Secret at Mystic Lake

Nancy Drew Diaries #6

by Carolyn Keene

A few nights in nature take a nasty turn for Nancy and her friends in this sixth book of the Nancy Drew Diaries, a fresh approach to a classic series.

To celebrate her birthday, George is taking Nancy and Bess on a three-day bike tour around the scenic Mystic Lake. They can’t wait to spend time exploring the gorgeous landscape by day and camping under the stars at night. What they didn’t count on was sabotage!

First someone steals food and supplies from their packs. Then tour guide Caitlin vanishes overnight, and the entire group finds their tires slashed to bits. Now Nancy is cycling for clues instead of soaking up the scenery. Can Nancy track down the culprit before she and her friends are lost in the woods forever?

Genres: Mystery, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Childrens, Audiobook, Fiction, Adventure

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2014

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 In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.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

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summer break is now officially over. Schools start this week. Well, my kids start in two weeks but I start back up this week. Last day to get appointments done and rest. I opted for comfort- Star Wars and Nancy Drew. Both I know from memory so it was an afternoon date with my sofa and I’m not complaining. Fifth and sixth grade math students will be here before I know it. Anyway, my goodreads friend and “colleague” has been reading through all her old Nancy Drew books and moved onto the diary series and invited me to join in. I grew up with Nancy Drew so how could I say no? Here Nancy and her friends Bess and George are embarking on a bike trip around a lake for George’s birthday. The scenery is breathtaking but someone wants to sabotage it. Enter detective Drew to solve things before things get out of hand. Updated with 21st century pop culture, the diaries have stay true to the original series and, I think because they are modernized, are more fun to read. I know I will enjoy my time with the Nancy Drew diary series. Each one is a standalone mystery that features Nancy Drew doing what she does best: solving crimes alongside her best friends.

4 stars

[Bill Riggs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly decent mystery up until the last several chapters. Nancy doesn’t solve the mystery but rather stumbles onto who the culprit is more by accident. The reasoning behind the incidents and disappearance ends up being pretty lame anyways.

[Readaholic Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

4 and 1/2 stars, rounded up. A good, simple mystery with Nancy, Bess and George. I figured out one of the bad guys at the start of the mystery.

[Dinnu Reads Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Nancy Drew story was actually pretty good and unpredictable. Reminds me the older ones I liked before :)

[Michelle Stagg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great mystery. I love nature and I would love to go camping someday, but not like what the people in this book went through. Their camping trip was a nightmare. I hope to read more Nancy Drew books in the future. I like solving them.

[Carol Jones-Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I figured out that there was a young set of Nancy Drews for girls around 8 years old, and an older set around 13 years of age. This is the first one I've read in the older set.

(First Read) To celebrate her birthday, George invited Bess and me on her dream trip: a three day bike tour around the beautiful Mystic Lake Park. She's not exactly outdoorsy, but excited to explore the gorgeous landscape by day and camp under the stars by night. But the tour been nothing short of a nightmare! First, someone stole our tents, Then our trip leader, Caitlin, vanished overnight. Now we can't find way back to civilization, and no one in our group can agree on the next move. We are starting to think someone is out to sabotage this trip. Is it one of our group?

I think I am the last girl to have read a Nancy Drew! I enjoyed it very much! My Mom said she loved them a lot as a young girl/teenager. This was a good story. Recommend.

A few nights in nature take a nasty turn for Nancy and her friends in this sixth book of the Nancy Drew Diaries, a fresh approach to a classic series.

To celebrate her birthday, George is taking Nancy and Bess on a three-day bike tour around the scenic Mystic Lake. They can’t wait to spend time exploring the gorgeous landscape by day and camping under the stars at night. What they didn’t count on was sabotage!

First someone steals food and supplies from their packs. Then tour guide Caitlin vanishes overnight, and the entire group finds their tires slashed to bits. Now Nancy is cycling for clues instead of soaking up the scenery.

(Second Read) A few nights in nature take a nasty turn for Nancy and her friends in this sixth book of the Nancy Drew Diaries, a fresh approach to a classic series.

To celebrate her birthday, George is taking Nancy and Bess on a three-day bike tour around the scenic Mystic Lake. They can’t wait to spend time exploring the gorgeous landscape by day and camping under the stars at night. What they didn’t count on was sabotage!

First someone steals food and supplies from their packs. Then tour guide Caitlin vanishes overnight, and the entire group finds their tires slashed to bits. Now Nancy is cycling for clues instead of soaking up the scenery. Can Nancy track down the culprit before she and her friends are lost in the woods forever?

[Lydia Hess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew it!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Welllll this was definitely one of the best books in the Nancy Drew Diaries series. I still kinda hate this series so I'm not sure where to rate it. I guess I'll allow a 2.75. 😅

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick enjoyable read to finish a challenge

[Michal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was really good!

