First published in 1930, this is the first in the Nancy Drew Mystery Series.

As a child, I loved Nancy Drew. Nancy and Encyclopedia Brown were my first introductions to the world of mysteries on the printed page. Scooby Doo has to take credit for being my first introduction to the joys of the puzzle. After Nancy, I moved on to the Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, and the mysteries of Phyllis A Whitney before discovering an Agatha Christie on my parents’ bookshelves. Once I found Christie, I never looked back. 

I do still have some of my childhood favorites on my shelves, but it has been years, probably decades, since I last read a Nancy Drew. When I started the Classics Club Challenge, it seemed like the perfect time to pick up one of these old books and see what I thought now.

Obviously, I am not the target audience. It’s a children’s book, so it isn’t fair for me to judge the qualities of the mystery in the way I would a mystery intended for adults. Instead, I offer a few observations. 

Nancy still holds up as a role-model. She’s bright, quick-thinking, capable, and kind. She knows how to change her own car tire and fix a boat engine. When she’s trapped by a criminal, she references Archimedes and his lessons on levers to escape. When people in need are being cheated, she steps in to help them out. At no time did she burst into tears or get distracted by her appearance or love life. (I can’t speak to this being true in the entire series, since different authors were involved in the writing in later years.)

This wasn’t a murder mystery, but rather a mystery involving stolen furniture and a missing will. There’s no violence beyond locking someone in a closet and making threats. Although it is suggested that someone may have been hit on the head, it is not described in the story. There are a number of suspenseful moments, but it is child-appropriate suspense.

In 1930, the world was in the midst of the Great Depression. It’s something I was unaware of as a child. As an adult, it adds a new sense of urgency to Nancy’s quest to assist people who were being cheated out of their desperately needed money. 

I finished this book in a couple of hours, and found it rather comforting. At times, for an adult, it felt a little silly, but ultimately it was a nice story about a bright young woman who cared enough to help people.