The Message in the Haunted Mansion

Nancy Drew #122

The Message in the

Haunted Mansion

Basic Plot Summary: Rose has recently purchased a Victorian Mansion in hopes of refurbishing it as a bed & breakfast and asks Nancy et al to come find out why so many accidents keep happening, and to help with the renovation of the mansion. During their stay, Nancy discovers the identity of the previous owner and that Lizzie may have at one time been part of El Diablo's gang. The loot from their last heist (on Christmas Day) has never been found, and Nancy finds clues from hidden papers, including a song from Lizzie's play. Click here for chapter by chapter synopsis of the action.

This story was also recently adapted by Her Interactive, Inc. as a video game, directed primarily at girls. The games are currently available in PC format and for Game Boy Advance. This is a good website for clues to help with the game.

Setting

San Francisco CA, in winter (possibly around Christmas?)

Recurring Characters

Bess Marvin, George Fayne, Hannah Gruen

Characters and Suspects

Rose Green - old friend of Hannah's

Abby - Rose's niece and co-owner of the mansion; interested in the occult/seances; her black cat is Alfreida

Emily Foxworth - photojournalist

Mary Lee - waitress at local Chinese restaurant and great-granddaughter of Lizzie's cook

The Lee family: Mary's mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, Uncle Ray, Aunt June, Mary's brother Sam and her cousins Winston and Lorraine

Tim Coletti - blond teenage boy hiding out in hidden room in mansion, owner of puppy Tramp

Chief Martinez - fireman

Lt. Donald Chin - SFPD

Lisa Morley - staff historian at the California Express Company

Dr. McGuire - veterinarian

Historical Figures

Lizzie Applegate - actress and previous owner of the mansion when it was run as the Gardenia Hotal; aka E. Valdez; author of play The Bandit's Treasure

Diego Valdez - train robber known as El Diablo, secret husband of Lizzie Applegate; after every one of her performances, he would ride up to the stage and give her gardenias

Culprits

Louis Chandler - antique dealer and decorator; feigns affection for Rose

Charlie Webber - construction worker, also drives cab part-time

Cassandra Webber - Charlie's daughter who works at Louis' shop; she once stole a necklace from the shop and was found out; Louis blackmails her and Charlie into helping him

Motivation: Louis had heard the legend of the hidden treasure when someone sold him an emerald brooch from Lizzie's estate. He had been unsuccessful in buying the mansion when the previous owners sold, so he tries to scare Rose into selling the mansion to him (pretending to be doing her a favor)

Resolution

Lyrics of the song lead Nancy to the space under the floorboards where the old phoenix fireplace used to stand - when the light hits the stained glass above the front door, it creates a rainbow effect which shows where the $60,000 in gold is found. Just as the gold is being uncovered, Louis and Charlie threaten everyone; Nancy and George attack the men with hat pins from their Victorian costumes

Mis-adventures

Window crashes down and shatters

George & Nancy run down by cab while jogging

Nancy falls through roof of turret while trying to straighten finial - discovers attic

Key clues

Key in bedpost opens desk found in attic which contains original script of Lizzie's play

Lyrics from The Bandit's Treasure: where the rainbow ends in Christmas gold and the phoenix rises too

Nancy's outfits

deep purple Victorian dress

jeans and hooded sweatshirt

Hannah cooks

Blueberry muffins

Bess Shops

Victorian feathered hats

Red Herrings

Abby acts mysteriously as she is planning on doing a magic show, but wants to make it a surprise

Tim is a homeless kid hiding in the secret room

items of interest

Emily Foxworth and Lt. Chin are recurring characters from previous case (#82 - Clue in the Camera)

Mansion is on California St., near the Presidio and Golden Gate Park (note: there really aren't any Victorian mansions on California St. that are near the Presidio or Golden Gate - mostly they can be found about a mile away in the Fillmore district and beyond towards downtown)

The phoenix is the symbol of the San Francisco Police Department (it is on their badges)

Description of the "Grand Hotel" correlates to the real Sheraton Palace; description of "Land's End Inn" is similar to the Cliff House, except that Land's End looks over the Bay instead of the Ocean. In San Francisco, the area known as Land's End overlooks the ocean.

other real places visited: Golden Gate Park, Portsmouth Square in Chinatown, Alamo Square (to see the painted ladies), Twin Peaks

Rose plans to give every room at the B&B a theme as was popular in the Victorian er. Some of the rooms will be the Chinese Room, the Spanish Room, the Peacock Room, the Captain's Room and the Blue Room. There is a famous B&B on Haight St. (and it's only about 2 blocks from Golden Gate Park) that is called the Red Victorian which uses this gimmick. This is probably the inspiration for the Golden Gardenia.

