Mystery Crime Books

A very good addition to the series - and you won't have had to read the previous books to enjoy this one. Intrigue and mayhem as PI Sharon McCone follows the cold case of a missing woman. Enjoyable read!

When I read my first two Marcia Muller Sharon McCone books (her first two), I was not very impressed with this character, this series or the writing. I thought it was just another fluffy female detective series. But a friend convinced me not to give up and McCone has become one of my favorites. Vanishing Point shows Muller at her best.

Jennifer Aldin's mother, Laurel Greenwood, mysteriously vanished 22 years ago when Jennifer was just a girl. When Jennifer's father dies of cancer, the unsolved loss of her mother makes her emotionally fragile. Jennifer's wealthy husband hires San Francisco private investigator, Sharon McCone, to see if she can find out exactly what happened to Greenwood. Is she still alive? If so, where is she living? Is she dead? If that is the case, did she commit suicide or was she murdered? McCone now has her own detective agency with a full staff to help with the investigation. As with many cold cases like this, someone doesn't want the truth uncovered. McCone must also deal with the disappearance of someone important to the case, so she actually has two mysteries to solve.

In Vanishing Point, the plot had me guessing until the end. There is also a subplot involving a big change in McCone's personal life that will come as a surprise to loyal Muller fans. The only downfall for me is that this is another series that you should read in order. I still have to fill in many gaps, but that just means that I'll look forward to reading some of her earlier works.

I've read all the Sharon McCone books over the years. Muller's stories are terrific and I've enjoyed watching Sharon grow and develop. I always look forward to the next one.

All these years later, there's still no one who can hold a candle to Marcia Muller when it comes to writing mystery/suspense novels. Sharon is still the best P.I. out there, and the supporting cast is the best the genre has to offer.

I was dreading this book a little bit due to how the last one ended (I don't much care for the character Hy), so I was glad to see that it focused on the mystery and that Sharon hadn't changed due to marriage.

Now if we could just see the character Rae fade off into the sunset, I'd be very happy.

"Vanishing Point" is the 24th Sharon McCone novel by Marcia Muller. Rae Kelleher, one of Sharon's former operatives who is also married to country music star Ricky Savage, asks her to take a case for Jennifer Aldin whose mother Laurel Greenwood disappeared 22 years ago. Laurel Greenwood is presumed dead although no body was ever found and Jennifer wants closure. Jennifer's younger sister Terry doesn't want her to find out what happened to Laurel. As Sharon investigates she uncovers some family secrets and an attempted murder. Did Laurel Greenwood die? Is she still living and if so where is she? Sharon with the help of Patrick, one of her newer operatives, gets to the bottom of the case. This novel kept me turning pages and long time readers of this series will enjoy this entry into the Sharon McCone series. This novel is highly recommended.

Nancy, Bess George and Mr. Drew fly off to France to work on a couple of cases. First, a wealthy financier, Monsieur Leblanc, has been frightened into selling large amounts of stocks and bonds and Mr. Drew has been hired by some Leblanc's associates to discover what has frightened the man so much. Second, Nancy has been asked by a Frenchwoman living in River Heights to unlock the secret of a dream she keeps having where she is blindfolded and about to fall down a flight of steps with someone whispering "99 steps". The dream actually happened to the woman when she was a child growing up in France, but she doesn't remember where the 99 steps are located. This is another tour guide with Nancy and her friends going to Notre Dame, the Louvre, Versailles and stopping in Orleans to learn about Joan Of Arc. Somewhere amongst all of this touring, Nancy manages to find time to solve the mystery; unfortunately, it's not before the book manages to bore you to tears.

Nancy Drew is going on a quest to France to sol;ve her friends strange dream. Just before she leaves the U.S., An unknown man who calles him self "Monsieur Nuef" bumps into her several times.

He is at her door acting as a postman to send her a letter to make her stay in the U.S., and ruin her plans to go to France. He also catches Nancy in her car when sha was driving home. He tried to make her stop by acting as an ill homeless man so she could help him and he could capture her, but that didn't work.

When she gets to france, she finds out that Monsieur Nuef was put into jail. But she iws discovering the beauty and mysteries of France. BUt suddenly she spotted a man that ironicly looked like Monsieur Nuef. Is it him? Howwill they find out? To do this, read the mystery of the 99 steps!!!

