Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #57: The Triple Hoax

Nancy and the gang are off to New York once again to visit with her Aunt Eloise. This time though, there's not a modeling show or anything. Her best friend lost a large sum of money and wants Nancy to help her get it back. Annabella is a rich widow and usually donates money to charity but recently gave a man cash to secure a trip around the world. He took her money and then disappeared.

Since there's nothing they can do that night, they decide to go see a popular magic show featuring the Hoaxters. Bess gets called on stage during the show and finds her purse missing. The same thing happens to a bunch of other people, but the magicians swear that they'll get their things back. Bess does get her purse back at the end of the show with nothing missing.

Suspiciously enough, she gets a call from a guy the next day who wants to offer her an amazing deal. Thinking it's the same guy who swindled Annabella, Nancy tells Bess to invite him over. She hides in the closet with a camera to take photos of him to show the older woman later. The man asks for $1,000 to join his travel club. Bess will get the chance to stay at this luxurious resort that isn't even built yet and he will guarantee her the same price on a room every year. When she says she wants to think about it, he leaves his card.

It turns out that it's not the same guy, but Nancy still finds the group a little suspicious. She heads back to the show and learns that they already left. Conveniently enough, a waitress in a nearby diner heard them talking about going to Mexico City. Nancy goes to the cops and tells them everything she knows. She convinces her friends to follow the group to Mexico City.

This is where the book lost me. They track down the woman at a performance, she gets called on stage, and Nancy warns her to watch her finances in the coming weeks. The woman calls them a few days later all upset and desperate because someone kidnapped her daughter. Nancy meets another woman who makes her own clothes who tells her about some great opportunity she has. It turns out the people targeted her after she went to a show and want her to invest in some new fabric that's not yet out.

Nancy and the gals hide in a closet and see the same guy from New York come in with another guy. He keeps trying to force the woman to invest in this fabric that will work in all climates and all weather conditions. When she turns him down because she needs to talk to her accountant, he suggests she take the money from her register. The man then notices Bess's embroidered purse, throws open the closet door, threatens them again, and then runs away.

The girls somehow learn that the Hoaxters left yet again and are now on their way to Los Angeles. When the airlines go on strike, they rent a car but get stuck at the border. Someone tipped off border patrol that someone stole an artifact from a Mexico City museum. The border patrol agent finds an artifact in their trunk, but Bess makes eyes at and then cries to another agent who lets them leave because they're “too pretty” to be criminals. Agh.

I strongly dislike this book but will try to wrap things up. Ned and the other ladies' boyfriends all come to Los Angeles and meet them. Nancy goes to the police who call the cops in New York and the ones in Mexico City to prove that she's a detective. They then offer her all the help she needs. Not only does she track down the Mexican lady's missing daughter, but she gathers all the evidence needed to prove that the leader of the Hoaxters is some most wanted fugitive. After the cops arrest the whole group, they ask Nancy to come to some random amateur detective convention taking place that weekend and give her some award.

*The grand total that Annabella lost? $3,000. First of all, even in 1979, a trip around the world would cost way more than that. Secondly, if she's supposedly so rich, would that small of an amount actually hurt her?

*The guy who visits Bess claims that he already talked to her mom and learned that she has more than enough in her savings account to pay for his deal and that her mom told him she has total access to her money. Bess's mom claims she would never say anything like that, which makes them realize that he went through the bank book she left in her purse.

*So there's this little story about how Annabella decorates each room in her home to fit a different time period. Nancy notices a bulge in the pocket of a costume she has on display and finds a vial of poison inside that Annabella claims she never saw before. They take it to a specialist who finds it's from the 15^th century or something and wants to buy it.

*George is a bitch in this book. When they go clothes shopping, she literally asks the shop owner if she has any “chubby clothing” in stock to fit Bess. They meet some older women later who are all described as larger. She tells Bess that she would fit right in with their tribe because of her size. Cousin or not, she deserves a good slap in the face.

*Both Bess and Nancy carry pictures of their guys in their purses. Since George is far too practical for a purse, she carries a picture of her beau in her wallet.

*George has to ask her dad for a detective allowance, which is the money she can spend when helping Nancy on a case. She calls him later in the book to ask for more cash, and while he gives it to her, he tells her flat out that they should really charge for their services.

*Someone apparently calls the police in Mexico City to file a complaint about Nancy. The cops come and tell her that it's illegal to operate as a detective in Mexico without a license. She has them call the NYC police and the River Heights police to prove that she's an amateur.

*I kinda love how much money their parents spend to help them though. They literally fly to NY, then fly to Mexico City, book a rental car, and then drive 2,500 miles to LA, all on their parents' money.