Verses

A comprehensive list of titles from Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew series (1930-present):

1. THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK
2. THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE
3. THE BUNGALOW MYSTERY
4. THE MYSTERY AT LILAC INN
5. THE SECRET OF SHADOW RANCH
6. THE SECRET OF RED GATE FARM
7. THE CLUE IN THE DIARY
8. NANCY'S MYSTERIOUS LETTER
9. THE SIGN OF THE TWISTED CANDLES
10. THE PASSWORD TO LARKSPUR LANE
11. THE CLUE OF THE BROKEN LOCKET
12. THE MESSAGE IN THE HOLLOW OAK
13. THE MYSTERY OF THE IVORY CHARM
14. THE WHISPERING STATUE
15. THE HAUNTED BRIDGE
16. THE CLUE OF THE TAPPING HEELS
17. THE MYSTERY OF THE BRASS-BOUND TRUNK
18. THE MYSTERY OF THE MOSS-COVERED MANSION
19. THE QUEST OF THE MISSING MAP
20. THE CLUE IN THE JEWEL BOX
21. THE SECRET IN THE OLD ATTIC
22. THE CLUE IN THE CRUMBLING WALL
23. THE MYSTERY OF THE TOLLING BELL
24. THE CLUE IN THE OLD ALBUM
25. GHOST OF BLACKWOOD HALL
26. THE CLUE OF THE LEANING CHIMNEY
27. THE SECRET OF THE WOODEN LADY
28. THE CLUE OF THE BLACK KEYS
29. THE MYSTERY AT THE SKI JUMP
30. THE CLUE OF THE VELVET MASK
31. THE RINGMASTER'S SECRET
32. THE SCARLET SLIPPER MYSTERY
33. THE WITCH TREE SYMBOL
34. THE HIDDEN WINDOW MYSTERY
35. THE HAUNTED SHOWBOAT
36. THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN PAVILION
37. THE CLUE IN THE OLD STAGECOACH
38. THE MYSTERY OF THE FIRE DRAGON
39. THE CLUE OF THE DANCING PUPPET
40. THE MOONSTONE CASTLE MYSTERY
41. THE CLUE OF THE WHISTLING BAGPIPES
42. THE PHANTOM OF PINE HILL
43. THE MYSTERY OF THE 99 STEPS
44. THE CLUE IN THE CROSSWORD CIPHER
45. THE SPIDER SAPPHIRE MYSTERY
46. THE INVISIBLE INTRUDER
47. THE MYSTERIOUS MANNEQUIN
48. THE CROOKED BANISTER
49. THE SECRET OF MIRROR BAY
50. THE DOUBLE JINX MYSTERY
51. MYSTERY OF THE GLOWING EYE
52. THE SECRET OF THE FORGOTTEN CITY
53. THE SKY PHANTOM
54. STRANGE MESSAGE IN THE PARCHMENT
55. MYSTERY OF CROCODILE ISLAND
56. THE THIRTEENTH PEARL
57. THE TRIPLE HOAX
58. THE FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY
59. THE SECRET IN THE OLD LACE
60. THE GREEK SYMBOL MYSTERY
61. THE SWAMI'S RING
62. THE KACHINA DOLL MYSTERY
63. THE TWIN DILEMMA
64. CAPTIVE WITNESS
65. MYSTERY OF THE WINGED LION
66. RACE AGAINST TIME
67. THE SINISTER OMEN
68. THE ELUSIVE HEIRESS
69. CLUE IN THE ANCIENT DISGUISE
70. THE BROKEN ANCHOR
71. THE SILVER COBWEB
72. THE HAUNTED CAROUSEL
73. ENEMY MATCH
74. THE MYSTERIOUS IMAGE
75. THE EMERALD-EYED CAT
76. THE ESKIMO'S SECRET
77. THE BLUEBEARD ROOM
78. THE PHANTOM OF VENICE
79. THE DOUBLE HORROR OF FENLEY PLACE
80. THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING DIAMONDS
81. MARDI GRAS MYSTERY
82. THE CLUE IN THE CAMERA
83. THE CASE OF THE VANISHING VEIL
