The Red Slippers

Nancy Drew Diaries #11

by Carolyn Keene

Sabotage could result in a final curtain call for a ballerina’s career in this eleventh book of the Nancy Drew Diaries, a fresh approach to a classic mystery series.

Nancy and Bess are excited when they run into their old friend Maggie Rogers in River Heights. As little girls, Bess and Nancy were in dance classes with Maggie, until she moved away to attend a prestigious ballet academy. Now Maggie is part of a ballet company made up of the most promising young dancers in the state, and the company is in town to perform Sleeping Beauty . This performance is especially important because the famous dance critic Oscar LaVigne will be in the audience. A good review could catapult Maggie’s career…but a bad one could ruin everything.

In the days leading up to the big show, strange things start happening. First someone tampers with Maggie’s phone, making her late to rehearsal. Then Maggie’s face is violently scratched out of all the official show posters, and she finds her dressing room completely destroyed.

All signs point to sabotage, and Nancy is determined to find out who’s behind it. Will she crack the case in time—or is Sleeping Beauty destined to be Maggie’s last dance?

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

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2015

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

[lj ♡]

plane audiobook!

fell asleep in the middle for about 15 minutes but i don't think i missed anything important

[Apurva Khadye · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is one of the best in series. Totally unexpected from what I had in my mind because of title. This one had different context a personal touch. We got to see everyone's humane side not just mechanical mystery solving. Everyone acted way more mature than their age.

Twist in the end was unexpected. One more thing makes this book stand out than others is that Nancy actually does do seluthing, A lot of it, than she did in other books.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this series for a long time, and I think this one is the best so far. The writing was decent, but the mystery elements were actually surprising. Unlike other books, I was unable to solve the mystery, and I was genuinely surprised at the result. I loved the aesthetics and overall, a nice, easy read.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another banger from my pal, Nancy Drew! I love ballet-centric storylines and it's great to see them come to the forefront, especially in mysteries. The Red Slippers takes us straight to the barre and right into the action. I don't exactly understand the meaning of the title because there wasn't any red slippers unless it was a play on "red herring"? This mystery was great and totally fast-paced. I never knew who was responsible for the crimes until the denouement, which is always a good sign for any mystery. I don't know if the narrator was having a rough week, but she sounded like she was recovering from a cold. She was rather nasally and she might have been congested. I don't believe I've noticed that in her previous narrations, but I'll keep an extra ear out for the sequel. It was a swell time and these books are so pleasant to read. I knew ballerinas could be catty, but you really gotta watch out for those sneaky boys in tights too!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the context of this book and just like any mystery it's the person you least expect it to be. I really enjoyed the book and how it introduced new characters and explained their background. Good book overall! It was kind of slow which is why it lost a star on the rating scale.

[Sasha Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Readable piffle. Needed something after two heavy books back to back. Nancy drew ftw.

PSRC: book #21 : color in the title

[Shreya✨💗 Naidu]

This was a nice read alright but fine. I liked the mystery. The person who did it was kinda not expecting so that was nice.

[Sara Marigold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice one....weird mystery....this one is something new to me

[Jocelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Red Slippers is a book about Nancy Drew helping an old friend find out who is doing vandalism to her friend. Nancy is spending a day with her friends Bess and George when they run into an old friend that is from Nancy and Bess's old dance class. She tells them someone has been vandalizing her a few days before each performance on the tour she has been on. Nancy and her friends go to lunch where their friend learns that her phone has been set to the wrong time and that she will be late for rehearsal. Nancy and her friends go to Maggie's (that is the friends name) rehearsal. When they go downstairs to Maggie's dressing room they find that it has been vandalized. Then the day of Maggie's show Nancy goes undercover as dancer. She goes through the class and is sitting in the audience she gets called onstage to show that she is a dancer. That is when a cable holding up a fake tree snaps and falls on Nancy's foot. Her foot is not broken but bruised. When Nancy comes to the show later she figures out who the wrong doer was and catches him. It turns out he had a tear gas plan to make the dancers cough and sneeze in front of the man they were all trying to impress. Nancy saves the show in time and rescues Maggie who is being held prisoner in her own dressing room. In the end the man they were trying to impress congratulates them on a great show.

This book is another fast read that will be good for the car. I enjoyed it very much.

-Jocelyn Kuntz

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, either I am PMSing big time, or this book is more emotionally touching that the usual Nancy Drew! I was near tears three times! Although I've always loved Nancy Drew books, I just felt like this one gave a little more dimension to the characters and their personal feelings (main characters as well as peripheral characters.)

[Eric Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great improvement from the last book! Nancy really uses her head and does more investigating then the previous book, and there's a unexpected twist at the end that i loved. Overall a entertaining mystery to read, and it deserves 4 stars.

