The Clue Of The Broken Locket

Okay, first, I will admit, my review is gonna look a little strange.  Instead of the usual book with a picture on the cover, I only show a blue book.  That's because for this particular book---number 11 in the series---this is the copy that I have.  Like a lot of these stories, this was ghostwritten by Mildred Wirth Benson in 1934.

Characters: Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, George Fayne (with appearances by Carson Drew and Hannah Gruen).

Premise: Nancy, Bess, and George try to locate the biological mother of a pair of twins that have just been adopted.

TRIGGER WARNING: INFANT ABUSE---NEGLECT---IMPLIED.  Yes, I know it's weird to have a trigger warning for a Nancy Drew book, but honestly, I feel that it's warranted with this story.

Okay, so a mystery falls into Nancy's lap when her father, Carson, is sent a telegram from a nurse at an orphanage (called a founder's home in the story) begging him to not let an adoption of a pair or twins go through.  Unfortunately, said telegram is too late as Nancy and Carson have already witnessed the adoption of the babies, Janet and Jay, by a pair of actors, Kitty and Johnny Blair, with plans to use them to further their careers, planning to destroy their belongings---two baby dresses (and why that was a thing even for boys back then I have no clue.  Not anything wrong with it per se, it just seems weird to me to put a baby boy in a dress, but I'm not a parent, so what do I know?) and half of a gold locket---that came with the twins so that they would just think of the actors as their parents later in life much to the chagrin of their agent, Edwin McNeery.  However, a bit of subterfuge on Nancy's part saves the belongings, which, the doll clothes, I get not really caring about, but she also placed one of her old necklaces in the bundle, and she didn't have any qualms about it being burned up, so was this a necklace that she didn't really care about or was just not fussed about it because she was just that unmaterialistic?  Also, Nancy, why are you stealing things?  Another example of a "good theft" just like in Password To Larkspur Lane.

Anyway, Nancy, Bess, and George continually visit Jay and Janet at the Blairs' home of Folly Jolly (and yikes, what a name 😛) to look in on the twins as the Blairs' maid, Colleen, is in over her head and would rather spend her time trying on Kitty's clothes or gallivanting around town with her boyfriend, Frances.  And yes, that is a guy's name.  After some other incidents of her ignoring her duties, including leaving the crib unlatched, resulting in Jay and Janet being injured when they fall out of their crib, and wanting to make sure that the babies are cared for, Nancy encourages the Blairs to hire the nurse from the Founding Home to help Colleen, but Colleen thinks that the nurse is there to replace her and blaming Nancy, she takes one of Kitty's necklaces and has Francis place it in Nancy's car.

Along with this, another one of the Blairs' servants, their chauffer, Rodney, is acting strangely and even faints when he thinks that the Blairs have destroyed the bundle that belonged to Jay and Janet, though he blames this on being gassed during the war (which I believe is referring to WW1, but I'm not sure).

While searching for the whereabouts of the twins' mother, Nancy stumbles upon another mystery: Rodney had lost contact with his twin sister and currently has no idea where she is.  Well, as it turns out, the nurse from the Founding Home is actually Rodney's twin and they were reunited, which, kinda coincidental, but still fun to read about. 

Presently, Nancy discovers the necklace in her car due to being chased by the Blairs' lawyer who lets things slip to the newspapers who run with things, and to say Carson was unhappy about this is putting it lightly as he threatens to sue them all, which fair enough.  I'd be peeved too in his position.  Thankfully, Colleen's trick is discovered and she's understandably fired.

Nancy ultimately discovers the identity of the twins' mother---Edwin's wife Sylvie---and reunites them, and Edwin and Sylvie end up reconciling as well while Kitty and Johnny leave River Heights to escape creditors.

Characters: Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, George Fayne (with guest appearances by Ned Nickerson, Burt Eddleston, and Dave Evans) 

Premise: Nancy tries to help an engaged pop star figure out who's pirating his records and help his fiancée find a family fortune. 

In this revision, first written in 1965 by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and Grace Grote, Carson asks Nancy to investigate when a caretaker of a tourist spot known as Misty Lake decides to quit when a ghostly boat launch mysteriously appears and once there, Nancy, Bess, and George get entangled in the lives of a couple---Cecily Curtis and her fiancée Niko Van Dyke, a pop star---who are trying to find an iron bird that would lead them to a family fortune while contending with a lawsuit against his record company as the money he's making doesn't match the sales that are going on.

The search for the family fortune leads Nancy to Karl and Vince Driscoll who reluctantly allow Nancy to search their property for the iron bird, raising Nancy's suspicions when Karl tries to trick them by buying a bird at the local shop and passing it off as the one they're looking for.

The mystery deepens when the girls run into a woman who looks remarkably like Cecily but she disappears, which piques Nancy's interest, along with the girl's former claim that Nancy can't have her babies.  A bit later, Nancy finds out that the girl---who's named Susan Wayne---has been kidnapped and the Driscolls have taken her kids, Kevin and Kathy, raising them as their own, planning to have them join the brothers' acrobatic venture.

As it turns out, the Driscolls are the ones pirating Niko's music and came up with the ghost launch to frighten people away.  Nancy discovers, this, rescues Susan, reuniting her with her children, introducing her to Cecily who turns out to be her cousin, and the police arrest the Driscolls.

As you can tell, these are very different stories and honestly, both have their pros and cons, I thought the reunion between Rodney and his sister in the original version was a bit farfetched.  Likewise, I found the idea of the Driscolls of being both the ones who kidnapped Susan's kids and pirating Niko's music too much for suspending belief.  However, they were both good stories.  Thank you for joining me on this adventure.  Until next time, be like Nancy always willing to do what's right.  Do the Drew.