Fatal Ransom by Carolyn Keene

January 31, 2025November 8, 2025Leave a comment

| Description

• Vintage Young Adult Mystery

Teenage heir Hal Colson has been kidnapped, and Nancy hears it will take a $475,000 ransom to get him back. Lance Colson, Hal’s handsome uncle and guardian, is convinced that the punk rockers Hal hangs out with are responsible.

| My Thoughts

A couple of years ago, my nostalgic self started revisiting books in the Nancy Drew Files: a, ya’ know, cool-and-spiced-up YA series spinoff from the original Nancy Drew mysteries that started coming out in the 1930s. The Files Case Number 12 here, from the late ’80s, is one I hadn’t already read back in my adolescence.

Bursts—or Spurts

Nancy isn’t exactly at her smartest or mightiest in this case, and the book has got its unsurprising share of corn. Especially where some oh-so-bad “bad guy/bad girl” attitude comes into play.

But the sudden moments of high danger and action that burst (or at least spurt) through are what this series is all about.

Far, Far Back…in the Eighties

My old-fashioned side never fails to get a kick out of the kind of aspects that reflect, well, that bygone time. For instance, certain characters here have to stay at home in this or that scene to be near the telephone, so as not to miss critical calls regarding the kidnapping and all.

Oh, for those good ol’ golden pre-cellphone days.

Continuing the Series?

So far, Cases 1 and 4, Secrets Can Kill and Smile and Say Murder, are my favorites of the series. Both rereads for me.

With more than 100 books to go, I’ll likely be skipping ahead (or around) to the ones that tug on my nostalgia the most on sight—whether because they’re others I remember reading back in the day or because their ’80s-’90s book covers especially grip me.

| Content Note

intended for readers aged 12 years and up
some violence, including with guns and other weapons

On to the next book I’ve read in the series, Wings of Fear.

Holiday Feels: Series Starters

December 30, 2024September 16, 2024Leave a comment

I wanted to top off this holiday season by featuring two great novellas I read a few years ago. They kick off their respective series at Christmastime before both series continue into the seasons that follow. Which pretty much reflects what’s happening on my blog right now. 🙂

The Goodbye Girl
by
Becky Doughty

Pemberton Manor, Book One
—
Grace Winters is by no means petite. And perhaps when her fairly big foot accidentally steps on the toes of an apparently pompous August Jones in an antique elevator, he deserves it. But it just may be Grace’s luck (or something else?) when she, August, and a couple of Pemberton Manor residents get stuck in this elevator on Christmas Eve.

A Singular and Whimsical Problem
by
Rachel McMillan

Herringford and Watts Mysteries, Book 0.5
—
Merinda Herringford and Jem Watts aren’t exactly a typical duo of women in Toronto in 1910: two single, female detectives with their own private investigation firm. Their Christmastime case to find a lady’s missing cat isn’t the most exciting prospect. But add into the mix a notorious suffragette and young women who’ve been disappearing from a correctional facility, and Merinda and Jem suddenly have their hands full.

One more “Merry Christmas” to you all, and an early “Happy New Year” to boot!

Mrs. Meade and the Invisible Lodger by Elisabeth Grace Foley

November 4, 2024November 8, 2025Leave a comment

Mrs. Meade and the Invisible Lodger
by
Elisabeth Grace Foley

| Description

• Historical Mystery | Short Story

Mrs. Meade’s landlady, Mrs. Henney, has an unnerving her new lodger who doesn’t seem to exist! No one in Sour Springs besides Mrs. Henney has ever seen him—so where does he go when he leaves the house every morning? The obvious solution is to lay the question before Mrs. Meade.

| My Thoughts

A quick and pleasant G-rated historical mystery that hit the spot. Unsurprisingly, it isn’t too complicated of a puzzle, and on a technical note, I’m not sure why certain words/terms in it are hyphenated, like “hair-brush.” Does it have something to do with the historical period I don’t know about?

Continuing the Series?

In all, this was a tasty little snack for me. It’s the second Mrs. Meade mystery I’ve read, and it’d be fun to read more.

| Content Note

no profanity
no graphic violence
no explicit sexual content

Here’s my review of The Silver Shawl.

Peace on Earth by Maia Ross

September 16, 2024November 22, 2025Leave a comment

Peace on Earth
by
Maia Ross

| Description

• Cozy Mystery

Irma Abercrombie is an energetic retiree with a shadowy past, a mean right hook, and a profound love of Christmas. Surrounded by seasonal joy—and way too many stuffed Yuletide beavers—she’s all set for the perfect holiday. But when a young friend asks for help with figuring out a financial snafu, Irma’s holiday season may be ruined by a thief.

| My Thoughts

Maybe last year or the year before, I found this murderless mystery listed as the lone book in a series on Amazon. It wasn’t until I was ready to read it that I found out this novella is several books down the line in a series, which I found under a different series name on Goodreads.

Mystery-Solving Savvy

I decided to just jump on into this book anyway. It does read like a story in the middle of a river that’s already flowing, especially with the mentions of so many characters you apparently should be familiar with already. But I didn’t find the plot hard to follow.

I really like Irma’s determination to help people in need of her defense and mystery-solving savvy. And on one level, I dig her strong embrace of Christmastime.

Snow-Global Sentiments

On a different level, I don’t vibe with Irma’s sentiments that in life, “smiling families” and such are a façade while evil is the real thing that swirls behind the scenes, and that the wonder of Christmas is a kind of “temporary insanity,” a world of happiness in a snow globe to choose to believe in for a season. I mean, yes, evil is real, and there are a lot of people faking happiness and whatnot. But there are also people who aren’t living a mere façade. True joy does indeed exist—and not just in a snow globe.

Anyhow!

Formidable Fight

Given that Irma is a fighter of unjust crime, it’s fitting that she’s a formidable woman with “fight” in her. Now, that fight is more than a latent measure or chiefly bent toward psychological warfare. Irma has an abundance of thoughts and leanings toward physical violence, much of which I figure is meant to be taken with humor. But even with her thinking in terms of justice, the frequent mentions and her fantasies about beating, stabbing, strangling, and torturing people eventually got old to me.

The Coming Triumph

Apart from that aspect of the humor, I enjoyed the comedic flavor in the tale. And as the mystery unfolded, the more I looked forward to the measure of triumph, to the righting of a wrong I knew would be coming.

Plus, the way I see it, what Irma achieves in the end, and why she does it, isn’t merely a kind of façadism. Especially considering the further, real good that can stem from it in the future.

| Content Note

aside from one instance of physical punishment on a villain that isn’t meant to cause lasting injury, most of the violence is in Irma’s head
some colorful language like nonliteral uses of “bloody” and “hell” but no R-rated profanity
no explicit sexual content; one sarcastic but nongraphic one-liner about sex

Prismatic Prospects

Nadine C. Keels, Author and Blogger of Hope and Inspiration

Tag: Mystery

Fatal Ransom by Carolyn Keene

| Description