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Nancy Drew Clue Book #9
Springtime Crime
Help Nancy and her friends find out what happened to a superstar’s flower hat in the ninth book in the interactive Nancy Drew Clue Book mystery series.
Spring has sprung in River Heights! The annual Flower Sculpture contest is in a couple of days and everyone in town is working hard to finish their floral works of art. But Nancy, Bess, and George are most excited to see the world-famous pop singer, Miss LaLa, perform. The superstar grew up in River Heights and has agreed to kick off the contest with a song. And just when the girls thought life couldn’t get any better, they run into Miss LaLa herself! The singer is in a bit of a pickle though: She brought a giant hat made of white peonies for the show but she doesn’t have a refrigerator big enough to store it in. George thinks quickly and offers to put it in her mom’s catering refrigerator.
But when the girls check on the hat the next morning they see something has gone terribly wrong. Half of the snowy white blooms are wilted and brown! They use their detective skills to rule out a blackout. And George can’t remember if she locked the door last night. Could someone have snuck into the kitchen and switched the fresh flowers with droopy ones?
Nancy and her friends are determined to find out! Could it be Madame Withers, whose signature wilted rose perfume was rejected by Miss LaLa? Perhaps it was the famous flower artist Pierre, who was angry that Miss LaLa was the star of the show. Or it maybe it was Benjamin Bing, who ruined his flower sculpture with brown hair spray and had no more white peonies to replace them. It’s up to the Clue Crew—and you—to find out!
Spring has sprung in River Heights! The annual Flower Sculpture contest is in a couple of days and everyone in town is working hard to finish their floral works of art. But Nancy, Bess, and George are most excited to see the world-famous pop singer, Miss LaLa, perform. The superstar grew up in River Heights and has agreed to kick off the contest with a song. And just when the girls thought life couldn’t get any better, they run into Miss LaLa herself! The singer is in a bit of a pickle though: She brought a giant hat made of white peonies for the show but she doesn’t have a refrigerator big enough to store it in. George thinks quickly and offers to put it in her mom’s catering refrigerator.
But when the girls check on the hat the next morning they see something has gone terribly wrong. Half of the snowy white blooms are wilted and brown! They use their detective skills to rule out a blackout. And George can’t remember if she locked the door last night. Could someone have snuck into the kitchen and switched the fresh flowers with droopy ones?
Nancy and her friends are determined to find out! Could it be Madame Withers, whose signature wilted rose perfume was rejected by Miss LaLa? Perhaps it was the famous flower artist Pierre, who was angry that Miss LaLa was the star of the show. Or it maybe it was Benjamin Bing, who ruined his flower sculpture with brown hair spray and had no more white peonies to replace them. It’s up to the Clue Crew—and you—to find out!
112 pages, Paperback
Published March 20, 2018
21 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Keene
1,098 books3,900 followersCarolyn 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 6, 2018
Guys. I read a lot of adult mysteries. And I read a lot of children's books to my children. And I have fond memories of the real Nancy Drew books from childhood. So, I thought, why not try this "younger" Nancy Drew version to read to my five year old daughter. But oh, how little did I know then how painful it would be (<-- read this sentence in a Keith Morrison voice from Dateline NBC). This book, and presumably this whole series, which I have not read, but which I earnestly hope to avoid, is horrible. The writing was fingers-on-the-chalkboard bad. The juvenile Nancy and her friends, who are of indeterminate age, exclaim boring and improbable things like, "Dogs will be dogs!" (said no 9-year-old, ever.). The central character is "Miss Lala," a thinly veiled Lady Gaga doppleganger who is inexplicably performing at the River Heights town flower show, and also has time to shoot a music video in town, apparently without pre-casting, the same day. Nancy and her crew set out to solve an entirely boring crime that has been committed against Miss Lala. Their detective work is shoddy, to characterize it generously. At least two key suspects are eliminated on the basis that evidence points to them committing *other serious felonies.* (Logic: it is clear he has committed this other crime, which took approximately 5 minutes, so he is clearly trustworthy and we should believe he could not have committed another crime in the time allotted.") Another key suspect is eliminated on the basis of the weakest alibi this side of Scott Pruitt's reasons for flying first class. Nancy's deductive reasoning is truly appalling, making me wonder if these books are setting back feminism by 50 years. Character development is laughable. We know that the mayor is the mayor because he speaks in a booming voice and wears (wait for it...) a black top hat. I think the mayor is actually just the Monopoly guy. Anyway, don't read this book, y'all. I'm going to go read a good murder mystery and plot ways to avoid the entire aisle of the library that contains these books until my daughter forgets about them. Wish me luck.
October 4, 2019
This was cute. Written at a slightly higher level and a bit longer than the Nancy Drew Notebooks series, the girls are still in third grade, and a very slightly camouflaged singing star here is obviously meant to be Lady Gaga. What I liked is that the reader is given a page with questions to try to figure out the mystery before the reveal, and the plot certainly wasn't rehashed. I even learned something about the gasses released by decomposing fruit.
October 3, 2020
Another cute adventure with Nancy and best friends Bess & George.
March 29, 2022
Super cute as always.
October 22, 2018
Nancy and friends are attending River Height's annual flower sculpture contest when Pop star Miss LaLa asks them to keep her flower hat safe so they put it in George's mom's big catering fridge along with her science experiment on spoiling apples. The next day the flower hat is all wilted, who is the culprit? Is it Madame Withers, who designs perfumes from wilted flowers that Miss LaLa refuses to wear; Benjamin Bing who mistakenly sprayed brown hairspray on his white flowers and might need more flowers to complete his flower cupcake sculpture; Pierre, who makes flower sculptures of his poodles and thinks Miss LaLa is stealing the show (and who did steal peonies to finish his sculpture but only George's neighbor's flowers that are growing over her fence)?
This one also has a scientific solution, but one that is less fun than the one in the sixth book, since this time it is somewhat predictable. (And also it is a bummer that one of heroes would cause the issue even if by mistake.)
This one also has a scientific solution, but one that is less fun than the one in the sixth book, since this time it is somewhat predictable. (And also it is a bummer that one of heroes would cause the issue even if by mistake.)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews