sassydotnet:river heights

©1965.This is difficult because (gasp!) I didn’t really like this one. I blame myself; I’m super cranky now that summer’s over. But I will press on with NancyFest through the fall. (Since I’m just doing #11 now it’s not likely I will finish by the end of the year, is it? I guess this is now a year-long project.)

We seem to have standardized on “titian-haired” finally. Also it’s noted Nancy is 18. Friends were surprised when I mentioned that—and yes, I do keep talking about Nancy; I’m sure everyone’s thoroughly sick to death of knickerbockin’ Nancy Drew by now. They had imagined her younger. I don’t think I realized her specific age when I first read these but I know I thought of her as fairly older than myself, what with the fly convertible and all. Maybe this is where my lifelong dream with having a convertible of my very own came from? (It came true in my 20s. RIP, LeBaron.)

This week’s mystery comes courtesy of Dad who asks if she’d like to go to a cabin on Misty Lake in Maryland to discover what frightened the caretaker, Henry Winch. Dad’s client owns the cabin and rented it for two weeks to mysterious Cecily Curtis who was supposed to get the key from Winch, who, according to Carson:

“…lives year round in the rear of his small shop where he sells confectionery and fish bait!”

This “Candy and bait?! HOW DROLL.” schtick is played for laughs repeatedly through the book but I swear, in 2010? In, say, Greenpoint? We could totally make a go of that.

Anyway, the brillionaire Henry Winch sends the cottage key to Carson with a note: “Hire somebody else. I’m scared.” Carson is busy so he asks if Nancy—and Bess & George—would drive down there and get the cabin ready and meet Miss Curtis.

So, “drive down” + the whole Emerson College thing makes me think River Heights is in Massachusetts or New York State or Connecticut I guess. But then there was that time the girls flew to New York and who would fly to NY from that close? Is it like that time on House when House and Sela Ward flew to Baltimore from friggin’ Princeton, NJ? Also their trek to Misty Lake is broken up by an overnight stay at a motel on the way. Wikipedia could probably tell me where River Heights is but I prefer to just speculate for the time being.

As they near Misty Lake, Bess insists they stop to eat and they choose the White Mill, serving fresh broiled lobster. Umm! They are encouraged to walk about the grounds as their lobsters are prepared and they come upon a curly haired redhead and a strangely familiar-looking young man arguing. They eavesdrop of course but Nancy tut tuts that it’s lobster time and they go. After the meal ditzy Bess realizes she lost her earring so they all troop back into the woods where they suffer their first Mystery Mishap: while they dangle off a rickety bridge to retrieve the earring, the redhaired girl comes dashing into them and the bridge collapses under their weight.

They survive (apparently it was a very low bridge over a puddle or something) and Bess tries to pry some info out of  the girl about her earlier argument but Redhead just says thanks and runs away. The girls make their way to Misty Lake and once in town they learn just what scared old Henry Winch:

Mrs. Hosking explained that around the turn of the century there had been a large picnic grove at the far end of the lake. An excursion launch had carried parties up to the picnic grounds.

“One night the launch sprang a leak and went down quickly. Everyone on board was trapped and lost.”
 …

 Mrs. Hosking’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Many people have been saying that recently the ill-fated launch and its passengers have been seen at night through the mist near the picnic grove.”

She begs the girls to stay away but they ignore her and set off for the cottage (after Bess makes them stop for more food) and as they are walking up to its door they hear footsteps, turn and see Redhead (from the White Mill), but with different clothes! Nancy thinks, hey that must be Cecily and calls her name but mystery girl just shouts “You can’t stop me from getting the babies!” and runs away. What the fudge?

The girls open up the cabin and have some cocoa in front of a roaring fire while they wait for Cecily to arrive. They’ve given up and decided to stay the night when Cecily appears and tada! She’s the girl from the White Mill restaurant. This time she is dressed in the same clothes they’d seen her in earlier and has a cat named Satin. The cat is not important in any way, I just really liked that there was a black cat named Satin, who is later described thus:

The soft, furry animal, cuddled by the fireplace, began to purr, and was soon asleep.

Sweet, yes? Sweet as a thousand commas.

It’s not until the next chapter that Cecily cracks and spills her secrets to the nosy detectives. Her great-grandmother Amelia was orphaned in the war, remembering only her first name and that she lived “in a big puddingstone house on a lake.” Also she had half a gold locket with a message tucked inside:

‘Will, I hid your half of fortune. Directions in the iron bird. Your brother, Simon.’

No one ever found the fortune and Cecily herself is now an orphan with only that half locket to link her to her family. She has come to Misty Lake after learning it used to be called Pudding Stone Lake and she is convinced that the creepy stone house on the bluff is the one her family owned. She asks the girls to stay and help her unravel the mystery. Will they help solve a mystery? Are Orientals mysterious?

Then, she spills her second secret, which is that she is engaged to a pop singer named Niko Van Dyke who’s the leader of a band called the Flying Dutchman. Fantastic. It’s like modern day writers are not even TRYING. So Niko’s record is “a hit number” but his royalties don’t seem to reflect that so he’s suing his record company for withholding profits. They were fighting in the restaurant because Cecily wants to wait til after the lawsuit when they have some more money to get married. Another modern gal! Nancy and Cecily will be fast friends.

The girls check out the stone house and meet the occupants, Karl and Vince Driscoll. Vince is ornery and orders them away but Karl runs into them in town and smarmily invites them to look around all they like after Cecily, against Nancy’s better judgment, tells him about the iron bird she’s searching for.

We also learn some new old timey slang from Bess: when they return to the cabin and find the bottled gas has been delivered, she exclaims:

“Oh boy, hot water!” Bess exclaimed. “Me for a relaxing bath.”

Me for a relaxing bath? You for some messed up syntax.

And really, after that it’s a whole lot of snooping around the stone house; experiencing the spooky phantom launch; kidnappers; doppleganger relatives and uncovering yet another counterfeiting ring (this time not money but records. Niko was right!). In the end Nancy has “trapped the record pirates and found the fortune!” But as always her delight is mixed with melancholy:

While the other were planning excitedly, Nancy was wondering wistfully when another mystery would come her way.

Lastly, the swag scene. Cecily and her newly found cousin vow to repair the locket and give it Nancy to “remember the cousins she united through her detective work!”