Time for another Nancy Drew challenge! In the past few weeks, I went from having never owned or read the original 1930s versions of ND books a month ago to now owning...um, TWENTY-ONE. Actually I think it's more, I have a few that are shipping right now. That means I have at most 13 left to track down, woohoo! Anyway, today's book is #6, The Secret of Red Gate Farm, and I just got my OT version of this one in yesterday's mail (along with four other books but don't tell the hubs, haha!).
The OT version on the left has a dust jacket, but obviously the cover art is the same, which works nicely for me since I only have one card made.
I read the book yesterday afternoon (y'all know I'm a voracious reader) but this time the OT version and the RT version are very similar, so I won't do an entire case file this time. So here's the RT:
Case file: Nancy, Bess, and George take a train trip to go shopping and meet Joanne Byrd, who's on her way to the big city to find a job so she can literally save the family farm. Nancy insists on helping her and driving her to an interview where the man conducting the interview acts weird and Nancy senses there's a mystery in the offing. To help their new friend, Nancy, Bess, and George go back with her to Red Gate Farm and become boarders there to help keep Joanne's grandma from selling it. There they learn that there's a weird cult that leases some land with caves on it from Joanne's grandma and naturally Nancy has to go check them out. The girls help out on the farm and manage to attract a few more boarders while also learning that there's a rash of counterfeit $20 bills in the area. After spying on the Black Snake Colony members who dance around like weirdos in the moonlight (it's another Scooby-Doo episode!), Nancy decides the natural course of action is to make their own fake robes and join the dance party. They follow the cult members into the caves and discover that's the base for the counterfeiting operation, and their goose is almost cooked until some MAN comes and rescues the girls (he's the son of one of the other boarders on the farm). Once they're all safe and the counterfeiters are behind bars, Nancy convinces Joanne and her grammy to make the counterfeiters' cave a local tourist attraction and thus save the family farm.
Notes: Aww, Nancy comes up against her first fake cult but really, she needs some guy to come save her in the end??? For shame, Detective Drew. I will say that there was more than the usual effort put into giving the other boarders at Red Gate Farm a bit of personality. It doesn't make much sense to me that the counterfeiters would pretend to be a cult and do the dancing in the moonlight thing that is sure to attract attention their way, you'd think they'd be trying to fly under the radar and not have people looking in their direction...but it's a Scooby Doo episode. Nancy's dad doesn't have much to do in this case other than occasionally talking to Nancy, giving her a couple of twenties that turn out to be counterfeit, and then getting name-dropped by the girls because he's a Famous Attorney and there's no way Carson Drew's daughter would knowingly be trying to pass off counterfeit bills (as if rich people's kids never behave badly). George once again is mean to Bess about her weight and her mama should have taught her better manners and it's George's fault I knocked a half a star off my rating. The cover of this book is more 40s to me than any of the others so far, I think it's the hair. Victory rolls! I think The Secret of the Old Clock looks distinctly 60s with the hair and the dress and I am Here For It. I will agree with my sister Adrienne, I love mid-century modern style when it comes to clothes. Three and a half stars because I'm mad at George. If you can't say something nice, George, stick a sock in it.
Consulting detectives: As I said, the storylines in the two books are quite similar this time, with a few extra scenes and more description in the OT version. I think the biggest difference is that the girl they're helping in the OT version is Millie Burd, who becomes Joanne Byrd in the RT. Curiously, the RT version has George get bitten by a snake while out exploring the farm with the other girls, but no lasting damage, and that doesn't happen in the OT at all. Otherwise not much changed between the versions. This book, along with numbers 1-4, didn't have a "picture cover" in the OT version, that was only printed on the older versions with a dust jacket. I now have the dust jacket versions for this one and #4, The Mystery at Lilac Inn, which I haven't read yet so my plan to read all the books in chronological order turned out to have some twists and turns in it : )
So here is my card for The Secret of Red Gate Farm:
There's a scene in the book where Nancy has to go looking for a wayward cow and uses the opportunity to try snooping in the counterfeiters' cave, so I chose a cute cow for my card. Weeks ago I saw someone else who had done a card with Peekaboo Forest and that greeting from Terrific Toadstools, but I lost my browser tab for where I saw the card and I can't remember who it was so thank you to whoever that was.
I colored my stone wall to look like the one on the book cover and used Rococo Rose to match Nancy's sweater. Why does the Rococo Rose Stampin' Blend come out more hot pink??
Feel free to join in the fun by making a card and leaving a comment here, I'd love to see your take on this book. Next up: The Clue in the Diary!
Supplies, all SU!
Stamps: Peekaboo Farm, Terrific Toadstools
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Old Olive, Stampin' Blends in Ivory, Cinnamon Cider, Rococo Rose, Old Olive, Smoky Slate, Pebbled Path
Paper: Rococo Rose, Thick Basic White, Paper Blooms DSP
Accessories: Textured Notes dies, Dimensionals
