Nancy Drew #82 Camera, #83 Vanishing Veil, and #84 Joker's Revenge

In Nancy Drew #82, The Clue in the Camera, Nancy, George, and Hannah visit Hannah's old friend, Emily Foxworth, in San Francisco.  Emily is a famous photojournalist.  Very early in the book, Nancy places a roll of film from Emily's camera in her pocket.  From around this point on, the villains search Emily's apartment for something and even abduct Emily.

Perhaps because I had read this book before, I knew that the roll of film was the object of the villains' search.  I was annoyed that nothing more was said of the roll of film until Nancy finds it in her pocket on page 74.  While Nancy could easily forget about the film, I could not enjoy reading the book because I never forgot about it.

On the page when Nancy finally finds the film in the pocket, I ended up quitting the book and reading something else, because the last book in a trilogy had just been released.  That threw me off, and I proceeded to read some other books to refresh my memory in advance of two upcoming releases in late October.

After I read those books, I tried to resume reading The Clue in the Camera, but I found that I did not care at all.  The story in this book reminds me of some of the Wanderer books, and I did not enjoy most of those books.  Since this was a big problem which would cause me not to be able to continue, I abandoned the book on page 74. 

In Nancy Drew #83, The Case of the Vanishing Veil, Nancy, Bess, and George attend a wedding in Boston.  The bride's wedding veil is stolen just before the wedding, and Nancy offers to investigate the theft.

While I enjoyed The Case of the Vanishing Veil, I did not find it to be that memorable of a story and have nothing much to say except that the softcover book that I was reading self-destructed as I read it.  First, the binding split.  As I progressed towards the end of the book, pages began coming loose.  I believe that this was the first time a book fell apart while I was reading it.

In Nancy Drew #84, The Joker's Revenge, Nancy investigates a string of accidents that occur at the Danner and Bishop department store in Chicago.  I really enjoyed this book.  The story reminds me of the Connie Blair story, The Clue in Blue, which is also set in a department store.  The solution to The Joker's Revenge is similar to The Clue in Blue, since in both books, the culprit or culprits work for the department store.

This book makes a point of mentioning that one woman is black.  Simon and Schuster had begun to make the books more racially diverse.

In The Joker's Revenge, many people are suspects, and the reader is kept guessing at who is responsible. The book reminds me of a Nancy Drew game and would make for an excellent game.  The villain leaves behind joker cards at the scene of each accident.  I can imagine finding the cards while playing a game as Nancy Drew.  The store is a small setting, perfect for a game.

I greatly enjoyed this book right up until the climax.  Nancy grabs the skid of a helicopter as it takes off from the top of a building.  As the helicopter climbs higher, Nancy pulls her leg up onto the skid and then finds a place to hold on underneath the helicopter.  The helicopter flies through the city to the river while Nancy hangs on.  As the helicopter lands on a boat in the river, Nancy drops into the cold water, where she treads water, then climbs onto the boat, where she saves the day.  This sequence of events is impossible to believe, and I wish that it had been written differently.  If this part had been different, I would consider The Joker's Revenge to be the perfect book.