The Secret of the Old Clock

The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene, 1959 Grosset & Dunlap

     Nancy Drew is 18-years-old, titian haired, and brilliant! In this introduction to Nancy and her adventures, she rescues a small girl when she falls from a bridge. When she discovers that Judy's well-off and avuncular protector (Josiah Crowley) has died and left everything to snobbish, grasping distant relatives she feels she must figure out why such a thing has happened to such a sweet child and her unassuming family.
     She promises to help Judy and her aunts find the will Crowley hid before his death. Throughout her adventures she relies on her friends, lawyer father, and the Drew family housekeeper, Hannah Gruen, to help with her sleuthing.
     Nancy is stylish and independent, her mother died when she was a small child and occasionally she helps her father in his law practice. Her sensible and logical process makes her an excellent amateur detective. Her courage and persistence, mixed with a sense of right and wrong make her a good role model for young girls.
     The story is written in an accessible language with the old-fashioned values of the 1950s. Nancy is both a traditional daughter and a feminist in her freedom and values. This is a short novel (around 180 pages) that centers on the mystery to be solved, spiced with the relationships that surround Nancy as heroine.