This book is full of excitment and mystery. After every chapter, it leaves you off of the edge of what will happen next. IT makes you want to go on and on. I loved this book. Nancy Drew and all of the mysteries in France makes my body shake, and my mind trying to figure out what will happen next. It is full of detailes, great discription, and unbelieveable dialoge!

You should read this book, and discover what Nancy's feelings are, and her discoveries will touch your heart and make your mind do things you never thought it could do. REad thid book and see for your self!

(...)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling is a great book because of its twist. I?m not going to tell what the ending is because you?ll have to read it. I like this book because its addictive. It makes you keep reading and reading until you finish the book.

I am going to tell you about the twist. First Siars Black escapes from Azkaban, which is a jail for wizards. So Dementors surround Hogwart so nobody gets hurt. Finally, Potter meets Black. To find out the rest, read the book. The moral of the stories is not to be afraid take on anything. I hope you read this book.

Nancy, Bess George and Mr. Drew fly off to France to work on a couple of cases. First, a wealthy financier, Monsieur Leblanc, has been frightened into selling large amounts of stocks and bonds and Mr. Drew has been hired by some Leblanc's associates to discover what has frightened the man so much. Second, Nancy has been asked by a Frenchwoman living in River Heights to unlock the secret of a dream she keeps having where she is blindfolded and about to fall down a flight of steps with someone whispering "99 steps". The dream actually happened to the woman when she was a child growing up in France, but she doesn't remember where the 99 steps are located. This is another tour guide with Nancy and her friends going to Notre Dame, the Louvre, Versailles and stopping in Orleans to learn about Joan Of Arc. Somewhere amongst all of this touring, Nancy manages to find time to solve the mystery; unfortunately, it's not before the book manages to bore you to tears. The mystery is pathetic and dull and the book has very little suspence and action. I'm getting bored just thinking about the book as I write this review. Don't waste your time on this book, it's not worth it.

"The Mystery of the 99 Steps" finds Nancy, her father Carson Drew, and her friends Bess and George on a trip to France. In between touring Notre Dame Cathedral and learning about the patron saint of France, Joan of Arc, the girls stay on the trail of a mystery.

Several times Nancy is warned by srange characters to stop her investigations, but she persists and is rewarded by uncovering a blackmail scheme involving one of her father's clients, wealthy financier Monsieur LeBlanc.

Carolyn Keene found the right formula many years ago to thrill young readers, and to secure their loyalty as lifelong fans. Courageous, resourceful Nancy charms successive generations. Highly recommended.

I never read this book as a child. I only read it when I was buying the Trixie Belden books for my daughter, thinking she would enjoy them. Wrong! But I enjoyed this one. I loved the character of Mary Smith, the farmer's wife. I could read the parts about her over and over. Definitely worth the price of the book! Of course, this is from an adult perspective. Still, I think kids will love her, too. Everyone has a female friend and/or relative just like her--fat and cuddly and verrry talkative!

People don't get half a million dollars everyday, and respond by running away from it. Trixie's friend Jim did just that. His step father had been very cruel to him, so Jim ran away. Just after his house that he was to inherit burnt to the ground leaving him with $500,000. Everyone thought he burnt down with the house, but only Trixie and her friend Honey knew he was alive. So she and Honey set out in their trailer to the place Jim allways talked of going to find a summer job. On the way there they heard word about a missing trailer. Their suspicions arose when a family camping next to them had the exact trailer! As they travel to the area to find Jim they pick up clues on where he'd been. When they finally wind down the case they find Jim working for a farmer along with the Father who stole the trailer. Who was actually only borrowing it from his nieghbor without him knowing. When the nieghbor heard this, he told them that he would be happy to give them the trialer (He was rich). This book was interesting and cliff hanging, that anyone could read.

Even though this book was good, I found it to be a little predictable. There were other trailer thefts going on at the time which Trixie and Honey just happened to be involved with. When they found the thefts hide out (an old barn) they took too much time in their and BINGO the men show up. Trixie and Honey climb into the loft to wait the two men out. The men, like most other thiefs are stupid and don't notice anything. And like most other partners in crime, get into fights all the time. After ten minutes of fighting Honey just happens to sneeze. But just before the men carry the girls off the police pop in (surprise, surprise). And quincidentally that all happened in the same chapter.

