every food in: Nancy Drew #7
Nancy Drew #7: The Clue in the Diary by Carolyn Keene
Revised 1962, originally published 1932
I’ve been looking forward to this one for a week or two! This is the last book in the original run written by the original ghostwriter, Mildred Wirt Benson (who will return in #11 briefly) and unfortunately, you can see the quality drop significantly after this one. It’s also the book Ned Nickerson appears in for the first time! Momentous stuff, you guys.
Ned is….pretty unlikeable in this. I think it might be a culture difference between 1932 and now but…. the way we get introduced to him is by Ned stealing Nancy’s car, and reparking it in another location. And she seems completely uninterested in him throughout, ending the story with an uncomfortable shrug when he suggests going on more dates. I’ve heard that in the original version, her reception to him was much warmer, so I’m not sure why they changed that. It really makes him come off as a very creepy and persistent character.
Adding Ned almost, but doesn’t quite, distract from the super bizarre setting and sillier plot elements. The girls meet a family at a carnival, and decide to immediately befriend them, and approximately 10 minutes after leaving lunch, Nancy says she thinks a large house is pretty.
And it blows up.
Instantly. As if simply saying something positive about the house, Nancy has doomed it to a horrible demise. And of course conveniently, it’s a house involved with a mystery related to the family! Mystery solving is so easy. Just wait for stuff to blow up, or someone to commit mail fraud. (Another recurring theme so far.) I rate this book five out of five stars for spontaneous house explosion.
There’s also absolutely tons of food in this one, compared to later editions - Mildred goes all out with the descriptions of characters, settings, and props. I think my memories of mystery solving related food are mostly from the first seven books, before the writing quality dips significantly.
A few notes as usual:
Swedish bakery food isn’t totally random - for once, the food is a huge plot point. The family they help from the carnival is Swedish, and Nancy stops by the bakery several times. It doesn’t specify what kind of tarts, so I chose two common ones that would’ve been around in the 60s.
Picnic lunch is unspecified, so I’ve linked to the food timeline’s writeup on picnic history. There’s a sample menu from 1932 that features “sandwiches of cold sliced ham, tongue or chicken, potato salad,, pickles, olives, pretzels, ice cold Coca-Cola” that seems perfectly plausible here. Tongue might sound weird to us as modern readers, but it’s a super affordable alternative to steak that fell out of fashion for being labor intensive (and a little gruesome) to prepare. Sliced up, it looks and tastes like normal beef. I promise. Really.
“An assortment of melons” may have included several heirloom varieties, such as the Delmonico melon (bright orange flesh, bred for the restaurant), Hackensack melons (ribbed with green flesh, similar to honeydew), Prescott melon (sweet white flesh, very strong fragrance). Try checking some out at your local farmer’s market, especially if they’re doing deliveries or pickup options right now - small farmers and heirloom varieties need extra help right now.
Canned bread is yet another nod towards Riverdale Heights potentially taking place on the East Coast - as a midwesterner, I can confirm it’s not a thing we eat, and I didn’t experience it til a college boyfriend mentioned he missed it from back home. Interesting.
Chapter 1: A Suspicious Stranger
Chapter 3: The Diary
Fresh blueberry muffins
Chapter 4: The Initialed Ring
Tarts and cookies from the swedish bakery
A cake served with ice cream
Chapter 5: A Dangerous Detour
Fresh baked bread
Bread rolls
Chapter 6: Nancy’s Strategy
Eggs
Chapter 7: A Disclosure
“Ice cream, a thick juicy steak, fresh fruit and vegetables, cake and an assortment of melons.”
Chapter 16: A New Assignment
A four course dinner, served by a butler
Chapter 17: An Important Clue
Canned goods, including bread in tins
Chapter 18: A Revealing Translation
A cup of tea
