The Secret in the Old Lace

Last updated
Nancy Drew: The Secret in the Old Lace
Secret in the old lace.gif
Author Carolyn Keene
IllustratorRuth Sanderson
Cover artist Ruth Sanderson [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series Nancy Drew stories
Genre Detective, mystery
Publisher Wanderer Books
Publication date
October 31, 1980 [2]
Pages167
ISBN 0-671-41119-5
Preceded by The Flying Saucer Mystery  
Followed by The Greek Symbol Mystery  

The Secret in the Old Lace is the fifty-ninth volume in the Nancy Drew mystery series. It was ghostwritten by Nancy Axelrad [3] and first published in 1980 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene [4] under the Wanderer imprint of Simon and Schuster. It was later republished again in both Wanderer and Minstrel imprints, each time with a new cover. In 2005, Grosset & Dunlap reprinted it in the yellow hardback "glossy flashlight" format. The original edition cover art and six internal illustrations were by Ruth Sanderson. These illustrations were removed in the two subsequent printings.

Contents

Plot summary

Nancy enters a magazine competition with an answer to an old Belgian mystery of a missing nobleman. However, her manuscript is intercepted and someone else submits her same solution, so she must find out who it was and prove that the solution was indeed hers. Meanwhile, her friend Bess Marvin's mom has been sent a letter from her friend in Belgium, Madam Chambray. Madam Chambray recently bought an old house with a mystery attached, and she invites Bess, Nancy, and their friend George Fayne to come stay with her and solve the mystery. But on the way to Belgium, Nancy's suitcase is stolen. She and her friends continue to Madame Chambray's house, where the old woman tells them about a beautiful cross made of gold, diamonds, and Lapis Lazuli. It came when she bought the house and she does not know who owned it. While in Belgium working on these three mysteries, the girls are guided by their Belgian friend Hilda Permeke. They visit a lace center and learn how it is made. At a museum, Nancy is intrigued by a painting of a man on a bridge with a dark cloaked figure behind him (this painting appears on both of the covers pictured below). She later identifies the man as the missing Belgian nobleman, and solves the real-life mystery that the magazine contest was for. The valuable cross and suitcase and manuscript theft also tie in. The proof copy of this title was provided by Simon and Schuster and says Nancy's next case will be called "The Clue of the Ancient Mask". This was changed when the book went to print and the text remains the same but the title is changed to "The Greek Symbol Mystery".

Book covers

The Secret in the Old Lace features three different American versions of the cover art including the following two:

Secret in the old lace.gif The Secret in the Old Lace cover.jpg

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Drew</span> Fictional character in a juvenile mystery series

Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Created by the publisher Edward Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series, the character first appeared in 1930 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, which lasted until 2003 and consisted of 175 novels.

<i>The Secret of the Old Clock</i> Nancy Drew 1, published 1930

The Secret of the Old Clock is the first volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. It was first published on April 28, 1930, and rewritten in 1959 by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.

<i>The Secret at Shadow Ranch</i> Nancy Drew 5, published 1931

The Secret at Shadow Ranch is the fifth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1931 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, and was ghostwritten by Mildred Wirt Benson. This book, as of 2001, ranks 50 on the list of All-Time Bestselling Children's Books, according to Publishers Weekly, with 2,347,750 sales since 1931.

<i>The Clue in the Diary</i> Nancy Drew 7, published 1932

The Clue in the Diary is the seventh volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, and was first published in 1932 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Its text was revised in 1962.

<i>The Clue of the Velvet Mask</i> Nancy Drew 30, published 1953

The Clue of the Velvet Mask is the thirtieth volume in the original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was Mildred Benson's final ghostwrite for the series. The plot and story take place largely in Nancy's hometown of River Heights. Nancy tries to solve a mystery about a gang of event thieves robbing homes during parties, lectures, musicals, and other social occasions planned or catered by Lightner's Entertainment Company. Much of the original story contains elements of dramatic crime dramas; the villains are darker in tone than many other entries in the series.

<i>The Sign of the Twisted Candles</i> Nancy Drew 9, published 1933

The Sign of the Twisted Candles is the ninth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. As the second volume written by Walter Karig, it was originally published in 1933 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Due to Karig having died in 1956, as of January 1, 2007, the 1933 book and the other two Nancy Drew books he wrote, have passed into the public domain in Canada and other countries with a life-plus-50 policy.

<i>The Clue of the Broken Locket</i> Nancy Drew 11, published 1934

The Clue of the Broken Locket is the eleventh volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1934 and was written by Mildred Benson under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. It was later revised by Harriet Stratemeyer in 1965, and the story was mostly changed with a few elements of the original.

