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While trying to locate a missing dancer who is about to gain a large inheritance, Nancy Drew finds a clue leading to the solution of yet another mystery.Tags
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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!
#22 When Nancy is asked to find a professional dancer who disappeared several years before, the young detective becomes involved in a mystery reaching far beyond a missing-person’s case. During Nancy’s investigation at Heath Castle, she and her friends Bess and George realize that its crumbling walls contain a secret, but what is it? And who are their enemies that try to foil their every attempt to unravel the intricate puzzle? Danger lurks in a castle tower and throughout the vine-tangled grounds of the estate. The girls’ gripping adventures culminate in a dramatic climax when Nancy exposes a sinister plot to defraud the dancer of her inheritance.
This story interwines fear, ego, worry, anxiety intermixed with a great story about a deadline to make sure that the inheritance gets to the right person before it expires. Bess is a hoot in this story.
5 Stars
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Author Information
925+ Works 201,301 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
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Clue in the Crumbling Wall
- Original title
- The Clue in the Crumbling Wall
- Original publication date
- 1945; 1973 (revised) (revised)
- People/Characters
- Nancy Drew; Hannah Gruen; Joan Fenimore; Juliana Johnson
- Important places
- Heath Castle
- First words
- "Hurry, Nancy!" Hannah Gruen called anxiously.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"To me Heath Castle will always remain a symbol of mystery and romance."
- Disambiguation notice
- The texts of the Nancy Drew books #1-34 were heavily revised beginning in 1959, reducing the length by 5 chapters as well as modernising the story.
This work includes the revised, 1974 version and copies where the ... (show all)version is unknown.
• ISBN 044809522X is the revised text.
• ISBN 1557092796 is the original text facsimile edition and is NOT the same work.
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- ISBNs
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- ASINs
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