Synopsis from Publisher: Something fishy is going on in River heights–and this time I really mean it! First a burglar breaks into the Nickersons’ home and snatches Ned’s digital camera, and then a few days later his laptop is stolen. Ned is super bummed–there’s no replacing the hilarious photos he snapped of his dad falling out of the boat on their fishing trip. I have a hunch this is more than a run of bad luck and I’m determined to reel in the crook–hook, line, and sinker.
Despite a few errors in the 26th volume of the Nancy Drew Girl Detective Series, Fishing for Clues, I did enjoy reading it this month. I have to admit what I liked about it most of all was the fun I had reading it with my HBND reading buddy sib (who agrees with this review), and also friend Seema, who was re-reading the book. 😎 😎 😎 As we know, the book isn’t perfect, but generally good.
One of the best things regarding the writing is the Nancy/Ned romantic moments. The writer showed their attraction, love, and romance well. The right amount of attention given to it in the book, believable and tasteful. That’s important.
In this book, Ned’s parents, James and Edith Nickerson, are likable and I like the family affection a lot. The whole Nickerson family treat Nancy well. Most of the dialogue was good, although Ned wouldn’t disrespectfully say that his dad “can be kind of nuts sometimes.”, although that was supposed to be funny with him taking along, on a fishing trip, the diamond bracelet he’d gotten for his wife to keep it a surprise. I liked the good descriptions of the Nickerson home and could picture it easily.
I like that Ned’s mom won the discussion with the paramedics on not going to the hospital. 😎
Didn’t like the lying by the Girl Detective, but the author did show it wasn’t a good idea. An early lie around the beginning came back on her having an undesired effect of risk and danger. Honesty is the best policy.
The Girl Detective series doesn’t always get the chief of River Heights Police Department written right. Fishing for Clues is one of the volumes that makes that mistake. They miss the fact is that Chief McGinnis and Nancy are actually friends and have mutual respect for one another. He doesn’t have petty jealousy of her nor does he take credit for cases she solves.
There is some humor in this volume with an interesting mystery that made us want to see what happened. There are also a few times that made us shout at the book in exasperation – like when Nancy is sneaking around, by herself, in the quiet night, and hadn’t put her phone on vibrate even though she knew Bess would be checking in with her if she didn’t call her within fifteen minutes. Of course the vibrate setting doesn’t work very well either since a noise can be heard if everything else is quiet enough.
Proper safety precautions were definitely not followed by the Girl Detective when nosing around potential toxic waste.
The disgusting descriptive words used for the chlorine bleach aren’t correct. I looked up what chemicals are used for making paper. From what I read, some still use chlorine dioxide. I already knew chlorine, as used in pools, smells a lot like bleach.
The cover could be better, not intriguing. The title is cute, though. 😎 It’s important in real life to fish for clues and think for yourself – our evil enemies really hate that. Of course that’s not the only reason I like to do my own research and thinking, but it’s one of them. 😉
Btw, I’m glad that they finally stopped having the so-not-Nancy-Drew-sounding introduction in the first part of the Girl Detective series. This had it, but you can skip over it so you don’t hurt your eyes from rolling them. Mine get a lot of exercise doing that for various things, but still, no need to over stress them. 🙄 🙄 See? 😆
I think ND Girl Detective #26 is best enjoyed from the library, in paper or ebook, or a low priced used copy. I would read Fishing for Clues again. 😎 Remember I can usually find things I liked in a ND book (or HB book), which I definitely did for this one.
UPDATE – Seema pointed out an error in the book that definitely should be addressed. I missed noting it – I’m not sure if it was because I was reading late at night/early in the morning, also doing part of my review, or possibly because I was rolling my eyes 🙄 maybe about Chief McGinnis not being written correctly – as my HB sib noted and I totally agree with. 😎 Okay, getting back to the error being referred to, on page 123, “lucky stars” were thanked, but the real Nancy would have sent a prayer of thanks to God (for her lock-pick kit she was using right then). Thanks for catching that, Seema – I so agree! 🙂
[spoiler warning]: Couldn’t picture the two large toxic waste drums fitting under the bed in the cabin. Didn’t appreciate the bad guy having such a good last name, Solomon, that so didn’t fit him. I know some people are misnamed, but I would have preferred for the writer to have chosen a different name. Maybe it was used to throw off the reader and not to suspect him. Still, I’m going to assume it was an assumed name in his family tree.[end spoiler warning]
You can find the cover and read the publisher’s synopsis for the eighth volume in the Nancy Drew series right here —> 
Hardy and Drew Mysteries 