The Whispering Statue

 

Hey, all.  I apologize for the long absence.  I had some personal stuff going on over the last few months and hadn't really been in the mood to work on the blog, but I'm okay now.

TRIGGER WARNING: ONE INSTANCE OF ANIMAL ABUSE

First penned in 1937 by Mildred Wirt Bensen, this is the 14th story in the series.  And yes, I admit, I'm kind of running out things to say about her, so let's just dive in.

Characters: Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, and George Fayne (guest appearance by Carson Drew and cameos by Hannah Gruen and Ned Nickerson).

Premise: Nancy attempts to prove that a man intends to swindle a woman while Carson tries to prove that his client's business was stolen. 

Nancy, Bes, and George are at the opening of a park and stumble onto a mystery when a stray dog (the first appearance of the terrier Togo) causes havoc by stealing the notes of a woman named Alice Owens and causes some other mischief before they're able to get the papers back to her.  Nancy's interest is then piqued when Alice remanences about a statue that was reputed to whisper calling it "The Whispering Girl" and noting that she hadn't seen it since she was a girl.  Of course, this gets Nancy's attention, because a statue that whispers, honestly, I'd be interested in seeing something like that, so I can't blame her for being intrigued.  

A second mystery that Nancy gets involved in comes from Carson who states that his client, Charles Owens, has accused his partner Frank Wormrath of stealing his merchandise and using it to open his own store, and Carson was hired to prove this, which again, begs the question: wouldn't lawyer/client confidentiality prevent Carson from bringing Nancy in on the case? Like, even if he just mentions general details, isn't that a breach of trust?  But then again, I didn't go to law school, so what do I know?

So Nancy, Carson, Bess, and George decide to go see the statue, taking the train----and really, is everything in the thirties' Nancy Drew able to be reached by train?  I feel like they've only had to take a plane a couple of times---and while they're traveling, they meet a woman named Fanny Morse who inadvertently lets other passengers see how much money she has, causing a man named Joe Mitza decide to try to swindle her out of it, but when Nancy tries to warn her about this, she's rebuffed, which honestly, that would've made me suspicious from the get-go, but Nancy just reacts in frustration, which I get. I'd be frustrated too if I were Nancy. 

In the course of her investigation of "The Whispering Girl", Nancy finds out that the estate the statue resides in once belonged to a family known as the Congors and the daughter, Bernice, fell in with a scoundrel and ran off with him, breaking her parents' hearts, which, why is always the bad boy?  Like, nothing good comes from it, as evidenced by the fact that Bernice joins her paramour in his life of crime.

Another mystery that catches Nancy's eyes is a personal ad that Alice is reading that is from a "Rexy" stating that "everything is forgiven" with a plea for the woman to come home, though the detective doesn't draw attention to it as it isn't her business.  Though let's be fair, I would've been curious as well.  Nancy learns that Alice was told that her boyfriend "Rexy" was killed.

So Nancy's trying to juggle both mysteries and Carson's case is muddled when his documents about the case are stolen and Charles Owens' pilot is poisoned, deepening Carson's worry about Charles' life and the case and cautions Nancy to be careful as he doesn't want anything to happen to her.  Nancy also makes it to the estate that "The Whispering Girl" is on and find that the statue and estate are being eroded by the sea and decaying due to neglect. 

 

Of course, these aren't the only things that occupy Nancy's time. The terrier from the park has taken a shine to Nancy and appears on the train and Nancy's unable to send him away, and he gets into all sorts of scrapes, though to be fair, Nancy does try---albeit halfheartedly---to find the terrier's (whom she names Togo) owner, refusing to hand him over to a young girl who claims him as her dog at one point and in another incident, leaps to Togo's defense when Mitza beat him after the dog takes a letter from him.  But Togo's scenes are more of a subplot than anything else, but they are adorable.

As it turns out, everything ties together. Fanny Morse is really Bernice Congor which is discovered when the Drews end up with a suitcase full of her disguises and Joe Mitza is her son, which is why she didn't care that he was trying to swindle her, and ends up teaming up with him against Nancy, even though it doesn't end well for them.  Wormrack turns out the be the partner of Bernice's late husband, and it turns out that Charles and Alice are husband and wife and it's speculated that Bernice was the one who told Alice that Charles had died, which honestly, was a little too neat for my liking, but that's pretty much par for the course for these mysteries.

This was revised in 1970 by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, and like Mildred, I don't really think there's much more that I can say about her.

Characters: Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, George Fayne (guest appearance by Ned Nickerson, guest appearances by Carson Drew, Hannah Gruen and Chief McGinnis)

Premise: Nancy investigates the disappearance of a mysterious statue and a woman's claims that a businessman is stealing from her and her husband.

Nancy's introduced to a mystery when a client of Carson's----Mrs. Horace Merriam----asks her to look into a businessman---Willis Basswood---explaining that when they had originally hired him, he had seemed reputable, but they were starting to get suspicious of the sales because they stopped getting payments for them, which, wouldn't this be a police matter?  I feel like this would be a police matter, but I suppose then we wouldn't have a story.   🤷‍♀️

Along with this, Nancy is also entangled at the local yacht club when a statue created by an Italian sculptor for his wife is stolen and a reproduction is left in its place, and Nancy vows to find it, intrigued by the fact that it "whispers" and that she and the statue look uncannily similar.  

When she and Hannah Gruen are attacked, Nancy decides to go undercover as Debbie Lynbrooke, changes her appearance, and gets herself hired by Basswood, and proves to be a model employee, making various sales, and while she's there, she discovers that not only is Basswood stealing from the Merriam's, they're making fraudulent copies of several art pieces such as sculptures and then selling them as originals, including the "Whispering Statue", which is discovered in the home of a couple named Mr. and Mrs. King, and upon learning the truth, Mrs. King is rightfully horrified and more than willing to return the statue to its rightful place.

Of course "Debbie" gets discovered and Basswood and his cronies kidnap and trap her in one of the fake statues, but she's fortunately rescued, and Basswood and his accomplices are taken away by the police.  As it turns out, the "whispering" is caused by a few holes in the statue's neck and ears and that one of the fraudsters had silenced the statue by covering up the holes, but a sculptor is able to uncover the holes and fix the statue.

So, obviously, these are two very different stories, and while they're both enjoyable, I wasn't really thrilled to read about a dog (Togo) being beaten and some of the resolutions (the Owens reunion) seemed to be too coincidental, while Mitza and Wormrack seemingly get away with their crimes.

As for Togo, as noted, he's introduced in the original version, while the revised version treats him like he's always been a part of Nancy's life (and if he was introduced earlier, I'm not remembering it and would have to reread the earlier volumes), but that's not too big of a discrepancy, I don't think.  So with that, good night and do the Drew.