Book Review: Nancy Drew: The Triple Hoax

Book: The Triple Hoax (Nancy Drew #57) by Carolyn Keene

Cover Design: Bob Silverman
Cover Illustration: Garin Baker

Edition: Paperback

Description:

Aunt Eloise invites Nancy, Bess, and George to New York to help a friend who has been swindled out of a sizable sum of money. There, the girls see a performance of a magicians' group who stun their audiences with clever sleight-of-hand tricks. Because the magicians temporarily remove people's wallets and handbags, Nancy feels the actors aren't above suspicion. Her hunch is borne out and a whirlwind chase ensues.





Rating: 4 stars

Review:

In Nancy Drew: The Triple Hoax, Nancy Drew and her two best friends, cousins George Fayne and Bess Marvin were trying to solve multiple mysteries. The story began with Nancy's Aunt Eloise inviting Nancy, Bess and George to New York City to see if they could help her friend Annabella Richards. Mrs. Richards was conned out of $3,000 for a trip from a supposed travel agent Henry Clark and Eloise wanted to see if Nancy and her friends could find the guy who had conned her. Adding to Annabella's troubles, someone attacked her chauffeur and stole her car.

Nancy's investigation into the con man didn't have much to go on that is until Nancy, her Aunt Eloise, Bess and George attended a magic show of a group called The Hoaxters. A magic act that Mrs. Richards had recommended to Eloise. One of the tricks that The Hoaxters performed requires some members of the audience to join them on stage. The trick was simple yet amusing but there's a part to it that made Nancy suspicious. Especially since the following day, salesperson Howie Barker contacted Bess to see if she wanted to invest in a seaside hotel. Nancy thought this could be another con like the one Annabella Richards was caught in, so she had a plan to see if Howie Barker was not only a con man but also the same one that conned Annabella.

One part of Nancy's plan worked, she was able to take pictures of Howie Barker however she wasn't able to identify him (at least not yet). Bess' meeting with Howie had Nancy start to realize there was a connection between the cons and the magicians, The Hoaxters. Going to Annabella's apartment and showing her the pictures of Howie Barker also didn't result in identifying him either. However, she did find a potential clue from some of Annabella's mail. A sudden discovery of an old vial of poison from one of Annabella's collectibles would lead Nancy, Bess and George on another mystery when the valuable vial was later stolen. Along with trying to find the con man they were now going to be looking for a vial of poison.

Trying to find more clues about The Hoaxters led to the discovery that the magicians had left town and were heading to Mexico City, Mexico. Nancy, never one to let an investigation go cold, would soon have her, George and Bess flying out there to continue their mystery solving. However once they arrived, they were met with a bit of trouble regarding their investigation. But once that was taken care of they were ready to continue looking into The Hoaxters and surprisingly also the vial thief who may have traveled to Mexico City as well.

Their investigation had them acquiring another client, Rosa Mendez who the trio met during a bit of undercover work attending one of The Hoaxters' magic shows. Rosa would later contact Nancy when her granddaughter Dolores was abducted. The little girl would eventually be ransomed for money. So between trying to find the con man who swindled Annabella out of $3,000, find the con man who tried to swindle Bess and find the thief who stole a vial of poison. They are now trying to find out who kidnapped Dolores and try to get her back.

Nancy's investigation was made more complicated when The Hoaxters left town yet again, this time heading to Los Angeles. And that's also where Nancy believed they may find Dolores. When they finally made it to Los Angeles they would try their best to figure out everything and try to solve all the cases. They got additional help (even if they didn't really need it) from their friends Ned Nickerson, Dave Evans and Burt Eddleton.

This was a relatively good story but I feel like the author was trying to do too much not only with the story but the characters and the mysteries as well. There was so much happening in this story, such as abductions, stolen cars, stolen poison vial, con men, a laundry room fire and so much more. And not to be forgotten, the plane that Ned, Dave and Burt were on traveling to L.A. was hijacked. It really felt like the author had a check list and wanted to include everything that was on it because there was just a lot of things happening in one story. Especially since throughout this mystery, Nancy, Bess and George had been met with plenty of opposition and trouble.

I don't know why Nancy Drew isn't a professional detective but instead is an amateur detective. Because at this point, with all the work that she as well as her friends Bess and George do (especially in this story) they should be getting paid. But it was mentioned by George early in the story when she called her parents to ask for some money and her father said "You're working hard now. How would it be if you got paid for being a detective?" Her response was "If I accept money for my work, it would take me out of the amateur class." And she also said that then she couldn't work with Bess and Nancy any longer. This reason makes absolutely no since to me. With all the money they were spending on these multiple cases, they could have each gotten a Private Detective/Investigator license and used it to start making money. Especially since Nancy is already a well known amateur detective and someone is always asking her to solve their mystery or she stumbled onto one.

Although, Nancy Drew: The Triple Hoax was a pretty good read, there was just way too much stuff happening. And the mystery and story definitely could have been more concise. I wanted to mention that I bought this book from a library book sale seven years ago. It was already an old book (the story was published in 1979) when I bought it, and it has quite a lot of wear and tear. Okay, a lot of wear and tear, the book fell apart as soon as I started reading it. But it was still readable.