With its thoroughly implausible storyline, its unpleasant backdrop, and a flock of mechanical attack birds, this installment in the usually dependable Nancy Drew series is a rare flop.

Nancy is called in to visit her friend’s, Junie Flockhart’s, family sheep farm to help decipher the meaning behind a parchment Junie’s father recently purchased from his ill-tempered Italian neighbor, Sal Rocco. What unfolds is a bumbling plotline of kidnapping, art theft, inheritance pilfering, illegal aliens, enforced labor, child abuse, and unionization fraud.

Most of the action takes place at the Triple Creek Farm where Junie and her family raise sheep for wool, meat, and lambskin products. The book’s treatment of the farm setting is downright creepy. One minute Nancy and Junie are cuddling the lambs and talking about how precious they are and how much they love them; the next second they’re singing cutesy rhymes about killing them. We get introduced to the distinct personalities of some of the individual sheep on the farm; certain ones are particular favorites of Nancy and the old sheepherder. Nancy names one adorable creature Cheerio. Later on we get a round of hearty laughter as Junie discusses butchering and eating them. The whole thing is just distasteful and bizarre. Many young readers (& a lot of older ones, too) will find the descriptions and ‘jovial’ group tours of the slaughterhouse particularly distressing.

Overall, an offensive and absurd story that even the most diehard Nancy Drew fans should want to avoid. ( )

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I absolutely loved Nancy Drew growing up. This was a series I latched on to for dear life and never let go. Anytime my mom and I would go to antique stores, we'd peruse the Nancy Drews and add them to the collection (oftentimes my mom had to make deals with me on how many I could buy). So, while I don't remember the exact details of each and every one, the entire series was amazing and really fed my love for reading (especially novels full of suspense and mystery). Thank you, Carolyn Keene, for giving us an intelligent female character to fall in love with in Nancy Drew! ( )

very, very good. ( )