56 Weeks with Nancy Drew - The Hidden Staircase - Part 2/2

 Week 2, Book 2

Welcome to the 56 Weeks with Nancy Drew series! If you are new here, welcome. You can find my introductory post to this series here. Please note I will be including plot spoilers in this review series. I explain my reasoning at the start of this post. This is Part Two in a two part discussion. You can find Part One here. 

Originally published in 1930 and written by Mildred Wirt, I am continuing my review of the revised text edition of The Hidden Staircase, published in 1959 and pictured above.

After our long discussion theorizing when and where this book is set, I thought it would be fun to look at some the characteristics that make Nancy such a good detective. I mean, she only has one case under her belt, which she solved sometime last week, so why does Helen automatically turn to Nancy to investigate the suspected haunting of Twin Elms? And why does Nancy seem to take it for granted that Helen is calling her up, out of the blue, about a mystery?

I would like to know what the editor was thinking when they came up with the abrupt and unnatural telephone conversation between Nancy and Helen that opens this book. I say "editor", because I refuse to believe Mildred Wirt would have plunged the reader into the story with so little finesse, but as I have not read the original version of this book, this is only my assumption. And here I am already off track! Please excuse me while rein myself in...

Let's consider some of the qualities that make Nancy a good enough detective that Helen would ask her for help, rather than calling in a professional.

Nancy is (mostly) cool under pressure

We saw an example of Nancy's cool-headedness in The Secret of the Old Clock, when she is about to be locked in a closet by a gang of thieves. In that scene she is frightened, but she still stands up to them, both verbally and physically. Later, when she is stuck in the closet, she notices that she is spiralling into a panic, and talks herself down. No one is going to come to her rescue, so she is going to have to rescue herself. 

In The Hidden Staircase, Nancy and her father nearly get run down by a large truck when visiting the building site of a new bridge at the River Height waterfront.

    "Dad!" she screamed.

    In the brief second of warning, the truck almost seemed to leap toward the water. Nancy and her father, hemmed in by the concrete piers, had no way to escape being run down.

    "Dive!" Mr. Drew ordered.

    Without hesitation, he and Nancy made running flat dives into the water, and with arms flailing and legs kicking, swam furiously out of harm's way. (18)

Nancy is brave

On countless occasions in this book, Nancy runs in the direction of danger. Without being foolhardy, she is willing to put herself in harm's way when she deems it necessary to further the investigation.

Oh, and when I say countless, I mean it. After a while, it actually gets a little monotonous! Helen would say something like, 'Nancy, you don't suppose the ghost could be hiding behind that door?' and then Nancy would rush forward to open the door. That is essentially what happens when Nancy investigates the inside of a wardrobe (35). 

Later, they notice the chandelier is swaying from side to side. Nancy doesn't cower in fear at the unexplainable. No, without hesitation, she steals upstairs to investigate (42-44).

Then when Helen sees a horrible face is staring at her through the window, Nancy doesn't wait for Helen to give a full explanation before hurrying outside to look all around the house for the culprit. She even has the presence of mind to look for footprints below the window (46-47). After assessing the situation, she comes up with a logical explanation for how the feat could have been carried out. There's that cool head of hers again!

Another time, she runs upstairs when Helen, Aunt Rosemary, and Miss Flora hear a violin playing somewhere above them (54).

Nancy even goes outside after midnight to investigate a shadow she spotted from her bedroom window (62). Spooky!

Nancy welcomes help

Nancy may be brave and calm under pressure, but she is not too proud to call on others for help when she needs it. She knows that an investigation is not a one-woman operation and she often has a friend along to help her, who acts as the Watson to her Holmes. And when necessary, she is willing to turn to the police for help. She calls the station and does not hesitate to stop by local police headquarters when she can use their assistance.

Although, Nancy does not voice her concerns to Helen or the others, she sees the danger of there being an intruder able to come and go at Twin Elms undetected, and suggests they get police protection (56-57).

I do find it funny just how willing the police to offer assistance and to believe Nancy, and to believe in her. In this book, Captain Rossland of the Cliffwood Police even petitions Nancy for help.

    "Miss Drew, we think you can help the police."

    "I'd be glad to. How?"

    Captain Rossland smiled. "You many not know it, but you're a very persuasive young lady. I believe that you might be able to get information out of both Harry and Greenman, where we have failed." (156)

Of course, Nancy goes in alone and wows everyone with the ability and speed with which she gets both a kidnapper and an eyewitness to talk. 

These are books for children, but even reading these as I child I knew how farfetched Nancy's interactions with the police were. We turn to these books to escape real life. They are simple stories where anything is possible for a young woman with initiative. Clearly, they are not intended to be complicated representations of reality!

Nancy is logical

Nancy knows ghosts don't exist, so she continues to look for clues to explain the goings-on at the mansion, despite the growing belief in ghosts of those around her.

    "I saw it! I know I saw it!" Helen insisted.

    "I don't doubt you," Nancy replied.

    "Then what explanation is there?" Helen demanded. "You know I never did believe in spooks. But if we have many more of these weird happenings around here, I declare I'm going to start believing in ghosts."

    Nancy laughed. "Don't worry, Helen," she said. "There'll be a logical explanation for the face in the window." (47)

Nancy is also respectful enough to continue to refer to the person or persons responsible as a "ghost", just like Helen, Aunt Rosemary, and Miss Flora do. While at the same time Nancy does not encourage any belief in the supernatural as being the basis of the problems in the house, as we can see from the above quotation.