[Holli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a hit! I really enjoyed many different aspects of this story including some good advice.

[Skylar Sweet]

A very entertaining book, especially for dancers, like me.

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summer is almost over and prior to my one last vacation I spent last weekend immersed in easy reading. Reading goes through peaks and valleys; the month of Pulitzer winners morphs into a few week stretch of celebrity memoirs and kids books. We are human. Although this year I set out to read the masters, I left myself a caveat that I would still read my share of kids books and have fun. Yes, I savor long history books with the best of them, but I am still at essence a five year old. Always will be. And that is why I still get excited to read Nancy Drew. I admit I did not read much of Nancy Drew growing up. I need action, and the original series focused on Nancy’s thinking skills- which is admirable- but did not have as much action as say the Hardy Boys. By middle school I had advanced to Agatha Christie, in high school the early cases of one V.I. Warshawski. Undergoing a 21st century facelift, today’s Nancy Drew books are designed for kids with shorter attention spans than the those of my contemporaries thirty five years ago. Because these cases have more action, I am finally able to read and enjoy them in a way that I could not as a kid who needed constant movement. That is how I have finally come to savor Nancy Drew.

In the Nancy Drew Diary series, Nancy and her besties Bess and George work together to solve cases. Many times the three of them are on vacation together and a mystery finds them. “But, Nancy, you are supposed to be on vacation.” Happens to the best of them; Hercule Poirot once solved a case on vacation as well, and that one, Evil Under the Sun, is one of my favorites. I am getting side tracked. While most of these diary cases occur while on vacation to spice things up, this particular case takes place right in River Heights. The city is still there in the cornfields albeit in a modern iteration. Nancy, Bess, and George are in high school. Ned is in college. While the other three have interests, they are always involved in Nancy’s cases. George is the techie, Bess uses her charm to finagle clues out of multiple suspects, and Ned provides both moral support and is a wiz at solving puzzles. Nancy has been solving mysteries since she was a kid so by the time she is in high school, being a detective is an old hat for her. Adults can’t believe that a “girl” is a detective, but she usually figures out cases before the police do. It helps that her father is a respected lawyer because this allows Nancy to be on good terms with the cops, a luxury that most PIs don’t have and a perk of living in a smaller community.

Maggie Richards has returned to River Heights with her dance company to perform the role of the Lilac Queen in hopes of landing a role in a professional company. Someone or multiple people do not want her to get the chance of a lifetime or at least want her to do poorly enough to take her spot as principal dancer. On the tour, Maggie has been pranked and then some. As a youth, she happened to be in the same ballet class as Nancy and Bess, and, when they run into each other at a local coffee shop, the old friends catch up. The friends are privileged to watch rehearsal and then discover more pranks against Maggie, leading Nancy to take the case. She has less than twenty four hours to figure out who wants Maggie to fail before the performance the following day. George might not enjoy traditional feminine activities, but she agrees to run surveillance ops. Bess acts like herself in questioning potential suspects, allowing Nancy to go around town investigating. Some of the incidents seem far fetched but this series is written for kids, and the scheming has to hold their interest. A drawn out questioning and backstory that occurs in adult mysteries and detective series would probably bore youth readers, but they have to get their start somewhere.

As per usual, Nancy solves the case in the nick of time. There is some chivalry with Ned, and I am in the camp of they need to advance beyond chaste scenes. I know this is a series for kids but still. What I enjoy about this diary series is that all the friends help. It’s not like the original series where Nancy is out there solving mysteries and Bess and George are hanging out and relaxing. Some of the readers might relate to Bess and George more so than Nancy so highlighting different skill sets brings in more readership. Another positive is the friendship between the girls and the fact there is no animosity between them. This is girls supporting girls in the 21st century and will keep girls- and the adults in their lives- coming back for more. As of now, there are 25 books in the diary series and hopefully more to come. It would be interesting to see the girls move on to college and Nancy and Ned advance in their relationship, but an adult reader can’t get everything out of a kids’ series. Then it would lose its charm and youth readers. I can always hope and that is why I keep coming back for more Nancy Drew in a year where I claimed to only want to read the masters.

4 stars

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

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

First off, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m getting a little tired of sabotage as a plot device in the Nancy Drew Diaries. Surely, the publishers can come up with something more original than that. But no, for the fourth Diaries book in a row, Nancy needs to find out who is sabotaging someone else.

There are plenty of suspects in The Red Slippers, but one stood out to me right away. Not the obvious choice, the understudy Fiona, who has a lot to gain if Maggie fails, but someone else who is acting suspiciously. So I listened to this audiobook with only one ear, confident that I was right. Maybe the target audience wouldn’t pick up on the clues, but I thought the suspect had a huge neon sign above them.

Bess is having an identity crisis in this book.

