The Clue of the Dancing Puppet

Infobox Book |
name = The Clue of the Dancing Puppet


image_caption =
author = Carolyn Keene
country = United States
language = English
series = Nancy Drew stories
genre = Detective, Mystery novel
publisher = Grosset & Dunlap
release_date = 1962
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Clue of the Dancing Puppet" is the thirty-ninth volume in the Nancy Drew mystery series. It was first published in 1962 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.

Plot summary

When the eerie performances of a life-size puppet begin to haunt the old Van Pelt estate where an amateur acting group, the Footlighters, have their theater, Nancy Drew is called upon to unravel the baffling mystery.

From the moment the pretty detective and her friends Bess and George arrive at the mansion, the dancing puppet puzzle is further complicated by Tammi Whitlock, the Footlighters' temperamental leading lady, and Emmet Calhoun, a Shakespearean actor.

Nancy's search of the mansion's dark, musty attic for clues to the weird mystery starts a frightening chain reaction. A phone call from a stranger with a witchlike, cackling voice warns her to "Get out!". Next they went up to the hay loft and found a witch life sized puppet. An encounter with two jewel theft suspects adds another perplexing angle to the puzzle.

Finally, when Nancy sees the life-size puppet flitting across the moonlit lawn and chases it, she learns that someone with sinister motive is determined to keep her from solving the case. Is it one of the Footlighters? Or is it an outsider?

Unknowingly, Nancy places herself in even greater danger when she is persuaded to perform in the Footlighters' current show.