Transcript: MaYaND 003: CB 03: The Bungalow Mystery

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[Sound cue: Eerie piano tune reminiscent of the Nancy Drew PC game soundtracks]

Colleen: Hello and welcome to Me and You and Nancy Drew, a podcast in which I, Colleen-

Meghan: -and I, Meghan-

Colleen: -are reading and watching and going through the entire Nancy Drew-niverse, one book-slash-computer game-slash-

Meghan: -board game? 

Colleen: Board game? Question mark? We found an old board game on Etsy…not on Etsy. What is it? 

Meghan: eBay. 

Colleen: On eBay. But we're going through all the Nancy Drew...what do you call this? 

Meghan: Catalog? 

Colleen: Intellectual properties. 

Meghan: Intellectual properties. 

Colleen: The entire Nancy Drew catalog, very slowly and very surely, and what did we do this week, Meghan? 

Meghan: This week we read the third in the original run of the Nancy Drew series, The Bungalow Mystery. 

Colleen: Which was written and published in 1960. Previously it had, like, “Originally written in this date and rewritten in this date,” and I don't have that written in mine. 

Meghan: Yeah, the only thing I have in this one is, “This new story for today's readers is based on the original of the same title.” 

Colleen: Oh! Interesting. I don't even have that.

Meghan: “It was the last of three books in the Breeder Set Trilogy.” 

Colleen: Sorry, the what? 

Meghan: The Breeder Set. Exactly what it sounds like,. 

Colleen: Okay. All right. 

Meghan: To test-market the series. 

Colleen: Oh, so like, she put out three at a time. 

Meghan: And we're breeding...a love of Nancy Drew? We're sowing the seeds. 

Colleen: God, I hope that that's all that that is. Maybe it was somebody's last name? 

Meghan: No, no.

Colleen: No. Okay cool.

Meghan: No.

Colleen: Is it like, how we have to have three episodes ready of the podcast in order to put it on, like, Apple Podcasts, but it's for books? 

Meghan: I think so. Yeah. Pretty much. It's like, "Okay."

Colleen: "Well, if you're going to write a series."

Meghan: So the original Bungalow Mystery was written in 1930 along with the first two.

Colleen: Gotcha. And then it was re-released in 1960, which is the version we have.

Meghan: Yes.

Colleen: And I have my mom's old copy which is in the two-for-one books that she would get in the mail, and so it's in the same, like, physical book as The Mystery At Lilac Inn, which is number four, which we have not read yet, so. It smells musty and great. I love it.

[Sound Cue: Synthesized pentatonic scale underneath the spoken words “Drew Haiku”]

Meghan: So we will start with our traditional Drew Haiku to start us off. You went first last time, so I think it's my turn to go first this time.

Colleen: Okay. Give me your 5-7-5 poem to summarize this book.

Meghan: “An inheritance, / Embezzlement and disguise. / Nancy solves it all.”

Colleen: Nice. And I am really personally proud of you for not saying “Nancy's third case.”

Meghan: I thought about it. I thought about it.

Colleen: Or “Nancy Drew's third case”

Meghan: But no, I decided to change it up a little bit this time. Let's hear your haiku, Colleen.

Colleen: Alright, to make the syllables work, I have given her a nickname.

Meghan: I almost did the same thing.

Colleen: “Almost shipwrecked, Nance / makes a friend and gets the friends, / fam and money back.”

Meghan: Yes! I love it. I love it.

[Sound Cue: Clock ticks underneath the spoken words “Thirty-Second Recap”]

Colleen: Alright, are you ready for your recap? Are you going first for this as well?

Meghan: Sure.

Colleen: Alright.

Meghan: Okay, and I remember my strategy. I have to look at the clock so that I can remember.

Colleen: You have to look at the clock.

Meghan: Okay.

Colleen: Alright, ready?

Meghan: No. But we're gonna go anyway.

Colleen: Okay, three, two, one.

Meghan: [clock ticks underneath the book summary] Nancy and Helen are on a ship, and, not a ship, a boat, and it gets boat-wrecked. And they get saved by a very nice girl named Laura, and then they find out she's an orphan. Very, very sad. She's very sad. And she has new family to take her in. She's never met them before. And they are very, very suspicious. And also there's an embezzlement thing going on with Mr. Drew that she's gonna help solve. So she's very busy and pulled in all sorts of directions, but as per usual, it's actually all the same direction coming from different angles. ...There's ...some stuff. [ticking stops, clock bongs] 

Colleen: Time. Incredible. No notes. Perfect summary.

Meghan: Yep.

Colleen: All right, ready to time me?

Meghan: Yep, I am, I am. Okay.

Colleen: Is it Laura or Lauren? I kept forgetting.

Meghan: It's Laura.

Colleen: It is Laura? Okay.

Meghan: Okay. On your mark, get set, go!

Colleen: [clock ticks underneath the book summary] Okay, so after the friends Nancy and Helen are shipwrecked, Laura pulls them out of the water and is like, “Oh my god, I always rescue people out in the water because my mom died in the water and it's a whole thing. Anyway, I have some new guardians because my mom died and they're being really sus.” And so Nancy, like, investigates them and is trying to rule out if they're also related to her dad's thing at the bank. And so she interviews like, a bunch of random people in town by making friends with them and doing some quick improv. And then it's…uhhhh they were actors all along. They were acting like her guardian. And then she gets a ring. [ticking stops, clock bongs] 

Meghan: Very good. You got, like, at least something from every part of the story. I think I got like-

Colleen: Thank you! I felt that I did not do well, so thank you for that feedback.

[Sound cue: High-pitched whistle-like, note descending in pitch underneath the stretched-out, also-descending-in-pitch spoken word “Cliffhangers!”] 

Meghan: In this segment of the podcast, we discuss the best cliffhangers, which Nancy Drew and other books similar, like the Hardy Boys, are well known for-

Colleen: Oh yes.

Meghan: -ending their chapters on a cliffhanger. So you just gotta keep on reading.

Colleen: Even if it's kind of a weak cliffhanger.

Meghan: Do you want to start off with your personal favorite cliffhanger?

Colleen: Yes! Okay, so I need to express that one of my favorite things is not necessarily a cliffhanger, but when in the middle of the chapter, it just italicizes one or sometimes two whole sentences.

Meghan: Yes.

Colleen: So page three, I was reading this in the car yesterday, on the way to Rent. And it's like, we're on page three, like, hardly anything's happened, but they're on the boat, there's a storm. And then it just is, like, two italic sentences in case you didn't realize how dramatic it was. “Nancy froze with horror. A tremendous log was floating directly into the path of the motorboat!” So I don't know if that counts because it wasn't at the end of the chapter, but I felt cliffed and hangered.

Meghan: Yes, it makes you want to keep reading that chapter.

Colleen: I did. You know, page three, I was considering quitting, but thank god they had this cliffhanger. My favorite actual end-of-the-chapter cliffhanger is almost not dramatic, but it is. It's not, like, “Then they heard a scream” or whatever. It's, like, Laura's talking about her guardians, that her mom had set in the will of like, “If anything happens to me, these people should take care of you, blah, blah, blah.” And she hasn't met them before, I think, and-

Meghan: No she hasn't.

Colleen: -and so she's like, blah blah blah, “‘She said Mary, my mother, had spoiled me, and I was going to have to toe the mark in her home. What do I do?’” Nancy doesn't know, and then she's, like, Nancy's asking some follow-up questions, and the cliffhanger is, instead of replying to the question, “Laura said absently, ‘Mrs. Aborn called my mother Mary, but Nancy, Mother's name was Marie!’” I know, and I was like, “Okay, actually, that's very interesting.”

Meghan: Yes! The first one of the first suspicious things-

Colleen: Right!

Meghan: -about these people.

Colleen: Exactly!

Meghan: Because we haven't even met them yet. Nancy hasn't even gotten to get her intuition where she knows like, “Hmm.”

Colleen: Where she instantly judges a person and knows?

Meghan: Yes, because that's one of the well-known things about Nancy Drew. So I wrote down so many different cliffhangers.

Colleen: There were a lot of cliffhangers!

Meghan: I like- This one had a lot of good cliffhangers. But I'm going to go with, right near the end of the novel, in case you really were like, “Oh, I can't get through one last chapter of this book. I need another cliffhanger.” But there is a literal cliff involved in this. And this is when they're chasing the actors who have been masquerading as Laura's new guardians, and they're following in the car and they don't- Nancy notices the “Warning: You're Going Around A Big Curve” sign, but the people that they're chasing haven't. And they go careening off of the cliff!

Colleen: Look at that.

Meghan: And it literally ends with-

Meghan and Colleen: -a steep cliff.

Meghan: I was like, “Okay, this is it. This is the perfect example.”

Colleen: That's the obvious winner

Meghan: Yeah, I couldn't- Of course I know there were some screams.

Colleen: Yeah, you love a good scream.

Meghan: I love a good scream at the end of a chapter.

Colleen: I had another one from the middle that wasn't italicized, though. So Laura pulls them out of the lake and she goes- She's staring at Nancy with “keen interest.” She goes, “‘I'm Laura Pendleton. I read in the newspaper about one of the mysteries you solved. I may need your help someday soon, Nancy.’ And without another word, she bent over her oars again” and it's like, “Okay. What a normal thing to say.”

Meghan: And it's not like she, like, left or walked away.

Colleen: Nope!

Meghan: Nancy could-

Colleen: They're in the boat! There's ample time to follow up and they do not.

Meghan: Nope.

Colleen: Very good, very good.

[Sound cue: Ocean waves crash underneath the spoken words “Ship of the Week”]

Meghan: In this segment, Ship of the Week, we discuss which characters, or characters and a characteristic, we ship, AKA we want them to be in a relationship, whether there is textual evidence to support that or not. Should I go first? Do you wanna go first?

Colleen: I can go first.

Meghan: Okay.

Colleen: So my ship of the week is Don Cameron and Laura. Oh no, do we have the same one?

Meghan: No!

Colleen: Oh, interesting.

Meghan: I chose Nancy and Don.

Colleen: Okay, I'm curious about this.

Meghan: Okay, so you give your evidence and then- Because I did, honestly, I'll be honest, I did debate between- I was like, oh-

Colleen: Right, so there's really only one, like, romantic interest that's not, like, “Oh, this is an already-married couple.”

Meghan: Yeah, yeah.

Colleen: So. So Don Cameron is just a random guy we've never heard of before. I suspect we will not hear from him again, but he's a guy that Nancy knows from high school, I think, and he sees her around and she goes, “Yeah.” 

Meghan: He's her prom date from senior year. 

Colleen: Oh, I forgot about that. 

Meghan: They went to prom together.

Colleen: They did go to prom together. But we have not heard of him before. So this is when Nancy's trying to, like, go and investigate the suspects that her dad wants her to look at. So Don is going to this barbecue dinner at one of the suspects’ houses. So Nancy's, like, “Oh my gosh, what if I went with you?” And also he kind of catcalled her, but not really. 

Meghan: He's like, “Nancy, it's me!” 

Colleen: From the car, and she didn't notice ‘cause she was in her sleuthing thoughts. But she liked it, and she was like, “Heck yeah, let's go to this barbecue party together.” But then she actually has to go sleuth something else, so she calls him up. She's like, “Hi, so, ummmm, remember how we have a date? I do need you to go with Laura instead” and he's like, “‘Wow! A real mystery! If I didn't know what sleuthing means to you, Nancy, I'd say you were just trying to brush me off. But you have me feeling sorry for this Laura Pendleton, too.’” So I like a good pity date. 

