The Mystery at Lilac Inn

Welcome to another Nancy Drew Challenge, which has pretty much become my favorite blog post every week because I am still having the bestest time with Nancy and her shenanigans.  This week, we're taking a look at The Mystery at Lilac Inn!

Case file:  Nancy and Helen canoe down the river (as you do) to Lilac Inn, which their friend Emily Willoughby and her fiance are renovating and plan to open soon after their wedding, but strange doings are afoot so she asks Nancy to investigate.  At the same time, Nancy discovers she has a doppelganger who has stolen her charge plate (credit card) for a River Heights department store.  Emily has a bunch of diamonds she plans to sell to finance the restoration of the inn but they get stolen, then replaced with fakes; a mysterious glowing girl is seen flitting about the inn's grounds at night and finally a bomb goes off and destroys the cottage Nancy and Helen were staying in.  Nancy investigates mostly with the help of John, an Army guy who's besties with Emily's fiance, and they take several trips to go skin diving (snorkeling) in the river because Nancy and Helen hit something when they canoed down the river at the start of the book.  More snooping ensues and eventually Nancy is captured by the bad guys, including her doppelganger who is also a waitress at the inn; the doppelganger is a former actress who likes to steal things and is affiliated with several men who steal Army gadgets and move about with the help of a tiny submarine in the river (no, it doesn't really make much sense).  The submarine and the bad guys' boat both sink conveniently; Nancy is rescued by river patrol and then has to convince her dad that she's the real Nancy Drew (come on, Dad).  After the baddies are arrested, she goes diving again with John and they recover Emily's stolen diamonds hidden in a tube of the doppelganger's lipstick just in time for the wedding, and Emily gives Nancy a pin made from some of the diamonds in the shape of a spray of lilac.

Notes:  This one is like The Hidden Staircase in that it's a big old building with a secret room and lots of Nancy skulking about the extensive grounds looking for clues, and that's all fun times yes please I love that.  She dresses up as the "ghost" with little flashlights in her sleeves at one point and that's the scene depicted on the cover of the book (Nancy is actually the one with dark hair as she was wearing a wig at the time).  Nancy is so good at skin diving that she has her picture in the paper, which seems a bit silly to me (must have been a slow news day), but she uses her heretofore unmentioned diving skills to investigate the mini sub at several points in the mystery, and since she helped John figure out who was stealing Army tech, she gets a commendation from the Army.  Several other elements of the mystery are outlandish, like the actress being so good at makeup that even Mr. Drew is fooled for an instant, or even worse the fact that a bomb goes off in Nancy's cottage but everyone is cool with her continuing to investigate.  But I put on my Suspenders of Disbelief and had fun with the whole thing anyway.  Also for once this mystery has a red herring where the social director of the inn is super unpleasant to Nancy, but it turns out she's not a bad guy (mostly just cranky), so that was a nice misdirection.  Four stars.

Here's my card for The Mystery at Lilac Inn:

I knew immediately what stamp set I wanted to use for this one, this is a real oldie called Blossoms Abound and it's been ages since I used it (I actually made this card before I made the pink lilacs one).  At first I put some pearls on the card but quickly realized they needed to be rhinestones to go with the diamonds featured in the mystery.

I took the colors Pretty Peacock, Highland Heather, and Gorgeous Grape from the cover; the Pretty Peacock background is from the Lily Impressions DSP that went with some Sale-a-bration stuff a few years ago, and I used a scrap from Perennial Lavender for the purple pattern.  And check out the old skool dies I used!  Been a minute since Apothecary Accents came out to play, but the largest shape worked perfectly for my lilac spray.

If you'd like to join in the fun, drop me a comment and I'd love to see what you make (or even if you just like Nancy Drew books too!).  Next up:  The Secret of Shadow Ranch, and a bonus!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Blossoms Abound
Ink:  Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape, Garden Green, Pretty Peacock
Paper:  Gorgeous Grape, Highland Heather, Thick Basic White, Lily Impressions & Perennial Lavender DSP
Accessories:  Apothecary Accents dies, rhinestones, Dimensionals