Meaning of the title

Lizzie's message of where to find the gold

THE COVERS

Below is a gallery of all the covers I have found for The Message in the Haunted Mansion. Below each picture is the artist's name, and a brief description of the scene depicted.

Minstrel "checkerboard" artwork by Aleta Jenks: pages 104-6 - the girls trying on Lizzie's heavy, old-fashioned dresses (colors accurate) to wear to a Victorian Christmas carnival when they discover a hidden panel. It opens to reveal Lizzie's safe in an alcove. Bess is making adjustments to get the gowns to fit the girls. The colors of the dresses are accurate: Nancy's dress is deep purple and George's is black and crimson.

Minstrel "silhouette" and Aladdin cover by Frank Sofo: page 39 - Nancy is on the shingled roof of the mansion to try and straighten out an ornamental wrought-ironbird on the tower. She is too heavy and goes crashing through the roof.

Tammi (Finnish) cover by Pentti Kareinen: page 43 - after falling through the roof, Nancy discovers a trunk in an attic space. It is lowered through a trap door to the main part of the mansion, and inside a pile of elaborate gwons from the 1800s are found. Bess, George, Hannah, Rose and Abby are all present in the scene.

Wahlströms (Swedish) cover - uses Aleta Jenks artwork.

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
Jenks, 1st TP/M1/light yellow/3.99, 0-671-87205-2
HB ad/exc/ND#57-122/tp/cp+/tc/bl//(none)/ND ad

1st (erroneously reissued as 1st Minstrel when converted to M3 format)
Sofo/M3/purple/4.99, 0-7434-1937-5
HB ad/exc/ND#79-160, g/tp/cp+/tc/bl//(none)/NDN#1-4, CBro#1-4

2nd Aladdin
Sofo/A/yellow spine/4.99, 0-7434-1937-5
HB ad/exc/ND#79-163, g/tp/cp+/tc/bl//(none)/NDN#1-4, CBro#4,8,9,13

3rd Aladdin
Sofo/A/yellow spine/4.99, 0-7434-1937-5
HB ad, 4.99/exc/ND#79-163, g/tp/cp+/tc/bl//(none)/NDN#1-4, CBro#4,8,9,13

FOREIGN TITLES

Language

Foreign Title

Title's translation

Swedish

Kitty och El Diablos skatt

Nancy and the treasure of El Diablo

Finnish

Neiti etsivä San Franciscossa

Nancy in San Francisco

The Message in the Haunted Mansion, artwork by Aleta Jenks © 1994 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Message in the Haunted Mansion, artwork by Frank Sofo © 2001 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
Kitty och El Diablos skatt, artwork by Aleta Jenks © 1994 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
Neiti etsivä San Franciscossa, artwork by Pentti Kareinen © 2000 by Tammi, Helsinki.