<i>Nancy Drew: Girl Detective</i>

Nancy Drew: Girl Detective is a 2004-2012 book series which replaced the long-running Nancy Drew mystery series. This new series is written in first person narration, from Nancy's point of view, and features updated versions of the main Nancy Drew characters. New secondary characters are introduced to populate River Heights and appear over multiple books, adding a framework to Nancy's world.

<i>The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion</i> Nancy Drew 18, published 1941

The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion is the eighteenth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series published by Grosset & Dunlap, and was first published in 1941. The original text was written by ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson, based upon a plot outline from Stratemeyer Syndicate co-owner Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. The book's title was changed to Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion when it was revised in 1971, because the story is completely different and not much of the investigation takes place at the title location. In the original, many plots and much investigation all tie back to the same house deep in the forest, while Nancy helps her father locate an heiress, expose an impostor, investigate a murder, and look into strange screams at the mansion; none of the action in the original story took place in River Heights.

<i>The Secret in the Old Attic</i> Nancy Drew 21, published 1944

The Secret in the Old Attic is the twenty-first volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1944 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson.

<i>The Ringmasters Secret</i>

The Ringmaster's Secret is the thirty-first volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in late 1953 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.

<i>The Triple Hoax</i>

The Triple Hoax is the 57th book in the Nancy Drew Mystery Series. It was the first paperback Nancy Drew produced by Simon & Schuster under the Wanderer imprint in 1979, and was ghostwritten by Harriet Stratemeyer. It was later republished again in both Wanderer and Minstrel imprints, each time with a new cover. In 2005, Grosset & Dunlap reprinted it in the yellow hardback "glossy flashlight" format. The original edition contained six internal illustrations by Ruth Sanderson. These illustrations were removed in the two subsequent printings, but kept in the glossy printing.

<i>The Flying Saucer Mystery</i> Nancy Drew 58, published 1980

The Flying Saucer Mystery is the 58th volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was written in 1980 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene and published by Simon & Schuster under the Wanderer imprint. It was later republished in both Wanderer and Minstrel imprints, each time with a new cover. In 2005, Grosset & Dunlap reprinted it in the yellow hardback "glossy flashlight" format. The original edition cover and six internal illustrations were by Ruth Sanderson. These illustrations were removed in the two subsequent printings.

<i>The Greek Symbol Mystery</i> Nancy Drew 60, published 1981

The Greek Symbol Mystery is the 60th volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was originally published in paperback in 1981 by the Wanderer imprint of Simon and Schuster. The original edition had a cover and six interior illustrations by Ruth Sanderson. The cover art was later revised by Garin Baker in 1986 for the last Wanderer printing, and again by Linda Thomas in 1989 for the Minstrel printing.

<i>Captive Witness</i> Nancy Drew 64, published 1981

Captive Witness is the 64th volume in the Nancy Drew Stories series. It was originally published in 1981 by the Wanderer imprint of Simon & Schuster and ghostwritten by Richard Ballard. Scholastic also released a version of the book, titled as Captive Witness Mystery. The original edition cover was by Ruth Sanderson, with six internal illustrations by Paul Frame.

<i>Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull</i> 2007 video game

Nancy Drew: Legend of the Crystal Skull is the 17th installment in the Nancy Drew point-and-click adventure game series by Her Interactive. It is available for play on Microsoft Windows platforms. It has an ESRB rating of E for moments of mild violence and peril. Players take on the first-person view of fictional amateur sleuth Nancy Drew and must solve the mystery through interrogation of suspects, solving puzzles, and discovering clues. There are two levels of gameplay, Junior and Senior detective modes, each offering a different difficulty level of puzzles and hints, however neither of these changes affect the actual plot of the game. The game is loosely based on a book entitled The Mardi Gras Mystery (1988).

The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories is the long-running "main" Nancy Drew series, which was published under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. There are 175 novels — plus 34 revised stories — that were published between 1930 and 2003 under the banner; Grosset & Dunlap published the first 56, and 34 revised stories, while Simon & Schuster published the series beginning with volume 57.

<i>The Broken Anchor</i>

The Broken Anchor is the 70th book in the Nancy Drew Stories series. It was originally published in 1983 under the Wanderer imprint of Simon and Schuster.

References

  1. The Secret in the Old Lace at Nancy Drew World
  2. United States Copyright Office Public Catalog ~ to search: Secret in the Old Lace
  3. "Autographs". The Cover Art of Childrens' Series Books. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
  4. The Secret in the Old Lace at WorldCat