Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger

    Nancy and Bess are visiting Nancy's aunt Eloise in New York City when Eloise asks Nancy to take on a case for her downstairs neighbor, soap opera actress Mattie Jenson. Mattie is concerned over threatening letters her costar Rick Arlen has been receiving however Rick himself acts nonchalant about them. Nancy reluctantly takes on the case, in part to keep an eye on Bess who has instantly fallen for Rick's charms and heavy flirting.

    Nancy and Bess hang around on the filming set and witness a klieg light almost fall on top of rick after which the set is locked down. The girls take jobs as extras so they can continue to have access to the studio.

    The list of suspects is long as Rick has shamelessly used and abused anyone he could to climb his way to fame but the standout suspects are Lillian, the assistant director who Rick loved and left after meeting her Hollywood connections, Mr. Pappas, the producer who is furious over Rick trying to break his contract to star in a movie, and Dwayne Casper, an actor turned talent agent who use to represent Rick before Rick left for a bigger agency. Nancy tries to learn more about these suspects while also trying unsuccessfully to keep Bess' feet on the ground.

    Despite the klieg light incident and almost being run over by a car Rick doesn't take his situation seriously until a vanity mirror explodes in his face. Fortunately he was wiping off his stage makeup with a towel at the exact instant of explosion which protected his eyes and left only his hands injured. It's at the hospital that Nancy and Bess overhear his realization that his life is in danger as well as hear him confess his love for Mattie, someone he had previously dumped.

    Rick returns to work the next day but after a close call with acid tainted makeup he has enough and leaves. At this point Nancy has begun receiving threatening messages herself including a disguised phone call and a ticking alarm clock.

    When Lillian calls her and insists on meeting at the studio set in the morning Nancy is suspicious but eager to hear what she has to say. She reveals that she discovered disguises hidden in a studio closet and afterwards began receiving threatening messages. Just as she's about to reveal the culprit Dwayne Casper appears holding a gun and reveals he is the attempted murderer, his motive being Rick leaving his agency, and "stealing" Mattie's love.

    Thinking fast Nancy turns on a fog machine giving her and Lillian a place to hide but Dwayne quickly turns on an industrial fan to counter it. With her hiding place quickly dispersing Nancy lunges at Dwayne knocking the gun from his hand, discharging it. Police quickly rush in, having been sent there by Eloise who felt uneasy about Nancy's secret meeting.

    With Dwayne now put away Rick is safe, ready to marry Mattie, and released from his contract by Pappas.

- I was happy to read this books as I played the computer game of it as a child and recently watched a stream of a youtuber play it. Because of this I already knew the who, why, when, where, and how but it was still fun seeing the original version.

- I don't think it did well at making the suspects suspicious. I think the most suspicious person was actually Kay, the makeup artist who is present for two incidents and has access to the set. However for some reason Nancy never suspects her.

- Dwayne and Lillian are written too over the top. Basically everything they say is about hating Rick.

- I also think Dwayne Casper is a terrible name. The game changes it to Dwayne Powers which sounds much better.

Meet Molly

    Meet Molly is the first book in the Molly Series created by American Girl. As a child I would receive American Girl catalogs and, even though I never had nor wanted an American Girl doll, I would enjoy looking through it. I've been interested in history since a young age so it's not surprising that the girl's stories and settings appealed to me. Molly was my personal favorite due to her time period. I did end up getting her cooking and crafting books back then but never any of her book series which I was kind of sad about until I realized I'm an adult now and I can buy them for myself if I want. 

    Molly McIntire is a 9 year old girl living in the United States in 1943. As the book starts Molly is pouting at the kitchen table with a plate of mashed turnips in front of her. She doesn't like turnips and is mad at the war for having to eat them, as the turnips came from her family's Victory Garden. She is also upset that her father, a doctor stationed in England, has been gone for 7 months so her family no longer gets to have family dinners together. Molly's mother arrives home after working a shift at the Red Cross and doctors up Molly's plate to taste better which lets us know Mrs. McIntire is a kind and understanding mother. 

    The next day Molly's two best friends, Susan and Linda, come home with her after school to discuss group costumes for the fast approaching Halloween. When Jill, Molly's 14-year-old sister, comes home with her friend Dolores the 9 year old girls notice Ricky, Molly's 12-year-old brother, has a crush on Dolores and embarrasses him about it which causes him to ride off on his bike swearing revenge. 

