Nancy Drew Diaries 15 – The Professor and the Puzzle

Carolyn Keene's The Professor and the Puzzle is a Nancy Drew mystery for 9 year olds that starts at a fancy dress party and turns into a case by midnight.

What happens

Nancy tells this one herself. Her childhood friend Iris has invited her, Bess and George to a Greek-themed gala at Oracle College, where Iris's dad is the president.

Everyone comes dressed as someone from the Greek myths. Bess is Aphrodite, of course. George is Hermes, with little wings glued to her bike helmet. Nancy goes as Athena with a spear and a shield (who else was she going to be?).

A storm is raging outside and the lights keep flickering. In the middle of the evening's big speech, a student called Bash leans on the balcony railing. The railing gives way.

Bash is badly hurt but alive. Everyone calls it an accident. Nancy isn't so sure. That afternoon she trod in some flakes of paint on the ballroom floor, right under that very spot. She's certain someone loosened the bolts on purpose.

So Bess and George head home and Nancy stays on campus with Iris to find out who. There are plenty of people to wonder about. A charming professor everybody loves. A strict one who keeps a parrot in her office. A student who keeps pestering Bash's girlfriend.

It's number fifteen in the Nancy Drew Diaries, but this mystery stands on its own. The first chapter introduces Nancy's two best friends, and that's all a newcomer needs.

The friendship is the best bit. George dashes into a downpour with no coat and arrives dripping. Bess can't stop swooning over a handsome professor. And Nancy goes bright red when Iris's dad reminds her how she once needed a ladder to get down from a tree while hunting for a cat that was asleep under the sofa.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

The fall happens in the dark, with screams and smashing glass, and Bash stays unconscious in hospital for a while. It's tense rather than gory. Some of the grown-ups at the gala are drinking wine, which suits the setting.

Does your reader like to guess the culprit before the detective does? They'll have plenty to work with here.

What to read next

If they want another case straight after, The Ghost of Grey Fox Inn takes Nancy, Bess and George to Charleston for a family wedding at an inn that's meant to be haunted.