When Nancy's two best friends Bess and George get in an argument over Bess's missing locket, Nancy realizes this is one mystery she has to solve quickly if she ever hopes to be part of a happy trio again!

This is one of the myriad of Nancy Drew spin-offs out there; this series was published and is set in in the early 1990s with an 8-year-old Nancy attending elementary school. This second book was a lot better than the first one in the series, which I really did not think was well done at all. I appreciate that this mystery really kept me guessing as it turned out in the end that there wasn't really a thief but a mistaken identify mishap. The message about friendship being more important than material objects is nice as well.

The illustrations aren't particularly good and the children look far older than 8 years old, but I suppose they help break up the text. However, this short book with quick chapters already makes for a fast enough read. It would be a good bridge between early readers and longer chapter books if it wasn't so dated. ( )