The original stories in the Nancy Drew series of books were shortened and updated throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The results were often positive, with the newer version becoming more relevant and being stripped of racist and/or inflammatory language. However, there were several stories in which the story told lost something in the updating. The Secret in the Old Attic was one of those stories.

In this case, the story wasn’t changed all that much between the two versions. All that was done was to tighten up the story, and it might have been tightened up a bit too much. There was a good sub-plot in the original that involved a threat to Nancy’s relationship with “special friend” Ned Nickerson who she often seems to boss around and take for granted. That entire story was jettisoned and it’s a shame because it brought a realistic edge to the relationship, rather than having Ned seem to be Nancy’s doormat all the time.

A man by the name of Philip March enlists Nancy’s help to discover original songs his son, “Fipp”, wrote before being killed as a soldier. Mr. March needs the royalties from publishing these songs to help care for his young granddaughter, Susan, who has been in the care of a family friend. The problem is that Fipp never copyrighted his music as he seemed to be his own worst critic and Mr. March is sure he has heard some of the tunes Fipp used to play on the radio.

At the same time, Nancy’s father, noted attorney Carson Drew, enlists her help on a case of his own. It seems that one of the companies he does legal work for believes an employee took their secret formula for processing silk and sold it to a rival firm. That firm is owned by the Dight family. Daughter Diane Dight was in Nancy’s classes in school and Nancy didn’t think too much of her.

The formulaic writing in this series means the two mysteries will somehow be tied together, and in the end, the solution to both mysteries wraps itself up in a nice bow for Nancy.

There are some real positives about The Secret in the Old Attic. There’s a good deal of consistency as characters from other stories are brought back into the picture. The ditzy Effie is back, although there is no mention of her being Hannah’s niece. It would seem that angle was dropped from her character and her ditziness is toned down a bit. Instead, she seems to be an out-and-out scardey-cat, rather than just flaky. Mr. Faber, the antique dealer, also makes an appearance as Nancy and friends Bess Marvin and George Fayne comb through Philip March’s attic bringing antiques they find to Mr. Faber.

What I noticed fairly quickly, though, was that the pace seems way off. The Secret in the Old Attic breezes through some periods of time and then drags through others. Some parts give quite a bit of detail while in others there’s hardly any. It gave me the sense that I was missing something, and I suspect these were spots where chunks of the original story had been chopped out.

When the mystery about the silk processing formula drops into Nancy’s lap, it’s more of the usual superficial assessments I’ve come to expect in the series. The Dight Company that has supposedly stolen the formula is owned by the father of a former classmate of Nancy’s. When Carson Drew asks Nancy about the girl: Diane’s an attractive-looking girl, but she’s spoiled and willful. With that, you know the girl’s family will be guilty of some wrongdoing.

This is one story that I can remember a lot of the original version which I read when borrowed from the library. My opinion is that the original version is better. It hints that it takes place during World War II (the original copyright is 1944) and that’s what was removed along with the rival for Ned’s affection. It’s a shame because it made for a better story.

Even so, this is one of the better stories in the series. I liked the consistency of drawing on characters who had already appeared in the series. My daughter and I both enjoyed it despite the shortcomings. I would have liked for her to have read the original so I could see if the dated parts would still have value to her. I think the editors of these books underestimated their audience that way. Still, it was an enjoyable read with a decent story.

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