A review by juliana_aldous
The Mystery at the Moss-covered Mansion by Carolyn Keene

4.0

I hadn't read a Nancy Drew in decades, although Donna Parker was always my favorite teen read. And the original Gidget. This one is pure...whoa! what?! Apparently, there was a 1941 version of this book where Nancy and the gang look for a missing heiress. I read the 1971 version which involves explosive oranges being sent to the Nasa Space Complex. I had no idea that some of the Nancy Drew I read in the seventies might have been updated.

This 1971 version packs it all in with a space program, many Florida men, and a Tiger King/Carol Baskin mansion with animals. The action is packed--at one point the team is actually tear-gassed by villains posing as photographers. What?!

There are also some fun little 70s asides like the fact that the kids comb their hair before dinner and teens partied until 2:00 am.

This has to be my favorite 70s era passage though:

Smiling, Nancy remarked that she too would like to be an astronaut.
Ned grinned and said, "How about letting us boys go first? We'll tell you how it is."
With that, Nancy punched Ned hard in the stomach and said, "How about you tell me how THAT is."

I added that last sentence because if we are going to revise Nancy Drew, that felt right.