The Secret of the Old Clock

Last updated
Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Old Clock
The Secret of the Old Clock (1930) front cover, printing 1933B-14.jpg
Original cover by Russell H. Tandy
Author Carolyn Keene
IllustratorRussell H. Tandy
Cover artistRussell H. Tandy
LanguageEnglish
Series Nancy Drew Mystery Stories
Genre Juvenile literature
Publisher Grosset & Dunlap
Publication date
  • April 28, 1930 (original)
  • May 15, 1959 (revised edition)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages210 (1930–1959); 180
ISBN 0-448-45530-7
Followed by The Hidden Staircase  

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. [1]

Contents

Nancy Drew is a sixteen-year-old high school graduate (her age was changed to eighteen in the 1959 rewrite). Her father, Carson Drew, is a well-known criminal defense lawyer. The Drews reside in River Heights and employ a housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. In early editions, she is depicted as a mere servant; later in the series, she becomes more of a family member.

In 2001, the novel ranked 53rd on Publishers Weekly's list of the all-time best-selling hardcover children's books in English, having sold about 2.7 million copies. [2]

Summaries

1930 edition

Sixteen-year-old attractive, golden-haired Nancy Drew wishes to help the Turners, who are struggling relatives of the recently deceased Josiah Crowley, by finding a missing will that can give them claim to Crowely's estate. Aided along the way by friend Helen Corning, she becomes interested in the case because she dislikes Crowley's snobbish nouveau-riche social-climbing heirs presumptive, the Tophams.

A nasty encounter at a department store allows Nancy to discredit the Topham sisters when they break an expensive imported vase. Interviewing various Crowley relatives and friends, Nancy learns from an injured old lady that Crowley hinted that the clue to his will would be found in the family clock. When Helen gives Nancy charity tickets to sell, she sells them to the Tophams to gain entry to their home and quiz them about the clock.

Nancy then joins Helen at summer camp to investigate the Topham summer home nearby. There, she is overpowered by the burglar who stole the Crowley Clock and the rest of the Topham furniture. She is left bound and gagged in the vacant house while the caretaker is locked in a shed nearby. She is able to obtain the titular clock while the burglars drink wine and beer heavily (and illegally) at a wayside inn. (Prohibition in the United States was in force in 1930.)

Nancy is depicted as intentionally hiding stolen evidence (the clock) from the police and gunfire is involved in the police-robber chase. A climactic scene, inserted before the denouement and epilogue, has Nancy delighted to take the money from the Tophams and see it distributed to destitute family and friends.

Nancy comes across as very strong-willed, but also competitive with the Tophams. Although charitable and altruistic to the poor heirs, she enjoys seeing others in River Heights society lose their status earned by new money rather than character.

1959 revision

In the Harriet Adams rewrite, Nancy is depicted as a less impulsive, less headstrong girl of Edward Stratemeyer's and Mildred Benson's vision, to a milder, more sedate and refined girl— "more sugar and less spice", with an extensive wardrobe and a more charitable outlook. [3] Helen now appears older, perhaps in preparation for her eventual "write-out" after Volume 4 of the revised series (no explanation is made in the original series) to introduce Bess and her cousin George. Readers have noted two figures illustrated in the same vein as the cousins appear in a 1959 illustration at a girls' camp). Racial stereotypes are omitted. Action is increased significantly and is faster-paced. Greater detail is given to develop Nancy and her home.

Relatives of Josiah Crowley are concerned that the selfish nouveau riche social-climbing heirs presumptive, the snobbish Tophams, have taken him into their home and do not let him visit other family members, including the Turner and Hoover sisters. When Crowley dies, promises of being included in his will appear moot as the will, held by the Tophams, wills everything to them. Eighteen-year-old Nancy Drew is prompted to help the Crowley kin by her affection for Crowley's distant niece, little Judy, who is being raised by the elderly Turner sisters.

While looking for the Hoover sisters, Nancy happens upon their farm during a downpour and shelters with them to dry off because her convertible top malfunctioned. In the original version, the sisters wanted to improve their hatchery and dressmaking skills; here, Allison Hoover wants to take singing lessons.

