The Hidden Window Mystery by Carolyn Keene (1956, 1975) Part 1

Nancy Drew says her goodbyes to their housekeeper Hannah. Just as she’s about to leave they hear a crash outside. As she opens up the door she sees their mailman lying on the ground. They both rush out to assist him and see that he has fallen and hit his head and the mail was spread all across the lawn.

Mr. Ritter tells Nancy that he has an article in a magazine that has a mystery to be solved and thinks Nancy would be great for the case. The case involves a stain glass window that has a peacock on it that is from Sir Richard Greystone of England and he believes that the window had been in his family since around the 1500s and is hoping to discover where it is. Then there is a knock on the door and to their surprise it is the new neighbor down the street Mrs. Dondo whom happens to be the recipient for the magazine and she is very irate that Mr. Ritter is slacking off and insists on digging through his bag herself to get a letter that has a hundred dollars in it. Mr. Ritter does not let her do this and looks through his bag and ensures her that he in fact does not have a letter for her and she gets quite upset and Hannah tells her very rudely to leave their home, considering she invited herself in without permission.

After Mr. Ritter leaves Nancy receives a call from Bess Marvin and she tells her to bring her cousin George over so she can tell them the news of the mystery. She tells them about Mrs. Dondo's letter that she claimed to have and Bess tells Nancy that her mother was at a local meeting and the other members agreed that Mrs. Dondo is a troublemaker and was not welcome in the previous neighborhood she was in.

The girls decide to go over and see if they can speak to Mrs. Dondo but they eaves drop on her and her husband speaking about her brother Alonzo which her husband does not believe that he ever sent the money. Mr. Drew comes home and speaks to the girls and they tell him about the mystery involving the window and he says that he has a retired friend named Mr. Atwater who used to be in the business and only does it leisurely now and agrees to make an appointment for them to go see him. The next day they go and visit Mr. Awater and learn all about stained glass windows. He gives the girls a catalog of some well known folks that make the windows. On the list they find one of a man that lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. Nancy has a cousin that lives there and all the girls decide to go and spend a couple of days there with her.

The next day Nancy receives a telegram from her cousin telling her not to come. Her father encourages the them to still go on their trip and stay in a hotel. When they arrive they hear that her cousin was in a car accident and they rush to the hospital to see her. Her cousin Susan tells her that she never sent her a telegram telling them to postpone their trip. Once Susan is well enough make their way back to her house. On the way they get into a car accident. Thankfully a doctor whom lived nearby was able to come and assist them.

Once they return to Susan's home, her husband Cliff tells Nancy that they have a mystery for her to solve in addition to the window mystery. A house that used to participate in garden showings with them now has a tall brick wall around the home and garden and has strange noises coming behind the wall.

They go and visit the home with the brick wall and hear strange noises that sound very similar to a peacock. But they don't have any luck being able to enter. After leaving they go visit the man they intended to come see on their trip, Mr. Bradshaw. They tried asking if he happened to know where the window was, but he had never heard of it. The magazine that Nancy read from Mr. Ritter just so happened to be the exact edition in Mr. Bradshaw's workshop so they knew he was lying about it.

The next day Susan decides that she is going to buy a new car. The girls go with her and are home within the hour with a brand new convertible. After having a nice meal someone had snuck onto their property and is seen by their housekeeper. Nancy goes after them and discovers they drop a small tube that reads black, and someone hits her from behind and she is knocked unconscious.

The next day Susan agrees to take the girls on a drive so they can see some famous homes in the area, some being owned by previous president's of the United States. They decide to go back and see Mr. Bradshaw for more information and Nancy wanted to learn how to make stained glass window art. Mr. Bradshaw's assistant is Alonzo, Mrs. Dondo's brother and he is not a nice man and does not like Nancy being there one bit.

The girls' learn that Ned Nickerson and two of his friends were coming to visit them while they are in Virginia. Ned goes on a small investigation with Nancy. She intentionally left a small make up item in the bushes of Mr. Bradshaw's place so she could go back. While trying to do that she is treed by one of his dog's. After leaving they head back to her cousin's house. They meet an actress that lives in the area and tells them of the strange noises they here coming from the house with the brick wall and they have also seen a peacock on the grounds there from time to time.

This book I have not read until now and I am sad that I never read this one earlier. Not only are there several mysteries to be solved but a tad suspenseful. A common thing to happen to Nancy is getting hit from behind, they also show this quite often in the video games series as well. I'm not exactly sure why culprits end up doing this to people, maybe to think they will lose their memory but if anything its a complete waste of time. Why would you risk being seen a second time just to slow down the person coming after you? This has always confused me and doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I am quite curious about this home with the peacocks, I am grateful that I am only reading about the strange noises, I am not a fan of the noises they make if those noises do turn out to be peacocks. It was quite common for high society to own peacocks, this started in the 1950's and had most of its popularity in the 1980's. Peacock's are a rumored to be a sign of bad luck, lets see if that rumor will be deemed true or if they will be good luck for Nancy in solving these cases.