Nancy Drew (All New) Girl Detective #6: Action! (2004)

 

So, I never read the book that came before this one, which sucks because this one picks up where that one left off. Apparently, Nancy helped solve a mystery on a film set and wound up getting a role in the flick. Harold, the cheese shop owner, also got a job in the movie. It's all about the big Rackham robbery that happened during the 19^th century.

See, the Rackham Gang stole money from Ethan Mahoney, who owned the blacksmith shop in town. They took the money he got from the railroad to build parts for them. He would up bankrupt, but his heirs later made a ton of money and became the richest people in town. The two Rackham boys had a sister, Esther, who tried to stop them before leaving town. Ethan confronted the guys and was then attacked by a wild cat. Esther found him and after nursing him back to health, they married and never talked about what happened.

When the book picks up, Nancy is all super nervous about the job and worried about acting in front of other people. She's so nervous that she shows up hours early and has to just sit around the set. While they're in the middle of filming a scene, she hears a fire truck and decides to head back into town to see what happened. She finds the new CEO of Rackham Industries freaking out because his house is on fire.

Jeff, the CEO, keeps screaming about the antique furniture inside and how it will be destroyed and he'll be ruined. Nancy convinces the firefighters to try to save some pieces. All they can get out of the house is an armoire and a laptop. Jeff throws the laptop back into the fire and runs off, but not before he attempts to pull something off the armoire. When Nancy examines it later, she realizes that it's actually a cheap piece made by a company in town and not a real antique.

George both loves and obsesses over computers, so she can't believe someone would throw away a laptop. She and Bess make Nancy take them to the house in the hopes of finding it and getting info off of it for him. They find the computer, but Nancy decides not to tell anyone what they did. She learns from Carson that someone was stealing money from the company, that they recently fired Jeff, and that he (Carson) knew Jeff for years and didn't know he collected antique furniture.

The biggest chunk of the book deals with Nancy freaking out over acting in front of the camera. Every time she tries to talk to someone about it, they just blow her off. Bess and George both keep telling her that all the professionals think she's amazing. She winds up shouting at George at one point. George was supposed to print off new pages for her but got distracted by her work on the laptop. They wind up fighting but then make up literally two pages later.

Esther kept a diary from the time she was 14. Nancy thinks that she can read through the diary and find out what was going through her head. As it turns out though, the pages from the days around the robbery are all gone. Esther also stopped writing in her diary after that day.

In the end, they get to filming one of the last scenes in the flick. Harold is supposed to pretend to fall down, but actually falls down and knocks a hole in the real cave they used for the movie. Nancy has the grips strap her into some electrical cables and drop her down into the hole he fell through. They find the skeletons of the Rackham boys and the missing diary pages.

It turns out that Esther knew her brothers were up to no good and was kind of in on the robbery with them. She arranged to meet them in the cave after the robbery and bring them food and supplies. Ethan followed the boys to the cave and fought with Esther. She attacked him when she learned he killed her brothers, but they then came to an agreement. They took all the money and got married after coming up with the story of a wild cat attack.

George finds evidence on the laptop that indicates Jeff was stealing from his employer. He spent the money on expensive antiques, then bought cheap copies, sold the originals, and pocketed all the cash. Nancy takes the proof to her dad who takes it to the owner of the company. The owner is so happy that he gives George a $1,000 reward.

Though the movie nearly shuts down because of delays and extra costs, the last remaining Mahoney family member steps up. She married into the family and thinks it's hysterical that her husband's family's money came from thieves. The woman makes a massive donation that will help the director finish the film.

*Hannah gets upset that Nancy came home from the set, ate dinner, and then left her plate on the counter. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't cleaning her job?

*I can understand the film hiring locals for help, but some of the jobs they get are just ridiculous. Bess gets hired on as a set dresser, while George gets a job that puts her in control of ALL the computers used on the film, including the editing bays.

*Nancy rolls her eyes when Hannah tells her she can get over her stage fright by picturing all the crew in their underwear. When she actually tries it though, it works.

*Hannah also helps her realize that she isn't scared of acting but scared of disappointing everyone. I think it's BS though. She's a teenage girl who never acted before and gets a major role in a Hollywood movie. Of course she's going to be scared and nervous!

*There's this guy Luther who is the town historian. He's also the father of Nancy's childhood best friend Melissa who died in a car accident. Luther pops up in a scene so Nancy can talk about how he has a crush on someone working for the movie. He then turns up at the end to be there when she finds the missing diary pages.

*Nancy is all shocked when the police chief comes into the hole to take a look at the crime scene, which is his job. She then thinks about how he doesn't really like her. Given that he's an adult doing his job and she's a teenage girl who thinks she knows better than him, I understand his point of view.