Now I’m only two away from finishing the series, let’s get to it. The Clue in the Diary is one of the first Nancy Drew books I remember. Primarily because I was terrified of fire when I was little so even the cover looked daunting but I also was perversely fascinated because I wanted to get over my fear. Anyway, the fire is a minor catalyst compared to the twists that come after the house explosion Nancy witnesses. When a mysterious figure runs off, Nancy finds the titular diary hoping to find out who set the fire and why but the notes are in Swedish. From there, dead bodies and arsonist identities are battered back and forth over whether the owner of the house, Felix Rayburn is the jerkish victim or wily perpetrator. Even Nancy is briefly accused!

It was an entertaining book and I think it was a strong mystery compared to the pathetic attempt at red herring in Nancy’s Mysterious Letter.

Nancy gets a letter from England, only she’s not the right Nancy. She certainly doesn’t have a rich English relative bequeathing his fortune. It’s for a Nancy Smith Drew instead but before the right Nancy can be contacted, the letters (and the money accompained with it) are stolen!

Ira Nixon is the most skittish, dramatic mail carrier in literature. He literally faints the moment he hears the mail he was carrying was stolen. And when he awakes, he’s in hysterics. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be comical but everyone takes his dramatics seriously so maybe not. Anyway, like a soap opera, it is Ira’s wasteral of a brother who stole his mail in order to find Lonely Hearts to defraud including one Nancy Smith Drew who turns out to be the acting coach for a local production of Shakespeare. What a coincidence.

This so-called mystery was pretty soapish for my taste even when Keene tries to briefly throw readers off scent by suggesting it might be some third-party degenerate and not Edgar Nixon when it is him all along, and yeah. Not one of the best ones.

51 down, two to go. So if anyone knows where I might find The Strange Message in the Parchment or The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes even for free online, that’d be great.