Nancy Drew: The Hidden Staircase (1930) by Carolyn Keene

🕵🏻‍♀️ I remember perfectly when Nancy Drew entered the reading radar of my younger self; it's in between the Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie phases. I also read Hardy Boys, but only a few, it's not as riveting as Nancy Drew (or Alfred Hitchcock's Three Investigators, which came to me at the same phase). The Hidden Staircase was the second in the series, and if I have read it before, I completely forget. So, I have read it as if it's my first Nancy Drew - and I loved it!

🕵🏻‍♀️ Nancy Drew is an only child of the Drews; her mother had died, so she lives with her father, a criminal lawyer. One day, as she's alone in the house, a man called Nathan Gombet confronted her. He demanded to see Mr. Drew and accused him of having swindled the his money (which Nancy's 100% certain as impossible). Nancy threw him away finally, but the visit rather worried Nancy. Then she met two middle-aged sisters who lived in a dilapidated mansion house called Twin Elms. They believe the house was haunted; footsteps were heard at night, things or foods were mysteriously missing, and things like that. So, when her father left for a week on a mission, she decided to stay in the house to investigate, and helped the kind ladies to find peace again at their house.

🕵🏻‍♀️ Nancy checked every room, every walls, to find hidden doors or entrance where an intruder could have come from outside (as she didn't believe that ghosts are the culprit). It must have been a joke, or else, a crime. But none existed, or so Nancy thought, because I have immediately saw something fishy when the rooms and furniture were described. I was literally screamed at Nancy: there! you must check there! And I was right at the end. I guess I've read too many mysteries that something out of ordinary immediately intrigued me. Anyway, no entrance was found, but a person did enter the house at nights, and stole things. Worse for Nancy, her father was missing too! Are those two facts connected? And what about Nathan Gombet who swore he would get what he thought is his rights?

🕵🏻‍♀️ On the whole, it's unexpectedly a fast-paced mystery/detective/adventure thriller with wonderful plot, and satisfactory ending. I loved how Nancy Drew was portrayed; an independent, resourceful, highly intelligent girl who is generous and kindhearted. I liked how Nancy defended her father against Gombet's accusation. You know right away how she had been brought up with love and respect by a respectable parents. It is nice to know for sure that your father wouldn't do anything bad.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