particular story. Still a great deal of fun.