The Bungalow Mystery

infobox Book |
name = The Bungalow Mystery
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Carolyn Keene
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Nancy Drew mystery series
genre = Mystery novel
publisher = Grosset & Dunlap
release_date = 1930
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = ISBN 0-448-09503-3
preceded_by =
followed_by =

The Bungalow Mystery is the third book in the "Nancy Drew" mystery series by Carolyn Keene.

Plot summary

The Bungalow Mystery is the third volume of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was the last of three books in the "breeder set" trilogy, released in 1930, to test market the series. It was the final volume edited by Edward Stratemeyer before his death.

1930 version

Nancy Drew and her friend Helen Corning are rescued from a boat wreck by Laura Pendleton, during a 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, very strange considering that Mrs. Pendleton was wealthy and sophisticated. The once-wealthy Laura is informed 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. Laura flees and seeks asylum in the Drew residence. Nancy drives out to the lake, and sneaks into the house, where she sees Aborn removing securities. She trails him to an abandoned bungalow in the woods and 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 Stumpy Dowd, a look-alike, has taken Aborn's place to defraud Laura. Too late, Nancy whirls to face Dowd, who knocks her out!

Nancy calls 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 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.

1960 version

The story is basically the same, but in this case, instead of being simplified when the book was abridged, a subplot is added, which serves to make the story more interesting. The character of Mrs. Aborn, a stock Nancy Drew character (the bleached, low-brow blonde) is introduced. She serves to poorly reflect upon the character of Laura's guardians, the Aborns. In this version, 21 year old Helen is planning her wedding.

Nancy has to abandon her vacation at Twin Lakes early, as her maid, Hannah Gruen, has sprained an ankle. She returns home to take charge of the house, delayed by a fallen tree in the road. She has help moving the tree from siblings Jim and Cathy Donell. Jim tells Nancy that their parents are good friends of the Aborns, and had heard that the couple were waiting for a month before moving Laura in with them.

That afternoon, Laura arrives at her home. The Aborns are abusive to her. She has managed to escape with her mother's jewel case, and displays a beautiful large aquamarine. Nancy decides to investigate the Twin Lake area, and discovers an abandoned bungalow, but cannot enter the boarded windows. She decides to stay at the hotel resort, and investigate the shifty Aborns, who, unbeknownst to Nancy, are tracking her.

Nancy sneaks into the Aborn house, and sees Aborn remove securities from a safe. She goes to the abandoned bungalow and breaks in, where she finds a double chained up in the basement. The plot is the same as the original, but Don Cameron and Carson arrive on the scene out of concern for Nancy. The Aborns nearly escape with Laura's securities, but crash their car. It turns out the Aborns are Stumpy and Mrs. Dowd, and that they are the criminals wanted in the other securities theft case. The real Mrs. Aborn is out-of-town, and is unaware of the drama. Laura gives Nancy the beautiful aquamarine ring as a thank-you gift.

Artwork: The original 1930 artwork, Nancy peeking into the abandoned bungalow, was created by R.H. Tandy, who also designed four illustrations for a frontispiece and three internals for the original version. In 1937, the three internals were dropped. In 1943, Tandy drew a completely new pen and ink plain paper 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 version was released, which also added a frontispiece and five pen-and-ink internal illustrations. In 1966, the cover was updated by Rudy Nappi, to show Nancy, in a very matronly dress, spying on the bungalow in the woods. These illustrations are all in print today

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