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| Keith was in the mood for a Western
adventure; Lulu craved a suspenful thriller. Both found this episode of Nancy Drew to be truly fascinating reading! Keith: Before we begin our chatfest on episode 5, The Secret of Shadow Ranch, I have to tell you that this one has been a favorite of mine for some time. I even choreographed a dance based on it back in the days when I was a modern dancer. Lulu: I remember… I saw it in Chicago. K: The piece got a crummy review in the newspaper, though. Can you believe that? L: Some people just don’t understand Nancy Drew. K: Oh well. Speaking of reviews, what did you think of this one? L: The best one ever! K: Lulu, you say that every time… L: It’s the truth, though. I love Nancy! But really, this one breaks a lot of new ground. This is the first time we see Nancy outside the River Heights area. This time she’s near Phoenix, vacationing with her two best friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne, at Shadow Ranch. Bess and George are introduced in this episode and they’ll become series regulars. K: Our readers will recall that up until now Nancy’s main gal pal has been Helen Corning. Apparently she only signed on for four episodes. L: Okay, let’s get down to business. There’s a mystery at hand! K: Right. Nancy’s dream vacation takes an intriguing turn almost immediately when someone steals her knitting bag at the airport! It turns up later containing the rattle from a snake and a warning to stay away from Shadow Ranch. L: Doesn’t she also find a warning in her car? K: That Shadow Ranch has trouble. Can you tell our readers about the curse? L: Sure. The ranch is being haunted by a phantom horse and mysteriously sabotaged by an unknown enemy. Local people believe that the ghost horse is carrying out the curse of Dirk Valentine. K: Legend has it that he was the sweetheart of Frances Humber, the daughter of the town sheriff, the original owner of Shadow Ranch a hundred years ago. One night when Dirk came to see Frances the sheriff shot and killed him. As he was dying he put a curse on Shadow Ranch. He vowed that his horse would haunt the ranch and whenever it appeared destruction would follow. L: Dirk was such a romantic! He must have really loved Frances. That curse is so hard core! K: Totally. The curse heavily inspired my choreography. I put the dance to Nina Simone’s "I Put a Spell on You." L: But there’s more than just the curse. We gotta talk about the treasure! K: Yes. That dreamboat Dirk left Frances a hidden treasure containing hundreds of small shining gold hearts, bank notes and jewels. It was never recovered. This is the real reason there’s so much trouble at the ranch. A bunch of Chicago bank robbers are hiding out on Shadow Mountain and causing all this ruckus in an effort to scare off the residents and find the treasure before Nancy. L: As if! Nothing can stop our fearless Nancy! She survives a sandstorm and a rockslide, her room is ransacked, she gets locked in a stable and, even though she is a champion horse rider, she is thrown from her horse and blacks out! Yet she’s more determined than ever. At the end of the book she gets caught by the bank robbers but outwits them with her most brilliant move ever! She tricks them into believing that a rock is actually the treasure by covering it up with her sweater and throwing it over the side of the cliff. K: Nancy’s always using fashion to her advantage! L: And to think that some people think sweater sets are dowdy… Nancy knows better. Even in Phoenix she’s got her look down. On page 2 she’s wearing olive green knit with matching shoes and beige accessories. On page 50 she wears a yellow blouse and skirt with a matching sweater. On page 75 she’s wearing a powder blue sweater and skirt, brushing her hair until it gleams! K: But she also falls in love with Western fashion, buying herself a turquoise Indian costume with silver rickrack trimming to wear to the ranch barbeque. There she do- si-does with the locals and wins a watermelon in a dance contest. She’s quite the choreographer herself! L: This truly is one of the funnest elements of the episode. It has such local flavor! It’s a true Western adventure, spicing up our regular topics of fashion and food. Not only does Nancy dress the part but she lives the lifestyle. Keith, tell us a little bit about the local cuisine. K: Nancy really goes on a culinary adventure at Shadow Ranch. She eats roast beef, beans, corn fritters, apple pie, tacos, spicy chili, corn dogs with relish, potato salad and bbq beef that has been buried in a pit overnight and cooked, as the ranch hands describe, "nice an’ slow over hot stones." Ye-haw! L: But no episode of Nancy Drew would be complete if someone didn’t bake a cake. This time Nancy makes her famous chocolate cake with walnuts. Delicious! K: Those girls love their desserts, especially her new best friend, Bess. Early in the episode she says, "This mystery has got me so upset that my appetite is gone." Then she quickly changes her mind and orders a double chocolate sundae. L: I’ll confess that at first the sudden addition of Bess and George threw me a little but then I got to thinking… More cute girls who love to eat means we’ll have even more fashion and food to discuss! K: And there is a lot to talk about in the next episode, The Secret of Red Gate Farm. L: Y’all come back now, ya hear? 10/2002 |
