"I don't want to fight with you, Carla, but since you asked, yes, I can fight my own battles—and I usually win."

So declares the teen detective in this first book in The Nancy Drew Files, a spin-off from the original Nancy Drew mystery series. I remember getting a kick out of several of these '80s and '90s YA novels when I read them back in my adolescence, and I still liked this first book this time around, my liking now seasoned with a dash of nostalgia.

Sure, Nancy makes a few mistakes and misjudgments along the way, but her grit comes through in this adventurous mystery, with its mix of predictable elements and satisfying intrigue. It's a quick read complete with high-speed car chases and deadly explosions (the plurality of these events added by me), and yeah, there's an "exciting" little romance of the rushed and shallow variety. 'Cause, hey, what kind of opener to a thrilling YA spin-off would it have been without hot characters and some sudden kissing? Heh heh heh...

And I do believe this series served as my introduction to cliffhanger chapter endings, back in the day. Cliffhangers with exclamation points!

The series has got 123 more books in it, so I plan to revisit more of them and try some others for the first time. Let's see (or rediscover) what more of the writers under the collective pseudonym "Carolyn Keene" have got—exclamation point! ( )

More book nostalgia.... I loved the Nancy Drew Files when I was 9 or 10, and when I stumbled upon this in the library, I had to indulge. Not bad, and I was definitely right in remembering that each chapter ends with a cliffhanger, but I don't think this was one of the better mysteries in the series. I only wish I could find the one that taught me mixing ammonia and bleach created chlorine gas---that one was great! ( )

Although Trixie Belden was my favorite teen sleuth, I also enjoyed Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys mysteries growing up. I think I liked Trixie better as she was closer to my age and more of a tom boy/country girl like I was. I devoured books from all three series as fast as I could get my hands on them, so the differences in characters didn't hamper my enjoyment of the mysteries.

I am making an effort to re-visit favorite series and authors. I've been re-reading the Trixie Belden books...so finally came calling at the Drew home as well. I did a bit of research on the series before starting the first book. Just like the Trixie series, Nancy Drew was written by various ghostwriters all under the pen-name Carolyn Keene. The first authors were paid $125 per book and were required to relinquish all claims to the books. The original four Nancy Drew books were first published in 1930 (actually written by Mildred Wirt Benson), but were re-written and updated in 1959 by Harriet Adams. I have never read the original version of this story, but have a copy of the re-worked book. With a bit of research, I learned what changes were made. The character was softened up a little and outdated stereotypes were removed (opinions about nouveau riche were removed, upper class views were toned down, bad depictions of "lower class" were removed, etc). Some changes were more fundamental -- more action and suspense was added into the plot, and the housekeeper was depicted as a valued member of the family rather than treated like a servant as in the original work. I think these changes kept the books in circulation through the decades, rather than them fading as the plots grew severely outdated (and even a bit offensive).

I listened to an unabridged audio book version of this story (Penguin Random House audio 2002). Narrated by Laura Linney, the audio is just over 3 hours long. Linney gives a great performance as usual. I always enjoy her narrations! The audio book also adds in some music and sound effects at suspenseful moments. :) Very enjoyable listening experience! I have hearing loss but was still able to hear and understand the entire book. I enjoyed listening to Nancy's case unfold as she searched for a missing will. Even though the book is short, the mystery is not rushed. There is plenty of action and interesting twists and turns. Great story! I enjoyed this re-visit just as much as I enjoyed reading Nancy's first mystery as a young teen back in the early 1980s.

I'm glad they re-wrote and updated these books. I don't think I would have liked Nancy if she was portrayed as an upper class, privileged snoot. I have 20 matching hardback copies of this series on my keeper shelf that I found at a thriftshop for $1 per book. Best purchase ever! My copies are the older versions with no slipcover, 1950s artwork on the front, and the traditional yellow spine with a small picture of Nancy. I hope to find more to round out my collection. There are 35 books in the original series with 43 more added from 1959-1985. Then there are several more modern spin-off series as well. Lots of reading to do! I'm so curious to find out if the newer books are as good as the originals!

Revisiting this story also makes me want to find episodes of the old 1970s television show! I wonder if it is available online somewhere??

On to the next book -- The Hidden Staircase! ( )

"Secrets can Kill" by Carolyn Keene was a great mystery. In the beginning, the mystery was pretty small, just a couple of lockers broken into and missing a couple of files from the school office. So Nancy Drew goes to investigate as a undercover student. Her suspect was the school blackmailer, Jake Webb, who she thinks is the thief. But when Jake ends up dead, and it wasn't a accident, he was murdered. So she tries to figure out who killed him, and she noticed that her contact from the school, Daryl Gray knew everything about her, might have killed Jake because, Jake knew that Daryl was a spy and he blackmail him for alot of money. Anyway, that was a really complicated story that was really interesting and kept me alert at all times.

This plot reminded me of a show I watched, where alot of paparazzi follow this megastar around, videotaping him and taking pictures of him in fights, and then blackmails them for money or else they will show the pictures to everyone. I think that is very low, to live by others mistakes and blackmail them for it. Jake, also did that, but not for the money, he did it for power, like a bully.

I think this book teaches us that, don't push what you don't have. Jake wanted more power, so he decided to blackmail the other spies. When they said no, he laughed. And the book said
" He died laughing." ( )

I read A LOT of these growing up. I enjoyed this series because it was a bit more mature and modern than the original Nancy Drew series.