Review: The Mystery of the 99 Steps

The Mystery of the 99 Steps by Carolyn Keene


9 x1 = 9
9x2 = 18 = 9= 1+8
9x3 = 27 = 9 = 2+7
9x4 = 36 = 9 = 3+6
9x5 = 45 = 9 = 4+5
9x6 = 54 = 9 = 5+4
9x…………………………

Oops!

My apologies for missing the introduction. I found myself involved in some serious calculations, actually.

By the way, do you recall, from your school days, this amazing pattern appearing in the mathematical table of 9?

Or, did you know that the number 9 was considered to be a magical number by many great & skilled alchemists of ancient times?

Well, even if you don’t, then this book will reveal to you some of these fascinating facts. And perhaps even more, as you progress in reading the chapters of this mystery.

This particular mystery offered to the blue-eyed detective, Nancy Drew, teems with all things chemistry, alchemy and oh yes, France!

Nancy’s lawyer father, Carson Drew is in France to work on a case concerning a top business tycoon named Monseiur LeBlanc. This businessman is appearing to display some strange behaviour pertaining to his business decisions. Making huge money investments which seem to be going nowhere; shutting down several of his factories without concern of a big lot of workers losing their jobs; appearing almost hypnotized yet revealing no information about the reason for his strange decisions. And all.

As a coincidence, Nancy’s latest mystery, relating to a dear friend Mrs. Blair, also leads her to the same country. That is, France. Apparently, Mrs. Blair is having some terrible & nightmarish dreams; all of which relate to the mystery of some 99 steps. And so, together with her duo of besties, she sets forth on this lovely Parisian trip.

As the four of them – Nancy, her two friends and her father, go on about exploring the details of their respective mysteries, the two mysteries began to intersect; revealing connection to the same clue, - the mysterious 99 steps.

While Mr. Drew takes them to exotic café restaurants & Bess displays her characteristic excitement over mouthwatering French food, George finds her in impatience as she gets kidnapped, drugged & trapped inside an old royal monument of France.

Scanning a number of chateaus, shadowing thieves in a parade and tripping over a number of coded warning letters, finally, the mystery causes the group to hunt an underground chemical laboratory located inside some isolated ruins of Chambord region.

As it turns out, the thief, masking as an Arab, is fooling the businessman; playing mind games over him by displaying some tricks with chemical potion bottles and make-believing the businessman that he can turn charcoal into gold. But the tantrums of this Arab man are not able to remain in hiding from Nancy for too long. She doesn’t just plan to unmask his foolmaking, but also, makes a strategy to catch him red-handed with a group containing her friends, her father and some policemen.

Throughout the mystery, you’ll observe that Nancy remains busy counting the number of steps wherever she spots any staircase or likewise. To me, that looks like an interesting movie scene. Well.

We’ll see that.

Spellbinding, overall!

View all my reviews