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manwithanagenda's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
2.5
'The Clue of the Tapping Heels' as originally published in 1939 has some incredibly weird goings-on. There is plenty of charm in the original writing, but readers should be warned that dated, offensive language is employed describing some of the villains. Worse than the language for me was Nancy's strident implication that Omar Washington's worst sin was pretending to be Egyptian when he was "colored" all along. Nancy, sweetie. Calm down. I'd be more indignant about the disabled boy that everyone keeps passing around like a hot potato.
In the end, however, the biggest issue for me was that the book just doesn't hold together. There are a lot of disjointed elements to the plot and so many instances of "tapping" that it goes beyond contrived. I expect these old series books to hinge on coincidence. I don't like being beaten over the head with a...theme? Are tapping sounds, tap codes and motorized tap shoes a theme?
We open with Nancy briskly tappa-tappa-tapping to a radio orchestra and informing her housekeeper, Hannah Gruen, that she's developed a code like Morse so she can communicate while dancing. Hannah is nonplussed, but George and Bess eventually think it's a keen idea. On a drive the girls discover a lost cat and trace the owner, a retired actress living in a decaying house with dozens of cats.
This leads to a case of an ill-gotten inheritence, a dead-heir-who-may-not-be-the-heir, absconding scoundrels, an Egyptian temple/restaurant with knock-out incense, a December-December romance, a spoiled actress, a disabled child's resurrection and "cure", and so much more. It all comes down to money, of course, but there are so many detours along the way it was hard to believe this was only a little over 200 pages.
Nancy Drew Mysteries
Next: 'The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk'
Previous: 'The Haunted Bridge'
In the end, however, the biggest issue for me was that the book just doesn't hold together. There are a lot of disjointed elements to the plot and so many instances of "tapping" that it goes beyond contrived. I expect these old series books to hinge on coincidence. I don't like being beaten over the head with a...theme? Are tapping sounds, tap codes and motorized tap shoes a theme?
We open with Nancy briskly tappa-tappa-tapping to a radio orchestra and informing her housekeeper, Hannah Gruen, that she's developed a code like Morse so she can communicate while dancing. Hannah is nonplussed, but George and Bess eventually think it's a keen idea. On a drive the girls discover a lost cat and trace the owner, a retired actress living in a decaying house with dozens of cats.
This leads to a case of an ill-gotten inheritence, a dead-heir-who-may-not-be-the-heir, absconding scoundrels, an Egyptian temple/restaurant with knock-out incense, a December-December romance, a spoiled actress, a disabled child's resurrection and "cure", and so much more. It all comes down to money, of course, but there are so many detours along the way it was hard to believe this was only a little over 200 pages.
Nancy Drew Mysteries
Next: 'The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk'
Previous: 'The Haunted Bridge'
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Racial slurs
It's casual, genial old-timey racism. This is a huge problem in the original text Nancy Drews. Some more than others.
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