Author: James D. Lawrence under the pseudonym of Sherry Lemmon wrote the outline & manuscript; edited by Nancy Axelrad

Cover Art: Ruth Sanderson

Interior Art: Paul Frame

PLOT:

When a valuable racehorse named Shooting Star is stolen from Rainbow Ranch, Nancy becomes embroiled in a feud between two ornery men. Accusations fly as Nancy is asked to find the missing horse and the thief. At the same time, the young detective‘s friend, Ned Nickerson, and his newly formed college film club have asked Nancy to star in a movie. But the abandoned Victorian mansion in the woods chosen as the film‘s setting seems to invite disaster. No sooner do the movie-makers start work than the estate‘s stable mysteriously burns down! As other attempts are made to harass the group, Nancy’s investigation becomes more and more perilous. Will she be able to follow the surprising clues to conclude her intriguing search? (from the back cover)

CHARACTERS:

Nancy Drew - the teen detective stars in a movie and solves the mystery
George Fayne - Nancy’s trusted friend, ready to jump in and help out
Bess Marvin - Nancy’s timid friend who finds herself doing her own bit of acting
Ned Nickerson - Nancy’s favorite male friend who has written and is directing the film
Lenny Arthur - a fellow film student with Ned whose film was not chosen to be entered
Tony Traynor - a famous cinematographer who assists Ned and uses Nancy in a commercial
Gwen Jethro - Lenny’s girlfriend who is jealous that Nancy has the lead role in the film
Hannah Gruen- Nancy’s cheerful housekeeper
Mr. Ullman - the realtor who owns the property Ned is using to film his movie
Roger Harlow - owner of a Rainbow Ranch whose prize race horse was stolen
Tina - Roger Harlow’s granddaughter, whose mother took a bad fall from a horse
Hugh Morton - Roger Harlow’s neighbor and a fellow horse breeder
Kurt Ellum - Roger Harlow’s horse trainer, a heavy man with short dark hair
Alf Sanchez - Roger Harlow’s former stable hand who was fired for falling asleep on the job
Lou Yelvey - a former employee of both Roger Harlow and Hugh Morton
Pepper Nash - a jockey fired by Roger Harlow for failing to follow instructions
Velma Deene - an art gallery owner who lost out in the bidding for Shooting Star
Judd Bruce - a sportsman whose horse was entered in the same race as Shooting Star

REVIEW:

A missing race horse and a jinxed film production keep Nancy’s attention at full throttle as she races against time to solve them both. It all begins when Nancy’s favorite man, Ned Nickerson, and his film club begin filming a tongue-in-cheek vampire movie to be entered into a film contest. Nancy is to be the main star, much to the chagrin of Gwen Jethro, the girlfriend of fellow film club member, Lenny Arthur, whose own film script was rejected.

Nancy, Bess, and George are riding horses through the woods to reach the old abandoned Grimsby mansion where Ned is filming his movie, when Bess’ horse is scared by a tortoise shell colored cat who crosses her path. After calming the horse, George remembers a note that she found on Nancy’s car earlier. They open the note to discover a warning - do not let the River Heights Record hire Nancy to try and find the missing race horse, Shooting Star, or she may get hurt! Nancy, of course, brushes it off, as she has not even been contacted by anyone to find the horse. Besides, there is a mystery awaiting them at the Grimsby mansion, where it appears someone other than the film crew has been visiting, yet all the doors and windows remain locked. Is it haunted, or something more sinister?

The girls arrive at the house to find Ned in conversation with Tony Traynor, a famous cinematographer. He is giving Ned and his crew some pointers while he is in town filming some commercials. Gwen Jethro, not missing a chance to browbeat Nancy, tries to insult her in front of Mr. Traynor, but instead makes herself look ridiculous when she inadvertently drops a trick mirror down into a gully. Acting quick, Nancy jumps on her horse and rescues the mirror before it can crash into the creek below. Impressed with her ability, Mr. Traynor invites Nancy to be in his commercial.

Upon entering the house, they find a message written in the dust - “Intruders beware! The penalty for disturbing this old house is death!” Nancy’s suspicions begin, as she decides this is not the act of a ghost, but of someone very real who does not want them there. But she is distracted when she gets home and Hannah informs her that a man called to ask her help in solving a mystery. Nancy must put that on hold, however, as she and Ned have a dance to attend at Westmoor University. At the dance, Gwen tries to outmaneuver Nancy again by telling the faculty advisor to the film club that Nancy cannot participate in the film because she is acting in the commercials. Nancy immediately denies such a claim, and the advisor must do what he can to rectify the situation. On the way home from the dance, however, such actions by Gwen are quickly forgotten when Ned and Nancy see flames coming from the Grimsby property - the stables are on fire! Just as they begin to pour buckets of water from the well on the fire, the firemen arrive to put out the flames - but not soon enough to save the stables.

The next morning as Nancy is discussing the fire with her friends, the stranger calls back to ask for Nancy’s help - Mr. Roger Harlow, the owner of Rainbow Ranch, the stables from which Shooting Star was stolen. She immediately travels out there to meet with him and discovers that Mr. Traynor is to film his television commercials at those very stables. He had mentioned Nancy to Mr. Harlow, and that is why he called her. Nancy agrees to help in whatever way she can. It is then that Ned calls to tell her matters have turned sour - because of the fire, Mr. Ullman at the realty company has decided not to allow the film crew onto the property any more!