This book was also a little unrealistic. The farmer who Jim worked for had a wife that was very, very fat (Named Mary). Mary owned a locket that had all of her children's pictures were in. The farmer had adopted a crow long ago that he found sick and dying. So they took him in, nursed him, and soon he was well. The crow stuck around and even built a nest near to the house. As you might have already guessed the crow stole the locket. Imagine a crow flying out of a house that out of all things, even food, carrying a locket. In the story there was the family who borrowed the trailer who had a little girl about 4 years old. That family had just had a little black dog that passed away, so the little girl calls any little black dog that roams the earth, hers. Honey has a little black dog, and of course the little girl calls it hers. Near the end of the story Honey gives the girl the dog! It's generous but a little unreal.

Even though this book had it's downs it was still a very interesting book. It was fun to read about all the characters and how much they differ. Like the Farmer's wife and Trixie. Trixe hates keeping the trailer clean and cooking. However that's all the farmer's wife does. Or Honey and the little girl that kept Honey's dog. Honey is kind and generous who would allways help someone. But the little girl on the other hand, is greedy and would rather do anything but help someone else.

This book was a joy to read and all in all adventurous. I had a great time reading it, and I know many others will too. The book had it's ups and downs, but it was still really good. Now it's your turn to pick it up and read it!
A. Lindemann

I recommend this book series of Trixie Belden: The Red Trailer Mystery. It's a story of Trixie Belden and her new best friend Honey Wheeler who just moved up the street from Trixie house.This story is about their friend Jim who ran away, but through the process of this mystery these two run into many different problems.
This story takes place on a farm, but then they have to go to save Jim who ran away.While they are on their rescue trip to save Jim they meet a girl their age, who also runs away because of her parents. So now they have to find two people to find. But one of the problems on this trip is that when they try to solve one problem, they just run into another.
I highly recommend this book to everyone because it has great mysteries to be solved. So if you like great mystery books then I would recommend you buy this book series of Trixie Belden.

I recommend this book series of Trixie Belden: The Red Trailer Mystery. It's a story of Trixie Belden and her new best friend Honey Wheeler who just moved up the street from Trixie house.This story is about their friend Jim who ran away, but through the process of this mystery these two run into many different problems.
This story takes place on a farm, but then they have to go to save Jim who ran away.While they are on their rescue trip to save Jim they meet a girl their age, who also runs away because of her parents. So now they have to find two people to find. But one of the problems on this trip is that when they try to solve one problem, they just run into another.
I highly recommend this book to everyone because it has great mysteries to be solved. So if you like great mystery books then I would recommend you buy this book series of Trixie Belden.

Thirteen-year-old Trixie Belden, and her best friend, Honey Wheeler, couldn't have been more upset when their new acquaintance, Jim Frayne, ran away from Sleepyside, in the hopes that he would not be caught by his abusive stepfather. Unfortunately, Jim took off right before Trixie had the chance to tell him that he was the heir to a huge fortune. Now Trixie and Honey, along with Honey's Governess, are on a trailer trip through upstate New York to locate Jim. However, during their trip they meet up with a family in a red trailer, who couldn't look more upset, and when their eleven-year-old daughter runs off through the woods, Trixie and Honey decide to try and find her as well. But when the two girls meet up with a couple of trailer thieves, they have to try and save themselves, protect all trailer owners, get the trailer thieves arrested, and find Jim and the lost little girl before it's too late. If only the two girls had known that their little trailer trip would turn out to be so full of surprises.

I am a longtime reader of the NANCY DREW series, so when I stumbled across the TRIXIE BELDEN series, I knew that I had to give it a try. I read the first book in the series a few months ago, and loved it, so I decided to get the second book in the series. To my surprise, I loved it even more than the first. Julie Campbell is a marvelous storyteller, whose characters couldn't be more fun and exciting to read about. Trixie is an upbeat girl, who is always getting into trouble; while Honey is more shy, but at the same time loves a good mystery. Fans of mysteries will adore Trixie Belden, and find themselves grappling to read the next book in the series.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

The best! No hard-boiled writer, except Dashiell Hammett, can write mysteries that "feel" better.

