Status Updates From The Secret of the Old Clock

I like mysteries.

The character in the book, nancy was really nice to the person in the desk and the other rich girls were mean to the person in the desk and she showed respect and the other girls didn t.

Sometimes I like to reread old childhood favorites.

Good

Reading this book with the girls 😀

The Applewood edition is the original story.... quite different from the ones revised/condensed/edited/etc after 1959. It is interesting to observe the differences -- there are a LOT.

Rereading this series that I loved so much as a kid. Xo

“As Nancy stood looking wistfully at the old clock she little dreamed that in the near future she would be involved in The Hidden Staircase mystery, a far more baffling case than the one she had just solved”

“she grabbed up her new doll and began to dance around with it.
“Now you can go to school too, Carol,” she told her doll”

Happy endings all around.

“Never mind helping me today. You run along and make those people happy as soon as possible.”

A little "you go girl" from the housekeeper.

“Mr. Topham thinks it’s a losing battle. I suppose you’ve heard about the family.”
“Why, no, what about them?”
“They’re practically bankrupt”

Neighborhood rumor mill. Bad guys get a bad end.

“After she had finished the story, they praised her highly for what she had done.”

A heroes ending.

“Ada wheeled upon Nancy, her face convulsed with anger. “You engineered this whole thing, Nancy Drew!” she accused bitterly.”

Scooby-Doo moment.

I'm counting 75% divided. Must be a big surprise at the end?

“Ada too had cried out. “I’ll have to go to work! Oh, I can’t bear the thought of it”

“That old lady gets ten thousand dollars?” Ada Topham said harshly”

Rudeness. Out of fear?

“wife exclaimed spitefully, “The will is a fraud. The Hoovers aren’t even relatives”

“thousand dollars to make a singer out of you!” she said maliciously.
“Quiet!” commanded her father. “Let’s hear what else this will says”

Insult.
Rude Command.

Keeping consistent with their characterisation.

“You mean I’m going to get ten thousand dollars?” Allison cried out. She burst into tears”

About $145k

“A hundred thousand after taxes,” the man replied.”

The inflation math comes to $1.4 M in 2018.

“It’s preposterous!” Mrs. Topham stormed”
“It looks like a conspiracy to me,” Ada added tartly”“Isabel did not speak, but tossed her head contemptuously. Richard Topham likewise did not offer a comment”

Here comes the big emotional finale.

“The bank will help you fight,” Mr. Warren put in.”

Huh. Why?

“I am thrilled,” Nancy admitted. “I can scarcely wait until the will is read aloud. Won’t everyone be surprised? Especially the Tophams. Do you think they will come?”

We already know the contents, right? Do we just want to wallow in the anticipation and then their misery? Feels like revenge almost.

“Mr. Drew insisted that he and Nancy stop for lunch and refused to let her look at the will while they were waiting to be served”

Weird. Why drag on the suspense?

“Mr. Drew, the bank’s regular lawyer had just left for Europe on an extended vacation”

Hah! Say what?

“Dr. Nesbitt and Thomas Wackley. No wonder this will didn’t come to light. Both those men died in April.”

Did they? These names are not mentioned anywhere else in this book. I looked.

“The bankers smiled and Mr. Jensen said, “You’re hoping to solve four mysteries all at once!”

What's this fan club doing here?

“The two samples of cramped handwritings were compared.
“I would say,” Mr. Drew spoke up, “that there is no doubt but that Crowley and Johnston were the same person”

Says man who wants to open the box.

“You must remember one thing, Nancy,” returned her father calmly”

So Nancy is the fire and her dad the cool head.

“Nancy ate a dish of strawberries, then started on the waffles. “These are yummy,” she stated, pouring maple syrup over a second one.
She had just finished eating when the phone rang”

"These are yummy". Why include this? Character building?