The Sinister Omen

Happy Saturday, y'all, and welcome to the Nancy Drew Challenge!  Today's book is #67, The Sinister Omen:

We have three wildly different covers this time.  I don't particularly care for the arch cover on the left, I just think it's boring; the middle cover is bonkers with Nancy's artistically ripped jumpsuit and the downed plane; and the one on the right wins the prize for the silliest Nancy Drew cover in the history of Nancy Drew books.  Okay the middle one is silly too but in a fun way, not in a roll-my-eyes way.  The middle one is definitely my favorite.

Case file:  Nancy is back in Florida and things always seem extra bonkers when she's in Florida.  Nancy flies Bess and George down to Fort Lauderdale in a seaplane (because of course she does), where they're supposed to meet up with the road trippin' boy half of the Drew Crew and help Carson with a case involving...a cartel of bad guys who steal valuable stamps.  Postage stamps, not my paper crafting stamps.  I bet you wouldn't have guessed that from looking at *any* of the book covers.

So here's my card for the first cover:

When the girls arrive in Fort Lauderdale, they find out that Carson has been kidnapped, but with Nancy on the case he doesn't stay that way for long.  She finds a clue and stupidly goes by herself to an abandoned hotel and has a run-in with a colony of rats before she rescues Carson single-handedly (because of course she does).

Yikes, the colors look off in this picture, the card is a better match to the book cover IRL I promise.  Happily for me, I have a suitably creepy-looking rat in my Halloween stamp stash.  Side note:  how many buildings in Fort Lauderdale have basements?  Because that seemed extremely unbelievable to me.  Anyway, I used Gray Granite, Boho Blue, and Secret Sea for my card colors.  I decided to forego the red on the book cover or else my card would have resembled a crime scene.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Piece of Poison, Spooktacular Bash, Ghoulish Grunge
Ink:  Gray Granite, Boho Blue, Secret Sea, Versamark
Paper:  Gray Granite, Boho Blue, Secret Sea
Accessories:  Everyday Arches dies, Smoky Slate embossing powder, Neutrals Candy Dots, Dimensionals

On to the middle cover:

So the bad guys call their little club the Brotherhood of the Vulture, but the only vulture stamp I have is in Animal Alphabet and just didn't work for what I wanted.  And actually this is my second hack at a card for this book cover, the first one was awful so I decided to go with a raven for a different avian harbinger and ended up with a sorta-Halloween looking card that I like.

I only bought this book last year and I paid probably too much money to import it from Canada but I was just so excited to add this cover to my collection even though Nancy does not crash the plane.  I used Peach Parfait, Kiwi Kiss, and Basic Beige for my colors and for once the greenish cast to Basic Beige ink worked in my favor.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  The Raven
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Beige, Peach Parfait
Paper:  Peach Parfait, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Beige, Well Suited DSP
Accessories:  Deckled Circles dies, Dimensionals, Clear Epoxy Shapes

And now for the third one:

The B mystery in this book involves a very old lady who was a friend of Carson's grandparents I think, but sadly my stamp collection is lacking in old lady stamps so I decided to go with the spring break angle instead.  The Drew Crew does manage to fit in trips to the beach and taking out a yacht or two in between solving the mysteries, and this was a good excuse to use the water mask I bought at the end of summer.  Hopefully I won't forget that I have it next summer.

Nancy has a nightmare at the beginning of the book that involves a vulture, and that's even before the Brotherhood of the Vulture even gets involved, which is where this silly cover originates but I still think it's stupid.  None of the SU! blues is a really accurate match for this cover, but in the end I went with Pacific Point, Summer Splash, Poppy Parade, Flirty Flamingo, and Basic Gray/Smoky Slate for my colors.  And I finally used the camera stamp in Summer Happiness along with my favorite sunglasses and some teeny flip-flops.  Is it weird that I wish the images in this stamp set were drawn on the same scale?  Otherwise the sunglasses and flip-flops must be made for a Funko Pop.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Summer Happiness
Ink:  Pacific Point, Basic Gray, Stampin' Blends in Poppy Parade, Smoky Slate, Flirty Flamingo
Paper:  Pacific Point, Basic White, Summer Splash DSP
Accessories:  Summer Happiness dies, Textured Notes dies, Water Decorative Mask, Mini Dimensionals, Wonderful Gems

Mostly what I remember from reading this book as a kiddo is the old lady, who is quite acerbic but gives Bess a well-deserved confidence boost so I like her.  The postage stamp angle of the story reminds me of the movie Charade, one of my favorites, which stars Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant and I shouldn't have to put a spoiler alert on a movie that's about 60 years old and if you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and check it out.  Anyway, Nancy's Florida adventures always seem to have an extra bit of crazy and this one continues that trend.  The Drew Crew is rubbing elbows with the uber-rich and apparently stealing collectible stamps is super lucrative based on how much stuff the bad guys have.  There are some really bananas aspects to this book (a retired stunt man, a sinkhole, a suspicious butler and more) and you know I love me some bananas plot shenanigans so I'm giving this one four stars.  If you're inspired to make a card based on this book, leave me a comment!  I will be especially impressed if you choose that stupidly silly third cover with the vulture.  I'll see you next week when Nancy tracks down The Elusive Heiress.