The Secret in the Old Attic is the twenty-first volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories was the long-running "main" Nancy Drew series, published between 1930 and 2003. Initially, titles were published by Grosset & Dunlap, but with #57 publication switched to Simon & Schuster. Most people consider these first 56 to be the original series and consider the...

 series. It was first published in 1944 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene

Carolyn Keene

Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery stories and The Dana Girls mystery stories, both produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate...

. The actual author was ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson.

Plot summary - 1944 edition

Nancy searches for clues to missing music manuscripts written by deceased soldier Philip March. Philip March's daughter and his father, living together on the family estate, are rapidly running out of money, and believe some of "Fipp's" music is being sold and played on the radio. Nancy goes to the estate to investigate, with the assistance of Bess and George. In the meantime, her father's client solicits her aid in his investigation of a rival company, which seems to be making silk using his patented methods. In the meantime, the girls are all planning to attend an Emerson College dance, except for Nancy - Ned doesn't seem to be interested. Could Diane Dight, rich daughter of the owner of the Dight firm, which Nancy is investigating, have turned Ned's head? And what is Bushy Trott, manic scientist, doing at the Dight plant?

Nancy continues trying to solve both mysteries, discovering hidden songs in the process, and eventually unravels the mystery which involves one criminal who has committed two crimes! All the while, she tries unsuccessfully to shed few tears over Ned, who seems frequently to be in the company of the snobbish socialite Diane. The resolution of both cases and her romantic plight is quite climactic.

1970 revision

The revised version, still in print, is a condensed version of the original story. It is shorter by five chapters, and includes Diane Dight, but not the romantic subplot of the original plot.

Artwork

Collectors of the series claim to greatly enjoy the original art by Russell H. Tandy

Russell H. Tandy

Russell H. Tandy was an American illustrator, best known for his cover art for early editions of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series.Tandy was a friend of Edward Stratemeyer, whose syndicate created several series of books for young readers...

, which shows Nancy with highly Gothic elements, by candlelight, in the old attic. In 1962, Rudy Nappi gave Nancy a modern flip hairstyle and changed the color to red, and altered her shirtwaist wrap dress to a generic red sailor-style dress for the cover art. In 1970, Nappi updated his art again, using shadowy apple green, and Gothic elements, including the skeletal hand, to showcase Nancy, looking very much like Barbara Eden in a coatfront shift, with a candle. This cover plays heavily on the spooky elements popular during the "Dark Shadows" era.