The Clue In The Jewel Box (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
Before we get to the review portion, I would like to take a moment to gripe about the Goodreads-provided cover image for this book: stop making Nancy a blonde. She is described in every single damn book as being "titian haired." (the original series, anyway; I don't even know what they've done with the modern revamps - probably made Nancy an official blonde and turned Ned into a sensitive indie-rocker type) "Titian" means red hair, people. RED. Ahem. Alright, so in this installment of the plucky teen sleuth's adventures, Nancy finds out that her elderly neighbor is actually a deposed queen from an tactfully-unnamed country, and not two seconds after Nancy meets her the old lady is inviting her over to tea and letting her mess with all the priceless antiques. Turns out the queen had a grandson who was smuggled out of the country to live in hiding in...wait for it...America! The only thing the queen has to remember her grandson is an old picture of him at age four, and she wants Nancy to track the guy down. Because this is a Nancy Drew novel, this takes about ten pages, but luckily further drama ensues to stretch out the story a bit more. This one wasn't my favorite. For starters, it was blatantly obvious who the bad guy was from like, page thirty. And Carolyn Keene works really hard to keep the Very Important Clues from being revealed to the reader so the ending doesn't get spoiled, so she has Nancy discover said clues and then never mention them to anyone until the appropriate time, forty pages later. Also, there's something that I noticed when I read these books as a 7th grader but wasn't as bothered by then: do we really need to be constantly reminded how fucking perfect Nancy is? When she's not being lovingly described as "slim and attractive", we get even more random compliments thrown in that have nothing to do with anything. Example: there's a subplot involving Nancy modeling a friend's dress at a fashion show, and we get told over and over how Nancy is "keeping perfect time to the music" and has "perfect composure and the grace of a professional model." WE GET IT. NO REALLY, WE DO. Nancy is pretty insufferable in this one, to be honest. Usually her moments of "look at me with my spiffy little roadster and perfect figure and perfect hair being perfect" are overshadowed by her moments of "look at me being awesome and escaping from an abandoned cabin where I've been tied up and left for dead in the middle of the winter." But there aren't any in this book. Nancy gets trapped in a phone booth once, and doesn't even have to escape - a policeman comes along and helps her. COME ON. Speaking of insufferable, can we talk about Ned, Nancy's "special friend"? Good lord, what a schmuck. There's a scene where they're on a Ferris wheel (enjoying some forbidden hand-holding, I'm sure) and it breaks down, causing them to be trapped at the top. Nancy, being perfect, stays positive and says, "They'll fix it soon. In the meantime, let's enjoy the view." Ned responds, "The sun's hot and I'm thirsty." Hey Ned, what's it like dating a girl who's got bigger balls than you? Bet that's awkward.
Times have sure changed since 1943 even in YA books. Finally, some really unlikable characters. In previous books - the bad guys were mean or sinister and pretty flat, but in this book - there was a truly unlikable character who turns out to be the bad guy. I found the humor in the fact that one of the characters has taken the name Francis Baum as his cover name, but NONE of the characters makes any reference to it. It was such a blatant disguise I thought for sure there would be a reference to the OZ books or movie. Let's talk about Ned Nickerson, Nancy's "friend". The author still doesn't have him as Nancy's boyfriend even though Burt and Dave have become steadies to George and Bess. Poor Ned, he's one of many admirers that Nancy has, but he is her favorite. He's definitely been trying to up the romance. In this book, he takes Nancy on a stroll outside in the moonlight, but Nancy keeps thinking of the mystery. A couple of times he gets whiny in this book. Poor Ned - I'm not liking him so much any more and Nancy is a user. When she needs someone muscle she calls him. It's the only time she needs him or spends time with him. These days that attitude wouldn't fly. He'd dump her and she'd be in the gym. Bess and George often disappear due to family obligations. This story was a bit far-reaching - a displaced queen who fled to the United States when a revolution broke out in her unnamed country. Her grandson was spirited away by his nurse, but the rest of the family died. So Nancy sets out to find the missing prince and ends up with more than one mystery to untangle. If these books were written today - the bad guys wouldn't bother to just tie up their victims. They'd shoot them. Kidnapped women would be assaulted. Ahhh...those were the days - of kinder, gentler bad guys.
What do You think about The Clue In The Jewel Box (2005)?
The mysteries are formulaic. But I love Nancy Drew. I want to be Nancy Drew. Her world is always full of dangerous adventures, good friends, loving family and interesting characters, both good and evil. The evil ones are always caught, thanks to Nancy's excellent sleuthing skills, and the good ones always rewarded thanks to Nancy's generous help. She's got a cute boyfriend who backs her up and a cool car to drive around in. She looks great in everything she wears. And she has red hair. At least when I read Carolyn Keene's books, I get to be Nancy Drew in my mind, for a couple hundred pages. And life becomes a bit more exciting, even if it's predictable, up to the very end. Until next time...
—Greta
When Nancy gave aid to a weakly elderly woman at a restaurant, she had no idea that she was helping a former Queen! But that’s what Mrs. Alexandria is, and she is extremely grateful to Nancy. She only wishes that she knew the identity and whereabouts of her grandson… But maybe this is another front on which Nancy may offer her services?Discussion. This story was a tad more confusing that some of Nancy’s other cases – more confusing, but also more easy to solve, if that makes any sense. For example, Nancy missed a very obvious deduction which would have helped her to solve the mystery in about half the time, but which was saved for later in the book (and which complicated matters dreadfully in the meantime).Nancy and her friends go on a few triple date type outings. Nancy also models a dress for an aspiring fashion designer-friend of hers.Conclusion. Okay. Read The Mystery of the Broken Locket and The Mystery of Lilac Inn first.Visit The Blithering Bookster to read more reviews!www.blitheringbookster.com
—Laura Verret
I loved the Nancy Drew movie and when I found out there were books I went to the library and rented some and then I came on Goodreads and found out that there are 41 PAGES (not 41 books 41 pages) of Nancy Drew books! I love them they are really interesting but can get a little scarry at times I don't like reading them at night but I do anyways because they are really hard to put down, I don't read them for school very often because they are more for entertainment than anything and I didn't think that she would like that a whole lot but I loved it anyway!!
—Kenzi Kraync
