Nancy Drew #21 Close Encounters, #22 Dressed to Steal, and #23 Troubled Waters

In Nancy Drew Girl Detective #21, Close Encounters, Nancy, Bess, and George vacation in Vermont and discover themselves in the middle of a media frenzy.  UFOs have been sighted!  Several people have been abducted, and aliens are suspected of abducting them.  Nancy is skeptical and tries to prove that the UFOs are fake.

In the beginning of the story, Nancy and her friends arrive in the town having heard nothing about the UFOs.  The story hasn't made the national news, yet the town is mobbed by tourists.  Right...

The story mentions that the FBI is investigating.  I have this idea that the FBI is at least somewhat competent.  So, the culprits' gear that was used to create the UFOs was stored right nearby, as in extremely close to where the UFOs appeared.  I find it rather hard to believe that the FBI would not have already searched there.  Needless to say, Nancy is the one who finds the gear.

This book did not interest me.  I knew that the UFOs would be fake for certain, unless the book went off in a bizarre direction.  Since I knew that the UFOs were fake, I was not interested.

I began to enjoy the book around three-fourths of the way through when the mystery finally switched to Nancy trying to solve the abductions.

In Nancy Drew Girl Detective #22, Dressed to Steal, Charlie Adams' sister, Alicia,  has opened a new boutique in River Heights.  Alicia knows that she will have lots of business just by word-of-mouth, but someone tells all the media outlets about the grand opening.  The store is practically stampeded on opening day, and someone vandalizes the store.  A very expensive dress is destroyed, and Nancy decides to investigate.

I found this book just to be average.  It did not overly interest me, although the story was okay.

In Nancy Drew Girl Detective #23, Troubled Waters, heavy rains have caused flooding on the outskirts of River Heights, and hundreds of people are now homeless.  A charity organization is transforming an old foundry into apartments.  Nancy, Bess, and George volunteer.

Someone begins vandalizing the foundry, setting the work back.  Nancy investigates and soon realizes that the vandal is after something valuable hidden at the foundry. 

Bess is supposed to be very knowledgeable about construction work.  In the early titles in the series, she is depicted as very handy with tools, and she fixes things like door hinges.  On page 31, Bess asks what Sheetrock is.  That's a continuity error.  Bess would know better than anyone.  Someone other than Bess should have asked the question.

I enjoyed this book from start to finish.  It is outstanding.