The Password to Larkspur Lane

#nancydrew #drewcrew #ND #carolynkeene #bluebells #carolynkeene #ghostwriters #bessmarvin #GeorgeFayne #mystery #youngerbooks

Amazon Summary:

Blue bells will be singing horses! This strange message, attached to the leg of a wounded homing pigeon, involves Nancy Drew in a dangerous mission. Somewhere an elderly woman is being held prisoner in a mansion, and Nancy is determined to find and free her. Meanwhile, the young detective’s close friend, Helen, begs her to solve a second mystery. Helen’s grandparents, the Cornings, are frightened by a sinister wheel of blue fire that appears after dark in the woods outside their home at lonely Sylvan Lake. When Nancy discovers the significance of the eerie signal, she also learns that her two mysteries are connected.

My Review:

4.5/10

This is going to be a short one.

Firstly, I think the Nancy Drew books are for kids in grades 4-6. The characters don't have any real personality, which made me already be bored of them, and I felt they were disposable. There were a lot of characters to keep track of, but they all blended together. (And can anyone show me what "Titan Blond" hair looks like?)

Secondly, I know this book was published in 1933, so the dialogue. All the characters talk so blandly and old school, for example "Oh my, Nancy" is just one of the quotes. The dialogue seems like a old school movie with TERRIBLE acting, and I would like to have had at least some genuine dialogue.

Third on the list is the actual plot. It might just be because I am a 16 year old and not a 10 year old, but halfway through the book, I figured out the whole mystery. It wasn't plotted well and the story kind of stayed on one note. There were maybe two chapters that really caught my attention. The answer was so obvious, and not at all a mystery.

OVERALL:

I am officially done with the Nancy Drew books. They are for a much younger audience who likes mystery.