The Secret at Shadow Ranch (retitled The Secret of Shadow Ranch in 1965) is the fifth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. In it, Nancy, Bess, and George vacation at a ranch in Arizona. This is one of eight titles that had a plot change in the revision process by the Stratemeyer Syndicate.
This book is often mentioned as a fan favorite, due to the introduction of mainstay characters Bess Marvin and George Fayne. The book was also adapted into a popular video game adaption by HeR Interactive.
Plot summary[]
1931[]
In this book, you are introduced to Nancy's best friends, Elizabeth "Bess" Marvin and Georgia "George" Fayne, complete opposites and cousins. George is a brave, sporty tomboy, while Bess is a girly, shopping, scaredycat. One of Bess and George's cousins, Alice Regor, traveled with blonde-haired and blue-eyed Nancy to their Aunt and Uncle's ranch in Arizona where the cousins' aunt attempts to keep up a ranch she received as payment of a debt. Nancy reunites Alice with her long-lost artist father, who is suffering from amnesia. She also uncovers the mystery behind why an old mountain woman is guardian of a beautiful young girl, all the while enjoying mountain life, including horseback riding, a flash flood, being lost in the mountains overnight, and a dangerous mountain lion.
1965[]
Titan-haired and blue-eyed Nancy travels with her friends cousins Bess and George to Shadow Ranch, near Phoenix, Arizona. The ranch is in danger of being shut down, and is threatened by a phantom horse that seems to bring destruction with it each time it appears. The girls soon become friends with the young ranch hands who help them. The discovery of a pocket watch with a hidden message about a green bottle and a pastel painting are her clues to find the lost treasure of Dirk Valentine. These clues lead her to an ancient Indian dwelling, a prisoner, a chest of gold hearts, a gang of thieves, and a lot of danger. The revised book had the title changed to "of" instead of "at," and doesn't expand the biographies of the cousins significantly. Whereas the ranch is depicted as somewhat slow, and a young doctor is interested in Nancy, the revision sees them involved in resort-town activities with men near their age.
Computer game adaption[]
HeR Interactive based their tenth computer game in the Nancy Drew Adventure Game series off The Secret of Shadow Ranch. The game was released in July 2004. It closely follows the plot of the revised book, except that Bess and George are experiencing flight issues (a subplot), and the Rawleys are in the hospital after an incident.
Her Interactive released a mobile version of the game titled Shadow Ranch, which was released in February 2011. Shadow Ranch is a story-based gamebook app with the book aspect of it being the actual text of the Shadow Ranch novel and the game aspect of it has minigames within the story and shows the voices and screenshots of characters and locations (some from the computer game). It was released for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. It was intended to debut a new subseries titled Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries. However, other planned games under the banner were shelved, and Shadow Ranch was discontinued in 2015.
Artwork []
Russell H. Tandy illustrated the original dust jacket and internal illustrations, and the frontispiece. Like other Nancy Drew books, the illustrations were later removed, and Tandy converted the frontispiece to ink and pen drawing during World War II.
In 1950, Bill Gillies revised the cover art, which now featured Nancy on a rearing horse. Rudy Nappi did the new cover art for the revision in 1965, which featured Nancy on the horse, staring at the phantom horse.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Bess Marvin and George Fayne are introduced in this volume.
- This is the first Nancy Drew book plotted after the death of its creator, Edward Stratemeyer.
- In the revised book, Ned Nickerson is mentioned in passing as being in Europe. However, Ned is not formally introduced to Nancy until two books later (as in the original series).