The Secret of Red Gate Farm (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, Book 6)

by Carolyn Keene

Hardcover, 2007

Status

Available

Local notes

Fic Kee

Barcode

2654

Collection

Genres

Publication

Grosset & Dunlap (1931), 192 pages

Description

Nancy Drew's keen mind is tested when she searches for a missing will.

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1931
1961 - revised edition

Physical description

192 p.; 5.06 inches

User reviews

LibraryThing member TamiHindes
The fun part of reading the Nancy Drew books a second time and this time in order is the fact that I can discern between authors - even though they are all writing under the nom de plume of Carolyn Keene.

This is the 6th book of the series; Helen Corning, Nancy's BFF and side kick isn't even
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mentioned and neither is Ned Nickerson, her mentioned but not seen boyfriend in the 5th book. The story takes place near Nancy's home of River Heights, but it's on a farm a few hours away. Nancy befriends a tired, sad-looking girl on the train and then decides that she and her two best friends George and Bess should mettle in her affaris. It's a good thing too because there is a mystery to be solved and a farm to be saved. Oh where is Lassie?

Nancy and friends ride to rescue insisting on helping around the farm as well as paying for the experience. Two boarders show up and one of them has a handsome son. Good thing Ned isn't around. The boarders are two cantankerous elderly people, who think the girls shouldn't investigate the shenanigans going on at the Black Snake Colony, a nature cult who has rented some of the farmland.

Of course nosy Nancy investigates and just happens to stumble upon a counterfeiting ring! Which over the course of the 110 pages she of course breaks up, with no real help from Bess and George.

The one glaring difference I noticed in this book is that Nancy is rescued by a man. Usually, she scorns any help from a man or after she has solved the mystery, the man shows up to cart the bad guys off to jail. This story also has a bit of domesticate violence, and everyone is appalled by it.

Carson Drew makes an appearance at the end of the book, when he pops in to see what his wonderfully smart, talented daughter has been up too. The farm has been saved from the creditors and is making a profit; The bad guys are in jail and Nancy is a bit sad because she just doesn't know when her next mystery will show up.

Ok, I'm pretty sarcastic towards Nancy in this book. I just don't like her. I'm wondering if anyone, male or female would traipse around in the dark in the woods with strangers lurking - and not tell anyone. Also, if she and her friends were caught by counterfeiters, they would be dead - not tied up and threatened with starvation. Oh well, I guess it was a kinder, gentler criminal back then. I'm hoping the next book will be a bit more intense. I never felt any trepidation in this one.
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LibraryThing member thelittlebookworm
After Bess buys a perfume called Blue Jade, Nancy becomes ensconced in a mystery. Bess accidentally spills some of the perfume on Nancy who is then approached by a strange man speaking in code! Plus Nancy helps a waif-like girl trying to find a job and ends up at that girl's farm where a mysterious
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cult is renting a cave nearby! That happens all the time! Somehow Nancy figures out that maybe the perfume mystery and the farm mystery and the cult mystery and the counterfeiter mystery (I didn't mention that earlier, but totally plausible) are connected because if Nancy had to solve more than one mystery that didn't lead to the same conclusion the book would explode. Craaaazy.

The Little Bookworm
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LibraryThing member nm.fall08.c.abrams
The main character is of course, Nancy Drew. The story starts out with what most teenage girls love to do, shopping with her friends. The story is interesting from the begining, several interesting things happen. A few examples are a women at the mall didn't want to sell Nancy purfume. Another
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example is a young girl about their age, on their way home when they were riding on the train. Then Nancy went to get her some water, and a man said something really strange to Nancy. Then Nancy and her friends help their new friend(Jo) find her job interview. I loved all the detail and exciting scenes. I love how it seems to come alive when you are reading it. I don't like how they have so many little mystries that make up the big or major mystrey so to speek. I think any one who loves mystery stories or suspensful adventure would love this book
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LibraryThing member Heather19
Sometimes I think that the plots in the original Nancy Drew books are a little simple, not enough twists or whatever. But no matter what the plot, I always love the proper and elegant language in these early books. Such subtle differences at times, but things like "it certainly would be a shame"
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and "looking perplexed" add something to the reading.

It's also interesting how different Nancy's relationship with the police is in those early books. In the later books most cops don't want her to interfere and even try to stop her, but here they are very open and friendly and actually value her insight.

