Nancy Drew Girl Detective #18 Pit of Vipers, #19 Orchid Thief, and #20 Getting Burned

In Nancy Drew Girl Detective #18, Pit of Vipers, Charlie Adams has been arrested for stealing a poisonous snake from the River Heights Zoo.  Nancy cannot believe that Charlie is guilty, yet the snake was found inside his home.  Charlie's boss plans to fire him, so Nancy must do all she can to prove him innocent.  Unfortunately, all of Nancy's evidence points strongly to Charlie's guilt.

Check out Bess on page 39.

Bess stepped forward, flashing the young man her most charming dimpled smile.  "Oh, but we're such reptile fans!" she cooed.  Peering at the name tag on his uniform, she tilted her head at him.  "Couldn't you help us out, Richard—pretty please?  We promise we won't get in the way. . . ."  Her eyelashes fluttered slightly as she gazed at him imploringly.

That entire paragraph could have been lifted out of a Sweet Valley High book.  Without a doubt, Bess has turned into Jessica Wakefield.

I cared about the plot because Charlie is a recurring character.  I wanted Nancy to find him innocent. I was eager to see the culprit revealed, even though I had a strong suspicion who it would be.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

In Nancy Drew Girl Detective #19, The Orchid Thief, Nancy's friend, Delia Duke, invites Nancy, Bess, and George to the Florida Keys for a vacation.  Delia asks Nancy to help her find the poachers of a rare type of orchid.  Meanwhile, George spends her time with treasure hunters who are looking for a sunken Spanish ship.

Bess and George are prone to fairly significant disagreements in this series.  They have always been portrayed as opposites and have always given each other a hard time.  It goes much further in this series.  In this book, they have strong disagreements over George's insistence about joining the treasure hunt for the Spanish ship.

This book reads like a very good Nancy Drew Digest book.  I greatly enjoyed this book.

In Nancy Drew Girl Detective #20, Getting Burned, the River Heights animal shelter just burned down, and arson is suspected.  The animal shelter is a no-kill shelter, and if funds are not raised very quickly, then the animals will be put to death at a nearby shelter.

Nancy and her friends help plan a benefit concert so that money can be raised fast.  The plan may not be successful, because someone is trying to sabotage the concert.

This book has lots of drama with Deirdre, which I enjoyed.  While I don't have much to say about this book, I really enjoyed it.