Nancy Drew Diaries 18 – The Stolen Show

Carolyn Keene's The Stolen Show is a Nancy Drew mystery for 9 year olds set around a very posh dog show in snowy Quebec City.

What happens

Nancy doesn't know the first thing about showing a dog. But her dad's old friend Louise has broken her ankle on the ice, the most important show of the whole year is only days away, and somebody has to walk Marge the bull terrier round the ring. So Nancy flies north with her best friends, Bess and George.

It's carnival time in Quebec City. There's poutine, a sugary pastry called a beaver tail, an ice palace and a snowman king called Bonhomme. It all feels like a lovely holiday (for a few hours, anyway).

Then a big fluffy sheepdog called Marshmallow Fluff is found drugged in her crate, with ten lumps of bubblegum stuck in her coat. Louise wants Nancy on the case.

The suspects are a brilliant bunch. There's Valencia from Los Angeles, who poses for selfies with her poodle. There's shy Alice and her very royal shih tzu. And there's Charles, who's spotted going through other people's pockets at the masked ball. Everyone wants to win, so everyone has a reason.

Louise reckons you can tell what a person is like by looking at their dog. It's fun to test that as you read. (Does Marge look like Louise? Pretty much!)

Nancy tells the story herself, and it's full of the three friends teasing each other. George will eat anything and finds babies terrifying. Bess mostly wants to dress up and dance. They feel like real friends.

Then things get serious. At the ball Bess dances off with a man in a wolf mask and doesn't come back. A note turns up for Nancy telling her to drop the case, or else. It's tense, but it's the good kind of tense (this is Nancy Drew, after all).

If your reader likes a proper puzzle with lots of suspects to weigh up, and a setting that makes you want a hot chocolate, this is a lovely pick.

What to read next

For another trip away with the three friends, try The Ghost of Grey Fox Inn. This time they're in sunny Charleston for a wedding, staying at an inn that's supposed to be haunted.