84. THE JOKER'S REVENGE
85. THE SECRET OF SHADY GLEN
86. THE MYSTERY OF MISTY CANYON
87. THE CASE OF THE RISING STARS
88. THE SEARCH FOR CINDY AUSTIN
89. THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING DEEJAY
90. THE PUZZLE AT PINEVIEW SCHOOL
91. THE GIRL WHO COULDN'T REMEMBER
92. THE GHOST OF CRAVEN COVE
93. THE CASE OF THE SAFECRACKER'S SECRET
94. THE PICTURE-PERFECT MYSTERY
95. THE SILENT SUSPECT
96. THE CASE OF THE PHOTO FINISH
97. THE MYSTERY AT MAGNOLIA MANSION
98. THE HAUNTING OF HORSE ISLAND
99. THE SECRET AT SEVEN ROCKS
100. A SECRET IN TIME: NANCY DREW'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
101. THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING MILLIONAIRES
102. THE SECRET IN THE DARK
103. THE STRANGER IN THE SHADOWS
104. THE MYSTERY OF THE JADE TIGER
105. THE CLUE IN THE ANTIQUE TRUNK
106. THE CASE OF THE ARTFUL CRIME
107. THE LEGEND OF MINER'S CREEK
108. THE SECRET OF THE TIBETAN TREASURE
109. THE MYSTERY OF THE MASKED RIDER
110. THE NUTCRACKER BALLET MYSTERY
111. THE SECRET AT SOLAIRE
112. CRIME IN THE QUEEN'S COURT
113. THE SECRET LOST AT SEA
114. THE SEARCH FOR THE SILVER PERSIAN
115. THE SUSPECT IN THE SMOKE
116. THE CASE OF THE TWIN TEDDY BEARS
117. MYSTERY ON THE MENU
118. TROUBLE AT LAKE TAHOE
119. THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING MASCOT
120. THE CASE OF THE FLOATING CRIME
121. THE FORTUNE-TELLER'S SECRET
122. THE MESSAGE IN THE HAUNTED MANSION
123. THE CLUE ON THE SILVER SCREEN
124. THE SECRET OF THE SCARLET HAND
125. THE TEEN MODEL MYSTERY
126. THE RIDDLE IN THE RARE BOOK
127. THE CASE OF THE DANGEROUS SOLUTION
128. THE TREASURE IN THE ROYAL TOWER
129. THE BABY-SITTER BURGLARIES
130. THE SIGN OF THE FALCON
131. THE HIDDEN INHERITANCE
132. THE FOX HUNT MYSTERY
133. THE MYSTERY AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE
134. THE SECRET OF THE FORGOTTEN CAVE
135. THE RIDDLE OF THE RUBY GAZELLE
136. THE WEDDING DAY MYSTERY
137. IN SEARCH OF THE BLACK ROSE
138. LEGEND OF THE LOST GOLD
139. THE SECRET OF CANDLELIGHT INN
140. THE DOOR-TO-DOOR DECEPTION
141. THE WILD CAT CRIME
142. THE CASE OF CAPITAL INTRIGUE
143. MYSTERY ON MAUI
144. THE E-MAIL MYSTERY
145. THE MISSING HORSE MYSTERY
146. THE GHOST OF LANTERN LADY
147. THE CASE OF THE CAPTURED QUEEN
148. ON THE TRAIL OF TROUBLE
149. THE CLUE OF THE GOLD DOUBLOONS
150. MYSTERY AT MOORSEA MANOR
151. THE CHOCOLATE-COVERED CONTEST
152. THE KEY IN THE SATIN POCKET
153. WHISPERS IN THE FOG
154. THE LEGEND OF THE EMERALD LADY
155. THE MYSTERY IN TORNADO ALLEY
156. THE SECRET IN THE STARS
157. THE MUSIC FESTIVAL MYSTERY
158. THE CURSE OF THE BLACK CAT
159. THE SECRET OF THE FIERY CHAMBER
160. THE CLUE ON THE CRYSTAL DOVE
161. LOST IN THE EVERGLADES

