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Password to Larkspur Lane (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, No 10)

Password to Larkspur Lane (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, No 10)

List Price: $5.99
Your Price: $5.39
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The most poetic title in the Drew series.
Review: "Password" and "Larkspur Lane" -- these terms echo each other as much as "Lenore" and "Nevermore" do in Poe's "The Raven." It is fitting, then, that this is one of the better Keene books in the Nancy canon. I am reviewing my childhood reading, made possible by Applewood reissues and the continued availability of the Grosset & Dunlap revised titles. It is a truism that the early books (despite their out-of-fashion references and language, and their social stereotypes) are always better than the revisions, and it's often true that the originals are more satisfying, stylish stories. I enjoy the mysteries screeching to a halt while the girls indulge in their noon "luncheon." However, in this title I have to go with the revision. It's a masterful rewrite, condensing and reorganizing the early story while cutting out a lot of leisurely pacing that slows the story down. Perhaps Nancy's greatest strength as a detective is her unwillingness to give up; when she has no clues or prospects of any in this novel, she drives the roads outside of her midwest town until she finds one (a crude sign on a tree with "L. L." posted on it). Can't get into a prison-like old folks' home? Impersonate an elderly lady. Get thrown into a deep cistern? Use the pieces of a ladder thrown in after you to claw your way up the wall. The criminals are getting away in a small plane? Let the gas out of it before they can take off. Meanwhile she still has time to win first prize in a flower arranging competition. Nancy is simply too much, and knowing her has been one of the delights of my life.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great fun!
Review: As I lay in bed sniffling this weekend I read Password to Larkspur Lane. Carson gives Nancy a new black and green roadster for her birthday (she gets it early as she needs to evade some thugs who have been spying on the house and they would have recognized her old maroon roadster.) Then she speeds off to Sylvan Lake to join Helen Corning and her parents at the much larger cottage they have taken this summer. Ned Nickerson is also there and Nancy is the belle of the Yacht Club dance, in addition to beating the pants off the snooty "amateur swim champion" who instigated a diving competition because she resented Nancy getting all the male attention on the swim platform. She also wins the adulation of everyone at the lake when she rescues a tot who falls in the water in front of a speedboat, but is duely modest about it, considering that the little girl fell in as a result of Nancy's having questioned her after hearing her name. Nancy and Helen enjoy a few luxurious rides in the splendid new machine as they search for a remote estate surrounded by larkspurs/delphiniums to solve the mystery Nancy stumbled upon as she happened to drive by a car that mysteriously had the windows up even though the weather was clear (actually, the book said the curtains were drawn--did cars come with window curtains in 1933?) Nancy actually falls into dire straits but, fortunately, had the foresight to call Ned beforehand so he could fly in with some burly pals (and Carson, who just happened to be at the local airport as they were about to take off in their just-the-right-size-to-land-in-the-back-yard plane) in the nick of time to thwart the evildoers who were bilking wealthy older women.

Oh, Nancy also won 1st place for her flower arrangement of larkspurs at the Blenheim Flower Show. Of course.

I desperately want this cold to go away so I can drive around in my splendid machine and stumble upon adventures. I will need some new sport frocks though.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: rewritten is not better
Review: I am a Nancy Drew fan...for over thirty years..as my mother was before me and my daughter after me. This rewitten version is not up to the thrills and chills of the edition by Mildred Wirt Benson in the 1930's. This edition lacks the intrige of the first..it is more "up to date" and P.C. than the first, but I suggest that anyone who loves Nancy and has only read this book obtain a copy of the original that has been published by Applewood Books..it even has the fantastic old illustrations.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the best book
Review: it is a very good book. nacy keeps you in such suspense. you keep on reading and reading.i finish it in i day.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The most poetic title in the Drew series.
Review: This review concerns the original 1933 edition and the revised 1966 edition which has a story similar to the original version. Nancy finds a carrier pigeon which contains a strange coded message. Later, the family's doctor tells Nancy of how he was kidnapped and taken to a large home to treat an elderly lady, whom he believed was being held against her will. Armed with a bracelet the doctor managed to slip off of the old lady's wrist as her only clue, Nancy sets off determined to find the house and free the old woman. The revised edition has an added mystery concerning a spooky, blue circle of fire which has been appearing recently in the woods outside of the new home of Nancy's friend Helen's grandparents. Personally, I liked the original edition much better than the revised edition. The writing was better and the book flowed along a lot better than the revised edition did. The extra mystery in the revised edition seemed out of place and really didn't make the book more interesting. The main mystery of the book, Nancy trying to find the elderly woman, was good and is typical Nancy Drew, with Nancy risking her life attempting to help someone else. Both editions were fairly suspenceful and had exciting endings; although again, I prefered the ending in the original story. Either edition is worth reading, but I give the original 3 1/2 stars, while I give the revised 3 stars.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I Prefer The Original Version
Review: This review concerns the original 1933 edition and the revised 1966 edition which has a story similar to the original version. Nancy finds a carrier pigeon which contains a strange coded message. Later, the family's doctor tells Nancy of how he was kidnapped and taken to a large home to treat an elderly lady, whom he believed was being held against her will. Armed with a bracelet the doctor managed to slip off of the old lady's wrist as her only clue, Nancy sets off determined to find the house and free the old woman. The revised edition has an added mystery concerning a spooky, blue circle of fire which has been appearing recently in the woods outside of the new home of Nancy's friend Helen's grandparents. Personally, I liked the original edition much better than the revised edition. The writing was better and the book flowed along a lot better than the revised edition did. The extra mystery in the revised edition seemed out of place and really didn't make the book more interesting. The main mystery of the book, Nancy trying to find the elderly woman, was good and is typical Nancy Drew, with Nancy risking her life attempting to help someone else. Both editions were fairly suspenceful and had exciting endings; although again, I prefered the ending in the original story. Either edition is worth reading, but I give the original 3 1/2 stars, while I give the revised 3 stars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This book was exciting.
Review: This was my first Nancy Drew Book and I think that it was very well written. But there was not that much mystery but there was alot of action so I'm very gald that I was able to try out the Nancy Drew Series:-)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great fun!
Review: ~ Hi I have to tell you this is the best book that I have read! It was exciting and heart jumping book. You guys out there have to read this book. It is an awsome book. You have to buy it!~


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