I was born in 1974. I was happy to search the catalog for this publication year and find a Nancy Drew book in our collection – The Strange Message in the Parchment by Carolyn Keene. I was a bit disappointed in this one.

The story takes place at the sheep farm of one of Nancy’s friends, June. June’s family has a parchment that has a mystery behind it that Nancy is invited to solve. In the process of investigating this mystery, Nancy is attacked by a flock of birds, a ram and an intruder. She also gets to show off her amazing art skills and gets a tour of a slaughterhouse and parchment factory.

I was disappointed at the obvious villain of this story – it is obvious from the first time you meet him that he is behind all the strife and chaos in the book. The Strange Message… seems to be written by a staff writer as quickly as possible in order to cash in on the Nancy Drew craze. It’s plot is much more linear than other Nancy Drew Mysteries I’ve read. It is also bit more political in tone and specifically seems to be pro-vegetarian and anti-labor unions.

Nancy got the bad guys in the end, of course, but I will not be returning to read this book again.

*****