The Youths (Kulture)

I had just turned eighteen. But I was deep in my Eurotrash (that word is simply not global enough) phase, in its imprecise, gooey center, really. In school outside of Boston, I frequented a handful of clubs near that city's Chinatown (Aria, Venu, pron. Venue [which became Rumor, where Paris is pictured above], Whiskey Bar, and Pravda) with my new best friends, a girl from Warsaw who was fresh from Le Rosey and a boy from Palm Beach via Caracas (from which his powerful familia fled when ousted by the populist Chavez). The Swiss boarding school and South American politico connections brought us into contact with a constant stream of Dior-eyewear-sporting Turks and Indians and Colombians and Russians and Mexicans and Saudis and Koreans and indeterminate Middle-Europeans (I suppose you call those Swiss?).

My weekends had an architecture especially formed for nightlife. When I wasn't dancing or sleeping or brunching at Armani Cafe (such shames), I was at Copley Plaza or along Newbury Street buying new get-ups--bags and bags of mini minis and premium denims and plunging little tops and throwaway stilettos and synthetic fabric dresses and giant earrings and clutches in various skins and truly stupid pink and red underthings.

When we two girls, one blond and one brunette, had grabbed prime spots, atop platforms, lifted from the fray in order to perform beneath the lights, to sometimes jump up and down to climactic stretches of electro symphony, I felt as if the ecstatic music was made to celebrate us and and keep us company. And by us, I meant: youths.

The old axiom, "youth is wasted on the young" may well be true, but as a youth, I was always terribly aware of my own little powers and freedoms. As I was easy with time and money and people, I was ever ever winkingly, gigglingly, jumping-up-and-downedly pleased with myself (you know, whenever I wasn't listening to The Velvet Underground and weeping or checking into mental hospitals). And every now and then, these Euros would bring their parents. Bring their parents to the club. I understand that "over there" people don't consider aging such a punishment as we do, and I'm sure that's quite proper and healthy. But a great deal of that smugness in my own youth was to do with how fleeting I assumed it would (or ought to?) be, my American-ness I suppose, my Puritan-feelings (those I thought I was too semitic to feel), the notion that I was doing something wrong in the absence of my parents and some future "adult" seriousness. These dancing, shot-taking parents alarmed me (in no small part because they were wholly unlike the wholesome academics what borned me).

I would soon move on from that Euro stuff in Boston to more exclusive addresses in la Nueva, shedding the costumes and customs of others for clothes and conversations far more like myself. This was only a svelter, stronger stab at youth-ness. At 19 and 20, I was even more certain that I was experiencing/making something finite, dancing and drugging and loving and squealing and paining like I rarely would again, pitying the old scenesters all about me. I would never be them, them that kept company with kids in order to feel relevant. And of course, at 21, back in Memphis, an art student, I self-fulfilled that prophecy. A few days after my great legalization, I stopped. I stopped smoking cigarettes (or buying them at least—sorry all); I stopped taking cocaine (mostly); I stopped talking to a few people; I stopped demanding of myself that I have some wild social life. I focused more heartily on my work and my true friends and my mornings and my maudlin hometown.

And sometimes I wonder if any of it was right. I think, at 23, I'm far too "young" to feel so removed, "old," so like a fried, sleepy hippie. I see agemates still chasing the proverbial dragon (opiates and attention), a few because they're addicts and a few because they have not yet had such a dumb, bright and explosive time as I used to (I guess). Should I let myself feel that callow youth-ness again? Or, was it always a rather unworthy pursuit? There's the rub. You see, this narcissistic rambling was all due to a song, an album really—Passion Pit's (oh the name!) Chunk of Change, six tracks and a remix. They're not the first clever techno outfit that has made me want to dance and sing and generally revel. But as I walked up Park Avenue this morning listening to this stuff, I was full of such a jarring mixture of joy and regret. Joy at the noise, regret at the ebbing feeling, the feeling that the noise was not made to "celebrate us" so much anymore. Listen friends and tell me what you think of them and this aging psychosis. Love.

Folk Art for Monday

This mugshot of Erin Caffey of Alba, Texas, a teenage girl prison-bound for plotting the murders of her mother and young brothers (at the hands of an ubiquitous, sleazy, older boyfriend), is the most incisive portrait I've seen in some time.

I'm OK? You're OK? (Let's cast some doubt on our romance con los nineties.)