The Clue Of The Velvet Mask

Hey all! Ya'll got your flashlights and magnifying glasses?  It's time to delve back into the world of Nancy Drew while saying a farewell to ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson, as this was the final story (though the 30th volume) in the series that she penned.

Characters: Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, George Fayne, Ned Nickerson (with appearances by Carson Drew, Hannah Gruen, the Marvin/Fayne family, Dave Evans, Burt Eddleston, and Nancy's dog, Togo). 

Premise: Nancy investigates a string of burglaries that take place during the parties of River Heights' wealthy patrons.

Originally written in 1953, this is one of the later volumes, though no less enjoyable. We start off with Nancy and Ned getting ready to go to a masquerade party.  Before leaving, Nancy's father, Carson, warns her to be careful as there's been a rash of burglaries at several prior parties orchestrated by the Black Velvet Gang (for the black masks they wear, which, guys, you couldn't come up with something more original?), whose only common link is the Lightner Entertain Company, leading to the prior clients leveling charges against the company, which, fair, I can see why they would blame the company for the thefts.  While investigating, Nancy discovers that each of the parties was attended by Linda Seeley (and that just makes me think of a wonderful woman I used to know as a child, Ms. Seeley.), a former classmate of hers, which brings her under the suspicion of her disagreeable boss, Peter Tombar (what a name, right?). Linda's interrogated by an officer named Detective Ambrose, igniting Nancy's ire when he makes her cry.  And yeah, I was with Nancy on this.  Like, Dude, I get that you have a job to do, but you're not supposed to make your witnesses or your suspects cry.  Pretty sure that's just bad business all around.

Ned, George, and Bess are convinced to help with the case (and even Togo, Nancy's dog, gets in on the action as he sees an intruder at their home at one point and barks at them, warning Nancy), including George agreeing to pretending to be Nancy while Nancy pretends to be George as they trail some of their suspects, resulting in George being kidnapped after she's drugged.  While George is in the clutches of the Black Velvet Gang, they threaten to hurt Nancy, Nancy's father, her parents, Bess, and Bess' parents and when she's finally rescued by Nancy and Bess, George is badly shaken and spends most of the book insisting that Nancy give up the case, which, as we readers know, Nancy's not going to do, and she doesn't, which causes George to become hysterical.

During the course of the investigation, Nancy learns that Tombar is working with a couple known as Burt and Florence Snecker (Geez...what a name am I right?) and despite George's worries, continues investigating, ultimately discovering that Tombar was taking the stolen goods and fencing them out of a vacant property. Nancy and Bess are caught by Tombar and the Sneckers, and when George hears that they're in trouble, she finally snaps out of her state, revealing what the gang had threatened her with, and then leads the charge to find them, recognizing a button from Nancy's clothes, that Nancy had torn from her dress, culminating in the arrests of Tombar and the Sneckers.

The newer 1969 story by Priscilla Baker-Carr (like Benson, I have a feeling that she revised a lot of the stories), was largely the same except that Detective Ambrose wasn't as harsh in his interrogation tactics, the police Captain that helps Nancy in the fifty-three is replaced by Chief McGinnis, a staple of the revisions (which I'm completely okay with as I like him), and Burt Snecker is changed to Ralph Snecker (probably to avoid confusion with Burt Eddleston).  Chunks of dialogue are omitted and George's recognition of Nancy's button is less important as she doesn't change outfits.

Having grown up with the revised versions of this series, I am partial to them even though the original twenty-five chaptered stories are infinitely better, and I've always thought it was interesting to see how the cover art changed over the years, and usually, I don't have an opinion about covers either way, but I honestly felt disappointed by the cover for the revised version.  That being said, I still enjoyed the story.  Thank you, good night, and do the Drew