The mystery started off slow, but got rolling a few chapters in and became a fun read. Nancy goes undercover at another high school to uncover sabotage attempts on Carrie Kim, a cousin of George Fayne, who is running for city council. ( )

Nancy Drew is back, with her loyal sidekicks George and Bess. This time they find themselves in nearby town where Carrie Kim, cousin of George, is running for election to the local council, pledging to improve the local college’s sports facilities as one of the mainstays of her campaign. This is not universally popular: many students feel that the sporting community within the college already receive disproportionately large levels of support while more cerebral aspects of life are neglected. Other people object to the potential environmental impacts of what Carrie Kim proposes.

As Carrie Kim’s campaign starts to gain momentum, her fundraising events are subject to various acts of sabotage, some of which cause some of her financial backers to withdraw their support. Ace investigator Nancy decides to investigate further, going under cover in an eco-campaigners’ group.

As always with these stories, the plot is fairly light-hearted, and the characters are very wholesome. My goddaughter, with whom I have been reading the series, is enchanted with them, which is good enough for me. ( )

These contemporary Nancy Drew mysteries pair the well-loved crew from the original series with an edgier Nancy who has the same smart girl energy of the originals. In this one, I learned a lot more about Nancy’s sidekicks, cousins Bess and George, and it was fun to see the authors expand these two into rounder characters. The book also asks some big questions about development of wild spaces. Another pressing issue involves the role of school sports in small town life, and funding for sports versus other educational endeavors. Overall, this is a clever and fun mystery, and the audio is really well done too!