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Nancy Drew Files #42
The Wrong Chemistry
The Dean of Emerson College hires Nancy to investigate the theft of a substance being used in experiments having to do with biological mutation
180 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1989
4 people are currently reading
357 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Keene
991 books3,861 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 In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.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 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 12, 2022
A typical Nancy Drew. A great mystery but unrealistic.
September 23, 2016
As usual, this series delivers.
February 7, 2020
Loved it
July 12, 2019
Title: The Wrong Chemistry
Author: Carolyn Keene
Series: Nancy Drew, 42
Format: ebook
Length: 117 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Synopsis: The Dean of Emerson College enlists Nancy to investigate the thefts of a valuable substance being used in a top-secret experiment. But when Nancy discovers that the experiment involves biological mutations, she knows she must find the culprit before the lives of everyone on campus are endangered.
Mini-review: Good book, kind of predictable. Ned annoyed me at the beginning but then got better as the book went on. But he was realistically written so that was good.
It was nice to see a bit of fear from Nancy, I always appreciate that. It makes her seem more human, I guess.
Fan Cast:
Nancy Drew - Katherine McNamara
Ned Nickerson - Ansel Elgort
Carson Drew - Paul Rudd
Jan Teller - Alisha Boe
Mike O'Shea - Shameik Moore
Dean William Jarvis - John Goodman
Karen Lewis - Kelly Washington
Angela Morrow - Isabelle Fuhrman
Philip Bangs - Terry Crew
Josef Maszuk - Mads Mikkelsen
Amber Thomas - Rae Gray
Sara Hughes - Kaitlyn Dever
Author: Carolyn Keene
Series: Nancy Drew, 42
Format: ebook
Length: 117 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Synopsis: The Dean of Emerson College enlists Nancy to investigate the thefts of a valuable substance being used in a top-secret experiment. But when Nancy discovers that the experiment involves biological mutations, she knows she must find the culprit before the lives of everyone on campus are endangered.
Mini-review: Good book, kind of predictable. Ned annoyed me at the beginning but then got better as the book went on. But he was realistically written so that was good.
It was nice to see a bit of fear from Nancy, I always appreciate that. It makes her seem more human, I guess.
Fan Cast:
Nancy Drew - Katherine McNamara
Ned Nickerson - Ansel Elgort
Carson Drew - Paul Rudd
Jan Teller - Alisha Boe
Mike O'Shea - Shameik Moore
Dean William Jarvis - John Goodman
Karen Lewis - Kelly Washington
Angela Morrow - Isabelle Fuhrman
Philip Bangs - Terry Crew
Josef Maszuk - Mads Mikkelsen
Amber Thomas - Rae Gray
Sara Hughes - Kaitlyn Dever
April 15, 2021
I love Nancy Drew!!! This one didn't fail either. In this one, Nancy has to find out who is stealing this specific chemical that a professor has a secret formula of development for. It get's stolen after the treatment every time. Nancy is on it. There is a POE club there and they are all about saving the environment. Turns out that club is like a cult and is not as peaceful as they were thought to be. Nancy figures out the leader of this group is the one stealing the chemical. Nancy saved the day like usual. This book was so good just like the rest of the Nancy Drew books. The mystery and suspense get me every time.
April 19, 2020
It was a cute little book. I used to adore the original Nancy Drew books when I was young, and I’ve been clearing out some things during this quarantine and came across a few of the more modern books that were published in the Nancy Drew franchise. I’d say stick to the originals if you want to introduce your kids to Nancy.
March 31, 2023
3 stars. This one had so much potential because the plot of there being a cult like group targeting college students was super intriguing. I just don’t think it was fleshed out well and everything was rushed unfortunately. It was still a fun read and I liked that the stakes felt high for Nancy because Ned was in the middle of the case. Very entertaining installment.
August 23, 2025
This was a pure nostalgia read. It is pretty standard Nancy Drew fare. I did enjoy the various scraps Nancy found herself in. I could have used more of Nancy and Ned working together rather than having silly miscommunication issues, but other than that, they are still one of my favorite couples. The mystery was okay, and the plot was entertaining.
February 13, 2022
average
March 2, 2023
These books are so outlandish and ridiculous, but I don't even care because they are also SO much fun.
August 3, 2023
3.75
Nancy must investigate the theft of a mysterious chemical. She also has to deal with a mysterious group on campus.
I was a fun quick read.
Nancy must investigate the theft of a mysterious chemical. She also has to deal with a mysterious group on campus.
I was a fun quick read.
July 12, 2024
I was sooo excited when the mad professor gave Captain America serum to a fish, but then it turned out to be a book about '80s-style "eco-terror" fearmongering. >:(
April 6, 2014
The story itself was ok, not extraordinary, but it was an ok read. I'm not the biggest fan of the Nancy Drew series, but I find myself picking them up from time to time when browsing in a library. Personally, I find the books quite predictable, even when they throw in plot twists and gather more than one suspect. I found myself shouting out the villain in early stages of the book, which I wouldn't have liked to happen. Suspense is always something I look forward to in a mystery, and there wasn't much of it. Also, I thought that they could have brought in George or Bess to make things a bit more interesting instead of having Ned and Nancy there the whole time.