Nancy always has a plan

Nancy is not just stumbling around reacting to events as they happen. She has agency. 

    "Oh, Nancy, we must have two ghosts!"

    "Why do you say that?" Helen asked.

    "One rocking the chandelier, the other holding the horrible face up to the window. No one could have gone from Miss Flora's room to the front porch in such a short time. Oh, this complicates everything!"

    "It certainly does," Nancy agreed. "The question is, are the two ghosts in cahoots? Or, it's just possible, there is only one. He could have disappeared from Miss Flora's room without our seeing him and somehow hurried to the first floor and let himself out the front door while we were upstairs. I'm convinced there is at least one secret entrance into this house, and maybe more. I think our next step should be to try to find it--or them." (49)

After delivering the best line ever, Nancy comes up with the next logical step to take in her investigation, to find out how the troublemaker is getting inside of the house. As she repeatedly comes up against problems, she makes or revises her plan of action. On more than one occasion, Nancy and Helen try to anticipate the ghost's next steps. She is not just waiting around for something to happen and reacting to it, she is playing a scenario out in her mind before it happens (90-91).

Nancy knows how to live a balanced life

Most of us could take a page out of Nancy's book. She loves detective work, but she is still an 18-year-old with a healthy social life. Let's see how she does that.

The Saturday night before Nancy leaves for Twin Elms, she goes out on a date to see a play with Dirk Jackson (16).

On the way to Twin Elms, Helen announces she is engaged to Jim Archer and Nancy pulls the car off to the side of the road so they can have a quick tête-à-tête and then they continue the conversation on the remaining drive (24).

In the middle of the investigation, Helen and Nancy spend an evening decking themselves out in fancy dress and dance a minuet for Aunt Rosemary and Miss Flora (74-75).

But even when she is taking time off, Nancy is still working the case. 

At one point she lies in bed and she suddenly recalls something interesting about the wall in the attic and makes a plan to investigate it the next day (81). Another time, she is woken up in the middle of the night and instead of rolling over and going back to sleep -- what I would have done -- she gets up to investigate the sound (57-58). 

When she is in the middle of a case, she is always problem solving and coming up with plans to move the investigation along, even when she is having a meal, squeezing in some form of recreation, or taking a much needed rest her brain is still working. A lesson to us all! We might sometimes feel guilty for not always being on the go or doing something, but taking time away from a task provides our brain with the opportunity to do necessary problem solving.

Nancy is an impeccable house guest

Nancy makes sure she is not in any way a burden on her hosts. Whether that means helping to cook meals (33, 70), wash dishes (49), or do some light cleaning (82), Nancy is always happy and willing to help.

Nancy proves to be considerate of her hosts, especially Miss Flora, who starts to show her age as the investigation wears on. When she sees that Miss Flora is looking tired, Nancy says she is hungry, knowing it will enable everyone to take a break from the stress of detective work. Another time, she suggests going to bed early, because everyone else is tired, when she would much rather continue to work on the case. When their is some concern about Miss Flora's health, Nancy suggests Aunt Rosemary and Miss Flora spend the day in the garden, then she helps Helen wash the breakfast dishes and do some cleaning while the two older women are out of the house (82).

When an owl is discovered in Miss Flora's room in the middle of the night, Nancy is quick to put the old woman's mind at ease by providing a logical explanation for how the owl might have got in. Once Miss Flora is settled in another bedroom, Nancy quickly captures the bird and releases it outside (59).

Being aware of Miss Flora's age, Nancy also considers the possibility that the woman might have forgotten to lock her bedroom door, despite her claims that she is sure she did. But despite Nancy's suspicions, she has the good manners to keep that theory to herself (59).

Nancy is humble

The final thing that I think makes Nancy a good detective, houseguest, and just all round nice person, is her humility. Consider this scene when she tells Aunt Rosemary her plans for the investigation.

    Aunt Rosemary looked at Nancy intently. "You are a real detective, Nancy. I see now why Helen wanted us to ask you to find our ghost."

    Nancy's eyes twinkled. "I may have some instinct for sleuthing," she said, "But unless I can solve this mystery, it won't do any of us much good." (66)

Now, I did argue in this post about The Secret of the Old Clock that Nancy does not give herself enough credit. In that book she thinks to herself, "Dad depends on my intuition". I still think that Nancy should give herself credit where credit is due and not belittle her own intelligence by brushing it off as mere "intuition", or by accounting for her skills as a detective as simply being"instinct". However, I also think it would have been in bad taste for Nancy to blatantly agree with Aunt Rosemary's assessment that Nancy is a "real detective". And the older woman, may have interpreted it as boasting. 

Sure, I would like Nancy to think that instead of relying on her intuition or hunches that her father depended on her intelligence, especially as her father is her biggest supporter and is quick to praise her. He certainly never looks on his daughter's successes as her just getting lucky or using intuition. But in a lot of ways these books are of their time and perhaps it is too much to expect that a 1959 version of Nancy could both be humble when the situation called for it, and also able to acknowledge her own worth.

Quotation of the book!

And now for my absolute favourite quotation from this book. Perhaps you have already guessed! It comes from a scene I quoted earlier.

    "The question is, are the two ghosts in cahoots?" (49)

"Cahoots" was one of my favourite words when I was little and to this day it always gives me a thrill when I hear (or read) it. It's such a fun and hilarious word. I mean, aren't you just dying to be "in cahoots", now? I know I am!