I thought I’d read the original Nancy Drew novels, but I think I’d only read the reimagine version from the ‘90s. I liked that Nancy solved the case on her own. She didn’t need to be rescued, she was clever (and sometimes lucky), and she stood up for the underdogs who had been unexpectedly disinherited. I do wish the title didn’t give away so much of the plot. My daughter and I are both interested to read the next one. ( )

Read the 50s version and found Nancy to be kinda crazy
Highlights:
★Almost goes Karen mode and tells Taylor's employee she will talk to the manager
★Invades Allison's birthday (also wtf why does Allison start singing)
★Has only one friend other than the randos she meets and befriends to solve their mysteries? ( )

The Secret of the Old Clock is the mystery that began it all for America's favorite teenaged sleuth. The accidental rescue of a little girl who lives with her two great-aunts leads to an adventurous search for a missing will.

There was a pandering feel to this, like it doesn’t trust that the reader is smart enough to follow along or do any deducing of their own, with every aspect of the mystery not only spelled out and easy to solve but repeated ad nauseum, this is a short book, and could easily have been shorter for how much of it is just repeating what the reader has already been told.

The dialogue was a problem for me, too, extremely stilted and way too overloaded with exposition.

Also, if this man was so wealthy, why did he live with people he didn’t necessarily like? Did I miss something? That did not make sense.

While I struggled with much of the storytelling and writing style here, I did like Nancy herself, she’s brave, she’s determined to right wrongs, and there is something just plain fun about the image of this young woman driving around in her blue convertible solving crimes, I can see why she’s endured in so many readers’ hearts even if this first book wasn’t a good fit for me. ( )

I devoured these books as a middle-school student. It was always a competition between the Amish boys and myself to see who could read the most Nancy Drew and/or Hardy Boys (depending on what was in at the library) per day.