[Holli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Possibly my fav in the series. I love camping. I felt like I was outside among nature. The plot keeps u guessing and even a bit "spooky" at one point. Thumbs up.
Ready for the next installment.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

AUTHOR Keene, Carolyn
TITLE Secret At Mystic Lake: Nancy Drew Diaries
DATE READ 08/15/20
RATING 4/B
FIRST SENTENCE
GENRE/ PUB DATE/PUBLISHER / # OF YA Mystery/ 2014/hoopla-audio/2 hr 35 min
SERIES/STAND-ALONE #6 Nancy Drew Diaries
CHALLENGE Good Reads 2020 Reading Goal 149/120;
GROUP READ ND
TIME/PLACE 2013/OH
CHARACTERS Nancy Drew
COMMENTS A camping trip gone wrong… one of the campers goes missing. One of the campers has a shady background. A tent is missing. Bicycles are rendered useless by flat tires. Cell phone with service has gone missing.
Not a pleasant trip.

[Mandi with Red Quill Editorial · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is not quite as good as the ones I read growing up (of course, that could be a personal bias). The reasoning felt a little anticlimactic for the over-the-top lengths the culprit went to on the bike tour to achieve their goal. Even so, this was the first Nancy Drew book that I read to my daughters and they both really enjoyed it. My oldest loved trying to figure out whodunit and they are looking forward to reading more. I am looking forward to reading some of the originals to them.

[Eden Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book even though it was kinda short, at chapter 9 I thought Dagger was the culprit, (because he pointed a knife at Henry like he was planing to kill him or something.)
I rate this book three stars because I did't think there was a culprit, but it did get interesting and I did like Nancy's character. :)

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always enjoy these books. I was even surprised by some of the plot twists it had. Some people I suspected, and others I didn't. It ended very well though. I always enjoyed the characters and the writing. Carolyn does an amazing job on making you like and even second guess characters and what's going on, and if someone did or didn't cause something. It's amazing. Worth the read in my opinion.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better Nancy Drew Diaries, this book had excitement and intrigue.

[Yrsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Det fanns lite oklarheter i den här. Vad hände till exempel med den försvunna personens cykel? Inte någon topp-bok i serien men ganska mysig ändå.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

omg that ending was truly something else

[kaylee⋆˚꩜｡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

that little

[Sara Marigold · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is also interesting. Extremely brainstorming.

[A · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I'll rate this one the same as the third book in the series, Once Upon a Thriller. I daresay I liked this book as much, if not a bit more, than that one, but the reason is quite different.

To be honest, I can't even remember which other book in the series that this is most similar to, but its weakness in that regard is that the entire story basically consists of Nancy and co. surviving in the wilderness, as another reviewer has said, rather than solving a mystery.

However, I'm going to forgive this on my gut feeling that, were it not for the constant movement of the characters and the situation just becoming more and more desperate, I would not have found it enjoyable if Nancy's 'snooping', if it existed, were anything like in the last book. At least here I actually wanted to know what happened next, and each character was suspicious enough to call my hunches into question.

It does start off as a whodunit and, as it's implied pretty early on, remains that way, but the mystery solving aspect just isn't there. Nancy doesn't really put two and two together, because there are no twos. There are suspicious actions and attitudes and little else to go on. Furthermore, the mystery often takes a back seat to everyone's instinct to make it out of there alive.

(Once Upon a Thriller felt like the most solid mystery in the series, and I appreciate that. It also lacked the filler of other books in the series, which made it an overall better read, even if it was rather short.)

If I'd been solely looking for a mystery, I'd be pretty disappointed, but this was still a relief after Sabotage at Willow Woods, which I suppose means I'll be continuing the series. Hopefully, I don't have to read another three books before reaching one that's as decent as this.

[debbicat *made of stardust* · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok for what it was. I needed something light and entertaining to listen to in the car. It didn't take much to follow along. Which is what I was looking for.

[Bargain Sleuth Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

For this and other book reviews, visit www.bargain-sleuth.com

Friday is the day I set aside to go over the children’s books I collected as a child and adult. I started off with my favorite Nancy Drew Mysteries, and realized I should see how my favorite sleuth was faring in the modern world. So I decided to read the Nancy Drew Diaries, the series currently in print. This week, we’re up to volume six, Secret at Mystic Lake.

From the publisher: “To celebrate her birthday, George is taking Nancy and Bess on a three-day bike tour around the scenic Mystic Lake. They can’t wait to spend time exploring the gorgeous landscape by day and camping under the stars at night. What they didn’t count on was sabotage!”

