The Eskimo's Secret.

Nancy Drew #76

The Eskimo's Secret

Basic Plot: The renowned Eskimo sculpture “Tundra” is stolen from the Steele gallery and Alana disappears; actually given as ransom by Clement.  Carson kidnapped - want to exchange for Alana who has written a notebook about the sculpture - they think she can tell them where the treasure is.

Setting

Seattle WA, Victoria BC

Recurring Characters

Carson Drew

Characters and Suspects
  • Helen Haggler - owner of Haggler International Imports - art import shops
  • Alana Steele - RHts friend, orphaned, lives in Victoria
  • Clement Steele - Alan’s uncle and guardian; dealer in native art
  • Jeff Carrington - police investigator in Victoria
  • Mrs. Dentley - Steele’s housekeeper
  • Tod Harper - Alana’s boyfriend, gallery employee
  • Franklin Cole - owner of Tundra, deceased
  • Qinggoq - artist - sculptor of the Tundra
  • Ben Qinggoq - grandson of artist
  • Jim - Ben’s friend at the Lodge

Culprits
  • Jasper Cole - Franklin’s nephew
  • Felix Borge
  • Bascomb - henchman

motivation:  find lost ivory treasures of Seal Bay; also trying to takeover Haggler imports in order to sell/dispose of the treasure

Resolution

rescue Carson from Island; Ben remembers story of bear attacking his father - leads him to where the treasure has been hidden (Qinggoq hit everything so that villagers would not sell their heritage to the white man)

Mis-adventures

chased in car through woods
Key clues
 Tundra notebook
Firebird Lodge mantel
tape from Carson - leads to Coachman Island
artist’s last words:  “look with the eye of the past to find the darkest dawn”
Nancy's talents

Nancy's outfits


Meaning of the title

The eskimo is Qinggoq - where he hid the treasure

reward


items of interest

p 125 - Mr. DeFoe - boat called Polka Dot - reference to Broken Anchor
p. 127 - G. Reed and reference to runaway stagecoach refers to Elusive Heiress.

THE COVERS

Below is a gallery of all the covers I have found for The Eskimo's Secret. Below each picture is the artist's name, and a brief description of the scene depicted.
Wanderer (unique) cover by Hector Garrido: there is no bear in the story at all, except in Ben’s recollection of his father.  No bear ever menaces Nancy
Wanderer "Checkerboard" cover by Hector Garrido
Minstrel cover by Aleta Jenks: pg. 151-2 - landing on Coachman Island - Alana should be with Ben & Nancy

Armada (UK) Format "C" cover by unknown artist:  Carson tied up?
French (Hachette) cover by Martine Laurent: moose and wolves are featured on the carving but the Tundra is supposed to have many small figures in relief; not sure what the scene in the bottom of a man adjusting something on boat is
Forlagshuset (Norwegian) cover - uses Armada UK artwork
Tammi (Finnish) cover by Kaarina Hanström
Tammi (Finnish) cover by Pentti Kareinen

THE PRINTINGS

This chronological listing of printings mimics the identification system developed by David Farah for his guide on Nancy Drew. He has given me permission to replicate his system for the purpose of categorizing the paperbacks from this series. For those of you not familiar with his methods for identifying a printing, the first line describes the outside of the book (cover/spine/back cover) and the second line describes the internal pages (inside cover/pre-text pages/post-text pages/inside back cover).

1st
Garrido/WU/pink/3.50,+,55046-2
bl/pwt/bl/tp/cp/tc/bl//ND#57-78 ao of/bl/bl

2nd
Garrido/WU/pink/3.50,+,55046-2
bl/pwt/bl/tp/cp/tc/bl//ND#57-78 ao of/HB#59-85 ao of/bl

3rd
Garrido/W2/two-toned brick red/3.50?,+,62468-7
bl/pwt/bl/tp/cp/tc/bl//ND#57-78 ao of/NDCF#1-4/bl

1st Minstrel
Garrido/M1/two toned brick red/+,62468-7
bl/pwt/bl/tp/cp/tc/bl//ND#57-81 ao of/HB#59-88 ao of/bl

2nd Minstrel
Jenks/M1/pink-red, 350/pic, 73003-7
BF#1-12/exc/ND#57-98/tp/cp+/tc/bl//NewBT#1-21/ND#57-98, g1 of/NewBT ad

FOREIGN TITLES

Language

Foreign Title

Title's translation
French Sortilèges Esquimaux
 Eskimo spells

Finnish

Neiti etsivä ja eskimon salaisuus

 Nancy and the eskimo's secret
Norwegian Detektiv Nancy Drew og eskimomysteriet
 Nancy and the eskimo mystery
 

The Eskimo's Secret, artwork by Hector Garrido © 1985 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Eskimo's Secret, artwork by Aleta Jenks © by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Eskimo's Secret, artwork unattributed © 1986 by Fontana Paperbacks, London.
Sortilèges esquimaux, artwork by Martine Laurent © 1988 by Hachette, Paris.
Detektiv Nancy Drew og eskimomysteriet, artwork unattributed © 1986 by Fontana Paperbacks, London.
Neiti Etsivä ja eskimon salaisuus, artwork by Kaarina Hanström © 1987 by Tammi, Helsinki.
Neiti Etsivä ja eskimon salaisuus, artwork by Pentti Kareinen © 1997 by Tammi, Helsinki.

 

© 2002, 2004, 2016 Lea Shangraw Fox