I’m so excited! I love this game. This was the first game I played without any spoilers, so I was COMPLETELY SHOCKED by the ending. As such, I have a lot of fondness for it. It’s also pretty fun on its own — I like the mini-games and the characters, and the setting is really nice. There are also a lot of references to the books, which these games don’t normally do. I dig it a lot! It’s probably my third favorite of all the ND games, definitely in the top 5. Let’s do this!
This game is titled after the very first Nancy Drew book, but is apparently sort of a mix of the first four. I’ve read The Secret of the Old Clock and The Mystery at Lilac Inn, but not the other two. I don’t remember much about them, either, besides being appalled by how many times Nancy crashes her blue roadster in the books, and frickin’ Carson always just buys her another one. He never even lectures her how to not crash a second (or third, or fourth, or fifth) time. I don’t know if we get to destroy her car in this game, but that would be amazing.
Anyway, the year is 1930. Prohibition is still in force (which means everyone has a bunch of handy secret passageways), the Great Depression has begun (but Carson Drew’s business is still doing just fine), and the communist party of Vietnam was established in February! That last one might not have anything to do with the game. Let’s check out Nancy’s look back then, shall we?
It’s good to know that even in 1930, Nancy Drew liked to just run off with random shit that’s too big for her pockets.
I’m not sure what prompted them to release this game, actually. It wasn’t a particular Nancy Drew anniversary or anything (although Nancy is turning 85 years old this year!). Maybe they just wanted to make a game where people said “bee’s knees” unironically. A completely understandable urge.
So Nancy’s been called the Lilac Inn in Titusville (no word if it’s near a Hooverville) to help out this random girl named Emily Crandall, who has asked Nancy to come out to visit her for…reasons. They don’t even know each other; they have a mutual friend named “Helen Corning.” (Helen, by the way, was established as Nancy’s friend in the first couple of books, but was eventually written out in favor of Bess and George. Rough life, Helen!) Emily’s mother has died, and who better to comfort her in her grieving than someone she barely knows? Meanwhile, a friend of Emily’s mother, Jane Willoughby, has come to take care of Emily until she turns 18, which is in a few months. Emily inherited the Lilac Inn restaurant from her mother, but has no idea how to run it. I have no idea how to run a restaurant either, but I have played a lot of cooking minigames over the course of my Nancy Drew adventures, so I’m pretty sure I got this.
The first thing we do upon showing up at the inn is talk to Emily’s new guardian, Jane. Yes, the game literally right before this one also had a suspect named Jane. Nancy Drew, recycling ideas? I, for one, am shocked. Anyway, Jane spills some information on Emily: she’s all depressed and forgetful lately, on account of her mother being dead. Jane and Emily’s mom (“Gloria”) used to run a dress shop together in Capital City. Emily’s guardianship falls unto Jane, as Emily’s dad died in “the war”, at Cantigny. I only mention this because WWI is my pet obsession, and I may have shrieked “I KNOW WHAT THAT IS” at the Cantigny mention. Ahem. I’m excited. Let’s carry on. Anyway, Jane wrings her hands over how she just wishes she knew how to help Emily. “You make it sound like she’s in trouble,” Nancy says. Let’s all reflect on how “in trouble” had a different meaning in the ’30s than it does now, although I’m sure the game doesn’t mean it that way. Jane tells us we can go talk to her, but “[j]ust make like a Boy Scout and be prepared.” Ha! Nancy Drew is always prepared. Except for when she goes traveling without any money, or descends into dark passageways without a flashlight, or confronts a culprit without telling anyone where she is…oh. Well. Anyway.
“Hi, Nancy!” Emily says, staring at the wall on the other side of the room. Heh. She welcomes us to the Lilac Inn, and tells Nancy, “You and I may not be best friends or anything, but you’re still one of the nicest people I know.” That’s kind of an understatement, Emily! We met you five minutes ago! Anyway, it turns out the real reason we’re here is because Emily needs us to take some incredibly rare, valuable, precious, irreplaceable, sentimental, important, expensive jewelry and put it in Carson’s safe. (“Your father has a safe, right?” “It’s 1930. Lots of people have safes.” The future is now!) Emily tells us that strange things have been happening at the Lilac Inn — at one point she hushes us and asks if we heard a weird noise — and Jane thinks it’s all in her head, but she’d still like this very expensive jewelry to be locked up. Fair enough.
