Nancy Drew: The Picture of Guilt

    "Nancy's spending Thanksgiving in Paris, the city of light, love...and mystery. Her neighbor is Ellen Mathieson, a professor whose study of painter Josephine Solo has suddenly taken a dark and disturbing turn. Ellen's research assistant is dead-- killed in an accident exactly like the one that took Solo's life six months before! 

Josephine Solo left a legacy of secrecy and scandal...even the possibility of a double life. But Nancy begins to suspect that some of the professor's students also have something to hide. Paris is full of powerful temptations-- forbidden romance, secret passions, financial greed-- any one of which could lead to a motive for murder."

    Awhile ago I acquired a fair amount of Nancy Drew Files from a thrift store that was going out of business. After reading them all there was only a few that I liked enough to want to keep and over time that amount was narrowed down to just two books; Secrets Can Kill and The Picture of Guilt. I just re-read Secrets Can Kill and decided to get rid of it as I doubt I'll want to read it again anytime soon. So this book is my last chance to keep a Nancy Drew Files in my collection. Let's see how that goes.

- Because Nancy is in France obviously a lot of people speak French, including Nancy who has spoken French since the original books. The dialogue is written in English since these books are English books for English readers but for some strange reason some words are in French. Here's an example; Nancy and George are almost run over by a motorcycle

"These motards," a middle aged man said angrily in French. "Never do they notice if someone is in the way! Are you alright, mademoiselle? Shall I call for the police?"

    If all the French dialogue is being "translated" to English than why leave a word like "motards" in French. "Motards" means motorcyclist but at first I though it was outdated slang/an insult, a combination of the words motorcycle and...well, you know.

- Nancy asks Ellen if she can use her phone book to which Ellen says phone books are outdated in France and instead everyone uses a computerized version called a Minitel. This sounded quite advanced for 1994, which is when this book was written, so I felt this might have been some fictitious thing but lo and behold it was a real! And it wasn't just a phone book, it was the internet before there was an internet. I had absolutely no idea about this, I found it really fascinating.

- For some reason I really enjoy the secret apartment. It's small, old, and furnished with just a few things, overlooks Paris, and even the raincoat in the corner make it seem so cozy.

- In the end-of-book-showdown with the culprits, villain 1 comes at Nancy with a crowbar. After she knocks him on to the ground villain 2 comes running at her. Nancy picks up the crowbar to defend herself but then, remembering villain 2 had already been knocked unconscious a little while ago, Nancy worries hitting him with a crowbar could cause permanent damage and sets the crowbar down...right next to the conscious villain 1 who is able to use it again as a weapon against her. Villain 2 has already MURDERED an innocent person and threaten/attempted to kill Nancy but she's worried about hurting him too much. Seriously, Nancy?

    I'm not sure what to make of this book. When it comes to the Nancy Drew Files there are no great books in my opinion. I would never consider any of them 5 star books, the most any of them are is 3 stars. So this book isn't great but it also isn't the worst of them. I think Paris is a fun setting and used well. I enjoy the studio party and finding the secret apartment but some stuff, such as the picnic, I found a bit boring. Oh, and I also hate that about half the book is spent trying to solve a murder that wasn't a murder. 

    Oh, and as for the cover art, who is that guy? Is it David? It cant be Keith because he wears all black. But David and Nancy never have any romance between them. Maybe the illustrator just decided to take George's tomboy-ness to the next level.