Nancy Drew #104 Jade Tiger, #105 Antique Trunk, and #106 Artful Crime

In Nancy Drew #104, The Mystery of the Jade Tiger, Nancy, Bess, and George visit the San Francisco area as they investigate prowlers at the home of Carson Drew's friend, Terry Kirkland.  Nancy has no leads until she discovers a box missing from the home and notices an Asian teenager loitering in the area.  These clues lead her to a nearby jade gallery, where she learns about the jade tiger.

The Double Horror of Fenley Place is mentioned by name on page five.

On page 25, a dummy is dressed as Nancy with her sweater and a blonde wig.  Nancy is depicted as blonde on the cover of the book.  Most of the books just before this one have described Nancy as "strawberry-blonde."

On page 63, Nancy is pumping the gallery owner for information when the Asian boy walks in.  Nancy shouts at him to stop and then begins chasing him.  Did Nancy really think she would catch up?  She didn't, then she makes the dumb move of going back to the gallery to continue the conversation.  Did she really expect the gallery owner to trust her after behaving in such a bizarre fashion?

While I've read all of these books before, I don't remember them.  I feel like this book could have had a better title and better cover art.  The cover art shows a bland museum display.  The book did not sound at all interesting when I looked at either the cover and title, and I had low expectations.  I was quite surprised at how good the story is.  The Mystery of the Jade Tiger is quite outstanding and above average for these Nancy Drew Digest books.

In Nancy Drew #105, The Clue in the Antique Trunk, Nancy, Bess, and George visit Nancy's former neighbor, Vera Alexander, in Massachusetts.  Vera plans to turn the old Caulder Cutlery factory into a museum, yet someone is sabotaging her efforts.

I was quite surprised that Vera loaned Zach Caulder's diary to Bess.  The diary is decades old and has great historical value to Vera's future museum.  Yet Bess carries it around with her in her purse. I was also shocked that Nancy had no interest in the diary, since it would be likely to contain clues.

I really enjoyed this book.  Not only does Nancy solve the mystery of who is sabotaging the museum, but she also solves the murder of Zach Caulder.

In Nancy Drew #106, The Case of the Artful Crime, Nancy works undercover at the Arizona House, a restaurant in River Heights.  Someone is trying to get the restaurant shut down, and Nancy is determined to find the culprit.

Bess urges Nancy to take the restaurant case, but at first, Nancy refuses.  She has had to postpone a trip to see Ned five times, so she doesn't want a new case.  Um, okay.

Speaking of Ned, the poor boy has been missing from the series since #95 The Silent Suspect.  Nancy has been neglecting him.

On page 67, Shawn remarks that he has to go through the food and toss out what the mice have touched.  I was thinking about this.  The mice could have run across lettuce without necessarily leaving a trace.  So Shawn is going to keep that stuff and use it.  Ew.

I enjoyed this mystery.