This post is part of the Nancy Drew Review Project; visit the project index here.
Nancy’s Mysterious Letter is the eighth volume in the bestselling Nancy Drew mystery series, and it’s the first that was ghostwritten by Walter Karig (following Mildred Wirt Benson’s brief departure from the series). Karig’s original text was published in 1932. When the Stratemeyer Syndicate began overhauling the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books a few decades later, a new version of of the story was issued in 1968.
Although both versions of the novel have roughly the same plot, the revised version is pretty drastically different than the original text. However, both texts follow protagonist Nancy as she investigates two seemingly unconnected mysteries: first, a letter addressed to “Miss Nancy Smith Drew” regarding a surprise English inheritance; and second, the theft of a mail bag from Nancy’s elderly and beloved mail carrier, Ira Dixon (or Ira Nixon, in the revised text). Along the way, Nancy finds out the two mysteries are deeply connected, and she also attends a college football game, where her new beau, Ned Nickerson, is making a name for himself as a star quarterback/kicker (impressive!).
1932 Original Text
Reading the original text of Nancy’s Mysterious Letter was a sort of detective mission for myself, because I was curious to see if I could tell the difference following the switch in ghostwriters. Answer: yes, I can. Walter Karig is a good writer, and I think he managed to follow in Wirt Benson’s footsteps admirably, capturing the spirit of the first seven Nancy Drew novels. However, he wasn’t quite as good with characterization and light-hearted humor. I found Karig’s Nancy to be a bit more bland than she had been previously.
Also interesting is the way the book focuses on how Nancy faces discrimation on behalf of her age/gender. Several characters go out of their way to berate Nancy as a “good for nothing” youth or a silly girl, though of course Nancy proves them wrong, and with style. I think it’s telling that a male author found it necessary to frame Nancy’s successes against doubt and negative perspectives; in contrast Wirt Benson was always able to prove how capable Nancy was without anyone ever doubting her ability. It’s like Karig could only think of showing a “strong girl character” in the context of commonly held stereotypes about young girls.
But, again, Nancy proves all her detractors wrong in the end. Indeed, I thought it was pretty cute how a big portion of the original text is Nancy spending a weekend with Ned’s parents (a very quick “meet the in-laws” moment!) and winning them over. Ned’s dad is delighted by her sleuthing abilities, and even has Nancy drive his car for him, since she is so much more capable than he was. With that in mind, I don’t think Karig was sexist; I just think he had a certain frame of reference for women in society that he felt Nancy had to explicitly stand out from.
Another huge portion of the book is the college football game. I don’t love football, but the original text really captures the spirit and the edge-of-your-seat drama of a close match. It was one of my favorite parts of the book, honestly.
And the mystery? It was okay! The plot is complicated without being confusing, and it was fun to see Nancy trying to track down not only a mail thief but also an unwitting heiress. Spoiler: the mail thief and the unwitting heiress end up being “involved,” and Nancy has to rescue her fellow Nancy from his clutches! The book also mixes it up in that Bess and George are largely absent from the book except at the beginning—here, Nancy’s main assistant is Ned’s dad, which was pretty cute, as I said.
1968 Revised Text
I gotta admit that I wasn’t a big fan of the revised text. Too much was cut out, only for more intense drama to be added in at the end (Nancy gets chloroformed by the villain!). So far in my project, I’ve found that when the authors simply condense the original text without making major changes, the revised text is usually completely readable and very enjoyable. But once they start tweaking with the original plot, things start to get weird.
Bess and George are back in the revised text, which I’m not mad about, although I was disappointed that Ned’s parents don’t exist anymore. Also, it is completely weird how the revised text butchers the football game, which is the emotional highpoint of the original text. Again, I’m not a huge football fan, but for seemingly no reason at all, it seemed that the authors changed out the plays and the scores arbitrarily, while still allowing Ned to score the winning touchdown. Why? No clue.
The mystery is less satisfying as well, mostly because the revised text takes a majority of the investigating out of Nancy’s hands. Instead, answers to big questions are literally handed to her by other characters (usually her father), and so Nancy looks far less capable than in the original text. Throw in Nancy getting drugged in an airport bathroom, and the overall impression is simply more chaotic and less impressive. Also, there’s a very weird moment where the missing heiress leaves some “clues” via Shakespeare quotes that, really, is confusing and poorly conceived. A shame, since we all know I love Shakespeare.
The Verdict
The original text is much, much better than the revised text. Unfortunately, the 1968 version dilutes the characters and story so much that it’s boring and a bit rushed. Even though there are no major changes, this is not an instance where I would recommend the revised text even a little bit. Get thee to Ebay and find the 1932 text in order to enjoy an exciting football game, Ned’s adorable parents, and a funny old sailor with a crabby wife.
[Disclaimer: cover art scans are from this site.]