This collection consists of: "The Simple Art of Murder" (an essay on mystery writing), and the short stories: "Spanish blood," "I'll be waiting", "The King in Yellow", "Pearls are a Nuisance", "Pickup on Noon Street", "Smart-aleck Kill", "Guns at Cyrano's", "Nevada gas."

I have reviewed Raymond Chandler's seven Phillip Marlowe detective classics elsewhere in this space so there is no need to go into detail about his place in the detective genre pantheon. What is interesting in this series of short works is that Chandler is working out the 'formula' for what he expects out of his detectives. Those qualities get worked out in Marlowe and thus take their place as very good literary work indeed. Even here Chandler exhibits the sparse but functional dialogue that holds the Marlowe series together. If you have never read Chandler in novel or short story form here is your chance. There will be no place for Agatha Christie-type parlor detectives for you after that. For sure.

If nothing else get this book for his essay that gives this work its title. This is his take at the time (early 1950's) on the genre's place in the literary pantheon. Now his long ago off-hand remarks are the wisdom of the academy. Enough said.

(Note: This is a review of the 1968 hardcover edition of The Simple Art of Murder published by W.W. Norton & Co. There are major differences between this edition and the Black Lizard paperback depicted above. Most significantly, the 1968 version contains 4 stories the Black Lizard paperback does not.)

The Simple Art of Murder is a collection of author favorites culled from short works of crime fiction by the legendary Raymond Chandler. The title, The Simple Art of Murder, is the same as that of an essay Chandler wrote in 1945. That essay, which can be found in this book, is a distillation of the author's views on the contemporary state of detective fiction, its future and its limitations. Whether you agree or disagree with the conclusions it presents, you will find it highly valuable reading, as it explains why and how Chandler wrote as he did.

All twelve stories (remember, this is the 1968 edition) are good and some are great. Though one of them, Goldfish, takes place mostly in Washington State, they all bring to life the dark, grittiness of Los Angeles' criminal netherworld. Finger Man, Goldfish, Red Wind and Trouble is My Business all feature the legendary private eye Phillip Marlowe. These are the 4 stories missing from the Black Lizard edition.

Nevada Gas differs from the rest of the stories in this collection in that the main character is not an investigator but rather a gambler named Johnny De Ruse. Except for the gentlemanly Walter Gage (Pearls are a Nuisance) all the protagonists of the remaining non-Marlowe stories are very Marlowe-like in personality. In fact, Johnny Dalmas (Smart-Aleck Kill) seems to differ from Phillip Marlowe in name only.

One of the best stories in The Simple Art Murder is Pick-Up on Noon Street. In it, Pete Anglisch, a narcotics detective deep undercover, rescues a vulnerable young woman caught up in a complex blackmail scheme. The captivating Red Wind is also very strongly written.

Just like the Phillip Marlowe novels which brought Chandler his well deserved fame, these hardboiled shorter works are characterized by great dialogue and very effective descriptive passages. Reading this collection gives one an appreciation for the intelligence and craftsmanship Raymond Chandler applied to his writing. Highly recommended.

The thing about Raymond Chandler is his ability to put words together in the most intriguing, descriptive way. His prose is beyond readable -- it's captivating. The first book of his I read was "Farewell, My Lovely." I read a couple of paragraphs and I was simply hooked. The stories themselves are wonderful, but told by a lesser author, they wouldn't be half as good.

The sad thing about Chandler is that he got started rather late in life with his writing and he didn't get that many books written before he died. Today, you can find about eight books, comprising six novels and two collections of short stories. "The Simple Art of Murder" is one of the short story collections.

Chandler's famous fictional detective, Philip Marlowe does not appear in any of the short stories in this book because these are his earlier works. They appeared in magazines and he hadn't dreamt up Marlowe yet. But the stories are so worth reading. One of Chandler's gifts is his ability to describe people, places and the times without being at all boring. The net result is that, while you're reading, you're there, back in the Los Angeles of the 1930's and 40's, experiencing how it used to look, how it once felt, what life there was once like. It's almost intoxicating in its effects.

Those who have read some of the Philip Marlowe novels will find a couple of interesting things. With a little re-working, you'll find a couple of his short stories in the novels as chapters of the larger works.

