A Nancy Drew Christmas
Written by Carolyn Keene
Narrated by Jorjeana Marie
Series: Nancy Drew Diaries, Book 18
Run time: 6 hours and 24 minutes
Release date: 02-11-19
Publisher: Oasis Audio
Genre: Christmas, Classic, Mystery
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.0; Narration 4.25.
Publisher Description
Nancy finds herself a Christmas mystery in this super special eighteenth book of the Nancy Drew Diaries series, a fresh approach to the classic mystery series.
Nancy Drew’s dad surprises her with a trip to a beautiful New England ski resort for Christmas break. Nancy is so excited. What could be better than a whole week of skiing and five-star dining?
But no vacation can go smoothly when Nancy is involved. On her very first run down the slopes, Nancy hits a bad patch of ice and takes a serious tumble. A doctor sends her back to the hotel in a cast and mandates twelve days of bed rest. That means no long car trips back to River Heights and twelve days of sitting around. Luckily, there’s still the five-star dining and beautiful views.
Just hours into her convalescence, Nancy witnesses something very suspicious through another hotel room window. And when she presses the concierge she learns there have been mysterious break-ins throughout the hotel. It’s clear someone has been going into guest’s rooms but, as far as anyone can tell, nothing has been taken. Nancy can’t resist-she has to investigate. Only trouble is, she’s still bed bound.
Taking some cues from Home Alone’s Kevin McCallister, Nancy devises some clever schemes to get her investigating done from her bed. But for all her plans, Nancy still can’t find the source of the break-ins. Or the purpose. What’s worse the mood of the hotel has turned decidedly un-merry. People are leaving in droves and the jolly hotel owner is worried about the hotel’s success.
With all the odds stacked against her, can Nancy solve this crime in time to save Christmas? Or is this one Yuletide she’ll wish to forget?
Review:Written by Carolyn Keene
Run time: 6 hours and 24 minutes
Release date: 02-11-19
Publisher: Oasis Audio
Genre: Christmas, Classic, Mystery
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.0; Narration 4.25.
Publisher Description
Nancy finds herself a Christmas mystery in this super special eighteenth book of the Nancy Drew Diaries series, a fresh approach to the classic mystery series.
Nancy Drew’s dad surprises her with a trip to a beautiful New England ski resort for Christmas break. Nancy is so excited. What could be better than a whole week of skiing and five-star dining?
But no vacation can go smoothly when Nancy is involved. On her very first run down the slopes, Nancy hits a bad patch of ice and takes a serious tumble. A doctor sends her back to the hotel in a cast and mandates twelve days of bed rest. That means no long car trips back to River Heights and twelve days of sitting around. Luckily, there’s still the five-star dining and beautiful views.
Just hours into her convalescence, Nancy witnesses something very suspicious through another hotel room window. And when she presses the concierge she learns there have been mysterious break-ins throughout the hotel. It’s clear someone has been going into guest’s rooms but, as far as anyone can tell, nothing has been taken. Nancy can’t resist-she has to investigate. Only trouble is, she’s still bed bound.
Taking some cues from Home Alone’s Kevin McCallister, Nancy devises some clever schemes to get her investigating done from her bed. But for all her plans, Nancy still can’t find the source of the break-ins. Or the purpose. What’s worse the mood of the hotel has turned decidedly un-merry. People are leaving in droves and the jolly hotel owner is worried about the hotel’s success.
With all the odds stacked against her, can Nancy solve this crime in time to save Christmas? Or is this one Yuletide she’ll wish to forget?
Nancy Drew is excited to enjoy a ski resort vacation with her father. She arrives early and skis right into trouble, hitting an unmarked ice patch when she agrees to fill in to ski an easy slope for a missing staff member who doesn’t show up. The doctor puts a full leg cast on Nancy and tells her to stay in her room for the next twelve days. Nancy isn’t one to sit quietly and she soon spies suspicious activity from her window.
Nancy learns there have been break-ins in guest rooms and then the first dinner of the season is nearly ruined. Nancy is aware there is tension regarding the ski resort and a pipeline that wants to go across land owned by the resort owners. She goes to one owner to try to help solve some of the problems and gets limited support. She also discovers two boys snooping around the other owner. She soon learns that the boys are Frank and Joe Hardy. She knows things aren’t right when the local sheriff shrugs off handling complaints against an employee and instead arrests Frank Hardy.
Even when the owner tells Nancy that her job is done, she presses on with the help of Joe. Nancy experiences another incident in the snow paths which is clearly an attack and not an ‘accident’. She and Joe find clues and hidden passageways before coming face to face with threats of death. Can Nancy and the Hardy boys solve the crimes before the resort is closed for good?
This was an easy, light listen. I liked the multiple crimes and clues as well as Nancy’s determination to solve the cases. I read the Hardy Boy stories rather than Nancy Drew as a young girl apparently because the Nancy Drew books didn’t get published popularly until I was already in college. I was delighted when Frank and Joe showed up as characters in this book. The plots involving these teen detectives are engaging, with twists and danger. I was a little surprised about the current day environmental issues, considering these were written years ago. H however, I liked the light pacing and clean nature of the story. I plan to listen to more in the series when I want a light read. I recommend this story as a very nice holiday read for young and older mystery fans.
Audio Notes: Jorjeana Marie does a fine job with the narration. Her voice fits the main character and she makes the listening easy to enjoy.
Source: 1/20/2020 Chirp Purchase $.99. This qualifies for 2021TBR, 2021Audiobook, and 2021AudioAlphabit goals.
