The Nancy Drew Notebooks #47: The Crook Who Took the Book (2002)

It's Friday at Nancy's school, which means that it's library day. She instantly heads to the mystery section and picks out a Marvin Sandback book, her favorite author. Andy, one of the guys in her class, whines about how books suck and comics are always better.

Their teacher then gathers them together with some news: Julia, the owner of the Book Nook in town, is Mr. Sandback's daughter and is having a big party that weekend to release his new book. She also wants to present him with a first edition copy of his very first book, which is rare and worth a bundle.

Mrs. Marvin takes Bess and George, while Carson takes Nancy. They run into Anderson, who works there, and sees him with a fancy wood box. He tries to keep the book a secret until he learns that they already know, but then he refuses to let them see inside. They try to play with Charlie, the shop cat, but the cat freaks out and hisses at them.

Sandback then comes in and has them all sit down so he can answer all their questions. Once they finish, he signs copies of his new book for them. When Julia presents him with his gift, he opens the box and finds it empty. Nancy tells him that she'll solve the crime for him.

Her only real suspect is Andy, so she skips recess to sign up for computer time at school to follow him. He's really only there to learn more about graphic novels and to check out some books. She suspects that it might be Anderson and heads back to the store. Since another kid mentioned Charlie being mean and chasing him, she wants to check the cat's bed too. Apparently, Charlie is super lazy and never gets out of bed.

Sandback thinks that checking the bed is smart and even gets Charlie out of the way for her. He then casually mentions Anderson as a suspect to Julia after hearing Nancy talk about him. Right before she leaves, he tells her that the case reminds him of one of his old books and suggests that she read it again.

That book involves a trophy stolen from a wood box and has a section about a piece of red cloth caught in the hinge. Surprise surprise, there's a piece of red felt caught in the hinge of the book case. She then reads about a blue eyeglass case turning up right before one shows up on her bus. The book also talks about a clue hidden in the candy store. She finds a clue hidden in the candy section of the department store. A bunch of random kids agree to help her search.

They wind up finding a handkerchief with MAS monogrammed on it, which are Sandback's initials. The whole group goes to the book store, which is where Nancy accuses him of being the thief. The red felt came from a patch on his vest, the case belongs to his glasses, and she found his handkerchief. He admits it and then pulls out the first edition book.

Sandback explains that he wanted the kids to have some fun and points out that Nancy enjoyed solving the mystery. Julia was in on the whole thing too and actually told him about the book beforehand. He then announces that he'll donate the book to the local library so that everyone can see it. As an added bonus, he winks at Nancy and tells her that she might turn up in a book one day too.

*Julia claims that growing up with a mystery writing father was amazing and that he always made up treasure hunts for them and stuff. I'd think he'd want to take a break from all that. It's like an IT guy doing computer repairs on the weekends for fun.

*Carson calls her Pumpkin and Pudding Pie, which is absolutely adorable.

*Nancy now has a chocolate lab puppy named Chocolate Chip.

*When Nancy goes to the library for computer time, the librarian tells her to make herself comfortable with a book while she works with Andy. Only after he checks out his books does she then offer to help. Seriously? She has to just sit there for 30 minutes or whatever. Carson needs to donate some more computers!

*I know these books are meant for really young kids, but they made Sandback way too suspicious early on. He literally winks and nods at Nancy while pushing her to his book and stuff like that.