    The three girls decide to be hula dancers for Halloween and make their costumes out of newspaper and crepe paper. After a night of trick or treating for rationed goodies they arrive back at Molly's house where Ricky attacks them with buckets of water and a hose, destroying their costumes and treats. 

    The girls plot their revenge that night and enact it the next day; they steal Ricky's laundry, with an emphasis on his underwear, then dump it from a window on top Dolores' head right in front of Ricky. Ricky declares war between him and Molly but it turns out Mrs. McIntire has been watching and is absolutely appalled. She lectures the children on how there is already enough war in the world and everyone makes up and agrees to get along. 

    This book was much shorter than I had expected. Although I knew it was going to be short I thought it would be closer to 100 pages. It is 52 pages with lots of pictures and big text. Needless to say the story is very quick. 

    I really don't have too much to say about it except that it was nice to finally read it. I had seen those pictures of Molly in a grass skirt and lei so many times as a child that it is nice to know the backstory of it. 

    I always pictured Molly as timid and kind so it was a surprise seeing her written as a leader who wants to be in the spotlight and is kind of mean. She is rude to a friend named Alison simply because Alison is rich and Molly is jealous.

Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill

    Nancy goes undercover as a high school student to find out who has been breaking into lockers, stealing from the video lab, and ruffling through the school records. When Nancy's main suspect turns up dead on the schools stairs she has a new mystery to solve and a murderer to catch.

- "Hands on her hips, Nancy Drew stood in the middle of her bedroom and surveyed the situation. New clothes layed everywhere--strewn across the bed, draped over the backs of chairs, and spilling out of shopping bags. Laughing at the mess, Nancy reached for a just-bought pair of designer jeans. "How do you like the new look in private detectives?" she said, slipping the jeans on." Did this series start out with Nancy standing around in her underwear? Also she's trying to look like a normal high schooler but buys designer clothes for her school wardrobe.

- Right away we're told Nancy has a boyfriend, Ned, who she loves sooooooo much...but that sometimes she's gonna date other people cause how else would we expect this series to be successful in the super sexy 80's without a bunch of buff hunks posing on the covers?

- Nancy, Bess, and George have a pillow fight getting pillow feathers all over Nancy's new designer clothes. Feathers are such a pain to clean up and clean off clothes, it made cringe.

- Why is Nancy using her real name when she's supposed to be undercover? It states she's already a well established amateur detective. You think she'd use an alias especially after getting the threatening tape before even starting the case.

- I wish Jake was around longer. He's an interesting character; just a teenager but already running a blackmail ring thanks to his above average audiovisual skills. He's also confident and cocky and really gets on Nancy's nerves which I find amusing.

- After nancy's car catches on fire, rich daddy Carson buys Nancy a new Mustang GT convertible. I think Daryl speaks for all of us when he rolls his eyes and says "You've got to be kidding me". Nancy says she'll be using her allowance to pay her dad back for it. Nancy you're 18, why you still getting an allowance. Get a job with all your free time or accept payment from a case.

- Jake uses blackmail to get his victims to do stuff for him. He has Walt give him rides, Hal do his homework, and Connie...well it doesn't say what Connie did for him but she does tell Nancy "I had to do everything he asked"... Jake might have been even more scummy than we thought.

- The part where U.S.S.R. villains have a high speed chase with Nancy through the streets of Bedford was so ridiculous I ended up laughing. Especially at the part where Nancy is shocked to find out a red traffic light isn't going to stop international super villains who were just pointing guns at her.

- Nancy remarks that Jake "probably has something on half the school" yet she only focuses on Walt, Hal, Connie, and Daryl. She doesn't try to find out if Jake was blackmailing anyone else which, spoiler, he was and that's who murdered him.

    Overall this book is pretty ridiculous. I do give it a bit of a pass though because it's the first book in the series and the first books have the burden of introducing you to everything. People who had never read Nancy Drew books before had to be introduced to Nancy, Bess, George, Ned, and even Hannah. And then all readers, regardless of having read ND in the past or not, had to be introduced to the new ultra modern Nancy who's some what of a man-eater and has a nemesis.