Nancy's encounter with the undeserving Topham sisters now centers around a torn evening dress instead of a broken vase, as in the original story. Nancy catches up with the thieves when they stop to dine, instead of drinking illegal-era alcohol.

The final scene, the reading of the will that disinherits the Tophams, focuses on the delight of rewarding the deserving Crowley kin, instead of Nancy's desire to down-class the snobbish Topham family.

Artwork

The 1930s edition was published with the white-spine dust jacket, with artwork by Russell H. Tandy, and four glossy black-and-white interior illustrations, also by Tandy. The first edition is readily distinguished from later editions by its lack of a silhouette on the front cover, and blank end pages. However, a few printings occurred (through 1932) before these trademarks were added to the series.

1950 cover art by Bill Gillies The Secret of the Old Clock (1930) cover art, 1953 printing.jpg
1950 cover art by Bill Gillies

In 1937, three of the illustrations were eliminated, leaving only a frontispiece, and additional information and illustration were added to the dust jacket. In 1943, the interior frontispiece art was updated to conform to current 1940s style. In 1950, the dust jacket was revamped as a wraparound jacket, with the picture continuing onto the spine of the book, and with cover art by Bill Gillies that was more in keeping with 1950s style. Gillies' Nancy, modeled after his wife, looks more mature than 16 (her age in the text at the time). She wears a 1950s version of her early trademark blue suit, and is kneeling so that the length, width, and general style are indeterminate, leaving the art less dated. The scene does not exactly match the text in the story.

In 1965, artist Rudy Nappi created new artwork for this title which is currently in print.

When the text was rewritten in 1959, five illustrations were added. The new text described the cover scene in detail. In 1960, this volume was given entirely new artwork, including eight ink drawings and a color frontispiece, which served as the jacket illustration, all by Polly Bolian, for the Reader's Club (Cameo) edition.

In 1962, the publisher eliminated dust jackets and the books were issued with the art directly on the cover with yellow spines and backs using Bill Gillies' artwork.

In 1965, the cover art was updated with an illustration by Rudy Nappi, featuring the same dress Nancy wears on Gillies' cover for The Secret of the Wooden Lady. The internal illustrations remained intact and unchanged. While binding and spine designs have changed, the book's cover, all art (except endpapers) and text remain unchanged.

On January 1, 2053, the revised text of The Secret of the Old Clock will pass into the Canadian public domain, as Harriet Adams died in 1982. However, the original text, as written by Mildred Benson (who died in 2002), and the character of Nancy Drew, will not enter the Canadian public domain until January 1, 2073, per the Canadian Copyright Act .[ citation needed ][ clarification needed ]

In the United States, the original text will enter the public domain in 2026 (95 years after it was first published), while the revised text will not enter the public domain until 2055.

Adaptations

The 12th installment in the Nancy Drew point-and-click adventure game series by Her Interactive, named Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock , is loosely based on the novel and also incorporate elements from The Hidden Staircase , The Bungalow Mystery , and The Mystery at Lilac Inn .

The story of the episode "The Curse of the Dark Storm" from the Nancy Drew television series is inspired by the novel. In the episode, Nancy and Ned find a clock hidden by Tiffany Hudson. The clock holds what Tiffany wanted Ned to have following her death. [4]

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, video games, 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mildred Benson</span> American writer (1905–2002)

Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson was an American journalist and writer of children's books. She wrote some of the earliest Nancy Drew mysteries and created the detective's adventurous personality. Benson wrote under the Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name, Carolyn Keene, from 1929 to 1953 and contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew mysteries, which were bestsellers.

The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. It published and contracted the many pseudonymous authors who wrote the series from 1899 to 1987, when it was sold to Simon & Schuster.