Meghan: Oh my gosh. 

Colleen: And so- But then it seems like they had a really good time. 

Meghan: They did seem to have a really good time. Laura- It's like the first time she was all excited and happy!

Colleen: Exactly. I like a good set-up that ends well. Like, you guys go together. 

Meghan: And see, I shipped Nancy and Don because I thought it was very nice. I just feel like he's a good, like- He's got an actual personality and he actually does things in this book as opposed to last time, Mr.- What was he? A tennis player? 

Colleen: He was a former tennis player. That was his characteristic.

Meghan: Former tennis player who had no personality. Don is so understanding and is like- One, he's like, “I understand how sleuthing…important this is to you. Of course I will take someone else with me who has been very, very sad and is an orphan.” But then he, like, continues and stays with her for the rest of the novel. 

Colleen: Yeah!

Meghan: And they leave Laura behind to actually get to meet her real guardians who have been…one imprisoned and the other in Florida, not imprisoned. Just has been innocently fine the whole time. But he, like, helps defeat the bad guys. 

Colleen: He's in the woods in the middle of the night!

Meghan: Mr.- Yeah, he's walking around the woods with them. He's, like, helping Mr. Drew after he gets knocked out. 

Colleen: Yeah!

Meghan: He's just, like, a stand-up guy. 

Colleen: You know what? I dig it. I dig it.

Meghan: Yeah, I think-

Colleen: And he's like, “My sister's wedding is today, but you know what? I wouldn't have missed this. This was great.”

Meghan: Yes, that's why he's like, “So I do need to go now because I do have a wedding in a few hours.”

Colleen: “Of my sister. Today. But you know what? We had our date after all.” 

Meghan: Yeah, that's exactly- Yeah, he's like, “We had our date after all.” 

Colleen: I like that!

Meghan: Like, that's what Nancy does. Nancy needs someone who understands that she's just going to drop everything and go solve a mystery. And not only did she do that, he joined her. That's a- That's a perfect Nancy Drew date. 

Colleen: You know what? You've convinced me, I'm on your side. In the computer games, Ned is always so mad when Nancy does this and Don's already like, “Listen, it be like that sometimes.”

Meghan: “I know how important this is to you. If I didn't know you as well as I do, I would assume this was an excuse, but I know you and you're really into this.”

Colleen: Yup!

Meghan: “So yeah, you go do that.”

Colleen: I hope he comes back. I just was assuming that he won't because we haven't heard from any men as a follow-up. 

Meghan: But though, speaking of men that we hadn't heard of... 

Colleen: Helen's? 

Meghan: Helen is still getting married. I kind of thought that that was going to be dropped. 

Colleen: I'm glad we followed up with it. Only briefly. 

Meghan: Only very briefly. 

Colleen: Jim's still abroad for his oil business. 

Meghan: Will be getting married. “My aunt's making my wedding dress.” Not one of the aunts from the last book. I was kind of disappointed. I thought it would be nice to have some follow-through, but this is the first plot-I feel like-plotline that we've seen. 

Colleen: -like, continue from book to book? Yeah. 

Meghan: And I know this is only the first three novels, so I'll be interested to see if there's- I mean, Helen's been in all three so far. 

Colleen: She has! 

Meghan: And so I'm hoping- 

Colleen: I like Helen. 

Meghan: Yeah, I do too. I don't remember enough of any of the subsequent books to know if, like, there's any subplot with Helen getting married.

Colleen: ‘Cause he seemed really suspicious, right? 

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: In the last book I thought he was gonna, like, be a villain.

Meghan: -show up. Yeah. Or is he- Are they just setting him up to be a villain later? 

Colleen: That's, like, a lot of planning, I feel like, for these. Because I feel like these were meant to be kind of standalones that- I'm pretty sure. They pretty much read as standalones, but then you, like, you know the characters. 

Meghan: Yeah, so, I don't know.

Colleen: Keepin’ an eye on that.

Meghan: I'm still debating whether I ship Helen and Jim, because I'm still suspicious. 

Colleen: Well we haven't met him! 

Meghan: We still haven't met him. And she's only met him like, twice. So I am- 

Colleen: He sent a lot of letters, it's fine. 

Meghan: I am concerned. 

Colleen: She's being catfished. 

Meghan: Yeah! Maybe she is.

[Sound Cue: Kitchen tools clink underneath the spoken words “Cooking Corner”]

Meghan: In this segment, we look at the food, the recipes, and snacks and drinks that Nancy gets to experience throughout the book.

Colleen: I was kind of disappointed in this book because usually it's, like, “Oh, here's a thing I've never heard of. Let me look up what a floating island is.” And this is kind of a food-light book. 

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: They were busy being starved of [food and experiencing] malnutrition, whatever. That's the guardian [who is starving]. 

Meghan: They did eat often. 

Colleen: Yes. 

Meghan: But it wasn't a lot of heavy descriptions about their food. The number one thing that stuck out to me was the mention of second breakfast. 

Colleen: Yes. I wondered if you'd pick up on that.

Meghan: Of course I would. For people who don't know, my number one obsession is the Lord of the Rings and anything by Tolkien. So I did appreciate a good shout out to second breakfast and how excited they were, because I think that's when Helen and Nancy had already had breakfast and then Laura shows up and they're like, “Second breakfast!”

Colleen: Yeah! There's nothing wrong with that! I was really excited actually. Okay, so after they're almost shipwrecked they go into this, the titular bungalow, which I think neither of us actually mentioned during the [recap].

Meghan: Yes. 

Colleen: I actually take issue with the name of this book, because the bungalow was not actually important.

Meghan: I agree. 100%. 

Colleen: At all.

Meghan: And I don't know where we can put this small, like, discussion within the context of the podcast. 

Colleen: Yeah, I didn't know what segment to put that in, but I don't like the title. 

Meghan: I don't either! And I also don't like- I haven't actually liked the first two either, because The Secret of the Old Clock gives away that we're looking for an old clock. 

Colleen: That's true.

Meghan: And so you just wait for the clock to appear.

Colleen: That's true. 

Meghan: And the same with The Hidden Staircase. They're like, “We're in a haunted house. Where's the ghost? How is it-?” And you're like, “It's in the hidden staircase. It's in the hidden staircase.” 

Colleen: That's a good point! 

Meghan: This one, I was like, “Okay, why did we name this one The Bungalow Mystery?”

Colleen: I think I just forget about the title until we're going over it. And then by the end they tie up- Okay, so the bungalow is where they go after they're done being almost shipwrecked, and they're like, “We need to dry off.” It's like, really cold, and Nancy's like, “I know about de-” -or, not dehydration. “I know about- 

Meghan and Colleen: “-hypothermia-” 

Colleen: “-and we need to get warm, ladies.” And so they just go into a random house, and then Nancy, like, leaves a note, of like, “Hi! We took some of your stuff. Sorry! Signed, Three Grateful Girls,” or something like that. I'm like, “Thank you, Nancy.” So they break into this bungalow. They get warm. They they have a little cocoa because that's good under any circumstances. That's why this ties into Cooking Corner, but then I got sidetracked because the bungalow isn't important! And then it ties back at the end, because the villainous actor's-

Meghan: Fred!

Colleen: -friend Fred is staying at the bungalow. Like, it's not important. 

Meghan: But they don't go back to the bungalow though!

Colleen: No, we just mentioned it again. It's not a good title. 

Meghan: Yeah. Though in reference to the hot chocolate. I did write down what Nancy says about it, which is “Ummm, this is good.” It's supposed to mean “mmm” from context, but it says “umm.” 

Colleen: “U-M-M. This is good.”

Meghan: “Ummmm, like,” so I just imagined her being like, [stereotypical Valley girl voice] “ummmm, this is good?”

Colleen: “Have you guys heard of this stuff? Hot chocolate?”

Meghan: “This is delicious.” 

Colleen: Me, who drinks them every day. I also liked that in every single meal, somehow salad was mentioned, like- Like, was highlighted. With some tangy French dressing, and some whatever salad and- 

Meghan: Last book, The Hidden Staircase, was all about soup. 

Colleen: Uh-huh.

Meghan: And this one's all about salad. 

Colleen: All right. I'm curious what, like, ‘cause those are both courses of a meal, so what course the next book is going to be. 

Meghan: I wonder if it's seasonal. Are we supposed to be implying the seasons from this? What's a salad?

Colleen: A salad is like, a spring, and, like, soup is, like, a fall? 

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: That's too, I think they're much closer together. 

Meghan: Yeah. I mean, like, even at the end of this one, it says “A week later, she would be investigating the mystery of the Lilac Inn.”

Colleen: The Lilac Inn! I love when it spoils the exact title just to get you to look for the next book. “She would be investigating,” italics, “The Mystery at Lilac Inn.” Did you have any other cooking notes? I had two others. 

Meghan: Naw, just the, like, a lot of salad, steak, baked potatoes and salad, fresh fruit salad. 

Colleen: A lot of salad. 

Meghan: Bread, butter, milk and the salad. 

Colleen: Some breakfast salad. I don't actually know that, but I assume. 

Meghan: They did have some breakfast. I think. 

Colleen: But they didn't say what. I loved that at the end we had some of Hannah's delicious open-faced sandwiches. 

Meghan: Wait, I missed that. 

Colleen: What a weird detail. That doesn't mean anything. That just means there's no bread on top.

Meghan: Wait, I totally missed the open-faced sandwiches. Where is that? 

Colleen: I had it on page 179 for me. This is like, when Laura's coming over to-

Meghan: At the very end? 

Colleen: Yeah, to be like, “Oh, thanks for solving my case, and here's some jewelry.” 

Meghan: Oh yeah, no, I totally missed this! I think I was just like, “Okay, there's a page left, I don't need to take any more notes.” Alright.

Colleen: Our delicious open-faced sandwiches. It just feels less than detailed. Like a weird detail to put in. 

Meghan: Well, and considering how used to we've become to having every aspect of the meal.

Colleen: Very detailed. 

Meghan: I was like, “Tell me more about these open-faced sandwiches. What are they?”

Colleen: No. None of your business. The other thing that Hannah did, which was weird and I loved it- So Carson Drew, Nancy's dad, had to break into his own house at one point because he forgot his keys, which was awesome. And Nancy's like, “Oh my god, an intruder.” And he's like, “Oh my god, my daughter.” And anyway, so he's sleeping. Hannah Gruen's like, “So is your dad home? 'Cause he wasn't when I went to bed. I can make him breakfast if you want.” And she's like, “Yeah, absolutely, he's home.” And so Hannah pauses at the door, winks at Nancy, and says, “‘Pancakes and sausage at 8:30. You tell your dad I'm going to squeeze some extra juicy oranges.’” What a weird sentence! Don't do this and definitely don't wink at me during it. What? 

Meghan: Yeah, definitely some like, implications. Wink wink wink. 

Colleen: I know Hannah is her mother figure but I didn't get the impression they were in a relationship. I thought it was purely, like, domestic. Okay. Great. 

Meghan: Maybe that's the secret ship. We'll look for clues throughout the books. See if we can find any other evidence. 

Colleen: I like this. I like this. 

Meghan: But yeah, overall, I think rather weak on the Cooking Corner.

[Sound Cue: European-style emergency vehicle siren sound plays underneath the spoken words “Fashion Police”]

Meghan: In this segment, we look at the fashion involved in this book. I will start if that's okay. 

Colleen: Yes, please.

