Golden Age of Detective Fiction

During my recovery from foot reconstruction surgery, I spent a lot of time listening to podcasts and audiobooks. Since my local library has a limited audiobook selection, I started exploring YouTube and discovered the @PenelopeHeaven channel.

@PenelopeHeaven offers high-quality readings of Nancy Drew mysteries and other classic girl detective stories. I listened to many of her recordings during my recovery and highly recommend her channel to fellow mystery fans.

Recently, she recorded the original 1933 version of The Sign of the Twisted Candles, allowing listeners to experience the story as it was first written. I’m not affiliated with her in any way—just sharing a great resource for those who love vintage mysteries and I hope you check out her channel!

---

Today, I’ll be giving my thoughts on the rewritten version of The Sign of the Twisted Candles, published under the Carolyn Keene pseudonym in 1968. The original story was published in 1933 and ghostwritten by Walter Karig, who had taken over the franchise after Mildred A. Wirt (aka Carolyn Keene) left to create her own successful girl mystery series.

In her ninth mystery story, Nancy Drew is entangled in a complex family feud that spans generations and involves her two best friends, Bess and George. The trio’s unbreakable bond is tested as they navigate through a web of old family secrets that come to light, adding layers of intrigue to the plot.

---

The Story

Nancy Drew and her best gal pals, Bess and George, are caught in a heavy rainstorm and take shelter in an old mansion turned into a bustling inn with a restaurant.

While there, the trio meets old Asa Sidney, the inn proprietor, who used to be a renowned candle maker. His specialty is a specific type of fancy twisted candles, which decorate his room in the inn’s attic.

He is rather lonely, with his wife having died many years previously and his daughter also died as a child. He is estranged from the rest of his family and has no one to celebrate his 100th birthday with except the young orphan Carol, an overworked, kindly waitress at the inn who works under the Jemmits, who run the inn in Asa’s stead.

Of course, Carol becomes fast friends with Nancy, George, and Bess, and the four of them have a nice, intimate birthday party for old Asa. However, this simple act of kindness enrages the Jemmits- who believe Asa is senile and needs to be locked away. They verbally and physically abuse Carol for helping Nancy and her friends throw the birthday party, so Nancy sets her sights on the Jemmits.

With her keen investigative skills, Nancy suspects from stories told by Carol and Asa that the Jemmits are stealing from Asa and mishandling his fortune. Nancy cajoles Asa into hiring her father, Carson Drew, to rewrite Asa’s will and look over his business affairs for wrongdoing.

Carson Drew goes to the inn and gets into a physical altercation with Mr. Jemmit before getting to the business and drafting legal papers for Asa. As Asa begins to discuss his inheritance, it is revealed that Asa is related to George and Bess through their mothers (sisters), and if the new will stands as written, they will also lose out on a large inheritance.

Bess and George’s families snub Nancy and forbid the girls from being friends. Nancy is disheartened at the turn of events but feels like she doesn’t quite have the whole story about the convoluted family history, so she turns to Carol and her boyfriend Ned Nickerson for help.

To uncover a decades-old secret about the rightful heir of Asa’s fortune, Nancy Drew must thwart two kidnapping attempts, catch the Jemmits at their rotten game, restore her friendships with Bess and George, and help Carol escape from her terrible home life.

---

My Review

The Sign of the Twisted Candles opens with a scene that effectively conveys a sense of isolation and loneliness. Asa, a character who is clearly a victim of abuse by the Jemmits, finds an ally in orphaned Carol, another victim of the Jemmits. This situation, where the weak are preyed upon by the powerful, is a stark portrayal of injustice. It’s this injustice that fuels Nancy’s sense of justice, compelling her to confront the elder abuse situation head-on, even if it means risking her life in the process.

Asa’s intriguing estrangement adds a lot of pathos and sadness to an already deeply disturbing story about the precarious predicament that can befall vulnerable elderly adults when they don’t have friends or family to look after them.

As an adult, it’s quite easy to connect the dots about what happened to the son and who the potential heir might be —I mean, there’s a downtrodden, kindly orphan girl in the story, so…I’ll leave you to fill in the blanks.

However, I really didn’t like the second act, where Bess and George are coerced by their mothers to turn against Nancy. I found bringing them into the story as potential heirs really bogged down the story as Nancy mourns her friendships and tries to win them back to no avail. The sleuthing part of the story really slackens until the third act, when Nancy remembers she has Ned and Carol to help her investigate. Their involvement brings a sense of hope and anticipation for the story’s resolution.

Now, the third act goes full gangbusters with multiple kidnappings, treasure-finding, and, of course, a super satisfactory ending that leaves everyone happy. It’s a pleasing ending to a particularly somber first and second act.

Karig’s portrayal of Asa’s and Nancy’s losses, be it their families, support systems, or friendships, is a poignant reminder of the inevitable losses we all face. Their families’ inability to reconcile over their history and inheritance leads to devastating rifts, leaving deep, even generational wounds.

However, this book is a slog through the middle, where the mystery takes a back seat to the larger emotional stakes. I think Warig doubles down on the action and adventure in the final third to bring back the fun element.

The Sign of the Twisted Candles presents a unique take on the girl mystery genre, with a significant focus on character growth and emotional struggles. If you’re a fan of Nancy Drew mysteries and are interested in seeing Nancy’s character evolve and face emotional challenges, this novel might be a satisfying read for you. However, if you’re looking for a purely entertaining mystery, this one might not fully meet your expectations. 

---

---

---