The E-Mail Mystery

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #144

by Carolyn Keene

Another adventure of the plucky girl detective, Nancy Drew.

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

148 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

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 In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.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

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a page turner! And being hit over the head with a brick of nostalgia was certainly a pleasant experience. I'd forgotten how suspenseful Nancy Drew can be.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A PSA of how to navigate the Internet in 1998

[Izzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mind-numbingly boring. Only exists to teach kids about internet safety in the most didactic and obnoxious way possible

[Adena]

I read this one in 5th grade and I remember it because I was like "What the hell is a cyber cafe?"

[Hillarie (Hillareads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won't give this a star rating, but I first read this in elementary school. If you're old enough to remember how the Internet was in the late 90's, you'll get a good laugh out of this. I might reread a few more of my old favorites, but I don't expect much.

The writing was meh, the culprit was obvious, and the characters were boring.

[Readaholic Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good Nancy Drew story with an intriguing mystery.

[Sohila Kaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simply put.... It was a gripping story

[Melmo2610 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mystery if a bit dated. You can definitely see this story was written just as the internet was starting to take off. Liked this one.

[LuAnn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, Carson Drew better look to his hiring practices since there's something suspicious going on in his office this time around--and of course Nancy and Bess (no George) are there to solve it. Nancy patiently puts up with a lot of shade from the other counselor, prying from the paralegal and secrecy from the law student, the three suspects. The computer elements are obviously outdated--how could they not be with tech changing so fast and Nancy's ignorance is laughable these days, though it's nice to have Bess being the expert for a change. But the mystery still holds together, though the perpetrator is sadly lacking in wisdom and real motive. I enjoyed the setting; only wish Carson had a more central role.

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cleaning out my parents' place and found a couple of these which I read for nostalgia. This one was unintentionally hilarious because of the character's bemused enthusiasm for "new" technology. I laughed out loud at Bess being a "tech expert" and explaining terms like ttfn to help Nancy solve the case.

[Briley Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nancy Drew books have always been some of my favorites growing up! This book focused on Nancy investigating a blackmailer who she believes to be from her dad's law firm. Nancy must learn about online hacking if she's gonna cath who's behind the drastic number of cases settling far too quickly. This book was interesting even though it is pretty outdated!

[Josie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightfully inelegant in explaining computer concepts for a young audience. Readers get to learn about LOL and the Unix-to-Unix Copy Program within paragraphs of each other. But Bess being in a romance novel chat group? Nancy meeting online strangers in internet cafes? It will sadly never be 1998 again.

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Julia]

Littvet barnlitteratur.

Lite nostalgiskt pga att jag läste en hel del Kitty-böcker på mellanstadiet.

[Madison Fenzl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable, but I loved the 1990's ambience and technology lingo💖 I always love a good Nancy Drew book ☺️

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Outdated tech but it was fun to read. Not my favorite by all means, but I want to read all the Nancy Drew books. A fast read.

[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.

[Stoddard32 · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Nancy Drew begins her summer working at her fathers law firm she discovers a suspicious email while going through many settled cases. As her curiosity grows she decided to make the mystery email her new detective case. Soon after, Nancy discovers that one of her fathers employes are blackmailing the clients into settling way faster than usual. And as a result a different company, William and Brown, benefits from it. I enjoyed this book because of the suspense Carolyn Keene, the author, had written throughout the whole book. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.

[Miri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy investigates when someone from her father's law firm seems to be blackmailing his clients into settling their cases, to the benefit of another firm. This case sends Nancy into cyber space, to learn about email hacking, she'll need to learn fast, because people online aren't always what they seem!

[Ashlynn Degonza · Rating 2 out of 5]

ok don't get me wrong I love the author of Nancy Drew. but I feel the technology and the writing is a little to old fashioned. The storie's plot didn't really interest me so it was really hard to read. I honestly didn't finish the book because it didn't interest me I even tried to force myself to read it and it didn't work.

[Fan Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH. MY. GOD.

This book was like my childhood. I got this book for Christmas when I was five, and have been reading it over and over and over again. Although right now some of the pages are gone, the cover's missing, and it's covered with ink marks - rendering it utterly unreadable.

But alas. For now, it's just a figment of my childhood and a novelty item for vaporwave aesthetics.

[Tani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nancy Drew is pretty old school. I read this for a class and was pretty bored. The funny thing was reading about all of the "advances" in technology with the internet. And every chapter ended with an exclamation point!

[Ashtyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sence i am reading another nancy drew book i decided to check this book out from my school library.
]

[Taigan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my favorite book in the world :(

[Malin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a blast from the past with the old internetconnection when you couldn't make a phonecall while you were online. It was fun reading Nancy exploring the world wide web.

[Lav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used to love Nancy Drew books when I was a little girl.