THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK

With her quick wits and purposeful attitude, Nancy Drew's adventures have captivated legions of young girls since the 1930s. "Nancy's detective instincts were aroused," and so the teenaged Nancy Drew sets off on herfirst case. Nancy's resourcefulness and intelligence are just as sharp today, and Laura Linney gives a good portrait of the clever, earnest girl. Scenes and circumstances seem at times particularly anachronistic, and don't seem to have aged as well as the companion Hardy Boys mysteries. While Linney might have given the secondary characters a little more energy, Nancy shines. The success of the new audiobooks of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries is part nostalgia and part time-tested adventure. R.F.W. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 02]