The Teen Model Mystery

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #125

by Carolyn Keene

Traveling to the site of a commercial shoot, where her model friend Cindy will star, Nancy is alarmed by Cindy’s disappearance and launches an investigation that takes her into the shady side of teen fashion.

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

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

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 In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.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

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

Another exciting and fun mystery, with plenty of twists and turns.

[Shreyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Teen Model Mystery' (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #125) by Carolyn Keene.

"These girls can change clothes completely in two minutes and look picture perfect. Why does it sometimes take you an hour?"
Bess sighed. "And even then, I don't look as great as they do," she complained. "It must be because they're so thin. That does it – I'm going on a diet tomorrow."
Nancy shook her head at her friend. "Relax Bess," she said. "You look just fine the way you are." Bess gave her a grateful grin.

Rating: 4.0/5.




Review:
Nancy and her friend, Bess, have been invited to Chicago by their teen model friend, Cindy Sutherland, who has recently landed a new advertisement deal for a big cereal company. However, Nancy Drew arrives at the film centre only to find out that Cindy has gone missing without any notice. The project is marred by a string of accidents, and it is up to Nancy and Bess to find out their missing friend as well as the culprit responsible for the sabotage of the advertising assignment before time runs out for everyone involved.

Although it is quite evident that not a lot of efforts were put into selecting an appropriate title for this book, the same cannot be said about the plot of The Teen Model Mystery. It can be said that too many efforts were put into the plot, for it seems like the author tried to cram in as many elements into the mystery as they could within the set restrictions by the publishing house. What at first appears to be a single mystery turns out to be a different set of crimes that give an illusion of a single mystery. Three different sets of culprits are responsible for three different crimes that form an integral part of the story. It did make up for an engaging read full of twists and turns – with the intensity ramping up as the story progresses.

Just within a couple of chapters, I had suspicions regarding the involvement of a particular character who might have been responsible for the disappearance of Cindy Sutherland. My suspicions turned out to be true (in a way, of course), but the interweaving of three separate sets of crimes within the plot made up for an interesting read. I won't say that I found the mystery predictable, too, since the constant twists and turns kept me guessing until the end. I must admit that I was a tad bit disappointed with the actual reason behind the teen model's disappearance and her eventual "rescue", but still it wasn't enough to tarnish all the fun I had while reading this book.

In conclusion, The Teen Model Mystery tries to do far too much and yet manages to (mostly) succeed at it. It was a fast-paced read, one that I managed to finish in a single sitting within a couple of hours, and I had a great time reading it and trying to solve the mystery along with Nancy and Bess.

[Izzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love when there’s multiple culprits

[Clara P · Rating 5 out of 5]

I red Nancy Drew. Nancy and her friend Bess and solved a model mystery. Nancy’s friend Cindy (the model), was kidnapped. Who Nancy thinks kidnapped Cindy was: Gayle and her boyfriend Jason, Nancy also considered Cody (Cindy’s Boyfriend) for kidnapping Cindy because of jealousy, and Carlo’s fired bodyguard Miklos. Carlo was the director of the commercial and he was the one who had asked Nancy to find Cindy. Ann Bowers is Cindy’s manager, and Nancy and Bess have been staying at her apartment during this whole mystery. Cindy is in a Commercial and she went missing. Nancy and bess were trying to solve the mystery. Cindy is allergic to nuts. Cindy is in a Commercial her friend wanted. Cindy backed down a commercial and Ann Bowers was mad at Cindy after that.

This book was thrilling to me. Everything bad that happened made me want to keep reading. I really like how Nancy kept on going and didn’t stop on every threat that she got. I like how the author wrote this book she made it sound so believing and interesting. I like how she made Gayle the jealous friend who wanted Cindy’s role and played a joke on her by putting nuts in her cereal, when Cindy is allergic to nuts. I liked how Carolyn Keene made some of the side characters seem like the bad guy, and have Nancy suspect them. This story kept on building on and on some books I don’t like that but on mysteries it is awesome because it just keeps getting more and more thrilling. This quote is from the chapter :Fire, “Puzzled, Nancy slipped out of her quilted satin jacket and held it up at arm’s length. Then she caught her breath. A jagged slit ran length of her jacket, from the collar to the waist. It looked as if someone had gone at it with a razor -a deadly sharp one”

I don’t think that I can really relate to the characters in the book. They don’t want to let everybody down. They want to prove to everyone that they can do more than one thing. People have gone missing before and people go to look for them. People also run away sometimes. A lot of the time other people are jealous of another person. .