As far as the actual plot... The connection between the fake money, the Blue Jade perfume, and the Blake Snake Society was very obvious fairly early on, and with everything that happened it's amazing that Nancy didn't make the connection much sooner.
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LibraryThing member N.N.B.D.G.B.
This is book 6 about helping a Grandmother save her farm so their new friend won't lose it to counterfeiters.
LibraryThing member Icecream18
Carolyn Keene never fails to deliver an excellent mystery novel in her series of Nancy Drew, super sleuth. I really like how all of her novels follow the same pattern, one would think this could be boring, however, it is satisfying to the reader to know or be able to guess at the events of the
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novel.
Nancy Drew remains, as always, a terrific protagonist. Her friends, Bess and George, are terrific "sidekicks" with well-developed personalities. I never fail to enjoy these novels, keep producing them!
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LibraryThing member mccin68
This book opens as Nancy and her friends Bess and George are talking about a uncomfortable perfume purchase made by Bess. On the train ride back to River Heights, this perfume and a girl who has fainted on the train become the underpinnings for Nancy's next mystery.

I LOVED Nancy Drew growing up, I
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kept them neatly arranged in numerical order on my bookshelf. Noting which volumes I was still missing and planning my next shopping trip. Back then I chose my favorites by the cover art not necessarily the stories, The Spider Sapphire Mystery and the Mysterious Mannequin were my absolute favorites.

In the late 70s and early 80s the Nancy Drew mysteries were thrilling adventures and Nancy Drew a daring detective. Re-reading 30 years later not so much.

**********Spoiler Alert***********************

I try to keep in mind many of these were originally written in the 30's, but in this story I chuckled at Nancy's insistence on giving rides and taking home strangers, Mr. Drew's reaction of "well be careful" as she relates mounting threats she is experiencing from the counterfeiting ring.

Her elevation, at age 18, to almost a detective peer with Chief Mcginnis. Nancy relates to him her mysterious experiences and suspicions about this counterfeiting ring and again gets a "well be careful" and let us know if you find any clues.

The mystery itself of course is wrapped up neatly without some much as a run in her stocking, I actually do like the fact that they all have happy, "sigh-that's just the way it should have turned out", endings.

It might have been made a bit more intriguing if the elderly boarders at the Red Gate Farm were really members of the Black Snake Colony, but not to be. It might have had more suspense if when caught by the counterfeiting gang they were threatened with dismemberment or death rather than being locked in a cabin and left to starve. Although I bet it would have been hardest on Bess as she does" love her desserts".

I admit to a bit of eye rolling when reading how this extraordinary, 18 year old, girl brought down a counterfeit ring that has stumped the secret service. If only they had the sense to simply follow the clues; the rude perfume purchase, a strange comment made by a man on a train, the overhearing a series of numbers and a mysterious cult hanging about a cave. Hopefully the new head of the CIA has the same female intuition and we'll see her pull a few Nancy Drew's on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

I do have to say these nostalgic re-reads give my long smoldering desire to write a big boos,t after all, if these have been such a smashing success for generations, could I do any worse?
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LibraryThing member nx74defiant
Its funny to see them talk about $20 being a very expensive price for perfume. And how it is specious that a teenage would have $20 to spend at the Café.
LibraryThing member Beammey
Delightful!
LibraryThing member justagirlwithabook
I absolutely loved Nancy Drew growing up. This was a series I latched on to for dear life and never let go. Anytime my mom and I would go to antique stores, we'd peruse the Nancy Drews and add them to the collection (oftentimes my mom had to make deals with me on how many I could buy). So, while I
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don't remember the exact details of each and every one, the entire series was amazing and really fed my love for reading (especially novels full of suspense and mystery). Thank you, Carolyn Keene, for giving us an intelligent female character to fall in love with in Nancy Drew!
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LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26
Teenaged sleuth Nancy Drew returns in this sixth mystery novel devoted to her adventures, this time confronting a number of puzzling mysteries centered around the eponymous Red Gate Farm. When Nancy and her two good friends, Bess and George, go shopping in a nearby city, they are intrigued by a
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particular fragrance in an Oriental perfume shop
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LibraryThing member DrFuriosa
An entertaining mystery that is dampened by unfortunate racial epithets towards Asian-Americans which we do not use anymore. I'll add that the resolution is more Deus ex machina than Nancy's logic saves the day, and I greatly prefer the latter.
LibraryThing member mutantpudding
Im not sure what the most appropriate way to deal with this would be but I found the fact that this book repeatedly uses the term "oriental" to describe East Asian people and things not ok. I understand its inclusion in the original but I read a modern edition (an audiobook narrated by Laura Linney
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actually) and edits should have been made. Mention the change in a footnote or preface maybe, whatever needs to be done to avoid leaving a racist and outdated term unacknowledged in a childrens book. I know when I was a kid I got a lot of vocab from what I was reading and used it in conversation, you do the math.

In regards to the actual story, it was ok but who's bright idea was it to have Nancy and the gang dress up as the klan to spy on people?
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LibraryThing member BoundTogetherForGood
Typical Nancy. Sometimes I just want to listen to something that I know what to expect will happen.

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Lexile

760L

Pages

192

Rating

½ (259 ratings; 3.7)
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