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Book Review: The Clue of the Velvet Mask

The Clue of the Velvet Mask

The Clue of the Velvet Mask by Carolyn Keene
Wherever Nancy goes, mystery follows her in the same way as moths are drawn to a flame…
It all begins with a masquerade party that she is attending on the invitation of her friend Linda, who works as an employee in Lightner’s Entertainment Company, an event management company which organizes most of the important, influential and wealthy events of the area.
In the storyline depicted by this novel, Nancy Drew discovers herself pedaling her mind’s sharpest wits to the metal, as a series of robberies seem to boondoggle the detective inside her. Robberies – which, apparently seem to be carried out by a weird yet utterly mischievous gang with their signature clue of an unusual black velvet mask.
While Nancy is attending this party, she comes across one of these gang members, who is climbing a rose trellis to reach the party hall through the window. The culprit slips away in a jiffy, though Nancy is able to catch his mask, which, later turns out to be one of those signature masks that all the gang-members use for all their robberies.
Upon examining the mask, Nancy comes upon a stunning clue. The mask seems to contain the inkling of a string of numbers, quite strange though. Spending several days solving the puzzle of these printed numbers, she concludes that these numbers are all those dates on which the black velvet gang has planned their respective robberies.
Intrigued by this clue, Nancy reaches out to Linda’s boss Mr. Tombar, who seems to her as suspicious as the mysterious robberies.
Party after party, event after event, Nancy keeps on losing the gang. Each time, the thieves seem to be fooling the butlers, sneaking in cleverly and slipping out in manner as well as cunning.
While she shadows all the suspicious persons to the best of her wits, her dear friend George gets kidnapped and hypnotized with the warnings of not chasing the Black Velvet Gang anymore. For days and days, George seems to remain too flabbergasted to utter a word.
However, Nancy, as no faint-hearted she is anyway, she keeps pursuing all the culprits.
Ultimately, Nancy comes across a clue she might never have guessed by herself. The culprits had been hiding the stolen antiques, paintings and goods inside a local antique store run by a friend of Nancy, Mr. Taylor.
With much hassle though, but the Black Velvet Gang is caught red-handed at last. And Nancy breathes a sigh of relief, having solved one of the most puzzling mysteries of her life.
The book is well-written, and like other parts of this Nancy Drew-Carolyn Keene series, the book promises immersiveness, interest and spiraly plot. All characters including Mr. Tombar, Linda, Mrs. & Mr. Sneakers, Erine etc. are well-drawn and so are the descriptions pertaining to the event settings. The book was much delight to read!

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