One of the really interesting things about this particular collection is the opening work, not a story but an essay entitled "The Simple Art of Murder." It's Raymond Chandler's commentary on what it takes to write a good murder mystery and, believe it or not, it's a very interesting read. It's entertaining and insightful, not in the least bit dry, and proof positive that Chandler could really write. The man was truly gifted and not to read him is to missing something excellent indeed.

The phrase "pulp fiction" generally conveys something of lesser quality, trash, in fact. I'll never make that assumption again having read Raymond Chandler, master of the genre. Few authors in any genre have been able to write as well as he did.

I am commenting on the present book not the older 1968 version. Some other people are commenting on the old book.

Before you read all the other comments here, please be clear that this book is not like Chandler's other books. Unfortunately, some other people commenting on this book have not read the book - obviously. This book does not contain his character Philip Marlowe. He might have been in the 1968 version, I do not know. Here we have an essay by Chandler called "The Simple Art of Murder," followed by 8 short stories, each about 40 pages long. In some ways, these are a sampling of Chandler's "other stories." They still involve an LA based private detective, but each leading male protagonist has a different personality.

The great attraction of this book is the essay by Chandler on how he writes, and what he thinks of other writers. After reading the esssay, I immediately ran out and bought Hemingway's "Farewell to Arms." Chandler thought that this book probably has the best prose of 20th century novels. In the essay Chandler tells us about his philosophy to writing crime stories, and he makes comments on other writers from Hemingway to British mystery writer Dorothy Sayers. It is a good essay by Chandler but short.

I have read all 7 Chandler novels plus the short stories "Trouble is My Business." One can make the argument that the present book is perhaps his best work; although, the short story format does not make for an impressive read - as we see for example in "Farewell, My Lovely," or other full novels.

As a Chandler fan I read this introduction four times, and read most other stories twice. "Smart-Aleck Kill" has a very complicated plot compressed into a very short format. I ended up reading it three times before all the characters were clear in my mind. Eventually the binding of this new book came apart. There is no Philip Marlowe, but this is an excellent sample of Chandler's writing skills.

Chandler wrote detective mystery stories, and became famous for seven novels and a number of Hollywood screen plays, mostly about crime and private detectives in the "film noir" genre of Hollywood black and white films, or what is called LA "pulp fiction". Far from being an ordinary writer of cheap crime stories, Chandler became one of America's best writers from the mid 20th century. His fame was of course helped by Bogat and Bacall starring in the film "The Big Sleep" based on Chandler's first novel.

In any case, this is a book that is not to be missed by Chandler fans. It is simply excellent for anyone else.

Could not put this book down. Very exciting as only J.D. Robb can do it.

Although I enjoyed the first "In Death" book, I have to admit it's getting old. I keep getting this distinct feeling of deja vu everytime I read another book in the series. It's time to stop using the same recycled plot and change it up a little. This series has a lot of potential, but it seems that the author is too comforatable in the plot outline she is using now. A realize a lot of people love this series, but I'm finding it difficult to understand why. It took me three months to finish this book! Why? The explanations are too vague, the dialogue is too boring, and the plot is too predictable.

For those readers hooked on Robb's characters, Rapture in Death is a great contribution to the series. It focuses heavily on the just-post-marriage relationship of Eve and Roarke, especially Eve's struggle to come to terms with the strength of her feelings for Roarke (and his for her). It also includes some interesting developments in Mavis's career as a performer.

The mystery is interesting, but not quite up to the level of some of the other books in the series. It's pretty easy to see which possible bad guy is the red herring and which isn't, and the red herring gets drawn out a bit long in my opinion.

Since we're on the fourth book of the series, it can start to feel a little bit unlikely that so many of Eve's cases have ended up tied to people she knows so well. On the other hand, Robb knows her audience: people follow these books for the larger-than-life character drama as well as the mystery, and the way to do that is to give Eve a personal stake in her cases. So while the practical part of me balks a little at the coincidences, I have to admit that it's a very effective way to draw her particular audience in.

All in all, while this isn't my favorite book of the series, I definitely enjoyed reading it. As always, there's some hot & heavy sex between our favorite billionaire and cop, so it's for adults only!

How thrilled I was to receive so promptly my copy of Rapture in Death. I thank you so much for the great service.

