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A review by manwithanagenda
Clue in the Jewel Box #20 by Carolyn Keene
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-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
4.0
There is a lot to like in the 20th Nancy Drew mystery. We have a classic set-up where Nancy spots a fellow blueblood in trouble at twenty paces and escorts her safely home along with Bess and George. The woman is grateful and turns out to have a storied past. On Marie Alexandra's recommendation she visits a certain antique dealer under the name of Faber who let's slip that Marie Alexandra is a "queen" who lost everything after a bloody revolution in her country thirty years earlier. She built up her houseful of treasures based only on her meager jewel case that she smuggled out of the country. Most of her family were murdered, but there is a missing grandson and Nancy, perhaps, may be the plucky young thing able to find him armed with only an old childhood photograph.
There's also a bizarre tune coming from Marie Alexandra's fancy Easter egg made by Mr. Faber's father.... could that have anything to do with the missing prince?
I loved the astonishing amount of effort that was spent to underline that Nancy Drew was helping a Dowager Tsarina find a Grand Duke (actually, the Tsarevich I suppose) lost since the Russian Revolution and yet it would have been gauche to just say it out loud. 'The Clue in the Jewel Box' was published in 1943 and Anna Anderson's claim of being Grand Duchess Anastasia would likely have been fresh in people's imagination. It's all very ripped-from-the-headlines.
World War II is also never mentioned, or even alluded to. This makes sense as the Stratemeyer Syndicate always took the long view on sales and didn't want the books to be dated. The biggest clue that something is happening outside of River Heights is the fact that Nancy and her friends get everywhere by walking or by bicycle. When they do get in a car it's an emergency or a carpool situation.
On top of the royalist romancing and heir-discoveries we have two subplots. One involves a dastardly pickpocket and a look-a-like that made me laugh out loud. Nancy at one point strolls home and sees through an open window the pick-pocket brandishing a gun at her father. Girl picks up a rock, throws it through the window to knock the gun out of his hand and climbs through to tackle the guy. It was the wrong guy, the gun was for sale apparently, but so amazing anyway. Her father gently chides her for her lack of manners.
The other involves helping Helen Corning, just back from Paris y'all, establish a young emigre from a certain unnamed country as a dressmaker in River Heights. The book in general offered up a lot of River Heights young people just having a good time with each other, which was nice. Bess and George's best guy friends also make their first appearance. They were retroactively made more important in the rewritten titles and featured heavily in the books of the '70s and '80s.
OK, there was a lot to say about this one, but I have one more observation. This book was also the first time Hannah Gruen comes off as more than a servant. The Drews have cared about her before and she's made commentary, but she was more organically part of the home here instead of simply a provider of meals and an answerer of doors.
Nancy Drew
Next: 'The Secret in the Old Attic'
Previous: 'The Quest of the Missing Map'
There's also a bizarre tune coming from Marie Alexandra's fancy Easter egg made by Mr. Faber's father.... could that have anything to do with the missing prince?
I loved the astonishing amount of effort that was spent to underline that Nancy Drew was helping a Dowager Tsarina find a Grand Duke (actually, the Tsarevich I suppose) lost since the Russian Revolution and yet it would have been gauche to just say it out loud. 'The Clue in the Jewel Box' was published in 1943 and Anna Anderson's claim of being Grand Duchess Anastasia would likely have been fresh in people's imagination. It's all very ripped-from-the-headlines.
World War II is also never mentioned, or even alluded to. This makes sense as the Stratemeyer Syndicate always took the long view on sales and didn't want the books to be dated. The biggest clue that something is happening outside of River Heights is the fact that Nancy and her friends get everywhere by walking or by bicycle. When they do get in a car it's an emergency or a carpool situation.
On top of the royalist romancing and heir-discoveries we have two subplots. One involves a dastardly pickpocket and a look-a-like that made me laugh out loud. Nancy at one point strolls home and sees through an open window the pick-pocket brandishing a gun at her father. Girl picks up a rock, throws it through the window to knock the gun out of his hand and climbs through to tackle the guy. It was the wrong guy, the gun was for sale apparently, but so amazing anyway. Her father gently chides her for her lack of manners.
The other involves helping Helen Corning, just back from Paris y'all, establish a young emigre from a certain unnamed country as a dressmaker in River Heights. The book in general offered up a lot of River Heights young people just having a good time with each other, which was nice. Bess and George's best guy friends also make their first appearance. They were retroactively made more important in the rewritten titles and featured heavily in the books of the '70s and '80s.
OK, there was a lot to say about this one, but I have one more observation. This book was also the first time Hannah Gruen comes off as more than a servant. The Drews have cared about her before and she's made commentary, but she was more organically part of the home here instead of simply a provider of meals and an answerer of doors.
Nancy Drew
Next: 'The Secret in the Old Attic'
Previous: 'The Quest of the Missing Map'