Nancy Drew

In this the first book of the series, Nancy Drew is introduced to us, and searches for a missing will. Struggling relatives have no claim, only the evil already-rich ones are heirs by the only known will. This is the original 1930 edition which is entering the public domain in the US; this is not the rewritten and revised 1959 version.

The Hidden Staircase'' is the second book in the Nancy Drew series. To me, this book is more exciting than the volume that introduced Nancy Drew, girl detective. The mysterious stone mansion with its many secret staircases and passageways, the frightened elderly twin sisters, and the strange thefts make for exciting reading. Carson Drew's kidnapping at the hands of miserly, Nathan Gombet, and Gombet's cruel servant, "the slovenly unnamed negress," bring new meanings to the words "thrilling adventure." Nancy looks appropriately inquisitive and beautiful in a 1930s style on this cover art. The revised story, with a completely different plot, is also very good, but it doesn't effectively compare to the original story [here].-William Land.

First published in 1930, ''The Mystery at Lilac Inn'' is the fourth book in the Nancy Drew series. Nancy and her friend Helen visit their friend Emily Willouby at the Lilac Inn, which Emily now owns, to help her plan her wedding. Emily plans on selling inherited diamonds in order to help fix up the Lilac Inn. However, Nancy soon learns that someone has been impersonating her and making expensive purchases under her name. Soon after, Emily's diamonds are stolen! Can Nancy find the thieves and recover the missing diamonds?