Nancy Drew visits a friend at the Lilac Inn, where a set of family diamonds vanishes and someone is going around town pretending to be Nancy
Someone is using her name
Nancy Drew and her friend Helen travel to Lilac Inn, the lovely old riverside inn run by their friend Emily, who is about to get married. Emily is counting on a set of family diamonds to secure her future, but strange things keep happening at the inn: odd noises, a ghostly figure on the grounds, a cook who suddenly quits. Then the diamonds disappear, and Nancy learns that a young woman has been charging purchases in River Heights using Nancy's own name.
Who will enjoy it
Young mystery fans, readers who enjoyed The Secret of the Old Clock, and adults revisiting the Nancy Drew books of their childhood.
What you will get
A classic Nancy Drew adventure combining stolen jewels, a seemingly haunted riverside inn and a bold impostor who borrows the young detective's identity.
The Mystery at Lilac Inn Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Children’s Books · Nancy Drew · Stolen jewels · Impostor
Length
180 pages · ≈ 5 h
More about this book
The fourth Nancy Drew book has everything the series is loved for: a pretty setting, a touch of the spooky, a fast series of clues and a resourceful heroine who refuses to give up. The impostor subplot is a particularly good hook, because it makes the case personal; Nancy is not only helping a friend but also protecting her own good name.
The story moves quickly from one incident to the next, with boat trips, a diving scene and several narrow escapes. Helen and Emily give Nancy warm companions, and her father, Carson Drew, appears at key moments with practical help. The mystery is not hard for adults to solve, but young readers will enjoy piecing it together.
The edition in print today uses the revised text from the early nineteen sixties, which is shorter and brisker than the original and removes some dated material. Characters are drawn simply, and the dialogue can feel stiff. As a fast, safe and satisfying mystery for confident young readers, though, it does its job very well. About 180 pages in the Grosset & Dunlap hardcover; some listings say 192.
The Secret of the Old Clock
The Hidden Staircase
The Tower Treasure
The Bungalow Mystery
The Clue in the Diary
The Secret of Shadow Ranch
Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective
The City of Ember
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer
The Secret of the Old Mill
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
Among the Hidden