<i>The Bungalow Mystery</i> Nancy Drew 4, published 1930

The Bungalow Mystery is the third volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. It was the last of three books in the "breeder set" trilogy, released in 1930, to test-market the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobbsey Twins</span> Series of American childrens novels

The Bobbsey Twins are the principal characters of what was, for 75 years, the Stratemeyer Syndicate's longest-running series of American children's novels, written under the pseudonym Laura Lee Hope. The first of 72 books was published in 1904, the last in 1979, with a separate series of 30 books published from 1987 through 1992. The books related the adventures of the children of the upper-middle-class Bobbsey family, which included two sets of fraternal twins: Bert and Nan, who were eight years old, and Flossie and Freddie, who were four when the first book was written. The two sets of twins aged as the series went on. As the series continued, the two sets of twins were perpetually aged at 12 and 6.

<i>The Mystery at Lilac Inn</i> Nancy Drew 4, published 1930

The Mystery at Lilac Inn is the fourth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1930 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Mildred Wirt Benson was the ghostwriter of the 1930 edition.

<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 Secret of Red Gate Farm</i> Nancy Drew 6, published 1931

The Secret of Red Gate Farm is the sixth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, It was first published in 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>Nancys Mysterious Letter</i> Nancy Drew 8, published 1932

Nancy's Mysterious Letter is the eighth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1932 and was penned by Walter Karig, a replacement writer for Mildred Wirt Benson. Benson declined series work when the Depression forced a reduction in the contract fee provided to Stratemeyer Syndicate writers, so Karig, already an established Stratemeyer writer, took over the authorship. Due to Karig having died in 1956, the 1932 version passed into the public domain in Canada and other countries that have a life plus 50 policy, in 2007.

<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 Password to Larkspur Lane</i> Nancy Drew 10, published 1933

The Password to Larkspur Lane is the tenth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1933 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Walter Karig in his third and final Nancy Drew novel and his final appearance for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Due to Karig's death in 1956, this book and his other two Nancy Drews, as of January 1, 2007, 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: Secret of the Old Clock</i> 2005 video game

Secret of the Old Clock is the 12th installment in the Nancy Drew point-and-click adventure game series by Her Interactive. The game 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 was created to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Nancy Drew's creation. It is based on the first four Nancy Drew books published: The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, The Bungalow Mystery, and The Mystery at Lilac Inn.

<i>The Mystery of the Tolling Bell</i> Nancy Drew 23, published 1946

The Mystery of the Tolling Bell is the twenty-third volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1946 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson.

<i>The Ringmasters Secret</i> 1953 novel by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams

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>Kay Tracey</i> Book series featuring girl detective

The Kay Tracey Mysteries were published under the name Frances K. Judd, a house pseudonym of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book packager. The series was conceived as a response to the popularity of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories and likewise features a teenage girl detective. While the original entries in the series lasted only from 1934 to 1942, the books were updated, revised, and have been re-issued numerous times, most recently by Bantam Books in the 1980s, and have been translated into Swedish and French. Many critics see Kay Tracey as markedly inferior to Nancy Drew, but some find the series to be significant as one of a number of series that provided girls with a feminist role model prior to third-wave feminism.

The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories is the long-running "main" series of the Nancy Drew franchise, 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.

The Honey Bunch series of books were part of the Stratemeyer Syndicate's production of 20th century children's books featuring adventurous youngsters, which included the series Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and the Bobbsey Twins. This series was written under the pseudonym Helen Louise Thorndyke, and published for most of its duration by Grosset & Dunlap. The series began in 1923 and chronicled a young girl named Honey Bunch on her various trips and adventures. Along with Laura Lee Hope's series Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue, it was one of their most famous series for younger children.

References

  1. Lundin, Leigh (1 June 2014). "Secrets of the Girl Sleuth". SleuthSayers.org. Orlando: SleuthSayers. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  2. Roback, Diane; Britton, Jason; Turvey, Debbie Hochman (December 17, 2001). "All-Time Bestselling Children's Books". Publishers Weekly . 248 (51). Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  3. Lundin, Leigh (28 May 2014). "The Secret of the Ageless Girl". New York: Ellery Queen. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  4. Bruce, Amanda (November 1, 2020). "Nancy Drew: 10 Details You Missed In The CW Show". ScreenRant.