Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
San Francisco has tons to offer tourists like Bess, George, and me. Fresh crabs, cable cars, hikes -- and stalkers! Well, maybe stalkers! is a little harsh, but this older couple, Ed and Harriet, keeps popping up everywhere.
Coincidental or not, Ed and Harriet's appearances are smelling fishier than San Francisco Bay to me. So the investigation begins. But who knew it'd lead to more sleuthing -- in Hawaii?

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2005

14 people are currently reading
430 people want to read

About the author

Carolyn Keene

1,042 books3,880 followers
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 In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.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.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
147 (26%)
4 stars
187 (33%)
3 stars
181 (32%)
2 stars
42 (7%)
1 star
8 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
Profile Image for Hannah.
172 reviews233 followers
September 18, 2017
Second time reading...

Past Hannah would have probably given this book 5 stars, but present Hannah would give this book 2 lol. So I've decided to give it any overall rating of 3.5 (but rounded it up to 4 because past Hannah would've wanted that lol)
Profile Image for D.L..
466 reviews64 followers
September 20, 2017
I didn't enjoy this Nancy Drew mystery as much as I have others in the series. It was all just a bit inconceivable and well, the denouement was kind of dumb. Not my favorite.
Profile Image for Eden Silverfox.
1,233 reviews102 followers
May 19, 2014
Nancy along with her friends Bess and George are vacationing in San Francisco. Not long after arriving they meet an older couple, Harriet and Ed. They are nice enough, but everywhere Nancy and her friends go, Harriet and Ed are there too. Are they being stalked?

Eventually the older couple confesses they have been following them for a reason. They are the owners of a publishing company and one of their authors, and a very good friend, has went missing. She went to Hawaii to research some of the lore and went missing after getting off her plane. They want Nancy to find her. Nancy agrees to help and soon, Nancy and her friends are off to Hawaii.

I've read about three Nancy Drew books (four if you include this one) and I don't think I enjoyed this one quite as much as the other few I've read, but I still liked it. It was real easy to get into the story and it was a bit of a surprise about who actually took the author. The people that seemed most likely to do it weren't the ones that did it.

In the other ones I read I think the stories were a little better, but this one was still good. The setting being Hawaii was nice; made me want to visit there myself.

Overall, it was a pretty good mystery book, but not quite as good as other Nancy Drew books I've read. I'd give it 3 and a half stars.
Profile Image for Alex.
6,671 reviews1 follower
February 3, 2014
This was a cute little read. I like that Nancy is a lot less perfect in this series, it makes her more relatable. I also like Bess and George a lot more in these books.

The mystery itself was kind of lame, but it was fun overall.
Profile Image for Stephanie.
218 reviews30 followers
January 11, 2016
I found the story really weird at first but towards the end I started to see how it was plausible. I did like the names used for some of the characters -i.e. Mildred, Harriet and Ed which were the names of the original authors of the Nancy Drew books. I thought that was quite cute to acknowledge.
Profile Image for C..
261 reviews
May 25, 2022
Nancy, George, and Bess go to San Francisco for a vacation, but they are whisked away to Hawaii by two strangers searching for a missing colleague.

The book focused too much on Eliza and while she had the motive, I didn't enjoy that the spotlight was on her for the majority of this book. I feel like the ending was rushed even if I found the pacing of this book a little slow. I would've enjoyed reading more about Hawaii instead of Nancy finding Eliza suspicious.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
2,848 reviews
August 5, 2022
Entertaining story with Nancy, Bess and George hopping from San Francisco to Hawaii to do some sleuthing…
Profile Image for Cheryl.
271 reviews8 followers
July 10, 2025
On vacation in San Francisco Nancy and friends are approached by a couple offering a paid trip to Hawaii to search for their missing friend.
Profile Image for Fathima ;).
120 reviews
August 9, 2024
It was good! ✨
I just read it for a quick little read 😶
I wouldn’t really recommend it 🤷🏻‍♀️
Profile Image for matilde.
239 reviews6 followers
December 17, 2016
*3.75*
I´m usually good at knowing who the bad guy is, but here? Everyone was suspicious.
Profile Image for Madeline.
15 reviews11 followers
February 10, 2009
Nancy, Bess, and George are on vacation in San Fransisco. The meet this cupple and they seem really nice. Them later on they start following them. The Namcy had told them that she is a detective. The tell her the their friend was doing research in Hawaii and disapeared! The offer to fly them to Hawaii to solve the mystery. Will they go on the free trip to hawaii to find some stragers friend? Read Naancy Drew girl dective Trade wind danger to find out.
Profile Image for Dana.
250 reviews
November 4, 2011
Mysterious and very suspicious! Typical Nancy Drew. But the person guilty does the crime for the silliest reason in the world and thats what bugs my conscience.
174 reviews
March 30, 2011
Nancy and her friends were having a holiday at San Fransisco and as usual Nancy is stuck in a mystery. Well, I liked it
105 reviews1 follower
May 20, 2013
The description in this book is spectacular. The way it is described you can literally visualize it.
Profile Image for Ella.
7 reviews
February 20, 2015
I usually give 5 stars to Nancy Drew but now I want to learn more about San Fransisco. However, it was good because I am going to hawaii this winter and had just started researching it.
Profile Image for Sydney.
1,115 reviews14 followers
May 20, 2015
when you first learn about ed and harriet you become suspicious but they are not the criminals
Profile Image for Maddie.
20 reviews
January 9, 2009
this book was pretty good , but it wasn't the best book in the world
Profile Image for Ally.
96 reviews3 followers
October 30, 2017
I liked this book because of the fact that the girls traveled to two places I know well: San Francisco and Hawaii. However, I felt like the mystery was bouncy, and new characters were introduced at random. It felt very challenging to solve because of so much plot action.
Profile Image for Katie Finch.
322 reviews3 followers
Read
October 18, 2018
This book will always hold a special place in my heart because it was given to me by my first grade teacher. I resisted reading it at first because I thought it was boring, but by the end, I was hooked on mysteries- and I still am! Recently I discovered that the names of characters in this book like Mildred and Harriet are actually some of the real names of people who have assumed the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, which only made the book more special to me. I will admit this book isn't the most technically brilliant or mind-blowingly unpredictable, but it has shaped my reading tastes as much as or more than any other book, and for that, I love it.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.