Meghan: I think I want to start with Helen's outfit 

Colleen: Oh!

Meghan: Near the beginning. She's wearing Bermuda shorts and a candy-striped blouse. 

Colleen: Yes! 

Meghan: Which, I especially loved the shout-out to Bermuda shorts because that's what I wore for the entirety of my teenage years. 

Colleen: And you were stylin’! Nancy Drew would have loved you.

Meghan: I know, I know. I just need that candy-striped blouse apparently.

Colleen: Does that just mean bright colors? What is “candy-striped”?

Meghan: I think candy-striped meaning, like, just at least what I- ‘Cause I did some research.

Colleen: Oh yeah?

Meghan: On the Google. Looks like it's- Anything candy-striped is, like, striped like a candy cane. So it can be- 

Colleen: Like, red and white? Or just diagonal?

Meghan: Any. Any colors. Interesting. 

Colleen: ‘Cause I'm thinking of a candy striper, which was, like, a nurse. Yeah. Betty and Veronica is how I know that. 

Meghan: This is like, a modern-day, like, from J. Crew, candy-striped, it's pink-and-white striped. But a lot of the other ones, some of them were diagonal and had, like, some green stripes.

Colleen: That's fun. 

Meghan: Or some, like, yellow and green, but it always had like, red or pink. 

Colleen: Right. So it is very candy cane but it's year round, because this is not Christmas. 

Meghan: No, definitely not. 

Colleen: Interesting. 

Meghan: It's definitely the summer.

Colleen: It is the summer, despite the cold, bedraggled nature of them earlier. That's because they were soaked in the lake. 

Meghan: During a storm. 

Colleen: During a storm. I do need to actually call the fashion police on them because, here's the dealio, the three bedraggled girls get out of the lake and water is oozing from Laura's sandals. 

Meghan: Yes.

Colleen: Disgusting. 

Meghan: Gross. 

Colleen: But Nancy and Helen had “kicked theirs off” in the lake, presumably kicked off their sandals, “and now slipped and slid in their soggy socks.” Socks and sandals! That's, like, the one thing I know you're not allowed to do unless you are a middle-aged dad. And they are not middle-aged dads, so unfortunately I am going to actually have to call the fashion police on them for this infraction. 

Meghan: Disappointing. 

Colleen: I hate to see it. 

Meghan: I also just want to bring attention to all of the cotton dresses. Shout out to the cotton dresses. A becoming pink cotton dress. A two-piece navy blue cotton dress. 

Colleen: That “makes her look older.” 

Meghan: A forest green cotton dress. A simple black cotton dress. 

Colleen: Must be summer. 

Meghan: Yes. 

Colleen: Breathable. Light.

Meghan: Yes.

Colleen: I really liked when Nancy picked out some of her clothes for Laura, who's run away from her abusive fake guardians, and- Laura takes a shower. Nancy gives her some clothes, and Hannah declares that “‘Laura looks pretty as a picture and’ twice as relaxed,” or, sorry, “‘much more relaxed.’” And I guess that could be “much more relaxed than she was,” but in the same sentence, it sounds like “she's much more relaxed than a picture,” which is a weird thing to say. What would you wear that would make you look much more relaxed than a picture, is my question? 

Meghan: Lots of- They do have a lot of outfit changes. 

Colleen: They do!

Meghan: I think the only other significant one I would want to mention is they decide to go play tennis at one point. 

Colleen: They do!

Meghan: At the hotel, and also there's a random person. They're like, “Oh, this is our friend. Come join us for a foursome.” 

Colleen: Thank you for the wink. 

Meghan: You're welcome. They got Laura changed into, like, one of Nancy's extra tennis clothes. I was like, “I don't have any tennis clothes.”

Colleen: No, I don't either!

Meghan: And I definitely, if I were going on a trip, wouldn't bring two tennis clothes. So I don't know. I just feel like Nancy's a very different type of person than me. 

Colleen: Now we see that Nancy does have a kit in her car.

Meghan: Oh my gosh, yes. Why didn't I put-?

Colleen: I think I put that in Sleuthing Skills. 

Meghan: In Sleuthing Skills.

Colleen: But it is relevant here because she keeps two changes of clothes, pajamas, and quote, “this time of year, a bathing suit.”

Meghan: Yeah! 

Colleen: Thank you. That's so helpful that you have that. And some toiletries and stuff. Question for you, that you may or may not know, but you know more about fashion than me. What are “brown play shoes,” or just play shoes in general? 

Meghan: I did try and look that up and I had a really hard time finding-

Colleen: That sounds like something you'd give a child, like, “These are your play clothes.”

Meghan: Yes, and that's what kept happening, is anytime I searched play shoes, it was, you know, the, the fake plastic heels that we had- 

Colleen: Yesssssss!

Meghan: -in the early, like, the mid-90s. That's what kept coming up. And so I did, like, “1950s play shoes.” And what I kind of found, and I don't know if this is correct, was like-

Colleen: Almost a tennis shoe, bowling shoe?

Meghan: Saddle shoes, is that what they were called? 

Colleen: Saddle shoes? 

Meghan: I don't know. 

Colleen: But like, good for walking in the woods and sneaking. 

Meghan: Yeah, I had a pair of these that went with my poodle skirt that my mom made for me for Halloween. 

Colleen: Oh my god.

Meghan: Specifically, I had this Halloween costume and poodle skirt, not because I was into the 1950s, but because I loved Mary-Kate and Ashley. 

Colleen: I was just gonna ask if it was Mary-Kate and Ashley! 

Meghan: Yeah, and Mary-Kate-

Colleen: The time travel sleepover!

Meghan: Yes. 

Colleen: Uh-huh. 

Meghan: And Katie and I were obsessed with their poodle skirts, so I got a pink one for Mary-Kate, and Katie got the blue one for Ashley. … Future Meghan here with a correction; I had the blue poodle skirt for Mary-Kate, and Katie had the pink one for Ashley. … 

Colleen: My other note on the green cotton dress is it's good camouflage. 

Meghan: Yes! I also wrote that down. 

Colleen: No it's not? She's in the woods and she's like, “Thank god I wear green, it's good camouflage.” That's not... no? Incorrect?

Meghan: Is that the part where she also then still gets found anyway? 

Colleen: Uh-huh! ‘Cause it's not good camouflage! Because it's just a green dress. 

Meghan: It's just a green dress. 

Colleen: Did you notice that she brushed her hair “until it snapped with electricity”? 

Meghan: I did write that under Miscellaneous Mysteries. 

Colleen: I think it counts as fashion, and specifically a fashion crime. I am pretty- Now I have very short hair because I hate dealing with it, but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do that. 

Meghan: That's always been my goal is to eliminate the static. What's the goal? 

Colleen: “She brushed her hair until it snapped with electricity, she was ready for supper.” And then you notice at supper she was getting, like, a lot of, like, looks of people interested in her “because she was flushed with excitement about the mystery,” and maybe they also thought she looked insane because she had static hair. They were interested in her being a mad scientist.

Meghan: She looks like she got struck by lightning. She's like, bright red in the face. 

Colleen: Hair going, like, a full 90 degrees out from her head. No wonder you're getting looks at dinner, girl!

Meghan: And she's like- “A red-haired boy came up to her with an invitation to dance in his eyes.” Maybe he was just, like, coming up to her concerned to ask if she was alright, if she needed, he needed to call the doctor. 

Colleen: Yes. Oh my god.

Meghan: Oh my goodness. 

Colleen: Very smart.

Meghan: Yeah. I did write down that she has a waterproof watch. I did not realize that waterproof watches have been around that long. 

Colleen: Yeah, especially if this was written in the thirties. 

Meghan: There were a lot of things where I was looking up, and maybe we can talk more about that in the Blast From The Past, but thinking like, “Oh, that didn't exist. It must be only from the 50s,” and being like, “Oh, no, it also existed in the 30s.” 

Colleen: I learned so much. 

Meghan: Yeah.

[Sound Cue: High-pitched sounds imitating a camera flashbulb play underneath the spoken words “Picture Perfect”]

Meghan: In this segment, we look at the wonderful illustrations included in the Nancy Drew books. There are always about like, four or five illustrations. I want to start with the first one. We talked about that one extensively in our last episode, especially how it looked on my phone instead. 

Colleen: Not good.

Meghan: Not good. 

Colleen: Is how it looked. 

Meghan: And I think the goal I've always assumed of the, like- Before the book even starts, it's like, the first page after seeing the copyright. Actually, I think it's before the copyright info, even. 

Colleen: It is!

Meghan: With the title page, it's always got like, an illustration to get you, like, excited for what you're about to read, and a caption. I think I would actually appreciate it without the caption because this already tells us the man chained to the bench was Jacob Ah-born. Or Ay-born, I don't know how to say it.

Colleen: I said “Ay-born” in my head. 

Meghan: Aborn, Ay-born, yeah. Acorn, Aborn. Which automatically tells you that this character is going to be tied up eventually. And so when you do get introduced to him, and he is, spoiler alert, not really Jacob Aborn-

Colleen: He's the actor. 

Meghan: He's the actor pretending to be him. I already was like, “Well, I know that this Jacob, Jacob is tied up somewhere right now.”

Colleen: Right.

Meghan: So it feels like such a spoiler. If it was- [if the bok] gave it to me without the-

Colleen: Without the caption, it'd just be like, “Oh, Nancy is coming down some stairs. There's cobwebs. There's a man chained to a bench.” I think that is intriguing and enticing. 

Meghan: Yes. 

Colleen: Without having the caption it becomes- And I know that, like, “spoilers” is a newer concept, but I think that this one is- This is the plot twist. 

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: And here it is. Right before the book starts! I totally missed it. I skipped past it by accident. 

Meghan: But that's how I felt. I mean, we've talked about this before, the title of- 

Meghan and Colleen: The Hidden Staircase- 

Meghan: -and The Secret of the Old Clock. I think, and I don't know if this is just a change in readership over time- 

Colleen: Right.

Meghan: -but I think of even…Agatha Christie was older than this? 

Colleen: That's a great question. I think so, but I have never compared the two. Just because I, like, you will see, like, the, the, Murder on the Orient Express and all we know is there's a murder. Well, yeah, it's an Agatha Christie novel. We know there's a murder. It wasn't, you know, The Murder Committed By This Person or whatever.

Meghan: Nancy Drew predates Murder on the Orient Express. 

Colleen: Oh!

Meghan: Yeah, the original, by four years. 

Colleen: So they're around the same time period! 

Meghan: Okay. Okay, I rescind what I was going to say, but I just- 

Colleen: No, but I-

Meghan: I just would appreciate, and I know that these are- At least from our modern lens, these are on my fifth grade shelf for my fifth graders. 

Colleen: Right.

Meghan: The reading level is, the target audience is more middle-grade. I don't know if that was the intended audience originally, but that's who I recommend these to. So, you know, I guess reading-comprehension-wise, maybe it does give a little bit of, like, a leg up into understanding the novel. But for me as a reader, I want a little bit more surprise.

Colleen: Well, and I don't think you even need to rescind what you were saying, because if Agatha Christie and Carolyn Keene or Mildred Wirt Benson are titling their books around the same time, I don't know. You would think it would be a similar level of hiding your mystery versus extremely giving away your mystery. 

Meghan: Well, and you know, keeping in mind these are the first three books, I'm pretty sure that over time they get a little bit more-

Colleen: Yeah, the next one is The Mystery at Lilac Inn, which just gives us a location. 

