The Strange Message in the Parchment

Infobox Book |
name = The Strange Message in the Parchment


image_caption =
author = Carolyn Keene
country = United States
language = English
series = Nancy Drew stories
genre = Detective, Mystery novel
publisher = Grosset & Dunlap
release_date = 1977
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = ISBN 0-448-09554-8
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Strange Message in the Parchment" is the fifty-fourth volume in the Nancy Drew mystery series. It was first published in 1977 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.

Plot summary

A sheep farmer receives a mysterious telephone call shortly after he buys a series of pictures painted on parchment. "Decipher the message in the parchment and right a great wrong", the voice says. Puzzled, the owner asks Nancy to help.

Nancy and the farmer's daughter, Junie, track down a kidnapper and a group of extortionists. Clues weave in and out of several puzzles, two of which are linked with Italy. Is there a connection between the message in the parchment and a boy artist on another farm? And who is responsible for the atmosphere of fear in the neighborhood?

After several harrowing experiences, Nancy begins to tighten the net around a ruthless villain and calls on the assistance of her friends Ned, Burt, Dave, Bess and George to bring his nefarious schemes to a dead end.