BORING-get a life Ms. Roberts, were I your agent not one of your books would have been published. Did you invent "reality TV"? 'If you have half a brain' (credit to Rupert Holmes)you too will fall asleep reading this author's books. So I can say something nice, her works are better than sleeping pills. I wish that I had originally known what her other name was years before I purchased the #1 of this series, I also wish I had known that each book is a carbin copy of the others, victim name changed, sometimes, to protect the innocent reader, and purely for greed.
I did give 1 star (there was no lower one to choose) as I respect all books and wish more people would read books.

Make sure you Pollyanna video is close by when you pick this one up to read. Karin Slaughter has taken it upon herself to set the world of thrillers on fire. This start to the Grant County series is dynamic! This author has taken the time to let us get to know the characters we will be spending time with, while simultaneously ripping their lives apart with evil.

And let's talk about evil, the villain of this tale is so...evil...I can't think of a more horrible word to describe him. The story is a humdinger, from one page to the next, your mind is whirling with questions, and doubts, and more questions. While I did guess, and I do mean guess, who the villain was, until the very moment the why is revealed, I did not have a clue how I guess correctly.

This book is frightening and hypnotic. I read it on my Palm T/X and my thumb will never be the same for turning those pages as fast as I could to get to the next one. An excellent read. No doubt!

Karin Slaughter has written an excellent book. She is one of my new favorite authors.

Yes, it is violent. Unfortunantly, so is life sometimes. As far as the rape victims reactions to their rapist, this is an essential part of the plot. They were drugged, and this was part of the effects.

I enjoyed this book greatly. In fact, I went to the library for the next installment before I finished this one because I did not want to wait on delivery.

Karin Slaughter's debut mystery novel, "Blindsighted," is set in Heartsdale, a sleepy small Georgia town, where fairly young Dr. Sara Linton, its protagonist, is both pediatrician and county coroner. As the book opens, Linton is meeting her plumber sister Tessa for lunch at the town's only diner, and it appears that her life's no more out of joint than that of any ordinary woman who reads women's magazines: an uneasy relationship with her forceful ex-husband Jeffrey Tolliver,local sheriff; and a low-key flirtation going with low-voltage town pharmacist Jeb McGuire. Then Sibyl Adams, also a rather young local college professor, who is blind, turns up dying, brutally sexually abused, for the doctor to find in the diner's ladies' room. And Julia Matthews, student at the college, goes missing, only to turn up in a few days, also having been brutally sexually abused, and, in addition, apparently crucified. And we are suddenly in noirish, gruesome, Southern Gothic country, which, let me tell you now, is no place for the more sensitive souls among us, who might find they'd sleep better without making the acquaintance of the sexually sadistic serial killer the writer has created.

The book has, as you can imagine, a powerful opening that will hook you right away, if you are amenable to that kind of thing. It moves fast, and the closing pages are also pitched pretty high. It's well-written, the dialogue is good, and the narrative and descriptive writing are fine, particularly as they deal with the peculiarities of the American South. But the author has a nasty way of suckering readers, at least female ones, in with some fairly titillating sex scenes; then punches her readers by subjecting her female characters to sadistic treatment. It can surely be said that these things happen in real life. However, this caused me to remember recent comments by Ian Rankin, currently highly-successful dean of Scottish mystery writers, who wondered at the number of recent violent, particularly sexually violent, books written by women. At any rate, it's certainly no way to treat a lady, let alone a Southern belle.

This is the first book in a series featuring pediatrician and part time coroner, Sara Linton, and her ex-husband, Jeafrey Tolliver. How weird of a combination of jobs is that, pediatrician and coroner? But, Slaughter makes it work. The murders are gruesome (in ways I had never imagined!) Descriptions are graphic. All in all, a good whodunit mystery kind of read.