[Kitty Rue · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars from me. I did enjoy the story and how everything turned out. It was easy to read, but I did not like the writing style that much. I understand that it is a middle grade book. And I think I would have loved it if I was younger.

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Sangeeta Shirodkar Patil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good

It is a good mystery. Spoiler ahead.............................................. But there are three different criminals in it with different motives. Seems too much.

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book! I recommend this book to all ages, especially those who like short chapter books, with adventure, and mystery!

[Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

i Know i would’ve ate this up in middle / early high school. still liked it though !

[Aaliyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t finish the book I wasn’t enjoying it

[Shreya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointing ending. The reason why the person went missing was the lamest reason.

[Greta Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rediscovered my decades-old stash of Nancy Drews and had to do a throwback read. I've missed these!

[Leeann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked reading this story. It was well written and I loved how Nancy handle this mystery very well.

[Nicole P · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is written by the same author as the original Nancy Drew series; however, the style is much more modern and simple. Nancy Drew and her close friend Bess Marvin visit their high school friend Cindy Sunderland in Chicago. Cindy is a new and upcoming model that has just gotten a new gig as the “Healthibits” girl, a new healthy cereal. The first day of shooting, Cindy fails to show up at the filming studio on time and goes missing for more than 48 hours. Nancy Drew and Bess are quickly assigned to solve the mystery of where Cindy has gone. Cindy’s manager is called at her home, and Cindy is said to have been kidnapped. This alarms everyone, and initiates a chain of mysterious and terrifying events at the studio. Nancy and Bess solve the case rapidly, but it is not at all what you would expect to happen. I really enjoyed that every character is considered a suspect at one point in the book, and everyone has a sensible motive for the kidnapping and horrifying events at the studio. This makes the ending very surprising, because the culprit is totally unexpected yet plausible. I did, however, not enjoy that all the characters seemed the same. There were so many workers and professionals in the commercial filming business, that it was hard to distinguish them from each other. They all had the same personalities and basically the same job. All in all, this book was decent, but nothing too spectacular. Like the original Nancy Drew series, this book had cliffhangers and the end of each chapter, but they seemed rather repetitive and unoriginal. I much prefer the original series, because those stories are more interesting with more charm.

[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.

[Siti Nurul Qomariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah, ini buku seri Nancy Drew pertama yang gw baca. Gw suka banget membaca buku tentang detektif atau sejenisnya, menelusuri setiap petunjuk yang ada untuk menemukan sesuatu yang dicari.

Nancy adalah sosok yang jadi inspirasi gw saat gw SMP dan SMA, Nancy juga yang akhirnya memotivasi gw untuk terus belajar membaca buku berbahasa Enggres. Seri Nancy Drew ini cocok banget dibaca sama lo semua yang baru memulai untuk membaca buku berbahasa Enggres.

Menyelam sambil minum air, menikmati cerita yang kece abis (menurut gw saat gw sekolah dulu) sambil belajar membaca buku berbahasa Enggres supaya kelak bisa kembali membaca buku berbahasa Enggres dengan kesulitan yang lebih tinggi. :D

[Miri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young model Cindy has landed a huge contract for a cereal company, but goes missing before she can shoot the commercial. This commercial could be Cindy's big break, she wouldn't miss it on purpose, could someone have kidnapped Cindy?

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the most creative title, but a very good mystery with a different sort of culprit. Sabotage as usual, but then Nancy doesn’t do murder mysteries, but there’s kidnapping as well and lots of running around Chicago, threats to Nancy and Bess and fashion and filming.

[V. Arrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super fun and twisty! I like that all of the teen models made it out of the book alive! Although you can tell that it was definitely written before people actually understood how serious food allergies really are. Oh, the mid-90s. You were a time.

[Amulya Reddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting!

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars
I missed George!And the culprit was too obvious! Above all, I am too old to be stuck with Nancy Drew! :D

[Shikha]

its a good mystry for the fashion glamour.....and a friends stories....surounding among them.....


i love nancy drew's mystry solving activity

[Grace💜 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading this a few years ago ( also ), and I very much enjoyed it! :)
Read it when I was sick.
Now, I don't read when I'm sick, makes my head hurt... :(
I should though, at least try.

[keereads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read

[Raelee · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a great book.