HIDDEN MICKEY: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales! - The Action-adventure Mystery novel about Walt Disney (Volume 1) [Paperback]

Nancy Temple Rodrigue (Author), David W. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

HIDDEN MICKEY: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales!

The Hidden Mickey Novel series were the TOP SELLING NOVELS at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books as well as at Disney's D-23 Expo

Hidden Mickey is the first in a series of action-adventure mysteries written with the adult reader in mind (age appropriate 12 and up) that follows the footsteps and genius of Walt Disney; from his humble beginnings to world-wide acceptance of Showman of the Century. However, this novel reveals more than just intimate and subtle references to the man that millions of people around the world enjoy an obsession for.

Adam, Lance and Beth embark on an once-in-a-lifetime adventure that begins with a fortuitous discovery: a long-lost diary penned by the hand of the master himself, Walt Disney. But, the contents of the diary are not just personal inflections or freeform thoughts by Mr. Disney. Instead, the words written include a definitive clue, a clue that initiates a quest designed by the brilliance of Walt Disney to give his uninitiated discoverers insights into his life, his trials and success, and his own quest to enlighten, entertain and enthrall the world.

Hidden Mickey leads our intrepid heroes on their own mouse quest, taking them to places in Walt Disney s history; from his small town of Marceline, Missouri where he spent his youth to Burbank, California home of his first real animation studio. The clues lead the three friends to the islands of Trinidad and Tobago and to the happiest place on earth Disneyland all to find meaning in the subtle to obscure clues which Walt had left decades before. While the clues provide the means in which the three friends discover insights into the mind of the master showman, Disney has also left intimate and priceless treasures from his past with each clue! What treasure will the final clue reveal?

Hidden Mickey will take readers on an E-Ticket ride through Disney's history. However, Adam, Lance and Beth learn about themselves along the adventure, too. They discover how the past and the present can affect love and friendship in ways they would never have guessed. Their relationship is as closely linked to Walt Disney as it is to each other.

Hidden Mickey offers readers a glimpse at many unique and obscure facts and myths about Walt Disney while taking them on a fanciful, what-if journey! As each clue is revealed, the stakes become more intense. Soon, it is not just a quest, but a race against time. And, at the end of the journey, what our friends and reader discover is: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales!

Editorial Reviews

Review

attention riveting novel from first page to last and highly recommended.

There is a new and popular action/adventure category as represented by the National Treasure films and such television series as Unnatural History. The first full length novel of this new brand of entertainment is Hidden Mickey: Sometimes Dead Men Do Tell Tales!, a collaborative 482-page work of imaginative fiction by Nancy Temple Rodrigue and David W. Smith which is set against the backdrop of Disneyland. Three friends accidentally come across the long lost diary of Walt Disney and finds hints of a hidden treasure. Following a series of complicated clues which they must decipher, they set off in pursuit involving scattered historical records and subtle connections. What they will find is as imaginative as everything else that the great Walt Disney left as his enduring legacy to the world. Superbly written, Hidden Mickey is an attention riveting novel from first page to last and highly recommended, wonderfully entertaining reading. --Midwest Book Review - A14OJS0VWMOSWO

I could not put this book down!

I loved this book! It was well-written, with lots of descriptions. My heart was pounding through-out the book, wondering if the treasure-hunters were going to get caught. The places that they traveled to were so descriptive, it felt as though I were there with them, myself! The characters' personalities were exactly as I had thought they would be through-out the book.

My heart was pounding as I read the last chapter. The surprise ending made me jump!

Nice job! My best friend is already reading it now. She also loves it. --M. Amodt - A1YNQQOLBOX83X

Excellent - Fun - Engaging.

I love this book! This is pure, clean fun in the Disney tradition. You don't necessarily have to be a rabid Disney fan to enjoy it, but it will likely appeal more to those who have at least been to Disneyland/World and enjoyed their time there. The book is very well-written and well-plotted... The story is an adventure story that keeps you interested and motivated to continue reading. I can't remember when or even if I've ever had such fun with a book before. I sincerely hope the authors will write more! --Amazon Fan - A27O5ZUFAEWT9L

I could not put this book down!

I loved this book! It was well-written, with lots of descriptions. My heart was pounding through-out the book, wondering if the treasure-hunters were going to get caught. The places that they traveled to were so descriptive, it felt as though I were there with them, myself! The characters' personalities were exactly as I had thought they would be through-out the book.

My heart was pounding as I read the last chapter. The surprise ending made me jump!

Nice job! My best friend is already reading it now. She also loves it. --M. Amodt - A1YNQQOLBOX83X

Excellent - Fun - Engaging.

I love this book! This is pure, clean fun in the Disney tradition. You don't necessarily have to be a rabid Disney fan to enjoy it, but it will likely appeal more to those who have at least been to Disneyland/World and enjoyed their time there. The book is very well-written and well-plotted... The story is an adventure story that keeps you interested and motivated to continue reading. I can't remember when or even if I've ever had such fun with a book before. I sincerely hope the authors will write more! --Amazon Fan - A27O5ZUFAEWT9L

About the Author

Nancy Temple Rodrigue

Nancy lives in the small town of Lompoc, California. Besides writing, she is an avid reader and also enjoys knitting and crocheting. She shows her award-winning 1957 T-Bird in local car shows, and enjoys the wonderful wines in the surrounding Santa Rita and Paso Robles wine regions. Nancy is just 3 hours north of Disneyland so she visits often, both for research as well as for fun! Grandchildren live nearby and are learning the wonders of Disneyland. Nancy is a member of the Disney Vacation Club, and the Disneyana Fan Club.

