every food in: Nancy Drew #48
Nancy Drew #48: The Crooked Banister
by Carolyn Keene
Originally published 1971, edition used is first edition copy
In this book, Nancy fights a robot.
I am dead serious.
This book is bizarre - you can really tell they’re straying further and further away from Mildred Wirt Benson’s original characterization of Nancy. She’s actively mean in a lot of this, as are Bess and George, and it’s one of the later books that really makes a point of making fun of Bess’s eating habits. There’s also some accidentally hilarious innuendo from Bess and George (”normally she only talks to me like that when we’re alone!”, “we’ll make a nice threesome”, etc) Not only that, Nancy flies all over the continental US, and there’s a truly strange subplot about visiting a reservation in the Southwest. I think it was a 1970s attempt at adding some diverse characters but instead is massively racist and uncomfortable to read. Yikes, Nancy.
It’s also surprisingly gory, despite also having more food than other 60s/70s Nancy books. At one point a woman nearly dies by stabbing herself with poisoned nails in a secret room. Downright Vincent Price movie levels of intrigue and strange imagery.
Finally, a note on the food - the majority of it is 1970s bland white people cuisine, but when Nancy has a meal at the Navajo reservation, she eats atoo’ and cornbread. I am not Navajo, and have never been to Arizona, so this is way out of my depth to comment on for obvious reasons, so I’ve just linked to The Fancy Navajo’s recipe for atoo’. It does seem like the one part of the book where the ghostwriter bothered to maybe meet real people and do food research. Here’s an eater article with some more contemporary food and information on chefs reclaiming native food culture.
Chapter 4: The Annoying Salesman
Two cups of tea and a plate of cookies
Chapter 7: Burning Water
Cream of tomato soup and chicken salad
A small hamburger and a large fudge nut sundae with a piece of cake
Ice cream sundaes
Chapter 10: Tom Sleepy Deer
A meal at the town soda shoppe
A basket of rolls (with breakfast)
Chapter 17: Indian Powwow
Bean sprouts, pieces of mutton cooked with hominy, corn pudding, “paper thin corn bread”
