Reckless, disjointed, frivolous model for a Scooby-Doo episode. ( )

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! ( )

While vacationing at Camp Merriweather near Francisville, Mrs. Strook, an elderly citizen, asks Nancy to find an old stagecoach her great-uncle had hidden. This stagecoach may contain a valuable treasure that would benefit the town that needs funding to build a new school. ( )

Now I know these books aren't supposed to be Great Works of Literature, but to put it mildly, I would not start any budding Nancy Drew fan on this book. While the Old West theme is cute and the idea of towns struggling financially and having to cope with new housing developments and the problems they bring is a timely topic, the mystery itself is solved in a ridiculous way and peopled with caricatures. Two of the bad guys are pointed out right away and are so painfully obvious that they may as well wear signs with neon flashing lights indicating "BAD GUY" on them. A third is so ridiculously cartoony that I nearly sprained my eyes from rolling them so hard every time he appeared.

Also this may be more of a personal annoyance, but the three sleuths (Nancy, Bess and George [who is also a girl, in case you're not familiar with the series]) are staying at a camp in this book and seeing three guys at the camp when they already have boyfriends! And then when Nancy gets a letter from her REAL boyfriend saying "Hey, I'm going to come to the camp with Bess's and George's boyfriends," there is some discussion about what is going to happen when the two sets of guys meet up with each other, and Nancy just goes "Sometimes these situations just solve themselves." That is an extremely inappropriate message to be sending: that it's okay to cheat on your boyfriend when you're far away from him and then not take responsibility for your actions. And VERY CONVENIENTLY, just before the real boyfriends arrive, Nancy's boytoy's father takes ill suddenly and the three Camp Boyfriends (in the sense of "the boyfriends they have at camp", not the adjective) have to leave. That is not how life works! Not often, anyway. Of course Nancy and Ned could have an open relationship, but really, you have to wonder how much she actually told Camp Boy about her life back home.

And while we're on the subject of boys, it kind of undermines Nancy's brave, independent spirit when she says "It's a good thing the real boyfriends are coming, because I have a hunch that this mystery will get dangerous, and we'll need boys around to help." ARGH GIRLS ARE JUST AS CAPABLE AS BOYS. I mean fine, wanting backup is a good idea, but that is probably a job for the police and not necessarily boyfriends. Of course I have to remember that this book was originally published in 1960, and therefore even though it annoys me to read about characters saying things like that, it's important not to colour them over with modern attitudes -- it provides a glimpse into past attitudes and perspectives.

That being said, though, I don't think even a chance to talk about current affairs and older perspectives on women's independence is enough to get me to recommend this book. The mystery itself is not particularly exciting, written in a very connect-the-dots manner. There are better books in the series. ( )