Action!

Nancy Drew: Girl Detective #6

by Carolyn Keene

So I agreed to play the part of Esther Rackham in a film about the heist that gave River Heights its name, and there was all this trouble on the set, and I figured out who was behind it. Case closed, right?

Wrong!

Once the camera starts rolling, a huge fire breaks out on the set, setting back production again. We're running out of time and funds. At least the fire turns up a key clue about who started it, but I'll have to continue juggling acting and sleuthing. Because it might be up to me to save this film from going up in flames....

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Crime

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

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 In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.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)]

Continuing where the previous book left off, this volume is yet another dose of sleuthing fun.

[Prerna]

This was probably the most disappointing Nancy Drew book.
Yes. I still read Nancy Drew.
I'm 14.

[Grace]

historic and they were right about the brothers stealing the diary pages. i gess everyone saw that comeing.

[Mariah]

Not the best Nancy Drew and the fire wasn't on set and really had a bad story line

[Sydney]

this book did not make sense at all.there is not much mystery in this book

[V. Arrow]

I loved finally getting to see Hannah be Nancy's mother figure. Go, Hannah!

[Leslie Goddard]

This was my first Nancy Drew other than the classic first 56 volumes and I am reading it as an adult. And ... it just didn’t do it for me. The switch to first person worked fine, and I liked the updates especially having George a computer whiz (but why is Bess suddenly a carpenter expert?). What bothered me is that the book felt slow compared to the classic Nancy Drews, maybe because so much of it focused on “this is how movies are made.” There was plenty of action, yes, but the focus of the book was as much on teaching the reader about movie-making as on the mystery itself. Nancy herself is filled with self-doubt about her acting. That’s believable, OK, but it also means Nancy doesn’t feel like Nancy. One of the things I loved about classic Nancy Drew was that she made it OK to be self-confident and smart and curious. Yes, OK, Nancy is supremely self-confident in her element (rappelling into a cavern) here. And yes, her self-doubt comes up only when she’s in an area (acting) out of her specialty. But I don’t know, it just didn’t make Nancy feel like Nancy to me. Perhaps if I were a 3rd-grader coming upon these books for the first time, this would be more appealing. Then again, there were other more believable teen sleuths in books in the 40s/50s (Judy Bolton, Connie Blair) who were never as popular as self-confident, smart, courageous Nancy.

[silene]

Really liked this book, it wasn't long and the storyline (especially the mystery unravelling part) was interesting. Unfortunately, I did take off 1 star because some parts of the plot, especially the beginning, were a bit boring.
This is the first Nancy Drew book I read (yes) and I feel like it was a great start to the series!

[Alex]

This is actually a continuation of the last book, which is rare for this series. It wrapped up the movie plot nicely, and solved another mystery that I found odd ever since it was talked about in book 5. The description on the back about the fire on set, though, is completely off and doesn’t even happen there.

I’m excited to finally have a chance to read this whole series!

[C.]

With the kind of work Nancy Drew does, I thought she'd be good at acting but seeing her struggle showed me that she's just like someone real. This was a fun read and involved a twist that I didn't expect.

[Brittany]

This story had less mystery overall and more of a continuation of the plot line of fliming the movie from the book before it in the series. I would not recommend reading it without having read book 5.

[Makenna Carpenter]

Full of action, great description, and cliff hangers that don't let you put the book down. I would for sure recommend.

[Bookish]

3.5

[Tanveer Malik]

Didn't really had a mystery

[Cheryl's Lit]

Made me smile and think of my youth

[Rhonda]

Nancy Drew was my first experience with mystery genre. I've been hooked ever since. Still a great read for young readers today.

[Lisl]

Easy French to follow; captivating enough to stick to it

[Emily]

we did it, 20mins to spare

[Deanna]

This is a new take on Nancy Drew written in the first person. The problem I have with this series is that the facts about Nancy, Ned, George, and Bess are not accurate with the original series of Nancy Drew and Nancy Drew files. The ages, descriptions, etc. are so different that I cannot stand this book series.

[LuAnn]

Well, this book was almost as weird as the previous one that it continues. Nancy's extreme stage fright is very out of character but yields a nice scene with more psychological depth with Hannah that is unusual for these books. The River Heights history tie in for both books is interesting.

[Seema M. Fazil]

Okay, not one of the best Nancy Drew books at all! She didn't do much investigating in this one. Almost the whole book was kinda boring! There was no fire on set even! Is that Nancy Drew book a joke or what?! If u want to read a good mystery, I don't recommend this one.

[Anna]

I like these series a lot, but I also like the older Nancy Drew.

[Prashansa]

Not bad but not good also. It was just OK.

[Zelia]

this was i think the most disapointing nancy drew book, the only good part is when ( spoiler alert ) harald fell down the whole.

[Larissa]

Very very easy to read. More like a filler in the space between one book and another when you don't want your brain to have too much to think about. Easily finished in a few hours.

[Jahnavi Koushik]

A very enthralling book with all its unexpected twists and turns.

[Lindsay]

I been reading I though 5 still reading 6 and then read more I I have up to 10

[Room14]

I think you will like this book because it is about a girl detective that drives an awesome car and has a best friend Bess that helps her.

The best part for me in this book is when the two friends go out in Nancy and Bess car and find a snack. But this is from one books called "Pit of Vipers", and there are three or four in the series.

Thank you so much for reading my review. It means a lot to me.

[Ally]

I really liked this book. Recommended to all Nancy Drew fans! It is about Nancy Drew, set in a more modern time era which makes the book more relatable.

[Joud T]

I liked that it completed the fifth book but in the begining it wasnt that interesting but then in the middle of the book the mystery started getting more detailed although at the end i still didnt understand it that much so i didnt really like it