The Bungalow Mystery

Welcome back to another Nancy Drew challenge!  Other than making cards, my personal Nancy Drew challenge has been to track down alternate covers of the later paperback books and thanks to some impulse spending I'm close to having a complete set.  And then I just had to buy two hardcover books with different covers than what I've always had and guess what?!  They're both the original text versions!  One was published in the '50s and the other in 1971, so when I get to those books in the card challenge I'm going to read both versions.  And now I really want to see if I can track down a set of the first 35 books with the original texts...*rubs hands together gleefully*  Yeah, I'm definitely obsessed!

Okay, without any further ado, here is The Bungalow Mystery:

Case file:  Nancy and Helen are tooling around Twin Lakes on a motorboat when a wicked storm blows up and their boat sinks; they get rescued by a girl named Laura Pendleton, and the trio immediately break into a ramshackle bungalow to take shelter until the storm passes.  Laura becomes insta-buddies with Nancy and Helen, and she confides that her mother recently died and she's supposed to meet her new guardians the next day at a hotel. (Who is letting this 16-year-old orphan hang out on her own until she meets up with her guardians?  That seems irresponsible!)  The three girls hang out together until the guardians arrive, and Nancy thinks they're sus so she keeps in contact with Laura, who soon runs away from her guardians to Nancy's house.  Nancy snoops and discovers that Laura's guardians are fakes and the real guardian is being kept prisoner because the fakes want to steal Laura's inheritance which includes a lot of fine jewels (it's the Drew-niverse, everyone has scads of jewels); they're using the titular bungalow as a hideout while they run the con on Laura, who took her stash of jewels with her to Nancy's house when she ran away because she's a smartie.  Nancy gets caught snooping but manages to get out of her restraints because she's Nancy Drew and that means she can do anything, and then she chases after the naughty people who drive off a cliff but they're not too seriously injured and they deserve it for being naughty anyway.  Nancy introduces Laura to her real guardians and Laura gives Nancy an aquamarine ring as a token of friendship.

Notes:  Helen is really only around for the beginning of the book and then she disappears while Nancy investigates solo and Nancy should know better than to snoop without backup (also, Helen will soon mostly disappear for the series).  In between snooping on Laura's guardians, Nancy also helps her dad with an embezzlement case (see what I mean about Carson doing all kinds of law things?) which of course is connected to Nancy's case.  Also, gotta love a kids' book that teaches the definition of embezzlement.  Nancy shows Laura her mementos from her two previous cases and one of them is a silver urn, I wonder if that was mentioned in the original version of The Hidden Staircase and edited out in the newer version?  Because it's not mentioned in the book I have.  Over the course of this book Nancy engages in a bit of B&E at three different locations...her attorney dad must be so proud.  Nancy and her dad both get knocked out by blows to the head, so they probably have matching traumatic brain injuries now, which might explain why Carson lets his teenage daughter go haring off into all these dangerous situations with just a mild "be careful, dear".  This book didn't really stick with me from childhood as well as the first two did (or even on this most recent reread) but I still think it's fun enough.  Four stars because it still keeps fading in my memory and I haven't even been knocked on the head...at least, not that I can remember.

So here is my Bungalow Mystery card:

I had to ponder this one for a while.  The only stamp set I have with a building that looks kinda like the bungalow on the cover is currently in the possibly to sell bunch on top of a tall shelf and I was too lazy to get it out, so I went with the lovely oak tree from Rooted in Nature.  The "Be Strong, Be Happy, Be You" is all one stamp but I cut apart the three phrases for my card.  I think that greeting is quite appropriate for our girl Detective Drew.  I chose the background paper because the Peach Pie bits remind me of Nancy's hair; the Garden Green and Cajun Craze patterns echo colors on the book's cover.

I quite like Nancy's green dress, she wears green on three of the first five book covers and it's a good color with her hair. 

If you'd like to join in the challenge, drop a comment on this post and I would be delighted to see what you make.  Up next week:  The Mystery at Lilac Inn!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Rooted in Nature
Ink:  Garden Green, Cajun Craze
Paper:  Garden Green, Thick Basic White, Meandering Meadows DSP, Everyday Skies DSP
Accessories:  Nature's Roots dies, Dimensionals, Faux Glass Dots