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When a series of rare-book thefts strikes the Bloom's Bookstore & Coffeehouse in River Heights, Nancy Drew finds her only clue in the handwriting of a dead woman.Tags
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Member Reviews
Loved this one. The plot of this mystery sets it apart from some others. Nancy is investigating a rash of collectible book thefts. This really hits home since I'm a book collector myself. Plus it was a mystery who the book thief was from the list of possible suspects. Only found out toward the end. A quality story for sure.
*spoiler warning*
A good book. Not can't-put-it-down, but better then some NDs I've read lately. And I admit I was stumped up until the very end, and then did the whole "ack, why didn't I realize that before!". I knew Bess's "love", Richard Munro, was too good to be true, which made me suspect him as the book thief. I even suspected Lori for awhile, just because of how often she seemed to be around when things went wrong. But when the real book thief was revealed, I couldn't believe I hadn't realized it before, it all made so much sense.
There is another reason I liked this book, though, and that's the subject matter. I learned *so much* about book collecting and restoration just by reading this Nancy Drew book. Things about rare books show more and collecting and ownership marks and how to spot a fake... Not exactly a book I'd think of reading to learn something like that. I loved reading about all of that. show less
A good book. Not can't-put-it-down, but better then some NDs I've read lately. And I admit I was stumped up until the very end, and then did the whole "ack, why didn't I realize that before!". I knew Bess's "love", Richard Munro, was too good to be true, which made me suspect him as the book thief. I even suspected Lori for awhile, just because of how often she seemed to be around when things went wrong. But when the real book thief was revealed, I couldn't believe I hadn't realized it before, it all made so much sense.
There is another reason I liked this book, though, and that's the subject matter. I learned *so much* about book collecting and restoration just by reading this Nancy Drew book. Things about rare books show more and collecting and ownership marks and how to spot a fake... Not exactly a book I'd think of reading to learn something like that. I loved reading about all of that. show less
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The Stratemeyer Syndicate
605 works; 1 member
Author Information
927+ Works 201,876 Members
Carolyn Keene was the pseudonym that Mildred Wirt Benson and Walter Karig used to write Nancy Drew books. The idea of Nancy Drew came from Edward Stratemeyer in 1929. He also had other series, that included the Hardy Boys, but he died in 1930 before the Nancy Drew series became famous. His daughters, Harriet and Edna, inherited his company and show more maintained Nancy Drew having Mildred Wirt Benson, the original Carolyn Keene, as the principal ghostwriter. During the Depression, they asked Benson to take a pay cut and she refused, which is when Karig wrote the books. Karig's Nancy Drew books were Nancy's Mysterious Letter, The Sign of the Twisted Candles, and Password to Larkspur Lane. He was fired from writing more books because of his refusal to honor the request that he keep his work as Carolyn Keene a secret. He allowed the Library of Congress to learn of his authorship and his name appeared on their catalog cards. Afterwards, they rehired Benson and she wrote until her last Nancy Drew book (#30) was written in 1953, Clue of the Velvet Mask. Harriet and Edna Stratemeyer also contributed to the Nancy Drew series. Edna wrote plot outlines for several of the early books and Harriet, who claimed to be the sole author, had actually outlined and edited nearly all the volumes written by Benson. The Stratemeyer Syndicate had begun to make its writers sign contracts that prohibited them from claiming any credit for their works, but Benson never denied her writing books for the series. After Harriet's death in 1982, Simon and Schuster became the owners of the Stratemeyer Syndicate properties and in 1994, publicly recognized Benson for her work at a Nancy Drew conference at her alma mater, the University of Iowa. Now, Nancy Drew has several ghostwriters and artists that have contributed to her more recent incarnations. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Riddle in the Rare Book
- Original title
- The Riddle in the Rare Book
- Original publication date
- 1995
- People/Characters
- Nancy Drew; Bess Marvin; Richard Munro; Lori
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 142
- Popularity
- 229,949
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.25)
- Languages
- English, French, Italian, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 1
