I had the most fun with the incidental details about the various painted band boxes, bottles, and Mahagony furniture Nancy pulls down from the attic and sells for the Marchs to Mr. Is it a coincidence that black widow spiders are turning up in the March mansion? The other sub-plot involves industrial espionage and the commercial applications of spider silk. Nancy was clearly still under the influence of spider-silk chemicals and couldn't be held responsible for appearing to care about Ned Nickerson not inviting her to a dance. It was a first for the series and Wirt, I feel, made it deliberately unconvincing. Wirt, fulfilled the required romantic subplot for Nancy. I DID like how the longtime ghostwriter for the series, Mildred A. Bess Marvin, why do you have to be like that? It's impossible to tell if this 'colorful' detail was a part of the required outline from the Stratemeyer Syndicate or if it was the choice of the author. It unfortunately has several passages romanticizing slavery and all the jolly singing and dancing that must have gone on in the slave quarters.

There was a lot to like in 'The Secret in the Old Attic'. Can Nancy decipher the clues in the letters and perhaps dig out some antiques to hock for the March's at the same time? March's son wrote some cracking tunes - just what young folks crave - before dying in the war. They still live in the family estate, but it has been stripped clean of saleable items except for what's up in the attic. The letters lead Nancy to befriend the client, Philip March, and his granddaughter, who are the impoverished remnants of a fine, old River Heights family. It was a fantastic start and a nice glimpse at the bossy, rude Nancy we came to love who was starting to be smoothed out of existence by 1944.

How is he a good lawyer, again? Nancy reassures her father but absolutely judges him for his weakness. He is unmanned by the task and doesn't feel right to read something so private, even for a client. A client has given him a stack of love letters to read, insisting there's a clue to valuable songs hidden inside. Nancy's father has a new case, and he needs her help.

The secret in the old attic