One of the most interesting ways to conduct social research is to read and study the changes in the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew series from their beginning to the present. Not only do they reflect the technological changes over time, they also demonstrate many changes in the social structure of the United States. In my opinion that is more evident in the Nancy Drew series than in the Hardy Boys.
The Nancy Drew series began in the 1930's when women were considered the weaker sex and there were few career opportunities for women. In the movies, women were portrayed as weak, subject to fainting at the first hint of danger. Therefore, even though Nancy and her female companions conformed to that stereotype, they were in fact ahead of the social curve for the time. They were aggressive in pursuing their goals, stood up in the presence of danger and were portrayed as being very intelligent.
This book was written in 1950, yet Nancy acts more like a rebellious girl of the late sixties. Even though she is warned of the dangers of pursuing the case, she never backs down and is even willing to physically fight with her attackers. When this plot is contrasted with the earlier books written in the 1930's, she is much more aggressive and that is a welcome change.
The plot involves an old sailing ship called the "Bonny Scot." There are many mysteries about the ship and the villains in this case keep searching it looking for something. Nancy stays on the case and learns that the original name of the ship was "Dream of Melissa." The ship was lost and the former captain had written a letter to his sweetheart telling her about the priceless gift he was bringing back. That unknown treasure is what the villains are looking for, yet the search is difficult. The "Dream of Melissa" has many secret places were things can be hidden and each must be searched. Furthermore, the original figurehead of the ship was a wooden lady and that was removed many years ago. Fortunately, Nancy is able to track it down and solve the mystery.
As a modern teen adventure story, this one is weak. However, if considered in the context of the early 1950's it was far ahead of its time. Nancy is brave, aggressive and willing to stand up to the villains by herself.

Although this book has some good qualities, it lacks behind "Clue of the Dancing Puppet" and "Mystery at the Ski Jump."

I loved the book; it was so wonderful. I liked it when the police and Nancy Drew caught the bad guys: old grizzle face, flip Fay, and red Quint (who wasn't really bad). They got the ruby to the right person. It was all good; a wonderful book... When...someone robbed Bess's house (Nancy's friend)...dun, dun, dun, it was very suspenseful and scary. It really grabbed my attention. I kept wanting to read and read. If you are a fan of mysteries, then you will thoroughly enjoy this book.

I loved the book; it was so wonderful. I liked it when the police and Nancy Drew caught the bad guys: old grizzle face, flip Fay, and red Quint (who wasn't really bad). They got the ruby to the right person. It was all good; a wonderful book... When...someone robbed Bess's house (Nancy's friend)...dun, dun, dun, it was very suspenseful and scary. It really grabbed my attention. I kept wanting to read and read. If you are a fan of mysteries, then you will thoroughly enjoy this book.

Amanda B. age 9

This is one of my favorite Nancy Drew books. It has a lot of great adventure.

There was little action in this book to recommend it and lots and lots of talk, much of if pretty mindless. I don't know if this book was really obvious or maybe I was just at the top of my game in deduction, because I had this thing pretty much figured out early in the book and the only real surprise was how right I was about the whole plot. Anyway, the plot concerns the near perfect world of Deborah and Steve with their two children. One day Steve disapears and the clues that begin to come out point to Steve being the 'Dark Alley Strangler'. Imagine Deborah's shock when she learns that her husband might be this vicious serial killer. Well, she struggled with it for sure, but in all honesty I thought she didn't take it all that hard. There was little in the amount of depth to any of the characters in the book and the friends around to assist Deborah in her time of need weren't much help and/or comfort. Joe was a mystery to me. Evan was shallow. Pete was shallower and Barbara...why was she even in the book? This is my first Carlene Thompson book and I was not completely turned off by it, so I will probably give her another chance, but I hope her other works are better than this. In my opionion, if ever a book modeled what a three star rating is all about, this is it. Not great - Not terrible, but nothing special. This is an okay read.

I always like to order from Amazon.com. I have never had a problem of any kind with Amazon or the sellers. The packages are always in good condition and arrive in a timely fashion. This order was no exception. Everything was great! Vicky McCollum

The first book I read of Carlene Thompson was "The Way You Look Tonight" and I was immediately hooked, I went to a used bookstore to find a couple of her books that were out of print and bought all the rest new. I am waiting for her next one. Her books are the only one's I have to pre-order. The only problem I have with her books is I loose a lot of sleep (I cannot put them down once I start).

This is the 5th book I've read by Thompson and it was great. I was surprised by the ending, and although the characters were without real depth, the plot and suspense make up for it. Also good by Thompson-In the Event of My Death, Black for Remembrance, If She Should Die, and Since You've Been Gone.

All of her books are great. One of the best things about her books,is that they are losely set in real towns.