There are only a few other people on the 3-day bike tour, Caitlin and Henry, the college age co-leaders who also happen to be twins. Caitlin is super Type A, a perfectionist in everything she does, and is working this summer to pay for her books to attend Yale in the fall; Henry is laid back and just goes with the flow, saying instead of college he’s going to travel for half the year. Then there’s Zoe, a teen who was roped in to the tour by a friend, who then caught mono. Since her deposit wasn’t refundable, Zoe decided to stick it out, although she’d rather be at home watching Project Runway and giving herself a manicure. Sort of like Bess, who takes an instant shine to her. Then there’s Dagger, a middle-aged man with a positive attitude, but rather mysterious, too.

The first day, while stopping to eat a meal and rest, the group’s tents are stolen. And of course, it rains that night. You can always count on it raining in a Nancy Drew novel. And with only one tent (Zoe packed an extra) and a tarp for Caitlin and Henry, it’s a long wet night.

In the morning, it is discovered that the food is missing. And Caitlin is missing. Dagger claims to have heard Henry and Caitlin arguing, but Henry denies it. Nancy’s spidey-sense is busy trying to figure out the who, what and why of this sabotage.

No one can agree on a plan of action, but finally, after spending some time searching for Caitlin, the group agrees to head to the ranger station located somewhere along Mystic Lake. The reason why no one can call for help is that cell service is sketchy around the lake, and the satellite phone that Caitlin mentioned she had in case of emergencies can’t be found. The hand-drawn map the group is relying on to find the ranger station is badly drawn, and soon the group is lost.

Nancy and her chums don’t so much as look for clues in Secret at Mystic Lake, rather than survive in the wild. What surprised me, and of course, it wouldn’t be a good plot device without it, is how remote Mystic Lake is. I mean, the group is on a bike tour put on by a company, who supposedly have done this type of tour before. So if the tour is popular, if riding or hiking around Mystic Lake is so popular, why don’t Nancy and company come across any people? Okay, okay, it’s a kids book, so I’ll suspend my disbelief for the sake of a plot device.

After another break, the group finds all their bike tires slashed. Who on earth could be doing all this sabotage? It has to be someone from the group, right? Because now they’re lost in the woods so who would know where they were? Nancy has it narrowed down to Dagger or Henry, because they both seemed untruthful and mysterious with answers when asked, and some suspicious behaviors.

The group makes camp for the second night, and sometime in the night Nancy has to get up to use the bathroom (and I do have to say, for a book, there’s frequent mentions of bathroom breaks. It’s refreshing to have real life stuff in the books, because don’t you wonder about that stuff when reading a book? Like, “When did they have time to go to the bathroom? They’ve been searching for hours.”). She hears a noise, then Henry yelling at her to run, so she does. She hears footsteps behind her, and she has no idea where she’s going, but finds her way to a stream.

Nancy knows that if she enters the stream, she’ll be harder to track, so she does. She also comes across a canoe and decides to take it to get farther away from whomever is chasing her. She heads to the opposite shoreline to a house with a dock, hoping to find someone home who can help her. What she finds is a surprise, the real culprit of the sabotage. And Nancy had no clue up until that point. So very, very un-Nancy Drew-like.

I liked Secret at Mystic Lake for the action and description of nature, but felt a little let down that Nancy didn’t do so much sleuthing as she did just trying to survive the wilderness with limited resources. Plus, like I said, Nancy didn’t solve the mystery, the culprit revealed themselves instead. But that also happened in the classic Nancy Drew Mysteries as well, sometimes.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, this is the third Nancy drew diaries book I’ve read and by far the best and kind of twisted one so far.

So as I mentioned in my updates, I thought sending your young daughter and her friends out to the woods with strangers is a horrible idea and the girls shouldn’t have even been in such a dangerous situation In the first place. If George is so tech savvy, why like camping lol. But why not ask for a satellite phone too, you know just In case. Camping as your birthday present is fine but go with people you trust and not so far off into nature since you’re clearly not very experienced at camping. I am surprised I guessed it correctly and I guessed at the motive though I was a little disappointed that that was the motive. I get why C thought those things and wanted to frame H but idk if she is going to college far away from her family, she should just leave that drama behind. Honestly the way her parents treat H is not good and he does need to learn responsibility but there has to be a better way. In the end, even if her brother looks bad and everyone finds out how lazy and privileged he is, it will still reflect badly on C if her brother’s reputation is ruined because she will then be known for a long time as the sister of the screw up. Dagger was honestly weird but I knew he wasn’t the bas guy but the authors could have done something more with Dagger’s story since I think he was still interesting despite being a little creepy. Zoe being in on it was not surprising but i didn’t catch it either. Overall, good book but they could have expanded a little more on character arcs and and created a better motive that doesn't make The villain look so unhinged for a pretty tame reason

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume definitely felt more intense than the usual Nancy Drew story! The downside is my hunch over Whodunit was absolutely correct, though I didn't count on an accomplice. Thing is, the guilty party practically projected the intent to sabotage the tour from the very start, so it was difficult NOT to suspect them.

