Customer Reviews

The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, No. 18)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nancy Drew: The Case of the Moss-Covered Mansion was one of the best Nancy Drew books I have ever read. It had more action than some other Nancy Drew books. Nancy Drew was working three different cases at the same time. She saw tigers two feet away and dangerous things happen to her and her friends, Bess and George. In the last four or so chapters, I couldn't put down the book. I like the way that the author describes the scenes where Nancy and her friends are at. It was one of the best, most intense, Nancy Drew endings ever.

My 9-year-old niece is an avid Nancy Drew fan and enjoyed this entry in the series so I bow to her opinion. Here are a few comments from my reading:

- This edition is faithful to the original story from the Forties (clearly stated up front) and contains a few racial references and stereotypes that make one cringe nowadays.

- The plot seems a bit intricate and complicated for young readers.

- If you're sensitive to violence, be aware that there is a shooting involved (but I suppose that's true in many of these mysteries).

Other than that, my niece and I both found the book satisfying, and I imagine it's typical of the early Nancy Drew entries.

This review concerns the original 1941 edition and the revised 1971 edition, the one commonly found in book stores. In the original edition, Mr. Drew has Nancy help him track down a missing heiress and Nancy, Bess and George stumble upon a mysterious moss-covered mansion. They later hear that someone was murdered near the mansion and they repeatedly hear strange noises coming from inside the mansion. I really enjoyed the first 100 or so pages of this book, but I found that after that I was gradually losing interest in the story. Any of the chapter endings toward the end of the book that had even the smallest bit of interest were quickly resolved in the next chapter. The end of the book was rather bad as the two best things about the book, the murder and the mansion, were resolved with dull explanations. Most of this book is worth reading and I rate it 3 stars. In the revised edition, Nancy, George, Bess, Mr. Drew and Hannah travel to Florida when a friend of Mr. Drew is accused of trying to sabotage the space program by sending a truck of explosive oranges to the Space Center complex at Cape Kennedy. When you finally stop laughing over how lame this plot sounds and actually read the book, it; unfortunately, isn't any better. There is not much action in the book, the mystery isn't very exciting and the writing style is vastly inferior to the original edition. I didn't enjoy the revised edition of this book at all and I'd give it a 1 1/2 star rating.

This reprint of the original is delightful as Nancy Drew always. There is a lot of heart-pounding action in this mystery as Nancy Drew has some narrow escapes with burning planes and exotic animals.

The Mystery Of The Moss-coverd Mansion is a great book. There is a lot of really exiting parts, and some parts that are funny. I am 12 years old and I am planning on reading all of the other Nancy Drew Books. I have so far read 28 of them and enjoied them all. I think it is a great book!!!

The Nancy Drew Collection is incredible! As a collector, I enjoy each of the stories. I love the older originals in particular. They contain more substance and much better writing. I feel the newer ones read like comic books. The older ones challenge us at times to pick up a dictionary. Also, these now make great history books as we read about chains that were put on the tires after a rain because most the roads were dirt. We read of a time of typewriters, telegraphs, telephones (no cellphones)and in the earlier ones no mention of television!Some people are offended because of the so called racial slurs. I don't see anything racial about it. This is our history and these kind of folks did and still do exist whether you are speaking about how black folks speak or folks from lower class neighborhoods may behave. These books are true to what is real. There are crooks in poor neighborhoods! And how many poor but good folks has Nancy helped? Black folks often did service jobs. My own mother had a black cleaning lady. I see nothing wrong with that. Any person regardless of color or race can be anything they choose to be in America. Nancy is just real (outside of the fact that her heroistic feats may be a bit more than the average girl could attaint to). We can not condemn her for being born with a silver spoon. We can certainly learn from her as she was brought up to work hard and respect others despite her wealth; and she even attends church on Sunday! Nancy is the empitomy of good values and love for others. I hope Nancy is around for many, many more years for young people to enjoy. I grew up with Nancy and as a collector, she is still my best girl.

I think this book was a very good mystery. I would recommend this book to litte children who like adventure's and mysteries. The scenes in this book is great it takes place in an Orange Grove in Florida. the mystery is about some kind of exploding oranges. This book is the eighteenth book that Carolyn Keene has written. Now she has over a million books written today. I especially recommend these books to young women that love mysteries.

Doris Mendes

I haven't finished this book yet. Although I know it is going to be good. My name is Sally and I'm in 4th grade. So far I've read 18 Nancy Drew books and they've all been good. I wish there was an endless number of Nancy Drew books.

I bought this book for my niece for her B-Day! She loves Nancy Drew books!! She said this book was pretty good but not as good as some of the other ones she has read. She still enjoyed it none the less!

The book was shipped quickly and was received in excellent condition.