The Hidden Inheritance

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #131

by Carolyn Keene

Helping her father to inventory the contents of a 150-year-old log cabin, Nancy becomes involved in the investigation into their next-door neighbor, bluegrass performer Sassy, whose house has mysteriously burned down

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Childrens, Detective, Thriller, Adventure, Fiction

149 pages

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

Carolyn Keene is a writer pen name that was used by many different people- both men and women- over the years. The company that was the creator of the Nancy Drew series, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, hired a variety of writers. For Nancy Drew, the writers used the pseudonym Carolyn Keene to assure anonymity of the creator.

Edna and Harriet Stratemeyer inherited the company from their father Edward Stratemeyer. Edna contributed 10 plot outlines before passing the reins to her sister Harriet. It was Mildred Benson (aka: Mildred A. Wirt), who breathed such a feisty spirit into Nancy's character. Mildred wrote 23 of the original 30 Nancy Drew Mystery Stories®, including the first three. It was her characterization that helped make Nancy an instant hit. The Stratemeyer Syndicate's devotion to the series over the years under the reins of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams helped to keep the series alive and on store shelves for each succeeding generation of girls and boys. In 1959, Harriet, along with several writers, began a 25-year project to revise the earlier Carolyn Keene novels. The Nancy Drew books were condensed, racial stereotypes were removed, and the language was updated. In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.

Other writers of Nancy Drew volumes include Harriet herself, she wrote most of the series after Mildred quit writing for the Syndicate and in 1959 began a revision of the first 34 texts. The role of the writer of "Carolyn Keene" passed temporarily to Walter Karig who wrote three novels during the Great Depression. Also contributing to Nancy Drew's prolific existence were Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Nancy Axelrod, Priscilla Doll, Charles Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., and Margaret Scherf.

Reviews

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun story set at a blue grass festival in Indiana's Abe Lincoln area involving a Lincoln connection, a mysterious key and a treasure hunt!

[Melmo2610 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic story! I really enjoyed the Bluegrass Festival part of the story and the mystery was super good. Definitely a favorite Nancy Drew storyline.

[Katja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nostalgiamielessä päätin lukea yhden Neiti Etsivän. Näitä ahmin junnuna parhaimmillaan monta kirjaa putkeen, erityisesti kesäisin mökillä joko riippumatossa tai aitassa loikoillen. Noh, eihän tämä enää niin suurta vaikutusta tehnyt, mutta oli ihanaa nostalgisoida ja näköjään muistin vielä juonenkäänteetkin suunnilleen ulkoa. :D Ja hetkittäin muistin ja elin uudelleen samoja fiiliksiä juonen edetessä kuin silloin nuorena!

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The events in the story are centered around a Bluegrass Festival. Right off a guy named Jim Rogers is identifiable as a villain. He threatens a woman and her husband and before long their house is burned down to the ground. Sassy is a girl Nancy and the others meet and her fiddle ends up being stolen. Then a truck tries to kill Nancy (something which happens way too often in the series). Nancy finds a hidden key in the ruined house.

Then Nancy drives a car that almost falls through the bottom of a covered bridge, is attacked, ends up trapped in a root cellar and finds other things going wrong. The question the group has to answer is whether or not Jim Rogers is the sole person behind everything that has been going on or if someone else is masterminding the events for their own gain. A fairly typical Nancy Drew story.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.

http://spreadthewordnevada.org/

Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.

I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.

[Pratima Das · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about Nancy Drew who is a famous teenage detective. She helps her neighbor Sassy whose house has been burned down mysteriously. They find out that it has been burned down for a reason, and Nancy tries to solve mystery which is linked to Sassy's family. At the end after many difficulties they finally find the Hidden Inheritance, which is, a math paper which belonged to Abraham Lincoln, and her grandmother had kept it in a box for many years.

[Prami{reader and dreamer} · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't remember much but I liked Nancy and the mysteries.

[Holli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. It had a lot of twists and turns in the story. Many dangerous moments for Nancy. It kept me entertained on a cold rainy day.

[Koivula]

Mielenkiintoisin juttu oli se, että kirjan oli kääntänyt Turun Yliopiston kääntäjäopiskelijoiden työryhmä (6 opiskelijaa + 2 ohjaajaa) vuonna 1996.
Taas voi hakea yhden ratkaistun mysteerin.