The Quest Of The Missing Map

 

Hey guys, you know what time it is.  We're jumping right into this one and with family history, long-lost relatives, and buried treasure.  It seems like a Hardy Boys or a pirate story, but nope, it's Nancy Drew's The Quest Of The Missing Map, number 19 in the franchise.

Characters: Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, George Fayne (with guest appearances by Ned Nickerson and Hannah Gruen)

Premise: Nancy searches for the missing half of a treasure map in order to help some new acquaintances. 

So, this is one of the many books penned by Mildred Wirt Benson----I know, it seems like she penned all of them----in 1942, and surprisingly, it's Hannah Gruen of all people who initiates Nancy into the mystery by introducing her to Ellen Smith who explain that her family is looking for the second half of a map left by her grandfather, Tomlin Smith, that was split between her father and his brother which would lead to buried treasure which would be their inheritance to be shared jointly with any remaining family, which would help them as they had recently fallen on hard times after Ellen's father was injured in an accident.  However, they can't exactly ask the guy since he went down with a ship called the Warwick, which, ya know, kinda bites, but hey, that's life.

To help her family, Emily applies for a job with a woman named Mrs. Chatham as a voice instructor for her daughter Trixie, but Nancy cautions her against this as she's not very impressed with the woman's attitude towards her daughter, who's frightened of a shed on their property, claiming that it's haunted because she had seen someone with a horrible face there.  However, Ellen is eventually convinced that the job's okay to take even as Nancy starts her investigation and discovers that the house is rife with secret passageways, which, yeah, totally cool in my mind, but absolutely no place a for a seven-year-old like Trixie, which prompts Nancy to encourage Mrs. Chatham to let her, Bess, and George search the premise for hidden passages and have workers get rid of them to make the property safe for Trixie, which, I get Mrs. Chatham was grieving, but why didn't she do this in the first place? Oh well.

As it turns out, there's another group---consisting of Fred and Iren Brown, Spike Dotty, Snorky, and Bullseye Bellows (these names, yikes!)----are also looking for the map as well and they do everything they can to scare off Nancy and her friends, including poking around in one of Mrs. Chatham's cottages, kidnapping Trixie and holding her for ransom, though she's quickly rescued, and kidnapping Nancy from a party at Emerson College, though she convinces Ned and their friends to play it off as a prank.

Nancy soon discovers that one of Ned's newer friends is a young man named Bill Tomlin who reveals a similar story to Ellen, indicating that they might be related----which, awful convenient if you ask me, but hey, nobody did---and Nancy gets another lead when it turns out that the second half of the map was hidden in a model of the Warwick and it just so happens that Mrs. Chatman's late first husband collected model ships, which, again, convenient, but eh, it works, I suppose, and after some searching, Nancy tracks down the right ship and finds the map, though the ship is stolen from her car soon after but Nancy brushes this off since she placed the map in her purse.  But then Nancy's kidnapped a second time by Fred and Iren Brown who force her to write to Hanah asking her to hand over their copy of the map before being found by Carson and Ned.  Of course, Hannah does as she's asked, but sensing that Nancy didn't want her to give out the actual map, the woman makes several alterations to the map she creates before giving it to the Browns. 

After this, Nancy discovers where the treasure is buried---a place called Palm Island----and after a long search, Nancy and her crew charter a boat to travel there.  Once they're on the boat, they discover that one of the gang---Snorky----is aboard and is trying to keep them from reaching Palm Island by poisoning the Captain and first mate, making them too sick to steer the boat as well as steering the boat off course, but they figure out his plan and take him captive, though he escapes.

One they get to the island, they're greeted by a man named Mr. Heyborn, who insists that they leave as he doesn't want anyone digging on the island, but it's discovered that "Heyborn" is actually Bellows in disguise and the real Heyborn---along with his wife and son----are being held captive.  Nancy rescues them, the gang's arrested, and then Nancy and her friends find the treasure.

The 1969 revision by Priscilla Baker-Carr is largely the same and the changes are relatively minor. Ned's role is expanded, random dates for George and Bess are switched to Dave Evans and Burt Eddleston, Trixie is found before Mrs. Chatham is forced to pay the ransom, Bullseye Bellows is replaced by a character named Rorke, and whereas the original ends with Nancy changing the subject and convincing the others to break into song, the revision ends with a joke between Nancy and Ned.  To be honest, this story wasn't quite as good as I remembered it being and I was a little indifferent to both versions, but I still found it enjoyable.  I am glad that they changed the ending because Nancy trying to change the subject by getting everyone to sing felt a little weird and I found myself quite confused by that.  

Remember, be determined, kind, and courageous like Nancy, and do the Drew.