Meghan: And the same, the next one is the secrets of the ranch, or the which?

Colleen: Oh! The Secret of Shadow Ranch? 

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: That's coming up soon? Yay!

Meghan: Shadow Ranch is five. 

Colleen: ‘Cause I think that's when we meet Bess and George.

Meghan: Really? 

Colleen: I think so! 

Meghan: Shadow Ranch was always my favorite when I was a kid. 

Colleen: It's one of the games. 

Meghan: It's because it's got horses. 

Colleen: Oh my god. 

Meghan: I was a horse girl. 

Colleen: It's one of the games!

Meghan: Oh my gosh. 

Colleen: It's one of the most frustrating games. That's when you start getting the internet on Nancy's cell phone, but you can only click on like, three websites, because obviously you can't just search on the internet on the cell phone. And it's like, “Here's what a tomato is.” 

Meghan: Thanks.

Colleen: “Don't eat it if it's green!” 

Meghan: Thanks.

Colleen: “Unless it's one of the green tomatoes!” Do you have any other pictures to discuss? 

Meghan: I think you've got, actually, your book open right now to the other one I would want to discuss. 

Colleen: Yes, yes.

Meghan: So let's hear your thoughts. 

Colleen: Oh, I just really liked, um, the physical space that this picture takes up. And I will post a picture on our Patreon and you, you don't have to be a subscriber to see this. I just want you to have a visual. So we've talked before about the pictures that kind of take up, like, the top half of a two-page spread and then there's just like, regular words. Not even a caption, just regular, like, the book underneath. And how I usually don't see that outside of a picture book. Well this one, it takes up about half of the left-hand side and then about five-sixths, if not more, of the right-hand side which is an interesting-

Meghan: It like, kind of almost like- 

Colleen: It's almost diagonal.

Meghan: Yeah! Flows on a diagonal. 

Colleen: And this is the water that Nancy and Helen are stuck on. Helen's bailing out the water. Nancy's trying to steer the boat or something. It's listing sharply to starboard. There's rain. Also my- We both have the physical book this time, and my picture is much higher quality than yours.

Meghan: Yeah! 

Colleen: Sorry, what?

Meghan: Look at that.

Colleen: Like they're just ink drawings, you know, they're not anything-

Meghan: But yeah, this one looks like, it's been copied more than-

Colleen: -like, a lot of times. 

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: Interesting.

Meghan: That is interesting. I don't- And this, you lent me this one as well. 

Colleen: I did. 

Meghan: This is an old library one, though. 

Colleen: Yeah. 

Meghan: But I also just do appreciate that this is on, like, page four and five. 

Colleen: Like, I'm engaged! 

Meghan: This starts very dramatic. 

Colleen: It does! They're like, in the middle of the storm. Chapter One is “A Blinding Storm.” 

Meghan: And it is a very, very compelling picture. I really did enjoy that. 

Colleen: I did too. And then I have a small complaint about my other picture. 

Meghan: Okay, I wonder. 

Colleen: Specifically, about the, the caption. So Laura is showing off the jewels that she spirited away out from the house where she was being, like, locked in with her fake guardians, and so she, like, hid them and took them with her as she climbed out the window down the rose trellis and, like, ran to Nancy's house, basically. Did she get a taxi? How did she-

Meghan: She got a bus. 

Colleen: She got a bus, okay. I was like, “She couldn't have walked all the way.” Anyway, so she's like, “Here's the jewels,” da da da. Helen's on crutches looking weird in the background. 

Meghan: I know, she's disassociating in the background. 

Colleen: Helen's not really here. It's fine. 

Meghan: No, that's not Helen. Hannah. 

Colleen: Oh, Hannah. I do that every time. 

Meghan: It's okay. It's the “H” start. 

Colleen: It is the “H” start, but it doesn't have the “H” end! So Hannah is disassociating in the background, because she's on pain meds, maybe. I don't know. She's like, “I'm fine.” And then she's just vibin'. And then Nancy's like, “Wow, it's so pretty.” And Laura's holding up a necklace. There's necklaces and bracelets all over the table. And the caption is, “‘The ring was Mother's favorite.’” 

Meghan: As she holds up a necklace. 

Colleen: What ring? I don't even see a ring in this picture. 

Meghan: I think she does have one in her other hand.

Colleen: Oh, I didn't even see that. It's so small! 

Meghan: And she's clearly not showing that one. 

Colleen: She's holding up a necklace, which is giving off like, glowing light.

Meghan: So are the ones on the table, like, on her-

Colleen: No, no, the ring is too! She's holding the ring!

Meghan: I know! All of this jewelry is just, like, it's glowing. 

Colleen: It's glowing. It's intimidating. It's radioactive. 

Meghan: That's why it's so valuable. 

Colleen: Yeah, from the radium. But I just take issue with her holding up the necklace. The necklace is clearly meant to be the focal point of the entire picture, and then the caption is about the ring, and I just don't appreciate that at all 

Meghan: Agreed, agreed.

[Sound Cue: Synthesized harp plays descending notes under the spoken words “Blast from the Past”]

Meghan: In this segment, Blast From The Past, we look at things that have either significantly changed over time, things that intrigued us about the past, things that maybe haven't aged well or feel inappropriate to a modern day audience. So it kind of is a catch-all for anything to do with the past. 

Colleen: Yeah.

Meghan: I personally did not find anything that- You know, like, the last two novels we had, kind of, some jump out, like, “Ooo.” 

Colleen: Like, “That didn't age well,” type things. 

Meghan: Like, “That is uncomfortable now.” I didn't really catch anything like that in this book. 

Colleen: I think the only- It was pretty minor and it was just, “She didn't like being treated like an invalid,” and I think we've talked about that before. That's not my favorite. It does just say “in-valid.” But it was a one-sentence thing. We've already talked about it. I don't think we need to go in-depth. But yeah, nothing else. 

Meghan: Nothing new. 

Colleen: Which is good. I am happy to report that. I did find the actor portraying Laura's guardian saying “Perfect bricks!” hysterical. I've never heard that in my life. I read, like, a decent amount of older books. So I've heard like- Okay, so-

Meghan: Wait, what's the context? “Perfect bricks”? Is it, like, an exclamation? 

Colleen: Yeah, yeah, it's a compliment! It's a compliment. I didn't think it would be. So the actor that's playing the guardian, Mrs. Aborn-

Meghan: Yeah, Dowd is the last name. 

Colleen: -is the real last name, yeah. Alma. Alma Dowd. So Mrs. Aborn rushes towards them and is like, “‘Darlings, you've been so good to poor Laura.’ ‘Perfect bricks,’ Mr. Aborn said gruffly and extended his hand.” It's a compliment. You've been perfect bricks. Thank you. 

Meghan: Interesting. 

Colleen: It doesn't feel like a compliment!

Meghan: Does it mean like, steady and…? 

Colleen: I guess? I don't know. It could be worth a Google. I didn't get to it. I just thought it was funny. I just thought it was...not even a backhanded compliment, it's just a compliment that sounds like it's an insult.

Meghan: One of the things I ended up, because you know it always ends up inspiring research from me, the switchboard operators-

Colleen: Yeah!

Meghan: -were featured multiple times in this book. 

Colleen: Yeah!

Meghan: So I did a little bit of research on, again, one of those, “Is this from the 1930s that carried on into the 50s? Is this from the 50s and is like, kind of, like, anachronistic for the 30s? What's this era?” But switchboard operators in both the 30s and the 50s were still very, very prevalent. I did want to- Just from the Wikipedia page about switchboard operators.

Colleen: Yes, yes, tell me!

Meghan: I really liked this. “Elma Nutt became the first female telephone operator on the first of September, 1878-” A lot earlier than I thought. 

Colleen: Oh. Oh!

Meghan: “-when she started working for the Boston Telegraph Dispatch Company, because the attitude and behavior of the teenage boys previously employed as operators was unacceptable.”

Colleen: No, but I think I learned this from COSI!

Meghan: Really?

Colleen: It's a museum in Columbus, Ohio, and there's, like, a Progress exhibit? Have you been there? 

Meghan: I have been once, but it was a while ago.

Colleen: So it's, I believe the Progress [exhibit] has like, oh, I don't know the eras, but it's, like, two different eras, but it's the same street. And so you kind of see like, “Oh, here's what the pharmacy looked like here, here's what the pharmacy looked like here.” 

Meghan: I know which part you're talking about, uh-huh. 

Colleen: Yeah, there's a telegraph section, and then there's a phone section, and in the phone one- And there's like, a, you know, like, a radio station, and then a TV station, and et cetera, et cetera. It's really cool. And then like, there's- Oh, and my favorite part that I only just connected the last time I went there was, there's, like, a stick and hoop- 

Meghan: I played, yes! I played- 

Colleen: -and then there's a hula hoop.

Meghan: I did not make that connection! [crosstalk] I have pictures of my husband and I playing with the stick and the hoop. 

Colleen: Great, excellent. Was he great at it?

Meghan: No, 

Colleen: No? I feel like, he would think he was great at it and then-

Meghan: Yeah, 

Colleen: -and then- Anyway, so, so in the, specifically in the phone area, there's, like, a notice posted of, like, “Apologies to all for the behavior of the teenage boys who we hired to do the switchboard operator job and had all these inappropriate jokes they did on the phone. I'm so sorry. We have hired new people. If this happens again, please let us know. I'm so sorry, again, about [the boys] calling about Howard Butts,” or whatever they said. I don't remember what the jokes were that they made.

Meghan: That's so funny. 

Colleen: It was so great!

Meghan: Teenage boys never change. 

Colleen: So wait, so she's the first female one in the 1800s, so it's been happening for even longer than the 1890s or whenever.

Meghan: Yeah, yeah. And the last switchboard operator retired in the 1980s, 1983. 

Colleen: Huh. 

Meghan: Yeah. So I didn't realize! 

Colleen: That's a much longer span!

Meghan: That's a huge span of time that I- Honestly, all I think about is World War, like, II. 

Colleen: Yeah.

Meghan: That's the only era I would have [thought of] if you asked me when Switchboard operators. So I learned a lot from that.

Colleen: Wild. So continuing with the phone thought process, Laura calls Nancy at one point and is trying to convey her distress, but then gets cut off because the, like, fake guardian is twisting her arm around her back and, like, hangs up the phone. And so Nancy just kind of hears, “Nancy? Nancy Drew?” [Then she hears] A scuffle, a cry of pain, a crash, and a hang-up. And so Nancy's like, “I hated that. What do I do?” And her dad comes down and is like, “Who was it?” And Nancy's like, “Yeah, this is what happened.” He goes, “‘You didn't recognize the voice?’” She goes, “‘No, so I can't call back. Someone's in trouble. Here I stand helpless to do anything. It's maddening.’” And then her dad is like, “It certainly is. Well, I got to go.” 

Meghan: They just sort of like, I don't know. 

Colleen: “There's nothing I can do about this and therefore!”

Meghan: Yeah, I was like, “Oh god, to be, to live without anxiety!” Because I would be like, “I can't rest. I need to figure this out.” She's like, “Oh well!”

Colleen: She can't *69-it to find out who called her. 

Meghan: Yep, and after that she just, like, waits until she has an epiphany. She's like, “Wait a second! I think that was Laura!” 

Colleen: “It was Laura!” And she gets white with shock about it.

Meghan: But it's been like, two chapters by that point, by the time she makes the connection.

Colleen: Right!

Meghan: And doesn't even know for sure if that was! She's like, “It sounded like it could have been Laura.”

