Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew 35 – Cooking Camp Disaster

Carolyn Keene's Cooking Camp Disaster is a Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew mystery for 8 year olds about a summer cooking camp where somebody keeps ruining the food.

What happens

This is the thirty-fifth Clue Crew case. Nancy, who's eight, is spending a week at Kid Kuisine with Bess and George. The camp building looks like a gingerbread house. Chef Giorgio is jolly and very Italian (everything is "magnifico"), and on Friday he'll name a Best Chef in front of all the parents.

On the first day George's peppermint brownies taste of salt. Somebody has swapped the labels on her salt and sugar jars. On the second day every single pizza is covered in red pepper flakes, and Nancy's mouth is on fire.

Is it an accident? Chef Giorgio blames Rosemary, his nervous assistant, who's always knocking things over. Nancy isn't so sure. There are tiny red smudges on George's labels, and nobody else's jars have them.

The fun is in how many suspects there are, and how easy they are to picture. Jeremy, who's ten, wears a GENIUS AT WORK T-shirt and is certain he'll win. Dev and Dylan are pranksters who bring in a baking-soda volcano dressed up as a cake. Chloe and Cristin are sisters who argue about everything, even whose dog it is.

The Clue Crew keep a proper list of suspects and clues, and you get to read it as it grows. Your reader can check their own ideas against Nancy's. And the reason behind it all is one they probably won't see coming.

It's a gentle, cosy mystery. Nobody is in any danger, and the worst crime is a very salty brownie. There's even a recipe for peppermint bark at the end to make at home (with a grown-up for the melting and the hammer).

If you've got a child who likes cooking as much as clues, this is a lovely one to share.

What to read next

For another kitchen mystery with the same three friends, try Recipe Ruckus. Nancy buys a second-hand apron as a birthday present for Hannah, their housekeeper, and finds an old recipe folded up in the pocket.