Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew 38 – A Musical Mess

Carolyn Keene's A Musical Mess is a Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew mystery for 8 year olds about a star dog who suddenly forgets how to be a star.

What happens

A real Broadway musical has come to River Heights. It's called Francie, and it's about a farm girl who crosses the whole country to find a lost dog's owner. Thanks to George's mum, who's catering the opening-night party, the girls have seats in the very front row!

The real star is Sammy, an Airedale terrier with a white star-shaped patch on his leg. He licks Kira, the girl who plays Francie, at exactly the right moments in the big song. He even has his own dressing room with a canopy dog bed and crystal treat jars (Bess is VERY impressed).

It's not a smooth opening day. A pirate from a rival theatre group boos the whole ceremony, then sneezes his head off. Class pest Antonio sneaks Kira a trick pen that squirts ink in her face. And that afternoon, when the curtain goes up, Sammy howls all the way through the song and charges straight into a haystack. The show is cancelled.

Nancy has a hunch nobody else does. What if that wasn't Sammy at all?

The best bit is the detective work. The girls build a time line on George's laptop at Nancy's picnic table. They also realise that paw prints might be as unique as fingerprints. Luckily Bess got a "pawtograph" from Sammy that morning, and a dog has just left a strawberry-jam paw print on George's T-shirt.

It's properly funny too. Bess and George tease each other all the way through. George gets dragged through a paddling pool by a very excited dog, and Bess announces that there's nothing yuckier than dog spit (she has reason to know).

If you've got a reader who loves dogs, this is a really easy one to hand over. There's nothing frightening in it, just a dog, a mystery and a lot of show tunes. The friends get to be clever and kind together, and there's a make-your-own autograph book activity after the story.

What to read next

If they want another one straight away, the next case, Museum Mayhem, starts in art class with the girls drawing self-portraits for the coolest teacher in school.