Setting	San Francisco CA, in winter (possibly around Christmas?)
Recurring Characters	Bess Marvin, George Fayne, Hannah Gruen
Characters and Suspects	Rose Green - old friend of Hannah's Abby - Rose's niece and co-owner of the mansion; interested in the occult/seances; her black cat is Alfreida Emily Foxworth - photojournalist Mary Lee - waitress at local Chinese restaurant and great-granddaughter of Lizzie's cook The Lee family: Mary's mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, Uncle Ray, Aunt June, Mary's brother Sam and her cousins Winston and Lorraine Tim Coletti - blond teenage boy hiding out in hidden room in mansion, owner of puppy Tramp Chief Martinez - fireman Lt. Donald Chin - SFPD Lisa Morley - staff historian at the California Express Company Dr. McGuire - veterinarian Historical Figures Lizzie Applegate - actress and previous owner of the mansion when it was run as the Gardenia Hotal; aka E. Valdez; author of play The Bandit's Treasure Diego Valdez - train robber known as El Diablo, secret husband of Lizzie Applegate; after every one of her performances, he would ride up to the stage and give her gardenias
Culprits	Louis Chandler - antique dealer and decorator; feigns affection for Rose Charlie Webber - construction worker, also drives cab part-time Cassandra Webber - Charlie's daughter who works at Louis' shop; she once stole a necklace from the shop and was found out; Louis blackmails her and Charlie into helping him Motivation: Louis had heard the legend of the hidden treasure when someone sold him an emerald brooch from Lizzie's estate. He had been unsuccessful in buying the mansion when the previous owners sold, so he tries to scare Rose into selling the mansion to him (pretending to be doing her a favor)
Resolution	Lyrics of the song lead Nancy to the space under the floorboards where the old phoenix fireplace used to stand - when the light hits the stained glass above the front door, it creates a rainbow effect which shows where the $60,000 in gold is found. Just as the gold is being uncovered, Louis and Charlie threaten everyone; Nancy and George attack the men with hat pins from their Victorian costumes
Mis-adventures	Window crashes down and shatters George & Nancy run down by cab while jogging Nancy falls through roof of turret while trying to straighten finial - discovers attic
Key clues	Key in bedpost opens desk found in attic which contains original script of Lizzie's play Lyrics from The Bandit's Treasure: where the rainbow ends in Christmas gold and the phoenix rises too
Nancy's outfits	deep purple Victorian dress jeans and hooded sweatshirt
Hannah cooks	Blueberry muffins
Bess Shops	Victorian feathered hats
Red Herrings	Abby acts mysteriously as she is planning on doing a magic show, but wants to make it a surprise Tim is a homeless kid hiding in the secret room
items of interest	Emily Foxworth and Lt. Chin are recurring characters from previous case (#82 - Clue in the Camera) Mansion is on California St., near the Presidio and Golden Gate Park (note: there really aren't any Victorian mansions on California St. that are near the Presidio or Golden Gate - mostly they can be found about a mile away in the Fillmore district and beyond towards downtown) The phoenix is the symbol of the San Francisco Police Department (it is on their badges) Description of the "Grand Hotel" correlates to the real Sheraton Palace; description of "Land's End Inn" is similar to the Cliff House, except that Land's End looks over the Bay instead of the Ocean. In San Francisco, the area known as Land's End overlooks the ocean. other real places visited: Golden Gate Park, Portsmouth Square in Chinatown, Alamo Square (to see the painted ladies), Twin Peaks Rose plans to give every room at the B&B a theme as was popular in the Victorian er. Some of the rooms will be the Chinese Room, the Spanish Room, the Peacock Room, the Captain's Room and the Blue Room. There is a famous B&B on Haight St. (and it's only about 2 blocks from Golden Gate Park) that is called the Red Victorian which uses this gimmick. This is probably the inspiration for the Golden Gardenia.
Meaning of the title	Lizzie's message of where to find the gold


Minstrel "checkerboard" artwork by Aleta Jenks: pages 104-6 - the girls trying on Lizzie's heavy, old-fashioned dresses (colors accurate) to wear to a Victorian Christmas carnival when they discover a hidden panel. It opens to reveal Lizzie's safe in an alcove. Bess is making adjustments to get the gowns to fit the girls. The colors of the dresses are accurate: Nancy's dress is deep purple and George's is black and crimson.	Minstrel "silhouette" and Aladdin cover by Frank Sofo: page 39 - Nancy is on the shingled roof of the mansion to try and straighten out an ornamental wrought-ironbird on the tower. She is too heavy and goes crashing through the roof.

Tammi (Finnish) cover by Pentti Kareinen: page 43 - after falling through the roof, Nancy discovers a trunk in an attic space. It is lowered through a trap door to the main part of the mansion, and inside a pile of elaborate gwons from the 1800s are found. Bess, George, Hannah, Rose and Abby are all present in the scene.	Wahlströms (Swedish) cover - uses Aleta Jenks artwork.

Language	Foreign Title	Title's translation
Swedish	Kitty och El Diablos skatt	Nancy and the treasure of El Diablo
Finnish	Neiti etsivä San Franciscossa	Nancy in San Francisco