1930 Version: Rating - 3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
Update: Okay although I was aware the books were rewritten later on I had not realised exactly how much they cut out. I read the original The Secret of the Old Clock and was pleasantly surprised. Nancy was spunky. The basics of the plot are very similar but the original is more fleshed out. And Nancy is more likable because she's not as irritatingly wholesome.

In this one when she finds the stolen clock she steals it back and she doesn't confess to the police officer with the idea that she'll "take the consequences". Plus she calls it how she sees it - she reads Jeff Tucker the riot act when she finds he's been drinking on the job and betrayed the Topman's trust. Of course this differs to the later version in that it actually is his fault. But she also only pursues the mystery to begin with because she doesn't like the Topmans. She calls them snobbish and goes out of her way to knock them off their high horse. Later she does meet the Horner's and the other relatives and wants to help them but it's not her sole motivation for investigating. And there's a shoot out! Overall it was very enjoyable. And I liked this Nancy Drew.

So now I have to read the 1930 versions of the other ones I've read so far. Because the later ones are too watered down to enjoy.

1959 Version: Rating - 2 stars
Can't say I really got the hype. It was a pretty simple mystery, with fairly bland characters. It likely didn't help that I didn't really like Nancy as a character. Her constant narration irritated me. And she is so wholesome and completely naive for an eighteen year old. I can forgive it in middle grade fiction because I expect it but I thought this was young adult so it's rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know, just didn't grab me. But I didn't read them as a kid so I also don't have nostalgia that would carry me through - like I do with Babysitter's Club, Animal Ark and Barbie.

Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews

Written on Nov 15, 2010

Young girl sleuth, Nancy Drew is introduced in 1930 with The Secret of the Old Clock, the first in the classic mystery series. After aiding an injured child Nancy stumbles upon the mystery of Josiah Crowley's missing will. Josiah promised several members of his family that he would include them in his will but upon his death they were all omitted leaving everything to a snobby relations who claim to hold the only copy. Nancy sees the unjustness of the situation and feeling that something is not right sets of to find a missing antique clock which may posses answers to a second will's location.

The Secret of the Old Clock is very nostalgic to me as it was the first Nancy Drew Mystery I read. I was ten and on vacation and having run out of books to read was taken to the local bookstore. My mom persuaded me to try Nancy Drew a favorite of hers growing-up. I read the novel with relish finishing in a 24 hour period amazed by the adventures Nancy got herself into. Soon after, I devoured everything Carolyn Keene had written and was shocked years later to discover that "Carolyn Keene" was a ghostwriter with the mysteries being written by men.

Although 15 years have past since that day Nancy Drew has not changed and still holds my attention. She is just the right combination of girl next-door and brainy sleuth making for a lovely read for any age. It's just swell.