Password to Larkspur Lane, By Carolyn Keene, Danica Reese, Narrator

Password to Larkspur Lane

Nancy Drew Mystery Book 10

By Carolyn Keene

Narrator: Danica Reese
Audio book
Phoenix Audio Books
Length: 3 hrs and 39 mins

Narrator Review of Danica Reese

Ear Busting Narrator

Narrator Rating 0/10

Not easy doing an Audio Book Review for Danica Reese. Cannot even imagine why Phoenix Books, hired her, unless it was because she is just slightly less awful than Jessie Birschbach. Ms. Reese reads like she's going comatose, it's flat and monotone. Conversations are stilted and unnatural sounding.

The men are shockingly bad and can chill the ears. Hannah, the loving and sweet housekeeper and stand in Mom, sounds harsh, even a little dimwitted. Mr. Drew is beyond awful, from the tone of voice, the inflection and even too not maintaining a masculine voice.

Reese did do a decent pigeon coo and she does a decent evil persons voice.

Everything is read pretty much in a drone and what isn't, is so godawful that it's difficult to follow the story. Everything about the dialogue is off, there's no appropriate intonation, no lilt. Save your credits or money and get it from a library if you absolutely must listen to The Password to Larkspur Lane. 

Audio Book Review for Password to Larkspur Lane

A Nancy Drew Mystery by Carolyn Keene.

An Injured Carrier Pigeon falls into Nancy Drew's Garden.

Pigeon eyeing Nancy's garden

Nancy and Hannah are cutting flowers when a plane passes over and a pigeon falls from it. The poor thing falls right into Nancy's garden. It's wing is injured and Nancy retrieves the number off the birds leg band, 2-21-12-12 and wires the association the number. There's also a message that makes no sense to Nancy.

Many seemingly unrelated things keep attracting Nancy's attention with the words larkspur and bluebells. Nancy Takes her flower arrangement to the garden show to enter in the contest but leaves early to hurry home to see if the National association of Carrier Pigeons wired back the name of the pigeons owner.

Nancy Takes a short cut home and passes a sedan parked on the side of the road. In her rear view mirror she notices the license plate is 2-21-1, the same numbers as the pigeons leg band. She can't help but wonder if there's a connection.



Things get even stranger when Dr. Spire passes her from the opposite direction, she slows down and pulls over when she sees him stop at the dark car on the side of the road. and to her surprise, he is pulled into the car.

A mysterious phone call
Hannah slips on the cellar steps and strains her back and Nancy drives her to Dr. Spires office. Dr. Spires is not back yet, and Mrs. Spires asks Nancy to answer the phone while she starts dinner. The phone rings and a muffled voice tells her to write down a message for Dr. Spires. "If you say bluebells, you will get in trouble, for they are no longer used here."  Nancy is mystified as she ponders the words.

Dr. Spires needs Nancy and Carson Drews' help.
Dr. Spires asks Nancy and her father to help him as he's concerned about the woman he was taken to tend to. He was told not to speak to her and she frantically tried to show her fear and stress via her eyes. She slips Dr. Spires a bracelet with a small coat of arms.

Nancy has enough clues to take aggressive steps to finding the old woman. She takes the bracelet to the jewelers to see if he has any way to research the coat of arms. He does know someone who is knowledgeable about such things and tells Nancy to give him a week or so.

Nancy Drew girl detective runs into her old friend Helen Corning, who invites her to solve yet another mystery. Helen's mystery has links to the mystery that Nancy is working on. It's a race to the finish line for the young detective if she has any hopes of rescuing the old woman.

This 1932 original movie differs in many details from this version of the Password to Larkspur Lane. I found this movie to be charming and well worth watching. "Bonita Granville plays the cute and inquisitive teen turned amateur sleuth"

Other Nancy Drew Books I've reviewed.

• The Secret of the Old Clock 
• The Hidden Staircase
• The Bungalow Mystery 
• The Mystery at Lilac Inn
• The Secret of Shadow Ranch 
• The Secret of Red Gate Farm
• The Clue in the Diary 
• Nancy's Mysterious Letter 
• The Sign of the Twisted Candles 

The Secret of Red Gate Farm. Carolyn Keene, Narrator: Laura Linney

The Secret of Red Gate Farm
Carolyn Keene
Narrator: Laura Linney
Listening LibraryAudio Book

2 hrs. 58 mins.

The Secret of Red Gate Farm
Carolyn Keene

Narrator Review: Laura Linney

Laura Linney Narrator

I enjoyed listening to Laura Linney narrate The Secret of Red Gate Farm. Ms. Linney's lovely voice brings the entire book to thrilling life, creating a robust and intense visualization throughout. Ms. Linney is very sensitive to developing the personalities of each individual. Where other narrators fail Ms. Linney excels in every category.

Audio Book Review: The Secret of Red Gate Farm, Nancy Drew

Nancy and her bff's Bess and George had a day of shopping and Bess bought a bottle of Blue Jade Perfume. At twenty dollars an ounce it was very expensive. Twenty dollars in 1931 is according to the Department of Labor Statistics is now equal to about three hundred and five dollars. So that bottle of Blue Jade bought today would cost around $300.

This bottle of Blue Jade is the central figure which the story revolves around. First the girls chide Bess for spending so much on it, a sudden jolt of the train causes the bottle to drop to the floor but not before splashing half of it on Nancy. Nancy has a sinister looking man mistakes her identity because she smells strongly of Blue Jade. Lastly they all wonder why the salesgirl did not want to sell it to them at all and priced it high to discourage them.

On the train ride home they meet Joan and become friends with her. Joan is going to town to answer an ad for office help. Her grandmother is facing foreclosure and Joan thinks if she finds a job it will help them pay the back payments and save the farm. Nancy and her friends try to help her and end up spending some time at the farm, and solve the mystery of the Black Snake Cult that rents a back portion of Red Gate.

This is no less an intriguing story than all of Nancy Drew books. With such skillful writing that is tight and not a wasted word anywhere it is amazing that it's only two hours and fifty-eight minutes long. Listening or reading Nancy Drew should not be dismissed as old fashioned, or dated. The stories are good to excellent, and they give a peek into another era. Whether you're a history buff or a mystery buff or both, Nancy will keep you bewitched.

Other Nancy Drew Books:

• The Secret of the Old Clock
• The Hidden Staircase
• The Bungalow Mystery 
• The Mystery at Lilac Inn 
• The Secret of Shadow Ranch 
• The Clue in the Diary 
• Nancy's Mysterious Letter 
• The Sign of the Twisted Candles 
•