Review: Author of many Nancy Drew Books, among others
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 14, 2011
I thought it would be helpful to potential  buyers of this book to know that author Jane Clark, is actually Mildred Wirt Benson. The pseudonym Carolyn Keene was a name under which a group of writers  were employed to produce the mega-popular  Nancy Drew novels. She wrote thirty of them. Using other pseudonyms, some similarly shared, she wrote many novels which  interested young people and children.The Penny Nichols series, represented by four free books  and one inexpensive triple volume, appears to be well-written, with decent plots, and interesting characters. Though directed at a, young audience, they do not denigrate the intelligence of the target reader. In that respect, though "wholesome", they exceed many mystery books published for adults.Penny Nichols' father is a private detective frequently called upon by the police for help on their cases. Penny, herself, a mid-teenager, has the curiosity and investigative intelligence, both to see and solve mysteries almost on a par with her elders. In this, and other series novels, she has like aged female friends and acquaintances, and a young man or two, who capture her interest in a mildly romantic sense.The setting here, is a small community, in which her father has rented a cabin for both of them (no mother nor siblings). Before they have time to settle in, mysterious things begin to happen. Both her father and Penny soon have their hands full of puzzles requiring their efforts to be unraveled.I am not competent to judge whether youngsters today will go for these efforts of Benson as did those of the mid-thirties when this series was published. They are worth considering by gift giving relatives and, more importantly, young people themselves.