Nancy Drew #97 Magnolia Mansion, #98 Horse Island, and #99 Seven Rocks

In Nancy Drew #97, The Mystery at Magnolia Mansion, Nancy and Bess journey to South Carolina to help author Amelia Beaufort at her home, Magnolia Mansion. Frightening, unexplained events occur at the mansion, and Nancy must discover who is trying to scare Amelia, and why.

The Mystery at Magnolia Mansion is believed to be part of the inspiration for the Nancy Drew game, Ghost of Thornton Hall.  The inspiration is more with respect to the setting, and the book and game are completely different.

On page 42, the girls enter Amelia's office where "a modern computer was set up."  As opposed to what?  An obsolete computer?

On page 110, a carriage driver asks Nancy and Bess if they would like a ride.  "A heavy beard and bushy eyebrows masked his face.  Something about his voice sounded familiar to Nancy.  But that was impossible, so Nancy decided she was wrong."  Hello!  The man is wearing an obvious disguise and sounds familiar.  So what does Nancy do?  She gets on the carriage with him and nearly gets killed.  Smart.

I greatly enjoyed The Mystery at Magnolia Mansion.

In Nancy Drew #98, The Haunting of Horse Island, Nancy, Bess, and George stay at Triple Tree Lake in upstate New York.  Soon after their arrival, the girls realize that the owners are worried and that the guests are jittery.  Someone is sabotaging the resort and leaving threatening letters.  Meanwhile, the guests are warned never to journey to Horse Island in the center of the lake, because poachers shoot wildly all over the island all the time.

The bit about the poachers seemed stupid when I read the book.  I kept wondering why they would only poach on the island and not in the woods near the resort.  Later, I realized that the poachers were just an extremely lame excuse given by the villain for why people shouldn't go to the island.

I overall enjoyed the book, but it reminded me too much of dozens of other series books which feature people trying to scare the owners into selling their property.  My favorite part of the book was when Nancy, Bess, and George explored Horse Island and ended up stranded.  If the book had more of that, then I would have found it more interesting.

In Nancy Drew #99, The Secret at Seven Rocks, Nancy, Bess, and George vacation in Colorado.  Dana Walsh runs a wildlife rehabilitation center, and she is waging a campaign to end hunting for sport.  She has been threatened, and someone is causing accidents at her refuge.  Dana's employee acts suspicious, yet he deeply loves animals and can't be guilty.  Meanwhile, a few inmates have escaped from a nearby prison.  Of course there wouldn't be any connection, right?  Wrong!

This book is interesting in that the story has a bit of a twist that sets it apart from other Nancy Drew books.  The story is just like dozens of other series books, but the solution is a bit different.