The Bungalow Mystery is the third volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories book series. It was originally published by Grosset & Dunlap on May 1, 1930; it was later revised, and re-released on December 1, 1960. In this story, Nancy helps an orphan discover why her guardians are being cruel.
This was the final book of the original breeder set, and the final book published before the death of Nancy Drew creator Edward Stratemeyer on May 10, 1930.
Plot summary[]
1930[]
Blonde-haired and blue-eyed Nancy Drew and her friend Helen Corning are rescued from a boat wreck by Laura Pendleton during a sudden and severe storm. The girls from River Heights befriend the orphaned Laura, who has come to the area to meet her new guardian, Jacob Aborn.
The new guardian proves to be unfriendly and uncouth, which seems very strange considering that Laura's mother was wealthy and rich. The once-wealthy Laura is informed that she is now penniless, and Aborn takes her to his bungalow on the lake. Nancy is startled to hear from Laura shortly after returning home - Aborn is evil, and life is intolerable—he keeps no servants, and expects Laura to perform household chores! (Evoking sympathy from Nancy but probably not from Depression-era readers). There are strange happenings in which she (Laura) is locked into her room. Laura flees, seeking asylum at the Drew residence. Nancy drives out to the lake and sneaks into the house, where she spies Aborn taking securities from a wall safe. She trails him to an abandoned bungalow in the woods and, once inside, finds a man who looks just like Aborn chained up in the basement. He says that he is the real Aborn and the criminal is an imposter, and has taken Aborn's place to defraud Laura. Too late, Nancy whirls to face Dowd, who knocks her out!
Nancy wakens to find herself being bound by Dowd, but uses an escape artist trick to free herself after he exits. She summons authorities and her father, who quickly arrive to help investigate. Dowd is pursued, and crashes his auto. Nancy investigates the burning car in time to remove suitcases containing Laura's stocks and bonds - she is still wealthy! This volume contains only the one main plot, with no subplot mystery to investigate, and as such, is unique in the original versions of Nancy Drew mysteries, which usually contain at least one subplot or secondary mystery, and a subplot involving a personal matter for Nancy or one of her friends. It is also rather unique in that the mystery develops and is solved in only a few days.
1960[]
The plot is similar, but the mystery takes longer to develop; unusual, in that revised versions of titan-haired and blue-eyed Nancy Drew typically reduce detail and speed up the action. An older Nancy and Helen meet an sixteen year old Laura after she rescues them on the lake; the girls are on vacation while Helen and her aunt plan the former's upcoming wedding. The girls meet Laura's guardians, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Aborn, more dramatically: Bleached-haired Mrs. Aborn arrives at the hotel in disarray after having a flat tire in the same storm that caught the girls on the lake. Nancy finds the Aborns gauche but friendly. Nancy is called home to aid injured Hannah Gruen; as in the original, she encounters a tree on the road, but this time a brother and sister appear, and help her.
Upon returning home, Nancy looks after Hannah and takes over the housekeeping chores. Carson Drew assigns her to investigate a long list of individuals suspected of involvement in investment-securities fraud. Nancy tackles this by dressing more maturely (the first time she implements an appearance change to sleuth in the series chronology) and going door-to-door for charity as a ruse to meet the suspects. This subplot adds time and depth to the story.
Laura contacts Nancy surreptitiously to ask for her help, and then escapes from her locked room at the Aborn residence to seek refuge at the Drews'. Mrs. Aborn had ordered Laura to hand over valuable jewels, but she carried them to Nancy's house.
The rest of the mystery unfolds similarly to the 1930 edition, although Nancy fixes Laura up on a date with her friend Don Cameron, and she goes to investigate the Aborn lake house under the ruse of being on vacation back at the same hotel from the opening chapters. A feature fixture that appears vaguely in other volumes is introduced here: Nancy carries a suitcase in her trunk that contains clothing appropriate for outdoor wear, an evening dress with accessories, and swimwear, plus cosmetics, etc. The main difference in the new edition's final chapters is that the Aborns are acting as impostors together as a couple; Jacob Aborn's wife was on vacation and Stumpy closely resembled Jacob Aborn, allowing for the substitution. They are the couple Nancy couldn't locate in River Heights, who committed the banking crimes her father was investigating. Laura discovers that the real Aborns are wonderful people who would be caring guardians. To reward Nancy for helping her and rescuing her valuables, Laura presents the sleuth with her mother's favorite ring—an aquamarine, a reminder that their friendship began on water.
Appearances[]
Characters[]
Artwork[]
The original 1930 artwork - Nancy peeking into the abandoned bungalow - was created by Russell H. Tandy, who also designed the frontispiece and three internals for the original version. In 1937, the three internals were omitted. In 1943, Tandy executed a completely new pen and ink drawing for the book, instead of updating earlier illustrations, for a new frontispiece.
In 1950, Bill Gillies created new cover artwork, showing Nancy spying on Stumpy Dowd. This artwork was retained when the 1960 revision was published, which also added a frontispiece and five pen-and-ink internal illustrations.
In 1966, the cover was updated by Rudy Nappi to show Nancy dressed severely, contrasting with the current "mod" look, and spying on the bungalow in the woods.
Image gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This book was released as a breeder set along with The Secret of the Old Clock and The Hidden Staircase (which were released on April 28 and April 29, respectively).
- Not long after the release of the first three books, Edward Stratemeyer died of pneumonia on May 10, 1930.
- In the revision process, the mystery takes longer to develop. This was contradictory to other revised books, which normally reduce detail and speed up the action.
Plot Trivia[]
- Laura Pendleton goes to live with the Aborn's for the rest of her summer vacation, but it's implied that during the school year she will be away attending boarding school. A school she was attending before her mother died. Laura mentions that she initially reached out to the Aborns following the death of her mother, because she was in need of money for her tuition at the boarding school. She likely didn't reach out earlier as she was away at the school.
- It's implied that Helen can swim well, just like Nancy, but due to her injury when she fell overboard the boat, she could not swim, only float.