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1.44k reviews for:
THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK. Nancy Drew Mystery Stories No. 1.
Carolyn Keene, Carolyn Keene
3.75 AVERAGE
1.44k reviews for:
THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK. Nancy Drew Mystery Stories No. 1.
Carolyn Keene, Carolyn Keene
3.75 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Nancy Drew is my role model. See profile photo for evidence.
Nancy meets poor people who depended on a dead guy to leave them money in his will, his will didn't mention them at all, and everyone goes "I bet there's a second will." Nancy manages, in between solving the mystery by herself, to sneak in also being smart, kind, well-liked, surprisingly mechanical (she fixes a boat motor by herself), and just generally good at whatever she puts her mind to. And she's kind of bland enough you can project yourself onto her and pretend you're there with her.
On its own terms, it's a decent mystery for its age group. It's no Agatha Christie, but it's ok that it pretty much holds the reader's hand through the entire thing (especially readers who might not by page 30, when the characters wonder how to find a secret last will, start to think the title of the book might be involved. If an Old Clock ended up not being involved, I would've eaten my hat). It is very funny though that characters will just naturally tell their whole life story and their hopes and dreams to Nancy the first time they meet her, and adults don't go "hey do your parents know where you are?"
There was one really effective scene, and that's Nancy coming across an old lady who hurt her hip, has no working phone, was running out of food, and was resigning herself to dying alone soon. It's probably just really sad for a kid reader, but it made my stomach curl a little. It made me more worried than when Nancy literally stumbles into a den of thieves.
Nancy also seems to take a little too much joy out of knocking the rich Topham family down a peg. Look, they are rude and greedy, and I'm down to eat the rich as the next person. But I have to remember Nancy is a teenager and I can't really expect her to spend time trying to analyze where they're coming from or considering how social classes have affected the Topham girls' behavior, especially when she has a mystery to solve dangit.
On its own terms, it's a decent mystery for its age group. It's no Agatha Christie, but it's ok that it pretty much holds the reader's hand through the entire thing (especially readers who might not by page 30, when the characters wonder how to find a secret last will, start to think the title of the book might be involved. If an Old Clock ended up not being involved, I would've eaten my hat). It is very funny though that characters will just naturally tell their whole life story and their hopes and dreams to Nancy the first time they meet her, and adults don't go "hey do your parents know where you are?"
There was one really effective scene, and that's Nancy coming across an old lady who hurt her hip, has no working phone, was running out of food, and was resigning herself to dying alone soon. It's probably just really sad for a kid reader, but it made my stomach curl a little. It made me more worried than when Nancy literally stumbles into a den of thieves.
Nancy also seems to take a little too much joy out of knocking the rich Topham family down a peg. Look, they are rude and greedy, and I'm down to eat the rich as the next person. But I have to remember Nancy is a teenager and I can't really expect her to spend time trying to analyze where they're coming from or considering how social classes have affected the Topham girls' behavior, especially when she has a mystery to solve dangit.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
** Book Riot 2025 Read Harder Challenge: Re-read a childhood favorite.
The Book Riot Challenge prompt should have continued “re-read…so you can see that your favorites from childhood do not hold up well with the passage of time.” If one is reading the 1959 revision of The Secret of the Old Clock for the first time today, the sexism, with so many words spent on what she wore and how she looked, is glaring. I can only imagine how poorly the original 1930 edition would look in light of our growth as a society in regards to gender and race.
In addition, I feel like I know Nancy Drew so well and I guess the reason I have that feeling is because, as a youth, I read 62-70 volumes of the original series. Because, if I had been relying on this first book to tell me all about Nancy, I would be left wondering. The character development in the first volume is weak at best and, with the housekeeper, it is tedious as she was referred to by her first and last name almost exclusively throughout the story. Why? Why couldn’t she just be “Hannah”? But, then, we only know the housekeeper’s name; readers are left to wonder what role she plays in Nancy’s life and have no clue what the poor woman looks like.
Regardless, I give this book four-stars. I fully admit it is a reminiscence-rating. While growing up, I loved the Nancy Drew series and inhaled these books so fast. I credit Nancy as the reason I so enjoy mystery novels today. And, yes, I will be keeping my copies of books one through five on my bookshelf. They are treasures to me—and, if my TBR wasn’t miles and miles long, I’d be re-reading the entire set of 175 volumes of the original series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Death of parent
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It's certainly a product of its era. I read both the original printing and the 1950s reprint and, whole the actual writing and pacing was better in the original run, removing the gross racial and economical stereotypes was a better call.
pure nostalgic fun.
Popsugar Challenge: A book you read more than 10 years ago.
Popsugar Challenge: A book you read more than 10 years ago.
I was first introduced to Nancy Drew in the 2007 movie adaptation, starring my childhood crush, Emma Roberts. While it was cute, fun, and rather intriguing, the movie wasn’t enough to lure me, then a pre-teen, into picking up the classic series, for I was more interested in “The Clique”, “Mates, Dates, and…”, and other more ‘dramatic’ and ‘scandalous’ portrayal of teenage girls. Almost a decade later, when these books caught my eye purely by luck, I decided to give the infamous girl detective a chance… and was rather disappointed.
I supposed I had expected too much from an icon. While Nancy was an admirable and loveable protagonist in her own right, the plot was too monotone to capture me completely. Still, it made a decent comfort read.
Fingers crossed that I will have more luck with the second book.
I supposed I had expected too much from an icon. While Nancy was an admirable and loveable protagonist in her own right, the plot was too monotone to capture me completely. Still, it made a decent comfort read.
Fingers crossed that I will have more luck with the second book.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Probably a 3.75, not quite a 4 star. I've read some of the Nancy Drew books when I was much younger, but never the first one and they are surprisingly hard to get hold of in the libraries near me. I finally found it via the Internet Archive and flew through it. It's fun and a touch exciting, light and sweet, but definitely old fashioned. Might to go for the other books in actual order eventually.