Nancy agrees to meet Ned the next day after her first photo shoot for the commercial. The next morning, Nancy appears at Rainbow Ranch to meet with Tony Traynor and his film crew. They begin taking shots when Nancy notices a girl hiding behind a tree. When given a chance to ride the horse freely, Nancy follows the trail of the little girl and comes upon her in a gazebo reading. Upon seeing Nancy, the girl screams and flees. Nancy later learns that the girl is Tina, Mr. Harlow’s granddaughter, whose mother was recently injured in a horse riding incident. At that moment, Mr. Harlow’s neighbor, Hugh Morton, appears. Not only was his ad agency in the bidding for the commercial that was being filmed on Mr. Harlow’s property, but he also brought with him the newspaper that had a story about Mr. Harlow - a story accusing him of kidnapping his own horse! Outraged, Mr. Harlow becomes red with anger and collapses!

Once Mr. Harlow recovers, Nancy begins her investigation of the missing horse. She meets Kurt Ellum, who is Mr. Harlow’s trainer, and she also learns of Alf Sanchez, who was the stable hand on duty the night Shooting Star was stolen. He had fallen asleep during the 4th of July fireworks, and when he awoke, the horse was gone! He claimed someone had poisoned his coffee, but the police had found no traces of poison in his thermos. Determined to uncover the truth, Nancy decides to talk with Mr. Sanchez.

After assisting Ned with soothing things over with Mr. Ullman, who allows the film crew back onto the property, Nancy and Bess head over to Mr. Sanchez’ house. He is insistent that someone drugged him, making him fall asleep, and Nancy raises the idea that someone may have switched thermoses. She heads to the police station and asked if they fingerprinted the thermos. The police had not, but agree to do a test to see. Unable to do anything else until the results come back, Nancy and Bess head back to the Grimsby mansion for more filming. While doing a crucial scene, however, a light that Lenny was supposed to have tightened falls loose and nearly blinds Nancy. In the confusion, Gwen appears to stumble, throwing drinks onto Nancy’s costume! Reacting quickly, Nancy shakes the excess off and blots dry the remaining drink to avoid staining. The film crew is steaming mad with Lenny and Gwen, and both of them walk off the set. Having no one to take Gwen’s place, Ned suggests that Bess can take over the role of the maid. Excitedly, Bess agrees and the scene is successfully filmed. In arranging furniture for the next scene, the teens come across a silver bud vase with an initial “W” on it. Curious, Nancy takes it to the police station, where she finds out that the thermos did not show any of Alf Sanchez’ fingerprints at all! It wasn’t his thermos after all!

Things start to heat up, and the urgency of these mysteries becomes even more clear when Nancy finds out that the silver bud vase belongs to a local resident whose house was burglarized recently in a string of burglaries that have been taking place in River Heights. Determined not only to find out who stole Shooting Star, but who was using the Grimsby mansion and quite possibly who was behind the string of burglaries, Nancy digs deeper. She questions Lou Yelvey, a former stable hand who had a bad temper and worked for both Mr. Harlow and Mr. Morton, and was fired by both despite his claim that he knew more about horses than Mr. Morton. She questions Pepper Nash, who is a jockey that used to work for Mr. Harlow, but was fired when he lost a race after failing to follow Mr. Harlow’s instructions. She questions Judd Bruce, whose own horse is pitted in the race that Shooting Star was predicted to win. But a greater clue comes when she is at an art gallery showing with Bess and George, and the owner, Velma Deene, accuses Nancy of snooping on behalf of Mr. Harlow, questioning if Mr. Harlow had told Nancy that she had something to do with Shooting Star’s disappearance!

A missing painting, an abandoned van on the roadside leading from the Grimsby mansion, a smoke bomb scare, a ten-year old magazine article on the bitter fight to win control of a large corporation, an opal necklace discovered, and white dust on the cat’s fur all lead Nancy on a trail of danger right into the hands of a thief who has no mercy! With the aid of little Tina, Nancy starts a race against time to not only recover Shooting Star, but see the criminals behind the kidnapping and burglaries brought to justice and finish filming Ned‘s movie before the deadline of the contest!

PERSONAL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS:

Talk about a book filled with characters! I think this book had more people in it than the last two or three combined! But the author was “keene” enough to keep them all straight and not jumble up the mysteries with too many suspects.

Another appearance of continuity - Nancy mentions working for the Footlighters theater group, which group was also mentioned in Captive Witness, when Nancy joined a Hungarian theater in an attempt to help some children cross the border to freedom. I’m pleasantly surprised to see these little glimpses of continuity in the books when there has been talk of a lack of consistency that exists in these books.

Couple of interesting tidbits are brought out, such as Nancy owning her own horse, Black Prince, and the fact that the local newspaper is called River Heights Record. Don’t recall having seen either of these facts mentioned before, but as I continue to “wander” through these digests, we shall see if they are mentioned again!

Another minor tidbit I noticed is that while my book is a first printing of 66, the back listing of books lists also 67 (Sinister Omen) and 68 (Elusive Heiress). My memory is not what it used to be, but several others have confirmed for me that all three books basically came out at the same time.

These paperbacks are not the original texts - they may not be as rich in details and the characters may not be as multi-dimensional, but the stories are entertaining and original, and the cover style and the art are definitely high standard. Give them a chance - start “wander-ing” through these first Nancy Drew paperbacks - you might just find you like them!

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