Colleen: “In the one sentence I heard, which was ‘Nancy Drew question mark’ in a low female voice.” That could have been a lot of people. Do you have any other ones? 

Meghan: I did. Talking about the elevator operators. 

Colleen: Ooo.

Meghan: So in her father's building, there's an elevator operator. She knows him by name. His name's Hank. She asks for directions on how to get to a certain street. And then she gets to a super fancy apartment building. And she's impressed that it's self-operated. So she gets to push the buttons herself. And I just thought that that was-

Colleen: I somehow didn't catch that. Did you write down what page that was? 

Meghan: I did not! Of course not!

Colleen: No, you don't have to. 

Meghan: No, but I did read it this morning, so I probably will be able to find it. I know Hank's mentioned on- I always know-

Colleen: If it's on the right-hand page? 

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: Interesting. Self-operated elevator. What will they think of next?

Meghan: She checks the directory. “She rang the elevator bell. Almost instantly, aluminum doors slid open noiselessly, and Nancy stepped inside the carpeted elevator. It was self-operated. Nancy pushed the fourth floor control. Her heart was pounding with excitement,” probably about the elevator. 

Colleen: The self-operated?

Meghan: No, it wasn't. So maybe she wasn't as excited as I thought. 

Colleen: No, that's great. 

Meghan: But I do think, you know, I think the 50s are an era of like, kind of, that change and switchover to things becoming more automatic. 

Colleen: Not to pound the same drum I have been, but in the games, there's probably at least three where she gets stuck in an elevator and has to climb out through [the ceiling].

Meghan: Yes. 

Colleen: That's why her heart's pounding and she's like, “Oh my god, if there's not a guy in here, then I'm going to have to climb out through the roof again.” 

Meghan: Yep. 

Colleen: “God, my life is so difficult.” I liked when the squad cars came to help with the car crash where the car goes off a cliff. It's fine. (It's not fine.) And they have “four officers, two stretcher-bearers and an intern.” You know, the normal people we'd have show up at the emergency. Is the stretcher-bearers the paramedics?

Meghan: I assume so. 

Colleen: And an intern is just there. 

Meghan: Yeah.

Colleen: Hanging out. And he interviews them, which I think means, like, takes their name and their info, but, like, interviews them while the stretcher-bearers are bearing their stretchers. Like what a weird (to me, in the modern era) sentence. 

Meghan: And then my last one, I- It actually kind of [was a] callback to the previous book, when they dressed up in all the colonial stuff and they kept calling it like, “Old-time whatever.” She's like, “Wow, an old-time oil lantern.” 

Colleen: I got that too! 

Meghan: Which also, then, made me look up how long have flashlights, battery-operated flashlights been around. 

Colleen: Flashlights are older than I would have thought. 

Meghan: Yes!
Colleen: It was…1800s? 

Meghan: Yes. The late 1800s, like, 1897 or something. 

Colleen: That is not what I would have assumed!

Meghan: No! Again, I looked at the Wikipedia pages. 

Colleen: Great. 

Meghan: Best. Best source. But it said, like, “By the 1930s there were over two million flashlight users.” 

Colleen: “Flashlight users”?! 

Meghan: That's how it was phrased. I was like, “Amazing.” So yeah, I always love learning things. 

Colleen: Full stop. 

Meghan: Yep, I do love learning things. The end. No, I do love learning new things that are inspired by different things that pop out at me from Nancy Drew and then I go on, like, down the Wikipedia research rabbit hole. 

Colleen: Yeah. 

Meghan: It's so fun.

[Sound Cue: The spoken words “Wound Watch” are followed by a low voice exclaiming as if punched in the stomach]

Meghan: In this segment we keep track of the number of wounds accumulated by Nancy during the book. So I'll start with immediately, I wouldn't necessarily say she gets a wound, but she does almost drown. 

Colleen: Yeah!

Meghan: They are like, fairly close and she is like, exhausted, and like, swimming with Helen, who's injured and not as strong a swimmer as her.

Colleen: Yeah, that was a very dramatic start. 

Meghan: It was.

Colleen: ‘Cause usually it's like, “We're having a picnic and my dad has a case.” I don't know if that's a specific one, but just kind of that vibe. 

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: No, “We're actually actively in peril right now.” 

Meghan: Yes.

Colleen: What's the other very important one from this book? 

Meghan: The most important one we have knockout, is it, is this knockout number two? 

Colleen: This is knockout number two in three books! 

Meghan: Yep, knockout number two for Miss Nancy Drew. 

Colleen: You hate to see it. 

Meghan: She gets knocked out by fake- 

Colleen: Fake-ub if you will. 

Meghan: Fake-ub. She gets knocked out by Fake-ub when she finds Real-Jacob in the cellar. 

Colleen: Which we knew about from the picture. 

Meghan: Yes, yes, yes. 

Colleen: By his cane!

Meghan: Yes.

Colleen: And so she has just rescued Real-Jacob. She has unlocked his padlock and he's like, “Hurry, hurry. We need to get to the stairs before he gets back.” Too late. She gets whacked. She's out for an unknown amount of time. It's fine. We're not going to follow up on that either. So that's two knockouts of three books. And then Carson Drew, her dad, gets knocked out too! 

Meghan: For also the second time in three books.

Colleen: Oh my! It's so sad. Guys, like, I know we're not keeping track of every single person's wounds, but I feel the need to keep track of Nancy and Carson. Also Hannah is on crutches for a good bit of the book, but that's unrelated. It doesn't seem to be, like, something happened to her that's case-related. She just fell or something. 

Meghan: Yeah.

Colleen: But Carson and Nancy, you're gonna have no brain cells! And then also when Nancy remembers something she looks like she's deadly white and about to faint, ‘cause she, like- This is when she's recalling the phone call and is like, “Oh my god. I think that was Laura. I think she's in trouble.” So Hel- Hannah's like, “Are you good?” Like she is trying to run over to check on Nancy. ‘Cause she think's Nancy's gonna faint and Hannah's on crutches. So it's not a good situation. She's not able to help her. 

Meghan: Yep.

Colleen: So yeah. 

Meghan: Pretty short Wound Watch today. 

Colleen: Short Wound Watch. I just think that Nancy should be able to remember things without passing out about it.

[Sound Cue: The spoken words “Drew’s Clues” are followed by the sound of the dog from Blue’s Clues barking four times in a recognizable pattern]

Meghan: In this segment, we use our kind of inferencing skills to fully paint a picture of Nancy Drew as an individual. We wanna know as much as we can about her. So right off the bat, I had no idea that Nancy was such a strong swimmer and diver. It talks about her, like, perfect form and her, like, perfect surface dive. 

Colleen: In the storm!

Meghan: In a storm! I was like, “Wow.” Tying into that, she's a really talented tennis player as well. 

Colleen: Yes!

Meghan: I did not realize she was also so athletic. 

Colleen: She's sporty. 

Meghan: She is sporty. Enough so that she brings two tennis outfits with her, just in case.

Colleen: In case she needs them. 

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: So she's prepared. 

Meghan: She is! Definitely a word I would describe- 

Colleen: Did you notice she's starting to go strawberry blonde? Because I always remember her as being described as strawberry blonde and she was, like, very blonde in the first one.

Meghan: Yes! Oh, I-

Colleen: And now, on the first page, she has reddish gold glints in her blonde hair. 

Meghan: Here's the- 

Colleen: The transformation has begun! I, also- Something I noticed [that] is kind of a meme in the Clue Crew, especially those who mostly just play the games and have read a couple of the books, and- What she does is, Nancy always tries to bond with people who have lost someone in their life by mentioning that she lost her mom at the age of three, which some will note is not actually a time when you're forming a ton of memories. Uh, to the point that that has become like, a [meme of] “What happened to your mother? Mine died at the age of three. I understand all of your trauma.” Like, there's just memes of her doing that. And on page fifteen, she's like, “Laura, I understand. You're a recent-ish orphan.” And “put an arm around Laura's shoulders impulsively and told of losing her own mother at the age of three.” And I was, like, “Oh, I didn't realize this was also in the books. Incredible. Good work, Nancy.” Like, it works. It's fine. She, you know, is a sympathetic character and listens to Laura and clearly they're friends. But I'm just like, “Huh. Interesting. I don't know that that would work on everybody, buddy. You can't-” That was “everybody,” comma, “buddy.” 

Meghan: Yes, yes, yes. 

Colleen: I'm so sorry. “I don't know that you can just do that.”

Meghan: She seems to have a fairly okay success rate with it, but it is a little bit, yeah, what word would-

Colleen: It's not quite callous. 

Meghan: No.

Colleen: Because she's trying to connect to her own experiences, but I can't stress enough that Laura's an adult. Or almost an adult. She's, like, sixteen. And that's different. 

Meghan: It is very different, and her mom just died. 

Colleen: Yeah. 

Meghan: After it sounds like, extensive illness. 

Colleen: Yeah.

Meghan: Very different experiences. 

Colleen: Uh-huh.

Meghan: Similarly, tied to this, near the end of the book, she's, like, “Thanks so much for saving us! We would have been at the bottom of the lake!” And it's, like, also this weird also-implied “Like your dad!” 

Colleen: Yeah!

Meghan: Because her dad drowned in a storm.

Colleen: Her dad drowned! And that's why she goes out on stormy days and looks for people in distress, which is why she finds Nancy.

Meghan: Tactless. 

Colleen: There you go! Yes!

Meghan: That's the word I want.

Colleen: And that's another, like, memed- 

Meghan: Yes. 

Colleen: -fact about her of, like, yes, she gets the answers, but without a lot of thought- 

Meghan: Yeah.

Colleen: -about how others are gonna feel about her questions. [crosstalk] In one of the games, the one you played, she gets a, you get a, “You have made a fatal error; try again,” if you ask too personal of a question. 

Meghan: She was! I was just like, “I want to know! Tell me more! Oh, I, I lost the game. Oh gosh. Let me go back.”

Colleen: Great.

Meghan: On kind of a not-as-positive, or maybe sometimes-it's-positive, could-cause-problems-for-her later [note], she makes a lot of assumptions about what people will be okay with.

Colleen: Yes!

Meghan: And so I put “presumptuous,” because she's like, “They won't mind that we're breaking in through this window. [crosstalk] We're gonna break into this bungalow through this unlocked window. They won't mind. They'll understand.” And then she's like, “Let's eat their food. They'll be okay with this.” I'm like, “Are you sure?”

Colleen: And now it does turn out that a criminal has been living in this and probably would not love that. 

Meghan: No. So I was like, “You're very presumptuous, Miss Nancy Drew.”

Colleen: She is presumptuous! She makes a lot of wide-reaching comments, too.

Meghan: Generalizations? 

Colleen: Yes, because there is somebody who almost sideswipes them while they're driving back from the lake, and- 

Meghan: Turns out it's a bad guy. 

Colleen: Turns out it's a bad guy, but she just goes, “Some drivers don't deserve a license.” Like, okay?! 

Meghan: I think Helen set her up for that because Helen does say like, four pages before that, “Some people just don't deserve help.” 

Colleen: Yeah! Guys! 

Meghan: You're being so judgmental!

Colleen: They're so judgmental and they've usually been so positive, like, “Everyone could use a friend,” I don't know. I feel like they've been a lot nicer towards strangers more than-

Meghan: To be fair, they did just drown, almost. They're very tired. 

Colleen: That's fair. It's been a bad day. 

