The Secret of Shadow Ranch (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, #5)

by Carolyn Keene

• ISBN10: 000692526X
• ISBN13: 9780006925262
• Publish Date: 11 June 1992 (first published April 1973)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 14 March 1996
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Armada
• Edition: New edition
• Format: Paperback (A-Format (178x111 mm))
• Pages: 160
• Language: English

Reviews

1931 Version:

1965 Version: 3 stars.
I enjoyed this one, it reminded me a lot of the old Westerns I used to watch with my father. It also reminded me of Barbie - I grew up reading Barbie - anything reminiscent is always good. I liked the story of Dirk Valentine and his one true love. The way in which the ghost horse was rigged up was fascinating and added an interesting dimension. The bad guys were pretty obvious but it was a nice easy going mystery. And Nancy was smart and capable as she deceived them and god knows it's hard to resist a smart capable heroine holding her own in a fight.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

While visiting Shadow Ranch, with her friends Bess and George, (surprise surprise) a mystery turns up. The ranch is supposedly haunted by the outlaw Dirk Valentine, who died leaving a hidden treasure to his sweetheart said to be on the property of Shadow Ranch. Not only does Nancy take this case but also a young girl's who's father is missing. Nancy Drew -- two mysteries for the price of one! So immediately this became a game of clue for me, all the ranch-hands, owners and even Alice's father became suspects; as it is always the little details that make you go oh, that makes perfect sense. So I led a watchful eye and got about half of it right.

The thing I liked about this mystery is that the clues involved antiques, of which I have been surrounded with throughout my life, by various family members; so the fact that the first clue was an antique watch and the second, an old bottle made me very intrigued. This gave the book a vintage feel (although it was written in 1931 so in sense was already) anyway, I really enjoyed that aspect.

At one time or another I thought any or all of the ranch hands were involved and at another I suspected Alice's father and Bess and George's Uncle Ed or even Alice's father as like I said above "it is always the little details that make you go oh, that makes perfect sense." I won't give it away, but only one is the culprit.

I understand that she is fiction and therefore perfect, and "living" in the 30s, a completely different era to begin with, but there is something so sweet about her, she is polite but stern enough to get her way, with just a little eye-batting involved. I have yet to understand how she has been push aside as a role model in way for Hannah Montana.