sassydotnet:river heights

@1968. Nancy, Bess and George are on their way to an inn called The Sign of the Twisted Candles which is exactly what I’d name an inn if I had an old man locked in the attic. Spoiler alert! Yes, the three are investigating a rumor about Bess and George’s great granduncle being held prisoner in his mansion-turned-inn. While I am a fan of the polite, genteel ways of Nancy’s universe, I think maybe here Bess and George’s parents should have called the police instead of just sending over Team Spinster to snoop. But I am just a boorish moderner.

They are of course caught in the middle of a storm on the way there and are almost crushed by a tree falling on Nancy’s car but they make it to the inn where they meet Carol Whipple, whose foster parents are the caretakers of the inn and of Asa Sidney, the great granduncle. Carol is trying to take a tray of food to Asa on the occasion of his 100th birthday but is prevented by the mean caretaker Mr Jemitt. Nancy steps in and offers to deliver the food herself. She goes to Asa’s room in the tower which is filled with candles (twisted candles!), introduces herself and arranges to have Bess, George and Carol join them for a birthday dinner. Again with the lavish spread:

“We’ll have jellied consomme, sliced breast of chicken, hearts of lettuce with Roquefort dressing, nut bread, ice cream, chocolate layer cake and fruit punch.”

During dinner Asa tells the girls about his life, both good:

“Eventually I invented the twisted candle which brought me fame and fortune.”

and bad: all his fame and fortune caused his to neglect his family, his little girl died, his wife and sons left him, later they died too so he has no descendants except a brother who also died and the few remaining relatives he has are in a feud. But old Asa tries to see the bright side on this, his 100th birthday:

Let us drink to the new world of electronics, spaceships, and trips to the moon—but always soft candlelight. Salute!”

This is my new all purpose toast.

When Nancy returns home, Hannah Gruen explains the Sidney feud:

“Ever since the little girl’s death, the Boontons and the Sidneys have been enemies. The Boontons are mad at the Sidneys because Asa didn’t pay attention to his family, and the Sidneys are mad at the Boontons because Mrs. Sidney left her husband.”

…

“Once there was some sort of reconciliation between a Boonton and a Sidney, and a marriage, I believe. But the feelings of both families were so bitter that they disowned the couple.”

As it turns out, Bess and George are Boontons, great-grandnieces of Asa Sidney. This will be important later.

Nancy gets a call from Carol asking her to bring her father, the lawyer Carson Drew, to see Mr. Sidney the next morning to draw up a new will for him. He agrees and they make their way back to the inn in the morning where Nancy has to outfox Mrs Jemitt (“with the speed of a panther”) to get entrance to the tower room. Dad works out the will with Asa while Nancy lurks around and gets more dirt about the Jemitts out of Carol.

After the will is witnessed and signed, the Drews have lunch with Asa and he asks Nancy for another favor. He has hidden many things in secret cupboards throughout the house. He asks if Nancy, Carol, Bess and George will search for the items, which can be found in places marked by the image of a twisted candle. She agrees and when they leave him she sets off for the Marvin house where she sees their Uncle Peter Boonton’s car parked outside. She also sees George in the window who does not wave and walks away. She rings the bell, Bess answers and Nancy excitedly tells her there’s a lot going on at the inn and they all should go out there tomorrow.

“Oh, I don’t think I care to come,” Bess replied. “And I’m sure George wouldn’t be interested, either.”

Nancy is taken aback but tries to explain how Mr. Drew is Asa’s lawyer now and there’s a mystery afoot and isn’t that something we always do together?

“Oh, so your father is really taking sides in the case, is he?” Bess asked frigidly. “I’m sorry, Nancy, but I must go back inside.”

What. A. Bitch. Later at dinner Nancy relates the snub to her father, saying she’s disappointed in her friends. Me too! Nancy’s a bossy nerd to be sure but at the same time a friend, loyal and true. Also she is always right so a little benefit of the doubt is surely owed her.

The next morning Carol calls: Asa has died. The Jemitts ramp up the nefariousness, trying to spirit as many valuables out of the house as possible. Mr. Drew takes charge and orders everyone around and has Hannah Gruen come stay with Nancy and Carol to keep an eye on the Jemitts until the will is read. All the squabbling relatives, including cold bitches Bess & George, gather for the reading and in a completely nonshocking turn of events, Carol is named heir of 8/9ths of the estate. Chaos ensues. 

Nancy spends the next few days fighting with the Jemitts, trying to stop them from looting the house. Finally they post some private guards at the house and decamp for Casa Drew with Carol. Carson informs Nancy that the Sidney-Boonton families were going to fight Carol’s inheritance. Nancy exclaims, “I wish I were old enough to be a lawyer!” A) you’d have to go to school first, Nance and B) old enough? Is it something Carson is going to just hand down to her at the right age?

As Carol is packing, Nancy gets a load of her “shabby coat” and “old-fashioned suitcase” and proposes a shopping trip with Carol’s shiny new inheritance. I’d love a shopping trip with Nancy. I’d get so many sportsdresses! At the department store they run into Bess and George who are at first standoffish but Nancy gives an impassioned speech defending herself and her father. To the cousins credit they break down immediately and apologize and then—shopping montage!

When they get home, Carson takes Nancy aside and tells her he is looking into Carol’s background (foreshadowing…). The next morning Ned comes by and he and Nancy go snoop around the inn where they find some more hidden treasures but also get into shenanigans with the Jemitts and pesky relatives Peter Boonton and Jacob Sidney. Nancy gets drugged then rescued, there’s a car chase, and she and Ned end up apprehending Jemitt’s henchman at Mrs. Dilberry’s Guest House (heh). After all that excitement, they return to the Drew house for a delicious roast beef dinner after which Carol surprises them with her famous Butterfly Pie:

Into each portion of the lemon chiffon pie Carol had stuck two large wafers which she had fashioned into the shape of butterfly wings. Carol had decorated them in various patterns with vegetable colorings.

After a night interrupted by nightmares of Butterfly Pie, Nancy returns yet again to the inn to hunt for treasures with Bess and George. Carol stays behind because she’s too afraid to go back but ends up getting her fool self kidnapped while everyone’s away. Nancy grills the jailed henchman but gets nowhere until, in a burst of detectivey inspiration, she gets the idea to search the tower room back at the inn.

Carol is saved and again the Boonton-Sidney clan is called to gather at the Sign of the Twisted Candles for the reading of a letter the girls found in their pre-kidnapping-rescue treasure hunt. In a shocking twist everyone saw coming it is revealed that Carol is actually Asa Sidney’s great-grandniece, the daughter of Bess and George’s uncle and Jacob Sidney’s daughter, the disowned couple Hannah Gruen spoke of lo those many paragraphs ago. So, yay, everybody loves Carol now that she’s a relative and not some inheritance-stealing urchin!

The Drews, sticklers for closure, sneak off in the middle of this celebration and return to announce that they called the orphanage and it releases all claim to her. A friendly debate about who gets to take Carol home with them ensues and oddly ends up with “off to boarding school with you, Carol!”

The Boonton-Sidney feud was over!