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The Haunted Carousel |
Basic Plot: The Wonderland Gallop carousel in Riverside Park has been lighting up and playing music in the middle of the night with no explanation. Jason challenges Nancy to solve the mystery. Novak had set up a radio delay to activate the carousel in hopes that the stint would attract the attention of Joy, who he knows owns the original lead horse. Before his later fame, the artist Kruse had carved this original lead horse, which was later bought by Mr Trent for Joy and renamed Glory. Fingers had convinced his buddy Kruse to hide stolen diamonds in the horse, which Fingers would pick up once he was released from prison. When Mr. Trent converted Glory into a rocking horse he discovered the stash and left clues for Joy to find .
You may also click here for a synopsis of this story by Todd Latoski, from the April 2006 edition of the online Nancy Drew fanzine, The Sleuth.
This story was adapted by Her Interactive as a computer game. Their teaser: The merry-go-round at Captain’s Cove seems to have a mind of its own. Late at night, when the park is deserted, it takes off on a bizarre riderless journey. Will you be able to unravel the mysterious happenings surrounding this beautiful antique carousel?
Setting | River Heights, especially Riverside Park |
Recurring Characters | Bess Marvin, George Fayne, Carson Drew, Hannah Gruen, Ned Nickerson, Chief McGinnis |
Characters & Suspects |
|
Culprits |
Motivation: recover diamonds hidden in the carousel horse |
Resolution | ?? Capture crooks at the River Heights Day Care Center where Glory had been living. Rose reveals herself as Joy’s aunt; Iris’s parents has agreed to pay for a life saving operation if she left Trent, of whom her parents disapproved; Trent’s real name was Tobin. |
Nancy's Mis-adventures | sent adrift in houseboat at night |
Hannah cooks | shrimp cocktail |
Key clues | Trent’s dying note: Iris = ? = Old Glory |
Nancy's outfits | blue jeans & pale blue knit pullover top pale yellow linen dress and white dress sandals |
Nancy's talents | ridden in a few horse shows |
Meaning of the title | The carousel seems to be coming to life on its own |
reward | |
items of interest | RHts restaurants: Rustler’s Inn, Limehouse Tavern (British), Romany Tea Room, La Cuiller d’Argent |
THE COVERS
Below is a gallery of all the covers I have found for The Haunted Carousel. Below each picture is the artist's name, and a brief description of the scene depicted.
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Wanderer "Arch" cover by Ruth Sanderson: p. 58 - in the cellar of the haunted house at Riverside Park | Wanderer "Checkerboard" cover by Bob Berran |
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Minstrel cover by Aleta Jenks: the lead horse is black | Armada (UK) cover by unknown artist |
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| Forlagshuset (Norwegian) cover by Bob Berran |
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THEPRINTINGSThis chronological listing of printings mimics theidentificationsystem developed by David Farah for his guide on Nancy Drew. He hasgiven me permission to replicate his system for the purpose ofcategorizing the paperbacks from this series. For those of you notfamiliar with his methods for identifying a printing, the first linedescribes the outside of the book (cover/spine/back cover) and thesecond line describes the internal pages (inside cover/pre-textpages/post-text pages/inside back cover).
Published: 1983authors: James Lawrence
editor: Nancy Axelrad
1st
Sanderson/W1/cream on red/2.95,47555-X,+
bl/pwt/bl/tp+/cp/tc/bl//Fan ad (wb)/ND#57-72 ao, LC#1-9 of/bl
2nd
Sanderson/W1/
bl/pwt/bl/tp+/cp/tc/bl//Fan ad (wb)/ND#57-74 ao of/bl
3rd
Sanderson/W1/
bl/pwt/bl/tp+/cp/tc/bl//ND#57-78 ao of/HB#59-85 ao of/bl
1st Minstrel
bl/pwt/bl/tp+/cp/tc/bl//ND#57-78 ao of/RHts CCF/bl
1st Minstrel (2 versions of 1st Minstrel)
Berran/M1/orange/pic, 66227-9
bl UPC/exc/ND#57-82/tp/cp+/tc/bl/pwt/bl//blx6/bl
2nd Minstrel
Jenks/M1/light pink/66227-9
BF#1-16/exc/ND#57-103/tp/cp+/tc/bl/pwt/bl//HB#59-110, g of/NewBT#1-26 of/ND#57-103, g1 of/BF#1-16 of/CHH (3) of/bl/NewBT ad
3rd Minstrel
ND ad/exc/ND#57-120/tp/cp+/tc/bl/pwt/bl//ND (52) 120 of/HB (50) 127 of/ND&HB SS (19) of/SpBr#1-3 of/BigH (3)/bl/HB ad4th Minstrel
Jenks/M1/light pink/pic, 3.99, 66227-9
HBad/exc/ND#57-131/tp/cp+/tc/bl/pwt/bl//ND (49) 129 of/HB (56) 138 of/FrSt#1-8 of/Spkvle#1-8 of/Alien Adv (3)/NickMag of/AM (6)
FOREIGN TITLES
Language | Foreign Title | Title's translation |
Swedish | Kitty och jakten i skräckhuset | Nancy and the hunt in the scary house |
Norwegian | Detektiv Nancy Drew og spøkelseskarusellen | Nancy and the haunted carousel |
Finnish | Neiti etsivä ja kummituskaruselli | Nancy and the haunted carousel |
The Haunted Carousel, artwork by Ruth Sanderson © 1983 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Haunted Carousel, artwork by Bob Berran © 1988 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Haunted Carousel, artwork by Aleta Jenks © by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Haunted Carousel, artwork unattributed © 1984 by Fontana Paperbacks, London.
Kitty och jakten i skräckhuset, artwork by Ruth Sanderson © 1983 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
Detektiv Nancy Drew og spøgelses-karusellen, artwork by Bob Berran © 1988 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
Neiti Etsivä ja kummituskaruselli, artwork by Ruth Sanderson © 1983 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
© 2002, 2008, 2016 Lea Shangraw Fox