fredflare.com | nancy drew review: the secret of shadow ranch
Keithwas in the mood for a Western
adventure;Lulucraved a suspenful
thriller. Both found this episode of Nancy
Drew to be truly fascinating reading!
Keith:Before we begin our chatfest on
episode 5, The Secret of Shadow Ranch, I
have to tell you that this one has
been a favorite of mine for some time. I even
choreographed a dance based
on it back in the days when I was
a modern
dancer.
Lulu:I remember… I
saw it in Chicago.
K: The piece got a crummy review in the newspaper, though. Can you believe
that?
L: Some people
just don’t understand Nancy Drew.
K:Oh well. Speaking of reviews, what did you think of this one?
L: The best one ever!
K: Lulu, you say that every time…
L:It’s
the truth, though. I love Nancy! But really, this one breaks a lot of new
ground. This is the first time we see Nancy outside the River
Heights area. This
time she’s near Phoenix, vacationing with her two
best friends, Bess Marvin and
George Fayne, at Shadow Ranch. Bess and George
are introduced in this episode
and they’ll become series regulars.
K: Our readers will recall that up until now Nancy’s main gal pal has
been Helen
Corning. Apparently she only signed on for four episodes.
L: Okay, let’s get down to business. There’s a mystery at hand!
K: Right. Nancy’s
dream vacation takes an intriguing turn almost immediately when
someone steals her knitting bag at the airport! It turns up later containing
the rattle
from a snake and a warning to stay away from Shadow Ranch.
L: Doesn’t she also find a warning in her car?
K:That Shadow Ranch has trouble. Can you tell our readers about the curse?
L:Sure. The ranch is being haunted by a phantom horse and mysteriously
sabotaged
by an unknown enemy. Local people believe that the ghost horse is
carrying
out the curse of Dirk Valentine.
K: Legend has it that he was the sweetheart of Frances Humber, the daughter
of the
town sheriff, the original owner of Shadow Ranch a hundred years ago.
One night
when Dirk came to see Frances the sheriff shot and killed him.
As he was dying he
put a curse on Shadow Ranch. He vowed that his horse would
haunt the ranch and
whenever it appeared destruction would follow.
L:Dirk was such a romantic! He must have really loved Frances. That curse
is so
hard core!
K:Totally. The curse heavily inspired my choreography. I put the dance to
Nina
Simone’s "I Put a Spell on You."
L:But there’s
more than just the curse. We gotta talk about the treasure!
K: Yes. That dreamboat Dirk left Frances a hidden treasure containing hundreds
of
small shining gold hearts, bank notes and jewels. It was never recovered.
This is
the real reason there’s so much trouble at the ranch. A bunch
of Chicago bank
robbers are hiding out on Shadow Mountain and causing all
this ruckus in an effort
to scare off the residents and find the treasure
before Nancy.
L: As if! Nothing can stop our fearless Nancy! She survives a sandstorm and
a
rockslide, her room is ransacked, she gets locked in a stable and, even
though she
is a champion horse rider, she is thrown from her horse and blacks
out! Yet she’s
more determined than ever. At the end of the book she
gets caught by the bank
robbers but outwits them with her most brilliant
move ever! She tricks them into
believing that a rock is actually the treasure
by covering it up with her sweater and
throwing it over the side of the cliff.
K:Nancy’s
always using fashion to her advantage!
L:And to think
that some people think sweater sets are dowdy… Nancy
knows
better. Even in Phoenix she’s got her look down. On page 2 she’s
wearing olive
green knit with matching shoes and beige accessories. On page
50 she wears a
yellow blouse and skirt with a matching sweater.
On page 75 she’s wearing a
powder blue sweater and skirt, brushing her hair until
it gleams!
K:But she also falls in love with Western fashion, buying herself a turquoise
Indian
costume with silver rickrack trimming to wear to the ranch barbeque.
There she do-
si-does with the locals and wins a watermelon in a dance contest.
She’s quite the
choreographer herself!
L: This truly is one of the funnest elements of the episode. It has such
local flavor!
It’s a true Western adventure, spicing up our regular
topics of fashion and food. Not
only does Nancy dress the part but she lives
the lifestyle. Keith, tell us a little bit
about the local cuisine.
K: Nancy really goes on a culinary adventure at Shadow Ranch. She eats roast
beef, beans, corn fritters, apple pie, tacos, spicy chili, corn dogs with
relish, potato
salad and bbq beef that has been buried in a pit overnight
and cooked, as the ranch
hands describe, "nice an’ slow over hot
stones." Ye-haw!
L:But no episode
of Nancy Drew would be complete if someone didn’t
bake a cake.
This time Nancy makes her famous chocolate cake with walnuts.
Delicious!
K:Those girls love their desserts, especially her new best friend, Bess.
Early in the
episode she says, "This mystery has got me so upset that
my appetite is gone."
Then she quickly changes her mind and orders a
double chocolate sundae.
L:I’ll
confess that at first the sudden addition of Bess and George threw me a little
but then I got to thinking… More cute girls who love
to eat means we’ll have even
more fashion and food to discuss!