It also just felt particularly dire, since the characters were slowly getting stranded in the wilderness with fewer and fewer supplies for survival, when most of them aren't THAT into camping. Would there have been a way to prevent this from happening? ...maybe if the tour company hadn't hired a high school kid with massive burnout along with her Golden Child twin... but that would require some higher levels of psychic foresight, I think.

Or set up a very clearly marked trail that would have kept them from getting miserably lost, with or without a map.

I don't know. Easy to talk when I haven't done a single day of camping, though I did once got myself fairly lost in a large park (but luckily Google Maps worked even without data/wi-fi).

Anyway, a tense read, but I don't know how much I would recommend it. It felt predictable to ME, though in that sort of way of, "HAHA, it was the butler! ...wait, really, it was?" The drama also felt quite a bit forced (for a reason), but it WAS a lot more drama than I remember Nancy ever going through!

[london · Rating 4 out of 5]

“My heart was pounding, both from the exertion of running around nonstop and from the creeping feeling that something terrible had happened.”

rating: 4 ⭐️

summary: Nancy and her friends join a three day bike tour, excited for adventure and scenery. They get a little of both but their adventure is much more strenuous than they thought. After all, it’s hard to enjoy beauty when someone’s mysteriously disappeared, screams fill the air at every corner, and their food was stolen. But the biggest problem is that they’re stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a tour guide who knows nothing and a bunch of suspects.

thoughts: i found this one to be pretty enjoyable. it was almost average and it was hard to get into at first but once it hit over the middle it was hard to put it down!

content to be aware of:
1. ppl being mysterious and using threats to get their way (no one actually gets hurt)
2. guy that’s strangely obsessed with meditation
3. someone with a past in jail, etc.

[Jose Salazar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the book Secret at mystic lake by Carolyn Kenne.I'd rate this book four stars.
I like Carolyn Keene’s use of imagery when Nancy provided a list of items they needed when they were packing for the trip in Nancy’s house. “We each had a large backpack containing a few extra clothes…”. In addition I really liked the crisis of the book which is when Nancy had trouble finding out who’s been taking their belongings at the the River Heights bike trip in Nancy’s house. “ I think the food’s been taken,the tents…etc.” To add on I also loved the character Nancy. An example of this is when Nancy cared about the safety of her friends after they asked her about an emergency on the River Heights trip. “I’ve also taken several courses in first aid,including CPR…ect.” This indicates that she cares about the safety of their friends and commitment to finding out who’s been taking their belongings.The theme played a big role in this book about bravery and committing. I definitely recommend this book for anyone.

[KatlinE · Rating 2 out of 5]

George is a bit of a b-word in this one. She is allowed to be upset about the situation, but others aren't, forced her cousin to do something she clearly does not like and then get upset again when the cousin doesn't like the activity. Damn a woman can’t even go pee.

The blind leading the blind, Both men were super useless and kept blaming each other. After the knife event I would not have trust either of them and not let the knife guy lead me in circles in the forest.

These books usually don't have a a super serious villains, but in this book the villain was really mentally unhinged, whose plan was clever, but the reasoning was dumb. How about you speak to your parents first and not get your brother and strangers almost killed, or frame you brother for your disappearance

[Luke Tendick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy finds herself in trouble, she goes on a great bike tour, when things begin to go wrong. What do you do when all your camping equipment gets stolen and someone slashes your tires. Through the book nancy finds that there is someone who wants to ruin the whole entire tour, but who? The people in the book all seem suspect at one point or another, but to discover who did it is a shocker. The reason why is thrilling. The book includes great action and suspense.

Through reading this book I found that it had my attention the whole way through and I really enjoyed reading this one. I would read it again, it was suspensful and even scary at times, overall it made for a great read. It had moments that I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. I loved this book.

Things to watch out for
-Some horror (Little kids beware)
-Feminism

[Amy (I'd Rather Be Sleeping) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly enjoyed this story. It has a tinge of classic slasher horror to it - what with the bike expedition to woods, thefts, disappearances and the feeling of being unable to trust your companions. However, Nancy...really doesn't pick up on anything in this series. She literally trips over the solution every single time. I managed to figure out about half of it, which was more than Nancy - who is supposed to be some super sleuth, but really is just a nosy busybody who asks questions and trips over the solution.

In a side note, I've figured out why I have such a hard time with mysteries anymore: Because most of the characters are unlikable. Sometimes you can like the sleuth (I do like Nancy, Bess and George) but the suspects, red herrings and victims are so unlikable. Much like this book, as we see how, when put under pressure, people fall apart.