Unfortunately, we’re interrupted by the kitchen exploding! Wow, this game moves fast.
We cut to Jane, who tells us that one of the burners was left on, and the whole kitchen went up in flames. The inn will have to shut down. Hmmm. Jane not-so-subtly pins the blame on Emily, reminding us how “forgetful” she is, but Emily insists she didn’t leave the stove on.
Even worse, Emily’s valuable, fancy, costly, opulent, expensive jewelry has disappeared. “I knew this was going to happen!” Emily wails. Well, my God, Emily, why didn’t you do something about it, then? She cries that now she doesn’t have a hope of buying a new stove, and the inn will have to close. If only Josiah Crowley had left them money in his will like he said he would!
“Who’s Josiah Crowley?” Nancy asks, because you knew that’s exactly where this conversation was going. He used to live next door to the Lilac Inn, but recently passed away. He gave the Crandalls a clock and used to hamfistedly hint that it had something to do with his will, but when the time came, Emily and her mom got nothing. Emily doesn’t know if the jewelry was insured, and she’s scared of talking to their banker by herself, so Nancy is going to have to do it. Our first errand! But before we leave, let’s ask about the guy who did get Josiah’s money, a Richard Topham. Apparently he and Josiah became besties after Josiah enrolled in Topham’s mind-reading school. As you do. Anyway, Topham moved into Josiah’s house (totally normal?) and inherited it upon his death. Josiah’s house and the Lilac Inn were built by a pair of brothers, so they’re clearly connected by a secret passageway. I mean, what?
We ask if anyone knew where the jewelry was besides Emily, and she says no one except for Jane. Suspicious! Also, one time Josiah came to Emily’s birthday party dressed as her “Aunt Harriet” and nobody figured out it was him for two weeks. Emily all, “Ohohoho, he was a master of disguise! Such good times!” I think it’s kind of weird Emily can’t clock a dude in a dress and makeup. Then again, people seemed to be really bad at that in the ’30s.
Oh, right, and we’re supposed to call Nancy’s dad. To the pay phone!
We have to put in a nickel and talk to an operator! I’m unnecessarily excited about this. Do phones even have operators anymore? We can call Bess and George and Nancy’s dad. There is zero Ned in this game, but for once it’s forgivable, as he technically hasn’t even been introduced to the series yet.
Anyway, Carson asks Nancy how the car’s running, and tells her, “If you treat it well, it’ll treat you well.” Ha! Like Nancy doesn’t get into a car wreck in every damn book. Anyway, Carson asks us to pick up some telegrams(!) for him and infodumps about how wills work. It sucks for Emily and all, but if Josiah didn’t actually write the Crandalls into the will, there’s nothing she can do. Unless there’s ANOTHER WILL! Josiah would NEVER break his promise to the Crandalls, nevermind that we’ve never actually met the guy. Nancy’s off and running with this theory, which we know is correct because she’s Nancy Drew.
Then we call Bess and George. Some lady who shares a phone line with them (hee!) tries to eavesdrop, and all the girls marvel over how Bess’s house has its own phone. I love this game.
We have to drive to “Tubby’s Telegrams” and pick up Carson’s stuff. While we’re there, the guy tells us that his usual telegram delivery person never showed up today, so we can make some extra money by delivering telegrams. We’re the telegram deliverer for the whole game, and there’s no time system either, so I’m guessing this is another mystery Nancy solves in a day. Anyway, I actually really like the telegram delivery part of the game — all the locations and minor characters are really fun, and you get to travel around the game map without ridiculous amounts of runaround.
Our next task is to go visit Jim Archer, Emily’s banker. He infodumps about the Great Depression — President Hoover says recovery is just around the corner, but banks have been failing left and right. Not his, though! He’s doing JUST FINE, thank you! Anyway, Emily’s jewelry wasn’t insured at all — her mother stopped paying into the insurance when she found out Josiah was planning to leave them money in his will. Jim Archer was surprised and disappointed, too — he and Josiah were also friends, and Josiah hinted he was going to leave the Archers some money as well. Man, Josiah really fucked everyone in this town over. Mr. Archer is the executor of the will, and Josiah always told him he’d reveal the will’s location “when the time is right.” That sounds like another clock reference to me! But then Josiah died, and the will was eventually found in a drawer in his house. All Mr. Archer got was a janky old typewriter. Josiah does have a safe deposit box at the bank, but no one knows where the key is.
We can look at some pictures on his wall — one is of an old lady named “Clara Pickford”, who apparently comes in every once and a while and “[took] a shine” to Mr. Archer. O…kay. The other is of a car, which Mr. Archer says is his. Nancy muses that it looks just like a car that was parked outside the inn before the fire (and was gone afterwards). Suspicious!
On the way to Josiah’s house, we find an appraisal slip for a metal key. A clue! So we’ll have to go meet with the jeweler later. But right now, let’s talk to Richard Topham. Within the like, week that Josiah’s been dead, Topham’s already turned his house into the “Topham School for the Study and Development of Paranormal Powers.” Sensitive. Topham ~senses~ our arrival (and somehow knows Nancy’s name) without turning around, and Nancy’s all blown away. “Jeepers!” Heh.
Richard Topham looks kind of weird. I don’t know if you can see it that well in this picture, but he’s really fuzzy and pixelated compared to all the other characters. I don’t know why, ’cause it’s not like he’s positioned more close-up than anyone else in these games or has anything particularly tricky about the model. Oh well. Anyway, he blows us off when we try to talk to him about Josiah Crowley: “The more time I spend with the intellectually unendowed, the more my cerebral pulsations seem to diminish. I’m afraid I cannot speak to you further unless you prove that your brainwaves are not inferior and thus deleterious to mine.” HEE! I’m torn between getting all righteously indignant on Nancy’s behalf (never insult Nancy Drew in front of me!), and just laughing.
Anyway, Topham lets us look around the house a bit, where we find a bunch of Josiah’s notes. They’re helpful for a bunch of things in this game, but what we need them for now is so they can help us prove to Topham that our brainwaves are undeleterious. This involves solving a bunch of word puzzles, which are easy because I am very intellectually endowed, thank you. Topham deigns to talk to us, and tells us that he wasn’t really surprised that Josiah left everything to him, as the Crandalls and Mr. Archer were both obviously only friends with Josiah because of his money. He also alibis that he was with a “pupil” at the time of the fire and jewel theft.
(In the book, by the way, the Tophams are actually two obnoxious sisters who Nancy doesn’t like because they’re new money. Heh. ’30s Nancy was kind of snobby — in Mystery at Lilac Inn, she solves the case when she sees the culprit at a dress shop and is like, “Omg, she must have stolen the jewels, because she is TOO POOR and TOO FOREIGN to be hanging around here!”)
Josiah’s spoiler book says that he kept a bunch of secrets up in his carriage house, but we need to solve some puzzles to open it up. Let’s get on those, shall we?
Puzzle One: “What are you when you win Bard Bounce?”
Back at the Lilac Inn, we have to play a game called Bard Bounce. It’s one of those games where you have to move pieces around obstacles on a board to get them to a certain area. When we win, a big sign drops down saying, “KEEN!” Nancy Drew is pretty keen, it’s true.
We tell Jane that someone stole the jewels, and she’s all shocked and appalled: “If you can’t trust a fireman, who CAN you trust?” Au contraire, Jane, we already know it was you who knew where the jewels were! She denies it, naturally.
Upstairs, Emily says she keeps hearing whispering noises, and then she saw the picture move. We tell her about the jewelry being uninsured, then she cuts us off with some truly terrible graphics:
Emily’s pixelly pores are absolutely something I needed to see.
Emily shushes us, but we don’t hear anything. She panics that the picture on the wall is moving, but we don’t see that, either. Emily wails that there’s nothing we can do, so we might as well go home. But Nancy is all invested in what’s going on now, and offers to stick around and help out. “What are you, some kind of Sam Spade?” Emily asks. Hee! Also, hey, my Humphrey Bogart joke is actually relevant now! You can tell Emily that you want to solve the mystery of the missing jewelry, the exploding stove, or try and find the second will (that we have no proof even exists, but whatever). They’re all related, naturally, so it doesn’t matter which you pick. Nancy chirps that she’s never solved a mystery before, but who knows, she just might turn out to be good at it! Heh.
Puzzle two: “What’s Gloria’s middle name?”
Okay, this isn’t actually a puzzle, because you can just straight-up ask Emily, and she tells you (“Lois”). She also tells us a little bit about a clock Josiah gave them, which doesn’t work, so whatever. She doesn’t know where his safe deposit box key is. That’s it for Emily. Let’s leave her to her grief-induced hallucinations, like the good friend we are!
Back downstairs, Jane says the sheriff won’t investigate the jewel theft — she sort of let it slip that Emily’s hearing voices and shit, and so the sheriff thinks she just misplaced them and then forgot where they are, being insane and all. Jane says it “only felt fair” to tell the sheriff that Emily’s all weird. Did it really, Jane? She also admits that she told Richard Topham who Nancy was when he came over after the fire (that’s how he knew Nancy’s name earlier), but she “[doesn’t] usually give that crackpot the time of day.” We mention that Josiah Crowley liked him, and Jane snarks, “Like that circus fella said, there’s a sucker born every minute.” I find Jane really endearing, I’m not going to lie. She gives off a kind of “street smart best friend of the heroine in a ’30s screwball comedy” vibe.
Puzzle three: “What will par on my miniature golf course get you?”
Josiah Crowley has a miniature golf course behind his house, as you do. You have to make 30 par on the course. I love minigolf, but this took me frickin’ forever. I think I finally managed to escape with a score of like, 28. /o Anyway, we get a toy pony. (We also, weirdly, play part of the game from the point of view of the golf ball. I don’t know.) Then we have to solve another puzzle on the golf stand, which reveals a poem.
The poem has absolutely nothing to do with anything; it’s just there so certain words can be highlighted, so we know that they are Very Important.
Let’s go to the jeweler. He tells us that the key belonged to Mr. Archer, but it was worthless, as the jewels on it were fake. Mr. Archer was Not Pleased about this, and refused to pay the appraisal fee. We can have the key, though, as long as we fork over the $1.50. (According to the CPI Inflation Calculator, that’s about $20.)
When we go back to the bank, Mr. Archer remembers that he used to go to law school with Carson Drew, and asks how his business is doing. Nancy chirps that it couldn’t be better, and Mr. Archer awkwards about how he’s also fine, his business is TOTALLY FINE, so we should just tell Nancy’s dad that MR. ARCHER IS DOING EQUALLY GOOD. I’m thinking maybe Mr. Archer was lying about his bank being okay? Anyway, we can also ask about his car being up at the Lilac Inn, but he’s like, “No, it was probably bootleggers.” Bootleggers who were…craving pie? And they…started the fire with their illegal booze? Do bootleggers even carpool?
We bring up the key, and Mr. Archer says he thought he had thrown the receipt out, as he isn’t interested in a worthless key. So…he had to have been up by the Lilac Inn, since we found the receipt near Topham’s house, yes? We have caught Mr. Archer in a web of LIES. But anyway, Nancy figures that the key might open the clock Josiah left him, because of course Josiah also left him a clock. It does, and inside the clock is a mirror. There are 3 mirrors you have to find before you go into the carriage house (one is in the Lilac Inn parlor, one is in Topham’s house, and this is the third one).
Finally: Josiah’s spoiler book mentioned a trivet from his typewriter, which you’ll recall he left to Mr. Archer. Unfortunately, when we look at the typewriter ribbon, we see a message saying that he lent the trivet to some lady named Mrs. Sheldon, so we’ll have to go get that from her.
Puzzle four: “What poet is the cat’s meow?”
I direct you to the Urban Dictionary definition of “cat’s meow”, because it is hilarious. Anyway, there’s a book of poetry in Emily’s room by an “Omar Khayyam,” who Josiah apparently thought was pretty swell. So we’ve cracked the code to get into the carriage house! But first, we have to get that trivet back from Mrs. Sheldon.
Up next: We run errands for everybody. All of Nancy’s friends reference Dashiell Hammett when they talk to her, for some reason. I like the implication that Nancy reads noir novels, with all of their murder and sex. They couldn’t name drop Agatha Christie?
Leave a Reply