A Race Against Time

Nancy Drew: Girl Detective #2

by Carolyn Keene

If I'm in the game, I play to win. So as captain of my team in the River Heights Biking for Bucks charity road race, my goals are to bring my team over the finish line first -- and to catch a thief along the way!
See, all of the money we raised before the race has been stolen -- and I know I can find it. With two days, practically no clues, and a bike race to win, I've got my work cut out for me. But with Bess, George, and Ned on my team, what could stand between us and the gold?

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

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

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 In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.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

[Viviana Almendra Rehbein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Al fin leo algo de la famosa Nancy Drew, aunque esta autora no sea la original de los años 30. Ahora entiendo por qué es un icono y ha durante años, con diversos autores y epocas que en realidad ya me esta dando ganas de buscar las obras originales aunque sea obvio que no sera facil. Solo piensenlo, una mujer de los añod 30 resolviendo casos: sublime!!

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

A Quickie Review

Just what I've come to expect from this franchise...which, in this case, isn't a bad thing.

Score: 4/5

[maryumqofb · Rating 5 out of 5]

always a pleasure to read nancy drew

[theperksofbeingmarissa ;) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good but predictable mystery!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another cute entry into this modern day Nancy Drew series.

[Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

The new Nancy Drew books have our favorite heroine in the midst of the Open Heart Fundraiser Race when strange things start happening. First, Ned's car ends up in a ditch, and his bike is cut. Then the Open Heart money is stolen under the police's nose. Strangest of all, is a man in red shorts who no one has seen before, and he was the closest to the money when it disappeared. Can Nancy find the clues? Read along and you can too!

[Autumn Leaf · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked it up from the store as the name Nancy Drew bought so many nostalgic memories from my school days.
It was a mistake. I shouldn't have. I would still recommend a Nancy Drew book to a beginner.
I think it was a good read for a schoolgirl but not for the grown-up reader in me.

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cool mystery book, and I thought I should rate it 4 stars.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A RACE AGAINST TIME by Carolyn Keene

Nancy and the team are competing in a race to raise money for a local charity. Sabotages ensue, knocking them off track. It seems that's the worse that can happen...but then the raised money goes missing. Of course, Nancy Drew is on the case.
A RACE AGAINST TIME is another fast-paced whodunit. I flew through this middle-grade novel in just a couple of hours. Like Nancy, I put my detective's hat on as I tried to solve the case of the missing money. I thought I had it all figured out, but I was wrong---the evidence was there I should have seen it. Some might find this predictable, but it is what it is.

[K.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nancy, Bess, George and Ned are competing in a bike race for charity when all the money is stolen. Weirdly Nancy is in no danger when recovering the stolen loot. Also, Bess as a mechanical whiz is just too much for belief! The secondary mystery is who is trying to sabotage Nancys bike team - the culprit is obvious, but never gets the comeuppance they deserve. Ned is much nicer in this series!!!

[Melia (she/her) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ned's car is crashed and he's missing! There are all sorts of problems with the team's bikes and suddenly the money is missing? A quick read and the mystery was definitely more compelling than the first one. I'm hopeful they will continue to get better the more I get into the series. Definitely good for a quick giggle and light mystery. 3/5

[Norwegian_Writer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nostalgi fikk meg til å høre på denne boka, og jeg gikk gjennom hele med tanken at jeg visste nøyaktig hvem som gjorde det, men det gjorde jeg ikke. Tror jeg kommer til å lytte meg gjennom hele serien med nye frøken detektiv, det er et koselig avbrekk og de tar ikke 20 timer å høre på.
(Lyttet på Storytel)

[Natelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The new voice of Nancy Drew reflects her entry into the age of cell phones and GPS though I felt she sounded younger than she should. The dueling mysteries in this book kept me entertained though the solution proved very predictable to Drew and her sleuthing team.

[holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another Nancy Drew book I read to Frank & Sophie.
This is the newer series written in the early 2000’s & honestly, it sucks😅 Nancy gives off bully vibes. I remember reading Nancy Drew & loving it so much. Just ordered the original set written in 1930 so hopefully those are more what I remember.

[C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why it took me so long to finish this. Not too bad and a quick read.

[Julia Fox 🦊 · Rating 4 out of 5]

😊👍

[Emma And Alley]

I love this book

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love anything Nancy Drew.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than most. Like the bicycling details.

[Monica Rives · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was better than the first book of this series. At least, it felt more interesting and like a real mystery. The come up with a creative solution, to win the race and solve the crime

[Jordyneiguess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ned went missing for a bit and that was scary

[daybright🌙 · Rating 5 out of 5]

nancy girl can we get a little more commotion for your boyfriend being missing?

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet mystery, enjoyed reading Nancy Drew as a young teen.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

E.5

[Odette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute.

[Malene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nostalgia delux

[Darinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2nd book in the Nancy Drew: Girl Detective series. Light and fun.

[Joud T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it was interesting and exiting but i knew all along who it was so at the end i didn't really like it

[Mitchell Appleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Race Against Time
Summary: Nancy Drew, an amateur detective in her town, is signed up for a race for charity with her friends. Just before the race starts, the money is stolen and no one knows who took it. Nancy decides it is her responsibility to solve the case, so she drops out of the race to pursue the thief. As she is trying to find the money before the race is over, her friends are trying to win it!
Commentary: The best part of the novel to me was when Nancy hides in a shed to escape from a suspect she was tailing. In the shed, she finds a ton of snakes, and is scared dead when she starts to hear a rattling. Nancy dives out of the shed and slams the door. This shows how she makes tough decisions in her line of work. In this instance, she had to choose either to stay in the shed with the snakes or risk being caught by her suspect, a man trying to flee the country with money.
Favorite Parts: Pg. 12 “Hi,” I answered the phone, my heart still pounding. “I’m so glad you finally called.” This quote shows how much Nancy cares about her friends. In the book, Ned goes missing and doesn’t have his phone. She is super scared something happened to him and tries calling him multiple times.
Pg. 98 “Did the man in the red bike shorts look suspicious to you?” This quote was from when Nancy questioned the head security man in charge of the money. This shows the interrogative process Nancy uses when she is talking to people to get information.
To improve this novel, the author could use more descriptive words to help readers visualize the action in the story. Right now, some parts barely describe the action and make it pretty dull.
Comparison: This book reminds me of Sherlock Holmes because both stories have detectives with a passion for the truth. They put clues together and use their outstanding minds to solve cases.

[Maddie D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently finished A Race Against Time by Carolyn Keene. This book is about Nancy Drew who is competing in a bike race with 3 of her friends to raise money for a charity. There has been thousands of dollars raised, but when Nancy finds out it has been stolen, she drops the race and solves the case. This book was very good because I loved how the author put so much description into the book when Nancy was trying to solve the case. For example: "I wasn't in the shed alone. Sssssssssss. I was sharing the shed with a bunch of snakes!" I also loved this book because of all the friendship behind it. Like how when Nancy dropped out of the race, Bess took her spot when she was just supposed to be the supporter and driver for the team. I can relate to this book because just like Nancy Drew she is so curious about everything. I'm that way too when something happens and it's not good I will try my hardest to make it right. Just like Nancy Drew does in A Race Against time. This book got very bad in some parts like when another team in the race pulled pranks on Nancy's team. But I loved how the author solved them. For example one time a team took a distributive cap out of Nancy's teams car, but they didn't whine and complain they called someone they new that had distributive cap and actually ended up with their car ahead of the team that pranked them so they could be the first one to greet their cyclist at the finish line! Every time something went wrong in the story I loved how the author solved it. She was just so descriptive and clever. The author definitely dug down deep in this story which is why I think A Race Against Time is such a good book!