Meghan: They don't have their filter right now. They've gone through a traumatic experience. 

Colleen: Gosh. I like that she is, is this before Hannah is hurt? No. No, we find out that Hannah has sprained her ankle, and Nancy's, like, “Okay, so I'm gonna calculate my sleuthing so I can get home to cook Hannah dinner,” even though Hannah is ostensibly, like, the housekeeper or the cook or whatever. And Nancy's like, “No, no, no, we're family.”

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: “If you're hurt, I'm gonna cook for you.” And then later Hannah's like, “Well, I don't wanna cause you trouble.” And Nancy's like, “No, you mean you don't want me in your kitchen, but I'll be very neat.” I love that. I love that they know each other so well and have this relationship. It makes me so happy.

Meghan: No, it is such a good relationship. 

Colleen: Yes!

Meghan: The other thing I definitely wanted to talk about was that Nancy, which- I did not know this was true, but we've been referencing this for the last two books, she is a collector.

Colleen: She is!

Meghan: She is collecting things from these. 

Colleen: She is! 

Meghan: And so I was starting to think, I'm like, “What should she have?”

Colleen: In the Drewseum. 

Meghan: In her Drewseum! And I immediately was like, “Let's see, what- Is there any small object that Nancy was like, ‘Ooh, I really like that.’” And it was, I was like, the aquamarine ring. And then in the very last page-

Colleen: Laura gives her-!

Meghan: Laura gives her the aquamarine ring. I was like, “Yes!”

Colleen: I'm so glad you predicted that! Because we had from The [Secret of the] Old Clock, she gives, she is given the old clock.

Meghan: Yes.

Colleen: In the, in The Hidden Staircase, she is given a “valuable silver urn.” Now we have elected to give her the tricorn hat for the Drewseum because we think that's, like, cooler.

Meghan: Yeah, but also I was trying to figure out what silver urn this could be.

Colleen: I also don't remember this.

Meghan: Yeah, because- 

Colleen: But it's referenced in this book. She's showing off to Laura, like, “Oh, I have these souvenirs.”

Meghan: But I want to remind you that I read this digitally.

Colleen: [gasps]

Meghan: Which means I have the ability to search! 

Colleen: Oh, that's right! 

Meghan: So I searched the word “urn” and “silver” and nothing came up!

Colleen: [gasps]

Meghan: Other than the word “turning” and “turnbull.” 

Colleen: Right.

Meghan: Because they have the word “urn” in them. And “return.” 

Colleen: Okay, so it's fine that I don't remember that because that's not in there! What? 

Meghan: But!

Colleen: But it says in this book, “In my last mystery, you know, The Hidden Staircase, I got a valuable silver urn. Here it is.” Weiiiird.

Meghan: Yeah, so I was like- So I'm wondering if that's, maybe, like, from the 1930s, something that-

Colleen: And they just cut it out for some reason?

Meghan: -it just got cut and then not noticed here. But I don't know. 

Colleen: And she's showing it off! She's, like, very proud of it, like, “This is a gift I was given.” And then I thought- I also was thinking about the jewelry and I was like, “But that is her mom's jewelry. That is also very expensive, like, there's no way.” And then she's like, “I want you to remember this, to remember that we met on the water.” It's very cute.

Meghan: And I love it especially since I have an aquamarine engagement ring! I was like, “It's me! It's me!” 

Colleen: Oh my god! I didn't even connect that!

Meghan: I did. 

Colleen: Did you notice that she also, like, stole some matches from the hotel?

Meghan: Yeah.

Colleen: It's probably not really stealing, ‘cause it's, like, you know, a free little matchbook, like, you take the hotel soap or whatever. But also, like, it does say she took them off the dining room table. 

Meghan: She's like, “Oh! Cool! Pocket!”

Colleen: For her souvenir collection that we didn't know she had! And then she needs them later, and she uses them for the kerosene old-timey lamp.

Meghan: Which feels very video-game-esque.

Colleen: Very video game! “This might come in handy later!”

Meghan: “I might need this later!”

Colleen: Which she does with, in the computer games, just gum. Just chewed gum that she finds. She's like, “I might need this for later,” puts it in her pocket.

Meghan: Because all of her dresses do have pockets.

Colleen: It's true, it's true. Stylish and useful. Oh, the only other thing I have for this section is, so when Carson has to break into his own home ‘cause he forgot his keys because he's too busy lawyering, I guess, she's like, “Oh my god, a burglar. I gotta get ready” and he's like, “Oh,” and like, she hears laughing and she's like, “Oh, that's my dad.” And then so she runs over and goes, “‘You're the best-looking burglar I've ever seen!’”

Meghan: There's been a few times she has referenced her father's attractiveness. 

Colleen: Like, being attractive? Now, and I think that the narrator does this, too. So I'm wondering if this was just a thing at the time.

Meghan: Yes.

Colleen: Was like, “this attractive landscape,” “this attractive car,” “this attractive whatever.” 

Meghan: “-Man.” “This attractive father.” 

Colleen: Right, yeah, I don't know. I just thought that was very funny. I understand it's like, “I'm relieved that it's not A Bad Guy,” but also, that's a very- And then she runs over and gives him a kiss. I'm like, “Okay, that's fine, but weird, a little bit.” 

Meghan: Yeah. it is. The last thing that I noted was that, so her car gets sabotaged after she, like, parks it into some shrubs in the woods to kind of camouflage it and it won't start. And she opens the hood and she tells us that she has taken mechanics classes and can identify what's wrong with her car fairly easily. And she, like, checks, checks and she's like, “This is, someone has messed with my car. They messed with that.” And I was like, “Okay!” And I know we've seen kind of like, little glimpses of this.

Colleen: Like when she changes the tire? She's like, “I don't like doing it, but I will.”

Meghan: Yeah. Or the boat in, is that the first-?

Colleen: The first one, [she] has to fix the boat motor. The boator, if you will. 

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: I'm so sorry. 

Meghan: So yeah, she is- I do appreciate, it doesn't end up feeling- Which, I'm not necessarily against this as a concept anyway, but people talk about, like, a Mary Sue. 

Colleen: Every possible skill. 

Meghan: Yeah, but like, there is, this gives us evidence of, like, why.

Colleen: Yeah!

Meghan: Like, she has taken classes. She wants to be independent and take care of herself. 

Colleen: Yes.

Meghan: And she talks about how her dad has made her like, a self-reliant individual.

Colleen: Yes! And has helped train her to be such.

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: So it's not “She had to be self reliant,” or “She just has all these magical skills.”

Meghan: Yeah. And so to be able to also see that it's not like, “Oh, just in this one book, she happens to be good at,” no, we've got evidence that like, one, she studied these things, and two, she, like, is kind of using them often. So I do really appreciate that about Nancy Drew. 

Colleen: I like that a lot!

Meghan: Self-reliant and always wanting to learn more.

[Sound Cue: Simple piano tune underneath the spoken words “Sleuthing Skills”]

Colleen: In this segment, we talk about the sleuthing skills, that is, the skills you need to have developed before you even start to embark on your first mystery. These already have to be in the bag, in your brain, ready to go, [to] pull out at a moment's notice. What sleuthing skills did you find today, Meghan? 

Meghan: We've kind of already referenced this in the Fashion Police, but you must have a[n] emergency bag in your trunk at all times with multiple outfits, pajamas, a swimsuit, toiletries, all the things you need in case you happen to have to stay overnight to solve your mystery. 

Colleen: And also an extra tennis outfit. 

Meghan: And an extra tennis outfit for your friend that you might make along the way.

Colleen: We have seen previously that you need to be an expert at boat engines, but also you need to be able to deal with a boat in a storm and know what to do. So when your boat is listing sharply to starboard and there's a hole inside of the craft- Nancy tells Helen to start bailing while Nancy tries to stop the leak with her own raincoat and [is] stuffing it into the hole in the boat. It doesn't work super well, but she knows the strategy is to try. And I appreciate that. 

Meghan: The next skill you must have is knowing how to position your hands while you are being tied up.

Colleen: Yes!

Meghan: So that you can then loosen it as you go. So you have to remember your training in those moments, as Nancy does in this book. And she does do this successfully. 

Colleen: She does. She thinks she doesn't, because it's taking her a minute, but she perseveres. You also have to be an expert at bank lingo and just understanding, like, oh, if there's a bond stolen that says “payable to bearer,” then you know that that's dreadful because it means that whoever has the bonds can cash them. You get to explain to me, the reader who doesn't know anything about banks, every single fact of banking life so that you can understand all the bank crimes that happen. That's important. 

Meghan: The last one I have is positive self-talk. You need to be able to hype yourself up, talk through different strategies with yourself in order to improve your own sleuthing skills and solve your mysteries.

Colleen: Readers of this novel named Colleen think that this self-talk could happen internally while you are trying to be quiet in the woods and you keep telling yourself out loud the strategies you need and how lucky you are to have this skill. 

Meghan: They can be out loud, they can be internal, you know. 

Colleen: I think they should always be internal if you are trying to sneak around, but that is- You know, I am not a sleuth. So I don't know. It's also important to be just an improv expert.

Meghan: Yes. 

Colleen: “Yes, and,” I think you mean. 

Meghan: Yes.

Colleen: So she has to interview a bunch of, like- There's four possible suspects for the bank situation and she, she goes over to one woman's house and is like, “Well, I'm going to say I'm there looking for volunteers for the youth center that I work at and I volunteer at. It's one of my favorite charity cause[s] and if she asks any further questions, I won't really be lying, because I do work there, and I do want volunteers, but it will also be a way to get to know her.” Now, the next place, it's very helpful to her. They give her the situation. They think she's the dog walker so she has to “yes, and” her way through that situation with several poodles, I think. 

Meghan: Yes. Great. 

Colleen: Yeah. So you just gotta be an improv expert. You also need to have a sixth sense, it is explicitly stated in the text, to know about when unfriendly eyes are watching your every move and when there is someone inside a shack that needs help. That's important to have. 

Meghan: Yes. She just knows. 

Colleen: Yeah, you just know. And you have to be an incredible driver. When you see a huge black-and-white checkerboard sign indicating a bad curve ahead, you have to, with well-timed precision, ease up on your speed and gradually use your brake to avoid a bad skid. It's a lot of skills but it is worth it in the end. 

Meghan: So reach out! Let us know how your sleuthing skills are developing and when you're ready for your first mystery!

[Sound Cue: Four distinct drum beats that mimic the opening of the song “Accidentally in Love” by Counting Crows, followed by the sung words “Accidentally Gay”]

Colleen: And now it is time for Accidentally Gay, the segment where we point out the portions of the book that could, from a modern perspective, be seen as gay, even though they almost certainly weren't intended as such. Did you notice anything in this section? 

Meghan: I did notice two kisses! 

Colleen: Yes!

Meghan: One between Laura and Helen, one between Nancy and Laura. 

Colleen: As bosom friends do. 

Meghan: Yes. So lots of greeting by kissing.

Colleen: To show your love and platonic friendship. Helen tries to get- So when Nancy and Helen are almost drowning, Nancy is swimming with Helen's full weight and is clearly bearing the strain of this and Helen goes, “Go to shore without me.”

Meghan: “Just leave me!”

Colleen: And Nancy goes, [overdramatic low voice] “Never.” And feebly struggles back to the surface. It's so good, it's so sad. Uh, you already mentioned that they are asking another girl that they met yesterday to make a foursome in tennis. That's important. 

Meghan: Yes. Yes. 

Colleen: So that's kind. A foursome. 