Writing about Disneyland comes easy for Nancy as she has been an avid Disney fan ever since she was 6 years old and went to Disneyland for the first time. Her novels show her admiration and respect for the man who started it all, Walt Disney.

The novel, Hidden Mickey: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales! and it's sequel Hidden Mickey 2: It All Started..., were her first books in the Hidden Mickey series. In those first two novels she was assisted by her co-author David W. Smith. Nancy has been writing for most of her life, mostly in the fiction and fantasy genre, so when Smith approached her with the idea of a clue-driven story along the line of the movie National Treasure, but with connections to Walt Disney, she jumped at the opportunity write it with him. In just 2 months Nancy had penned over 120,000 words of that first novel. Once her creative forces started to work she was almost unstoppable, and that first book was completed in only 3 months.

Nancy also authored The Fan Letter. This is a romantic story about a fan of a popular TV series writing to her favorite actor, and the way their lives intertwine when her letter sets off a chain of events that affect both her life, as well as this actor's life and career.

Readers can expect even more from Nancy in the future. She is rapidly becoming a favorite author for many.

Nancy appears at Book Signing Events at Disneyland, as well as Barnes and Noble and other Bookstores, The Walt Disney Hometown Museum, Disney World, and other select locations. To see her current schedule visit the Author's Blog Page at HiddenMickeyBook dot com/blog dot html

Nancy is on Facebook (Facebook-Nancy Temple Rodrigue) and Twitter (Twitter-Hidden_Mickey).


David W. Smith

Co-author of Hidden Mickey: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales! and Hidden Mickey 2: It All Started... and is currently writing his own novel titled Hidden Mickey 5: Chasing New Frontiers.

David is a Professional Tennis Instructor with the top-selling Instructional books like Tennis Mastery and Coaching Mastery, a magician, as well as a bass and guitar player who has played in several bands when he lived in Southern California.

David is married to Dr. Kerri Smith, a pediatrician in St. George, Utah. They have two children, Kyla Marie (who, at 8 years of age is featured in several of Dave's articles on training junior players), and Keaton Bruce, who is six years old

Product Details

• Paperback: 482 pages
• Publisher: Double-R Books; 1st edition (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974902624
• ISBN-13: 978-0974902623
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #393,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars National Treasure set in Walt Disney's past!, October 25, 2011

By 

Wulfstan "wulfstan" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: HIDDEN MICKEY: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales! - The Action-adventure Mystery novel about Walt Disney (Volume 1) (Paperback)

Really that about sums up this fun, trivia filled romp thru Disneyland and the history of how Walt got started.

The two main characters remind me a lot of the protagonists from Sideways.

What also pleasantly suprised me is that the authors managed to come up with some Disney factoids that even I didn't know.

True, the authors are not going to be waiting breathlessly by the phone for a call from Sweden come the day the Nobel Prize in literature is announced. But who cares?

It's treasure, it's Disney, it's fun!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A great idea, poorly written., September 5, 2011

By 

Novel Teen (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: HIDDEN MICKEY: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales! - The Action-adventure Mystery novel about Walt Disney (Volume 1) (Paperback)

When I found out about the National-Treasure-at-Disneyland concept for a book, I thought it was a brilliant idea. I still do actually. Being a Disney freak, I couldn't wait to check it out. What I ended up with was an obviously self-published book badly in need of some editing.

The female love intrest provides a slightly different point of view from the two male leads, but she does not appear until the story is halfway over. There are no real antagonists to speak of until almost the end of the book and that character is immediately sent away. The author goes on for pages at a time about subjects that do not move the story forward in any way. There is an entire chapter devoted to a car show for no apparent reason except that the author likes to show off old cars. The point of view jumps randomly from one character's head to another and frequently information is presented that none of the characters know about.

The biggest problem I had with the book was the regurgitation of facts. Everything learned about Disney (or anything else) is thrown into the story, often as simply an info dump. Frequently, these info dumps are from no one's point of view. Just because information is known by the authors does not mean it needs to go into the book. For example: On page 418, a sentence begins, "If Lance had taken the time, he would have learned..." and then it goes on for a paragraph about a type of horse. The horse has nothing to do with the story, and this is not a textbook. Bottom line: Lance didn't learn it, so niether should we.

On the positive side of my 3 stars, I did enjoy the story. The intrigue of snooping around through Walt Disney's past was entertaining and fun. The epilogue was surprising and fit in well with Disney lore. If they were cheaper, I would even consider reading the sequels. Hopefully somewhere through the series, the authors will spend as much time learning the craft of writing as they do learning about Disney.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Almost Decent, October 18, 2011

By 

sfadisneyfreak - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: HIDDEN MICKEY: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales! - The Action-adventure Mystery novel about Walt Disney (Volume 1) (Paperback)

This book was written by two people, but reads like it was written by five. Sections of the books have different styles, the characters are inconsistent and the pace doesn't match.

There is a huge twist in the end that ruins the book. It's a cheap cop out way to end the book, something that we writers are told to avoid. It not only breaks a character's personality, it breaks the logic of the book.

This is a national treasure wannabe, without the logic behind hiding the treasure.

The books also fails with the characters. they are flat, and become annoying. One of them gets girls attention way too often and easily to a fault (of the writers).

The characters are too old. I could imagine them in their late 20's, but they're in their mid 30's. Too old for what they do.