The Picture of Guilt

Nancy Drew Files #101

by Carolyn Keene

Spending the Thanksgiving holiday in romantic Paris, Nancy meets professor Ellen Mathieson and finds her curiosity piqued by the death of the professor's research assistant, which mimics the murder of a painter six months earlier. Original.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Childrens, Fiction

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

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 In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.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

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Nancy's spending Thanksgiving in Paris, the city of light, love...and mystery. Her neighbor is Ellen Mathieson, a professor whose study of painter Josephine Solo has suddenly taken a dark and disturbing turn. Ellen's research assistant is dead-- killed in an accident exactly like the one that took Solo's life six months before!
Josephine Solo left a legacy of secrecy and scandal...even the possibility of a double life. But Nancy begins to suspect that some of the professor's students also have something to hide. Paris is full of powerful temptations-- forbidden romance, secret passions, financial greed-- any one of which could lead to a motive for murder."

Awhile ago I acquired a fair amount of Nancy Drew Files from a thrift store that was going out of business. After reading them all there was only a few that I liked enough to want to keep and over time that amount got narrowed down to just two books I planned on keeping; Secrets Can Kill and The Picture of Guilt. I just reread Secrets Can Kill and decided to get rid of it as I doubt I'll want to read it again anytime soon. So this book is my last chance to keep a Nancy Drew Files in my collection. Let's see how that goes.

- Because Nancy is in France obviously a lot of people speak french, including Nancy who has spoken french since the original books. The dialogue is written in English since these books are English books for English readers but for some strange reason some words are in french. Here's an example; Nancy and George are almost run over by a motorcycle

"These motards," a middle aged man said angrily in french. "Never do they notice if someone is in the way! Are you alright, mademoiselle? Shall I call for the police?"

If all the french dialogue is being "translated" to English than why leave a word like motards in french. Motards means motorcyclist but at first i though it was outdated slang/an insult, a combination of the words motorcycle and...well, you know.

- Nancy asks Ellen if she can use her phone book to which Ellen says phone books are outdated in France and instead everyone uses a computerized version called a Minitel. This sounded quite advanced for 1994, which is when this book was written, so i felt this might have been some fictitious thing but lo and behold it was a real thing! And it wasn't just a phone book, it was the internet before there was an internet. I had absolutely no idea about this, I found it really fascinating.

You can read the rest of this review at VintageGirlsBooks.blogspot.com






Original review:
Normally the travel books are painfully awful but this wasn't so bad. Running around Paris was fun and ever since the early Nancy Drew books from the 1930s it's been stated the she spoke French fluently so that made sense. For about half of the book Nancy tries to solve an accidental death that she thinks might have been a murder, then she realizes she's basing her suspicion on nothing and it was an accident. The culprit was obvious but the end certainly threw me for a loop, it was a great twist.

[Bettie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Första Kitty-boken jag läst där det förekommer ett faktiskt mordfall. Kanske har jag stött på det tidigare men kommer i sådana fall inte ihåg det. Riktigt underhållande och är trevligt att få följa Kitty i en något modernare miljö!

[Alyssa Boni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. I have never read anything this interesting and I love the way it's worded it is amazing read this review and then read the books.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know what I've said before about this series? That still holds true here.

[Cindy DeLong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good mystery. Quick read and easy to follow.

[Ashlee Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. Overall, it flowed easy and kept a good pace. I didn't care much for the ending, but everything has to end somehow. Nancy Drew always seems to know how to sleuth and solve mysteries.

[V. Arrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, the fact that there was no romance in this one makes it probably one of my top 3 in this iteration of ND so far.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one!

[Melissa]

This was an awesome.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy read.

[Dwayne Keller · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok, nothing stood out, nothing spectacular, nothing that made me want to read any more.

[Eric Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was pretty good! The mystery started out weakly and dull like, but towards the end of the book things got more interesting and exciting, so the second half was a big improvement! 3 stars.