Meghan: On page 69-

Colleen: Yes?

Meghan: Nancy has this, almost, like, flirty interaction with her dad's secretary. 

Colleen: Yes! Which, of course, is a woman because it is the 50s-slash-30s. 

Meghan: Yes. And the efficient young woman says, “‘My, how pretty you look, Nancy.’” Which makes Nancy blush a little. And her response is, “‘You look lovely yourself.’”

Colleen: Yes! I love it! Um, I also love, we mentioned this “red-haired young man walking towards Nancy with an invitation in his eyes for her to dance” and she hastily goes to her room. “Nope!”

Meghan: “Ew, no.”

Colleen: “Ew, no.” Fantastic. There was also a queer sensation in the woods because she was being watched, of course. 

Meghan: Yes.

Colleen: But perhaps my favorite lovely moment of bosom friendship is Laura presenting Nancy with her ring. And she immediately puts it on and admires it. 

Meghan: Wait, does she... I thought Laura put it on her. Or does Nancy put it on?

Colleen: On the third finger of her hand, Laura puts it on Nancy!

Meghan: She's like, “Here's a ring.” Puts it on for her. 

Colleen: She says, “‘I'd like you to wear this.’” She says it “shyly.” “‘As a reminder that our friendship began on the water.’”She quickly slips the ring “on Nancy's third finger. The pretty detective” gives “an exclamation of delight,” admires the gift, shows it to the others, turns to Laura, and “with genuine sincerity says, ‘This ring is priceless and I'll always treasure it as a reminder of you. Although no one can place the value on a true friendship like ours’” and Laura's tearing up. It's so good! That's all.

[Sound Cue: Scribbling as of a pencil on paper underneath the spoken words “Miscellaneous Mysteries”]

Meghan: In this segment, Miscellaneous Mysteries, we discuss the lingering questions we still have about this novel. The only one that I have that didn't get brought up in other contexts earlier in the podcast was just the situation that Mr. Carson is a lawyer, but he is being asked to do his own investigation into who is embezzling the funds. I did not know that that was part of your job of being a lawyer. Like he's, like, going to Cincinnati to go track-

Colleen: Who would do that, first of all? 

Meghan: Yeah, like, ugh. No, but they're like, he's, like, searching for suspects and interviewing people and then assigning his daughter some of the work to go interview. I can understand if he was a lawyer and he's like, “Hey, Nancy, just like, you know, under the table, gather some extra evidence for me,” but he's like, “You take care of these four suspects, I'm gonna go travel and find some more.” 

Colleen: This is over the table. This is what he's being asked to do by his law firm? Question mark? By the bank? Question mark? 

Meghan: Or yeah, is it a personal request from the per- Like, I know he's friends with the guy in charge of the bank. 

Colleen: But he's not a detective by trade. 

Meghan: No. I know Nancy is. 

Colleen: For sure, for sure. But Carson is not!

Meghan: Yeah, so just the whole concept-

Colleen: Like, there's some jobs, like, teacher, for example, where you do take on, “Oh, I'm also the this, and I'm also the this, and I have a lot of hats.” Are you putting on your hats? 

Meghan: I'm taking on and putting on my hats, yes. 

Colleen: Lawyer is not one I would have assumed. 

Meghan: Yeah, so that's just one of my miscellaneous mysteries. 

Colleen: That is a good one. Um, all over the first chapter, all of the scenery was described as ugly. We've got the “ugly protruding nose of a jagged boulder.” There's “ugly lightning.” There's like, all this ugly scenery. I don't know. It felt like a personal vendetta. Like, yes, it's a storm, but it felt very personal. I don't know what to do with that. It just really stood out, especially when in every other context we've got “attractive man,” “attractive car,” “attractive-” 

Meghan: “-father.” 

Colleen: I also like that Helen is like, “Oh, I saw this guy in passing for half a second. All I could see is, he's got a straw hat over his forehead, a sleeve of his tan-and-white jacket, and this type of vehicle,” and Nancy's like, “Oh, that's all?!” She's like, “Yep, close association with you is making me more observant.” So I like that, you know, Helen is not a detective, but spending time with Nancy, she's picking up on some of the, the sleuthing skills. 

Meghan: Yeah. She's been paying attention to our podcast, listening to her sleuthing skills.

Colleen: She has! And I appreciate that. Thank you, Helen. Do you want to talk about this weird line? 

Meghan: Um, yes. So a tree falls right in front of Nancy Drew! And she's like, “This is too big for me to do [move] by myself.” She tries, she tries. Like, “Too bad I'm not twins!”

Colleen: Not, “Too bad there's not someone else here,” or- 

Meghan: Why? 

Colleen: “-too bad I'm not with my dad.” “Too bad I'm not twins.”

Meghan: Maybe this is something that she has wished previously, and so she's constantly, like, you know, “If only I had a twin.” So this is more of, like, a recurring thought. 

Colleen: And even that is less weird. “Too bad I don't have a twin.” Rather than “Too bad I'm not twins.” 

Meghan: That's true. 

Colleen: She wants to undergo mitosis right quick. I don't know. There was one tiny part of this book, and I have not noticed this in any other books, where it's not from Nancy's perspective!

Meghan: [gasps]

Colleen: Like, half a paragraph at most, talking about, I think, the, the fake couple. Or, like, the real couple that is posing as these guardians. It says, “Nancy stretched out on the sand, unaware of the steadfast glance of a couple hidden behind a large green-and-white-striped umbrella not far away. They nodded to each other. When Nancy was not looking, they quickly left the beach. ‘Guess we're safe,’ the woman muttered. ‘She's here to stay and have a good time.’” And then it immediately goes back to Nancy's perspective and we never get anything else that's outside of what Nancy immediately knows. Like we don't get, “Oh, Carson's breaking in-” 

Meghan: Well, we actually did in this one as well.

Colleen: We did?

Meghan: Yeah, because you're right, it's normally been third-person limited. 

Colleen: Right. 

Meghan: Or third-

Colleen: Like, on Nancy's shoulder.

Meghan: Yeah, we are focused on Nancy. 

Colleen: Did we get another one in this book and I missed it? 

Meghan: Yes. It's basically what Carson, Don, and Laura are doing when they decide to get in the car and leave.

Colleen: Oh that's right! There is a “meanwhile” and we go back to River Heights even though Nancy's not there. I don't think we've had that either. 

Meghan: No, it did stand out, and I'm wondering if that's something that will become-

Colleen: -like, more frequent? 

Meghan: -or if this is like, you know, “Let's try something, eh, not feeling it.” 

Colleen: I'm very curious to follow up on that in further books. This is a very- Because it specifically said “meanwhile,” and that's why I tagged it. I had a little Post-It note. I couldn't remember why I had it, so I just took it out. But this is very, like, my dad would always be like, “Meanwhile, back in the Hall of Justice,” for books that weren't about the DC Hall of Justice. This was just thrown in there when we're reading like, The Three Investigators or whatever. And he goes, if it says “meanwhile”-

Meghan: If it says “meanwhile”?

Colleen: He adds that in, in that specific voice. And so that is what I assumed was in this book as well. 

Meghan: Yeah, because I'm pretty sure this entire- The plans for rescue, the entire chapter is, like, third-person omniscient in River Heights. 

Colleen: Right! That is a good point. That is a good point. Yeah, let's follow up with that in future books to see if- Because I don't think we've had that at all. 

Meghan: At all! At all, yeah.

Colleen: For the first two. Interesting.

Meghan: Especially since it's one of the standards that I teach, like-

Colleen: Yup!

Meghan: I pay attention to those kinds of things 

Colleen: That makes sense! I just need to emphasize that the fake Jacob (or Fake-ob) is actually called Stumpy Dowd. Which is such a good name!

Meghan: Stumpy Dowd!

Colleen: That's a criminal name if ever I've heard one. Stumpy! I think it's actually, like, Stephen, but he goes by Stumpy. 

Meghan: Yes, it is. You're correct. Stephen. Yep.

Colleen: Alias Stumpy. 

Meghan: Alias Stumpy. 

Colleen: And finally, when Carson is going to get Nancy or trying to go rescue her, though he is a skillful driver, he is intent upon reaching the lake as soon as possible, could barely restrain himself from breaking the speed limits, and he goes, “‘This is one time I wish I had a helicopter.’” And they don't laugh at him! they're like, “Well, you know what, actually, if you had one, you wouldn't even be able to find a landing strip, because it's too thickly wooded.” They're, like, yes-anding him and I'm like, “You don't need to do that when he's wishing he has a helicopter.”

Meghan: Just be like, “Wouldn't that be nice?”

Colleen: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. “All right, Carson, I understand you're stressed.” That is all my miscellaneous mysteries, but there were just a lot of interesting things that jumped out at me.

[Sound Cue: Upbeat synthesizer chords reminiscent of a game show introduction play underneath the spoken words “Gumshoe Game Show!”]

Meghan: Now it's time for the Gumshoe Game Show! The portion of the podcast where Colleen asks me off-the-wall questions and I have no idea how to answer them and I get very stressed out. 

Colleen: We love it! I think you're going- You are either going to love this one or hate this one.

Meghan: Oh boy.

Colleen: But don't worry, it's only five questions, as usual.

Meghan: Okay. Okay. 

Colleen: In this book, The Bungalow Mystery, Stumpy Dowd and his wife, Alma, use a disguise kit and their background as actors to impersonate an orphan's guardian in an attempt to steal her enormous fortune. This is also the exact plot of Count Olaf in A Series of Unfortunate Events. 

Meghan: Yes. 

Colleen: Which of these items is not part of Count Olaf's Various Finery Disguise kit, and indeed the disguise kit all VFD members have? 

Meghan: Oh boy! Okay, I do love this question.

Colleen: She's got her little fingers. 

Meghan: I love, yes, yes. 

Colleen: Little evil fingers. Okay, A- We're looking for the one that is not in the disguise kit. 

Meghan: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 

Colleen: A) A jeweled cane that turns into a sword. [She's] taking notes, this is very intense. B) A shiny silver police badge. C) A makeup kit for Veiled Facial Disguises. Or D) A pair of fake hands. 

Meghan: Ooh, okay. I'm almost positive the makeup kit- Especially when you said for veiled faces. I remember Madam from...

Colleen: Lulu? 

Meghan: Yes, from The Carnivorous Carnival. She was also a member of the VFD and she has a veiled face, I think.

Colleen: So you think that is one of the things.

Meghan: I think that's one of the things. 

Colleen: So that can't be the answer.

Meghan: This is hard. 

Colleen: Oh!

Meghan: It's okay. I like the question, but it's difficult. I have not read those books in a long time. Um, I think the fake hands are true. I'm gonna go with the police badge. 

Colleen: Correct. 

Meghan: Yes! 

Colleen: Correct. Very good. You may remember the jeweled cane that turns into a sword being used by the optometrist-

Meghan: Yes. 

Colleen: -who sword-fights with Sunny, who is using her teeth. 

Meghan: Yes. 

Colleen: You remember the fake hands being used for the hook-handed man so he can pass as a normally- or a typically-handed man. 

Meghan: A typically-handed man! 

Colleen: It doesn't work super well, especially as (in the Netflix series) it is a different skin tone than the rest of his body. It's fine. Nobody notices. 

Meghan: Loved the TV show.

