The Mistletoe Mystery

This is #169 in the Nancy Drew series of books. The story revolves around events around Christmas time at a department store where Bess is working. Some electronics have been stolen along with gowns. The topic of shrinkage is then brought up.

Shrinkage is materials that are lost for some unknown reason. It could be items have been stolen. It can also include materials that have been damaged in some way. This can cost stores a lot and then have an effect on how successful the store is, perhaps leading to people losing their jobs since the store's profits go down.

Diedra is the manager of the store. Nancy and George end up doing temporary work for a guy named Wayne who is responsible for Christmas decorations and displays. There is also Jack, who is a security man for the store.

Nancy, as usual, ends up having "accidents" while Bess, for once, is the one getting a threatening note. George ends up falling down an escalator due to another "accident."

There is also something that I found somewhat unusual. It might be because I'm not reading the books in strict order and might have missed something noted in an earlier book, but in this one Bess is revealed to be a computer hacker which not only is something I did not expect, but the term "hacker" today has negative connotations.

There's also a strange female Nancy sees, and a very large Christmas tree that ends up falling directly towards Nancy. The crook, of course, is eventually revealed is not the person I expected the crook to be.

It's a good story with some interesting bits on how stores work.

Main Index

Yadult Index