Nancy Drew investigates strange noises and vanishing valuables at an old mansion said to be haunted, while a menacing stranger threatens her father
Who walks at Twin Elms?
Nancy's friend Helen asks for help at Twin Elms, a grand old mansion where her elderly relatives live. Odd things keep happening there: footsteps and knocking in the night, missing silverware and jewellery, and shadows that seem to pass through walls. The women are convinced the house is haunted. At the same time, Nancy's father, the lawyer Carson Drew, has received threats from a hot-tempered man over a property deal.
Who will enjoy it
Young readers who enjoy spooky but safe mysteries, fans of the Hardy Boys, and adults revisiting a childhood favourite.
What you will get
A classic Nancy Drew mystery full of creaking floors, secret passages and strange noises in the night, where a cool-headed young detective proves that the ghosts are very human.
The Hidden Staircase Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Children’s Books · Nancy Drew · Old mansion · Girl detective
Length
182 pages · ≈ 5 h
More about this book
This is one of the most popular early Nancy Drew books, and it shows why the series took off. Nancy is brave, quick and practical. She sets traps, explores the grounds at night and keeps her head while everyone around her is frightened. The two threads, the haunting and the threats to her father, seem separate at first, and part of the pleasure is watching them come together.
The edition most readers find today is the revised text of the late fifties, which tightened the story and modernised some details. The prose is simple, the chapters end on cliffhangers and the mansion's secrets are revealed in a satisfying final sequence underground. It is spooky without ever becoming truly scary, which suits younger readers well.
Characters are drawn in broad strokes and the villain is fairly obvious to adult eyes. Children, however, tend to race through it and reach for the next book in the series. Nancy's independence, her own car and her confidence with adults were striking for a girl heroine when the series began, and they still make her an appealing role model. About 182 pages in the Grosset and Dunlap hardcover.
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