The basic plot of the story is when the star detective, Nancy Drew is called in to solve a mystery at a college in Emerson, also where her boyfriend Ned Nickerson is attending college. The big mystery at Emerson is a theft of a top secret chemical called CLT, which was in the care of Mazsak. When she arrives there, she meets a suspicious group called P.O.E, run by Phillip Bangs which is supposed to be trying to help the environment. When she brings the group up to Ned, he fills Nancy in on his suspicions about the group, and how is friend, Angela is going to join them, and how he's persuading her not to. the story continues on until Nancy has another suspect, Mazsak's assistant in his lab, a girl called Sarah. She searches her room for evidence but finds nothing. Sarah catches Nancy in her room and then dishes about CLT and how it's a growth chemical and whenever the experiment progresses, the CLT is stolen. Nancy is also discovering that somebody is trying to get her out of Emerson by trying to booby trap her room with an explosive door-knob. The story progresses until Nancy discovers a passage which the assumes the thief is going through when stealing the CLT. Going back to Angela, she decides to go for P.O.E and has now gone missing, which worries Ned and Nancy. Nancy finally does something and uses a disguise to get through to P.O.E headquarters, where she finds Ned and Angela tied up, gagged, and drugged. She tries to get them to go with her, but then Phillip bangs, the mastermind beneath his plan stops her. Luckily, Nancy gets away in time and lives happily ever after with Ned.
Notice how I have to skip a lot of parts in the summary because nothing generally happens....
The basic plot of the story is when the star detective, Nancy Drew is called in to solve a mystery at a college in Emerson, also where her boyfriend Ned Nickerson is attending college. The big mystery at Emerson is a theft of a top secret chemical called CLT, which was in the care of Mazsak. When she arrives there, she meets a suspicious group called P.O.E, run by Phillip Bangs which is supposed to be trying to help the environment. When she brings the group up to Ned, he fills Nancy in on his suspicions about the group, and how is friend, Angela is going to join them, and how he's persuading her not to. the story continues on until Nancy has another suspect, Mazsak's assistant in his lab, a girl called Sarah. She searches her room for evidence but finds nothing. Sarah catches Nancy in her room and then dishes about CLT and how it's a growth chemical and whenever the experiment progresses, the CLT is stolen. Nancy is also discovering that somebody is trying to get her out of Emerson by trying to booby trap her room with an explosive door-knob. The story progresses until Nancy discovers a passage which the assumes the thief is going through when stealing the CLT. Going back to Angela, she decides to go for P.O.E and has now gone missing, which worries Ned and Nancy. Nancy finally does something and uses a disguise to get through to P.O.E headquarters, where she finds Ned and Angela tied up, gagged, and drugged. She tries to get them to go with her, but then Phillip bangs, the mastermind beneath his plan stops her. Luckily, Nancy gets away in time and lives happily ever after with Ned.
Notice how I have to skip a lot of parts in the summary because nothing generally happens....
October 24, 2017
Things Nancy does that should have killed her:
1. Ride a mysterious, decades old elevator she finds randomly without any fear--in fact, she dares Ned and a security guard to join her.
2. Confront an armed gunman--twice.
3. Infiltrate a group that it can safely be inferred, is pretty much a bunch of budding eco-terrorists.
4. Take the questionable elevator again and then wander around in a maze of secret passage ways with a flashlight as her only real source of light and some pages photocopied from a library book for a map.
5. At an eco-terrorist meeting, follow the person she suspects of kidnapping her boyfriend deeper into the underground lair of the actual culprit, and then refuse to leave Ned behind.
Nancy. Girl. We need to talk about this whole self-preservation thing, because you seem to not understand it at all.
1. Ride a mysterious, decades old elevator she finds randomly without any fear--in fact, she dares Ned and a security guard to join her.
2. Confront an armed gunman--twice.
3. Infiltrate a group that it can safely be inferred, is pretty much a bunch of budding eco-terrorists.
4. Take the questionable elevator again and then wander around in a maze of secret passage ways with a flashlight as her only real source of light and some pages photocopied from a library book for a map.
5. At an eco-terrorist meeting, follow the person she suspects of kidnapping her boyfriend deeper into the underground lair of the actual culprit, and then refuse to leave Ned behind.
Nancy. Girl. We need to talk about this whole self-preservation thing, because you seem to not understand it at all.
April 5, 2015
I always like reading a Nancy Drew book because it is a fast and entertaining read. I have not read one for many years so I thought I would try one out again to see if I still found it entertaining.
I still found it quite entertaining. I could tell that it was written for teenagers but that didn't bother me so much. It still was fast paced and had the components of a good mystery in it.
Looking for a fast and entertaining read...pick up one of these books. I finished it in a day :)
I still found it quite entertaining. I could tell that it was written for teenagers but that didn't bother me so much. It still was fast paced and had the components of a good mystery in it.
Looking for a fast and entertaining read...pick up one of these books. I finished it in a day :)
October 1, 2008
love it!!
July 20, 2012
Lame location. No Bess. No George. Ned sucks. An undistinguished outing for our reddish-blonde detective.
May 4, 2013
Don't remember much but I know I liked it.
July 28, 2015
Loved it
April 2, 2023
Solvable. 94/100
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews