Nancy Drew – Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake
Ages: 10 and up

This is number seven of the Nancy Drew Series. First, let me state my bias. I enjoy the Nancy Drew games not only for solving mysteries but also for the places the game takes me to - behind the scenes in an old movie house (The Final Scene), inside a museum (Secret of the Scarlet Hand) a beautiful Victorian (Message in a Haunted Mansion). So I can't get excited about Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake. Remember how much fun it was exploring the mansions, museum, theater and TV studio? Well here you have a decrepit one room shack where Nancy even has to repair a hole in the floor of the cabin. You will also spend lots of time trying to find your way around the forest and other dark places. I played it with all the lights out, my monitor to top brightness and I still had a hard time - the scenes are dark even when it is day time at Moon Lake.

The story starts when Nancy responds to her friends cry for help by going out to some God forsaken isolated cabin without a cent in her pocket. Poor planning! Without money she has to barter for information by doing stupid tasks like taking pictures of birds, digging up worms and putting coke bottles in order. This is not my urbane, sophisticated Nancy.

The mystery involves ghost dogs attacking the cabin. Of course there is going to be some secret cache somewhere since the cabin was originally owned by a notorious bootlegger. Nancy has to interact with the locals – a shopkeeper, a birdwatcher and a park ranger to get leads.

I was moved to follow up on the actual Nancy Drew story, Ghost Dogs of Whispering Lake and it was interesting to compare them. The dogs, glowing yellow eyes, cemetery, code names, statues and Nancy being bonked on the head are in both, but the game is more elaborate and has many more characters and settings.

If you are the kind of person who must have an unbroken set – you will get this one too, but I for one, am disappointed in Ms. Nancy Drew. Send this girl back to the city.

Editor Review 12/02