“I NEED A THING,” BESS said with a sigh between sips of hot chocolate.

“Christmas was just last month. What more could you possibly need?” George shot back.

Bess rolled her eyes. “Not like that. I mean a thing that defines who I am.”

She’s always described as a fashionista, beautiful, a people person, and in the Diaries series, she’s been described as an awesome mechanic in a couple of books, but that’s forgotten for this volume. She complains that George is a computer geek and Nancy is a detective and Ned is a brain, but Bess doesn’t know what she wants to do or be when she grows up. So there’s a little more dimension to the characters in this book as she explores her feelings and tries to find her passion.

Overall, an okay book in the series, better if you haven’t read them all in a row like I have because of the recycled sabotage plot device. Seriously, if sabotage is the main theme in volume 12, I may give up on this series and start on one of the other Nancy Drew series.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely definitely enjoyed this one!

I love it when the ND mysteries have the answers more complex, with many answers, and this one didn’t disappoint. I did figure out who it was fairly early on simply because the NDD series is EXTREMELY formulaic in that regard, but I certainly couldn’t figure out details.

It was very well done, and with a surprisingly bittersweet ending. One where you deeply sympathize with the person behind the case, and hope they turn out for the better, in the end.

Overall, while it certainly made me cringe a few times from secondhand embarrassment, I really liked it. Nicely done.

[Karis Anna-Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like this is one of the stronger mysteries, with plenty of suspects, lots of clues to keep track of and follow up on, and a highly sympathetic villain. A good case, all around!

I also really appreciate how much this series makes space for George's queerness (or at least the possibility of it). I'm not even sure if it's intentional, but as a queer kid who grew up idolizing George, hearing George talk about her parents being accepting of her being different, but still wishing she wasn't because it would be so much easier, and how parents should love and support their kids no matter who they are...I dunno. It hit me. Quarantine has me absurdly emotional over everything.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confused why the title is called that when the story had no mention of red slippers lol. Anyway, this was fast paced but kind of far fetched. I only figured out who the suspect was when we were told an important clue that helps Nancy also figure out who the culprit is. The way the author builds the story mostly points to another suspect so it was weird when we get one clue that literally helps you piece the whole mystery. I also thought what the culprit was trying to do at the end was brushed off too easily. Like that was pretty dangerous.

[Caron Pescatore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another remarkable Nancy Drew Diaries story. I listened to the audiobook as I have been doing with the entire series. The story is about an old friend of Nancy's who is on the cusp of achieving her dream of becoming a professional ballerina when someone seems bent on destroying her chances.

I admit I had my suspicions about who the culprit was pretty early, but that did not impact my enjoyment of the book. As with the rest of the series, this story makes an excellent read for young lovers of mystery stories. Enjoy!

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carolyn Keene's The Red Slippers (Nancy Drew Diaries, #11) finds the young sleuth solving a case while taking the stage as a dancer. Standing in the shadows, Nancy learns much but yet is empathetic to the actual perpetrator is named as she knows that there are mental health issues that need addressed, all while opening night awaits and several dancers look fir that big break. Delightfully charming read.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Nancy Drew I've read where Nancy doesn't help rich people stay rich and keep their fortune. So, in that way, this was a much better read, IMO, than the last few I've read. Still I'm not the target audience for a junior novel so I find it flat, one-dimensional, dull, and predictable. But it's a fun, mindless romp that only takes me a day to finish. Another knocked off my reading list.

[ikallam · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚕𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚝𝚘. 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚕𝚝𝚢 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚕 𝙽𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚢 𝙳𝚛𝚎𝚠 . 𝙸𝚝𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚐𝚞𝚢 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚒𝚝. 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚎𝚌 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚕𝚎. 𝙱𝚎𝚌 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚌𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢

[Nina Soon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oooh this one had a lot of good life lessons and tips for reading people. I remember why I loved these as a kid now, it exposed me to soooo many different hobbies and worlds, like this one was about the cut-throat ballet world, mental health, and even lie detecting. Great story, and again another Nancy Drew mystery I couldn't figure out.

[Evie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books in the series. Coming from a high-pressure performing arts background, they did the environment justice while remaining age-appropriate. Everything has to have a happy ending, but the closure itself did have some actual nuance which I appreciated.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intresting

This book was interesting and nice. But it was a bit short for $6.99. I recommend you to buy this book, but wish it was a few dollars cheaper. Hope they decrease the price. It is such an amazing book though.

[Kathleen Meacham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful -- fun, clean, a good little YA mystery.

[Pangkerego Letizia Christabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great mystery book! i love the series! what an interesting plot!

[Greer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Nancy Drew and this series is just as fun as the original.

[Sah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was nice.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was rather unexpected, and I liked that. I also had to appreciate the title, a play on “red herring.” Overall, it was good.