Colleen: Oh it's such a good adaptation. This kit also includes a salmon suit, sensible pants, a wooden leg, and a judicial wig, in case you were curious. Question numero dos. In The Bungalow Mystery, Nancy crosses a suspect off the list because they donate to charity. In which Colleen Hoover book is “donating to charity” an automatic and unquestioned indicator of being a good person? Now here's some background about Colleen Hoover. She is the- She has like, I wanna say, five of the top fifteen best sellers right now. She's the target, like, BookTok author. Similar to Twilight, her books are often touted as love stories, although objectively by all counts, they are abuse narratives. 

Meghan: Fun!

Colleen: So, in which of her titles does the character know that this love interest is not abusive because he donates to charity? 

Meghan: Okay. 

Colleen: Is it in the book Ugly Love? Is it in the book Codename Charity? Is it in the book It Ends With Us, or the book It Starts With Us?

Meghan: Are all of these real titles or are any of these made up? 

Colleen: One of them is made up. 

Meghan: Okay. I feel like B's too obvious. 

Colleen: Correct. 

Meghan: But the last time I said something was too obvious, it was right. 

Colleen: Correct, also. 

Meghan: I'm going- I don't know which one yet, but I'm just telling you, thinking out loud. 

Colleen: Okay. I like the thought process. 

Meghan: I'm gonna- I feel like it's C or D and one of them is there to throw me off as the opposite. Unless you just weren't able to come up with another title, so you just were like, “Ah, this one doesn't matter. D doesn't matter. I'll just make it up.” And C, ah, I'll use that. I'm going to go with C. 

Colleen: It is C. It Ends With Us. 

Meghan: Yes!

Colleen: Which is one of her most famous ones. It Starts With Us, I assume, has the same characters. I have not actually read any of these. I have just followed the work. I will say, something I do respect about the fandom is, her name is Colleen Hoover. So they shorten it to C-O-H-O. She's “CoHo.” And they are the “Cohort.” 

Meghan: Ooh. I like that.

Colleen: So that's quite clever, and I enjoy it. Ugly Love is a real one and It Ends With Us is a real one, It Starts With Us is a real one. Code Name Charity, I made up based on Code Name Verity, a World War II novel that I absolutely love. Now she did actually write a book called Verity, Colleen Hoover did. 

Meghan: Ohhh. I thought It Starts With Us was made up. 

Colleen: No!

Meghan: Ohhh. Okay, okay. 

Colleen: Alright, you're doing great so far, two for two. In- Number three. In The Bungalow Mystery, one of the villainous actors is named Alma. Now I have personally never heard that name except for in Alma and How She Got Her Name, a picture book about a little Latina girl who thinks her name is too long and then finds out that each of her names comes from a member of her family. So if I give you her full name, you get a point for each of the ones you can translate into English. 

Meghan: Okay. 

Colleen: Now, you have an advantage, because you lived in Italy for a while. So her full name is Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura (P-U-R-A) Candela (C-A-N-D-E-L-A), like the Pokémon Go trainer. Sofia, I will tell you right now, it just means Sophia. So that one, don't worry about that one. But you get a point for each of the other ones that you can translate into English.  

Meghan: Candela makes me think “candle.” Pura?

Colleen: Pura. 

Meghan: Makes me think “pure.” José, Joseph. Is that the kind of, or? 

Colleen: That's the kind of-

Meghan: That's what you want me to do? 

Colleen: Mm-hmm. 

Meghan: Do I also need to do Alma? 

Colleen: Alma, yeah. Alma and Esperanza are options.

Meghan: I read Esperanza Rising but I don't remember it anymore. I have it on my students' bookshelf. 

Colleen: I was going to say, “Think ‘espera,’” but that may not actually help. You know, another word that comes from the same root. I did not know Alma. I looked the other ones up just to check, but I was right. 

Meghan: I don't know. I'm gonna go with something, like, wind- or air-related. 

Colleen: Is that based on the cover where she is kind of flying in the air and there's some leaves and stuff? 

Meghan: Ummm, maybe. 

Colleen: For Esperanza Rising? 

Meghan: Yeah.

Colleen: The thing I remember most about Esperanza Rising is, she is working as, like, a nanny that she does not want to [be], and she gives the baby a bunch of plums because it likes eating it and then the baby has, like, an explosive diaper experience for like, twenty-four hours, and the person who hired her is like, “Why would you do this?” She's like, “Why would I know that that's a thing?”

Meghan: “I am a child too.” 

Colleen: “I am also a child.” 

Meghan: Alma. Is it, like, an American name that I need to- 

Colleen: No, this one's, like, a word. 

Meghan: A word. 

Colleen: More like, um. Like, kind of like, a religious word, is my hint.

Meghan: I'm trying to think of other words that might have “Alma” in there, like, almanac.

Colleen: Or like, alms. 

Meghan: Alms. 

Colleen: You sounded like you were meditating. Incredible. 

Meghan: Alms. Alms for the poor. 

Colleen: Feed the birds, pennies a bag. Sorry, tuppence a bag. My thing was dumb.

Meghan: So I'm gonna go with “giving.” 

Colleen: “Giving.” Alright. These are really good guesses. I will say, you got the first three completely right. 

Meghan: For Joseph, Pure, and Candle. 

Colleen: Joseph, Pure, and Candle.

Meghan: Yeah!

Colleen: Yeah, you did. “Esperanza” means hope. 

Meghan: Ah. 

Colleen: But you were really close with wind, based on the cover. 

Meghan: That's why I was like-

Colleen: And “Alma” means “soul.” 

Meghan: Soul!

Colleen: Which I did not know until today. So you got three points from that one. Very, very good. Alright, we've got two more questions. Are you ready?

Meghan: Yeah. 

Colleen: Alright. In The Bungalow Mystery, Nancy uses her sixth sense. In the movie novelization-

Meghan: Oh boy. 

Colleen: These are all literature based on stuff I saw in the book! The movie novelization of The Sixth Sense is written by Peter Lerangis, famed ghostwriter in many popular series. Which of these series did he not ghostwrite for? A) The Owl Diaries. B) The Hardy Boys Case Files, which is the more modern Hardy Boys. C) The Baby-Sitters Club. [D)] 39 Clues, or The 39 Clues, perhaps. 

Meghan: Okay, I'm going to- 

Colleen: He is sometimes known as Sweet Pete Lerangis. Does that help? 

Meghan: No. 

Colleen: Okay, cool. 

Meghan: No, it does not. 

Colleen: Great, thank you.

Meghan: I'm gonna go with The Baby-Sitters Club.

Colleen: Unfortunately that's one of the ones he wrote [the] most of. 

Meghan: Wow!

Colleen: He wrote over, I think, forty books of The Baby-Sitters Club.

Meghan: Owl Diaries was my next guess. 

Colleen: It is the Owl Diaries. Were you thinking of, like, “girly” quote-unquote books? 

Meghan: A little bit, but I'm also like, 39 Clues, like, everyone has written one of The 39 Clues.

Colleen: Everyone! Yes. Exactly. 

Meghan: And The Hardy Boys, I just feel like, since it's such a long, ongoing- I mean, I know The Baby-Sitters Club is too. 

Colleen: But Hardy Boys is longer and more ongoing. 

Meghan: Yeah, and I feel like- 

Colleen: And so I put- That was the one I put in- I was writing these down, and taking little notes, and I was like, oh. I was gonna put in The Hardy Boys as a fake answer, and then it turns out he wrote for The Hardy Boys, just the more recent one. Alright, are you ready for the final question? 

Meghan: Yes. Right now I have five points.

Colleen: You do. As per usual, if you can get the fifth question completely right, you win everything in the whole world. 

Meghan: Yay! 

Colleen: You win an aquamarine ring from me. You already have one, but too bad. Alright, in The Bungalow Mystery, Nancy asks Laura to have a second breakfast with her and Helen in the motel restaurant. 

Meghan: Aaaaaa! Okay, okay. 

Colleen: Second breakfast, of course, is a hobbit meal. 

Meghan: Yes. Yes. Now I'm feeling very stressed. ‘Cause if i get-

Colleen: What are the seven hobbit meals? 

Meghan: Oh goodness, okay. 

Colleen: Now I've given you one of them, so if you miss that one, that's gonna be a problem. 

Meghan: I just wanna write it down so that when I say it into the mic, it sounds like- 

Colleen: Like you had them off the top of your head?

Meghan: Uh-huh, and I probably do. I just wanna make sure.

Colleen: Yeah, so far there has been no hesitation in this pen.

Meghan: That's lunch, and 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Colleen: Let's hear it!

Meghan: Okay, breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper. 

Colleen: Incredible, you've won it all!

Meghan: Yay!

Colleen: You are an incredible literary scholar and you’ve done it.

Meghan: Yay! I did like this one. 

Colleen: Good, yay, excellent. Some of them were a little thinner connections than others. Such as The Sixth Sense: Movie Novelization. I was surprised that that didn't come from a book first. 

Meghan: I- Yeah.

Colleen: But it wasn't. It was like, “Yeah, do you want the movie novel?” I'm like, “I guess.” 

Meghan: I think most of M. Night Shyamalan's movies are just- 

Colleen: They're just off the dome?

Meghan: Yeah, like, I think besides like, you know, Avatar the Last Airbender. Or whatever they call- 

Colleen: I don't remember that movie.

Meghan: Just The Last Airbender? 

Colleen: That movie doesn't exist to me. Awesome. Fantastic.

[Sound cue: Same eerie piano tune reminiscent of the Nancy Drew PC game soundtracks that played at the top of the episode, now extended to play underneath the rest of the episode.] 

Meghan: Thank you so much for joining us on our podcast reading of The Bungalow Mystery. Join us next time for either The Mystery of the Lilac Inn [Transcription Note: It is actually The Mystery at Lilac Inn] or- 

Colleen: Perhaps the first game. 

Meghan: Ooh!

Colleen: Which is, I believe, Secrets Can Kill: Remastered. 

Meghan: Dun dun dun.

Colleen: I don't think they have the original one out anymore. The original one is the one where you had to take a disk out if you had to move from one building to the other. So I think that they have changed it. This podcast is lovingly dedicated to the memory of my wonderful mother, Char, World's Best Mum, and the woman who got me hooked on sassy female detective stories. I also want to thank my brother, Ben, for creating most of our sound and music cues for this podcast. Thanks, Ben.

Meghan: You can check out our website, MeAndYouAndNancyDrew.com, for show transcripts, links to our social media and our Patreon, where we'll post any images that we described during the podcast. Those will be visible to anyone, without a paywall, so that we're not describing nebulous images that you can't see at home. But if you'd like to become a patron, there are various perks there, including outtakes or things that got cut for time, stickers and cross-stitch patterns to create your own Drewseum at home, and more. 

Colleen: Thank you, Meghan, for editing the podcast, doing a lot of research about podcast creation, and adding a few additional sound cues as needed.

Meghan: Thank you, Colleen, for also editing the podcast, for transcribing it, and for helping create our logo. 

Colleen: Thank you to our partners for all the support and love, and especially for lending us their microphones that they bought for a completely different purpose but said we could borrow once in a while.

Meghan: Thank you to libraries everywhere for giving access to Nancy Drew books and all the other books that we mentioned today, and just media of all kinds to people everywhere for free. 

Colleen: And finally, thank you, of course, to Carolyn Keene for independently writing each of the Nancy Drew books from 1930 to modern day. We couldn't do this without you and your six hundred and thirteen individual novels. 

Meghan: And don't forget the moral of this episode:

Colleen: As Nancy Drew famously said in this book:

Meghan: “‘Romance and detective work won't mix tonight!’”