Nancy Drew #173 Danger on the Great Lakes, #174 Taste of Danger, and #175 Winter Wonderland

In Nancy Drew #173, Danger on the Great Lakes, Nancy, Bess, and George go on a cruise across the Great Lakes.  They become friendly with a young woman named Amber, who says that her boyfriend, Craig, is acting strangely.  Nancy learns about stolen jewelry that is being smuggled on the cruise ship, so she begins her investigation.

Once again, Nancy is 17, and George has chestnut hair.  Both match the descriptions in No Strings Attached.  These are the only two books in the Nancy Drew Digest series that have the girls at age 17.

Ned very briefly appears in the beginning of the book, and later, he speaks to Nancy on the phone.

The authorship of the Nancy Drew Digest books is mostly unknown, but we do know that this book was written by George Edward Stanley, the same author who wrote #155 The Mystery in Tornado Alley.  I was reminded of that book as I read the first part of this book, because the way Nancy reacts towards Amber's boyfriend, Craig, is somewhat similar to her obsession with Derek in #155.

I feel like the narrative is trying to force us to think a certain way with no evidence to support it.  Nancy, Bess, and George have a normal shopping excursion with Amber right after they meet her, and Nancy immediately concludes that Amber is mysterious.  Later, Amber does behave strangely, but during the shopping trip, she behaves normally.  This reduced my enjoyment of the book, since I felt like I was being manipulated.

I also find it strange that Nancy trusts Craig so readily, and more importantly, that he trusts her so quickly and tells her all about his case.  I can't comment on whether Craig is what he says he is or not, since that would spoil the ending.  I can comment that Craig's behavior is odd whether or not he is telling the truth.  Nancy and Craig's interactions also reduced my enjoyment of this book.

This book is rather exciting, but for the reasons I just mentioned, I was not able to enjoy it very much.

In Nancy Drew #174, A Taste of Danger, Nancy, Bess, George, and Hannah stay at the Gourmet Getaway in Massachusetts.  The resort is run by Mike and Jillian Rinaldi.  The plot thickens when Mike's ex-wife, Lauren, shows up with a film crew, and an animal rights activist group stages protests.  Meanwhile, someone is sabotaging the resort, and the celebrity guest chef threatens to quit.

This book is noticeably longer than the other books.  The spine even looks thicker.  It has 169 pages, and all of the other books are right at about 150 pages.

I found A Taste of Danger to be very engaging from start to finish.  I really enjoyed this book.

In Nancy Drew #175, Werewolf in a Winter Wonderland, Nancy, Bess, George, and Ned volunteer at Holiday Winter Carnival.  Everyone grows uneasy when two wolves vanish from a nearby wolf preserve.  Meanwhile, a werewolf is sighted at the winter carnival. 

Nancy and her friends are once again 18.  The problem is that Ned now has wavy blond hair.  He's always had brown hair!

This book is ridiculous in many ways.  The werewolf is the main one, although we know from early on that most likely the villain is in costume.  Nancy Drew is grounded in reality, so readers can assume that a real werewolf is not on the loose.  I guess Simon and Schuster wanted to cash in on all the hype for books about vampires and werewolves.  Did they not realize that someone dressed as a werewolf is not quite the same thing? 

The author gets all cute with the names of characters:  Poodles McNulty, Brianda Bunch, and Markie Michaels.

This book is a rehash of #164 The Mystery of the Mother Wolf.  The villain has the same motivation and does the same thing with some wolves.  The story is mediocre, and I found it a bit boring.  I did, however, make sure I read the entire story so that I can now state that I have read all 175 Nancy Drew books.  In earlier reviews, I mentioned skimming or skipping certain books, but I read those books years ago.  I did not skip any of these last ones, so I have now read all of them.