The Mysterious Image
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The Mysterious Image |
Blurb from the back of the book cover: A famous advertising photographer calls
on Nancy and her father, Carson Drew, to help him after he is
accused of pirating his colleagues’ work. When a young actress
known to have worked with Nancy’s client disappears just as
she’s about to land a starring role in a new Broadway play,
Nancy knows she’s dealing with ruthless and devious criminals.
The police turn to Nancy for help in finding the missing woman.
Some video cassettes, sent anonymously through the mail, may
hold a vital clue. But before Nancy can unravel the mystery, a
friend of the missing actress is lured into a terrifying trap
and Nancy must face one of her most unnerving confrontations.
Basic Plot: 2 stories: missing actress Clare
Grant - her friend Pamela says she has been receiving threats,
photographer Dallas Curry accused of copying ads.
You may also click here for a synopsis of this story by Todd Latoski, from the online Nancy Drew fanzine, The Sleuth.
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Setting |
River Heights, various side trips to NYC |
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Recurring Characters |
Carson Drew, Hannah Gruen, Chief McGinnis, Ned Nickerson,
Bess Marvin, George Fayne, Miss Hanson |
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Characters and Suspects |
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Culprits |
motivation: revenge against Dallas who recommended
another agency for the Murdo Chemical account. While
on a date with Clare Oliver had seen Dallas’s Statue of
Liberty campaign - he stole the idea and got it published
first, making it appear that Dallas had been the idea
thief. He was also able subliminally plant images
from other ad campaigns into a video he sent to Dallas. |
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Resolution |
Clare never really disappeared - she just posed as
fictitious friend Pamela - wanted to expose advertising
thefts and cause publicity for herself. by being
“kidnapped” At tower in Westchester Cty find Oliver
struggling with Pamela - Nancy knocks out Oliver with
flashlight |
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Mis-adventures |
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| Key clues |
torn photograph of Clare posing as statue of
Liberty video tape of rock music ATV tracks leading to an abandoned quarry stolen service-station truck caricature of Clare at Lilly’s Restaurant in NYC |
| Nancy's talents | quotes Edgar Allan Poe’s The Purloined Letter
(hiding in plain sight) |
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Hannah cooks |
poached egg, OJ |
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Bess Shops |
at Bonnington’s department store |
| Red herrings |
Clare orchestrates her own disappearance to
make press for herself. Plants a can of ether to
support kidnapping narrative |
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Meaning of the title |
the subliminal messages? |
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lessons learned |
subliminal perception - images creating “idea
transference” |
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items of interest |
George’s odd jobs: lighting technician for rock concert
at Riverview College |
THE COVERS
Below is a gallery of all the covers I have found for The
Mysterious Image. Below each picture is the artist's name,
and a brief description of the scene depicted.
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Wanderer "Arch" cover by Hector Garrido: pp16-20 -
searching the woods behind the Fyfe house. Should
be Det Hoyt, Pamela and Nancy finding a photo from
Clare’s Statue of Liberty shoot torn up on the ground -
not sure who the ominous shadow is supposed to represent |
Minstrel cover by Bob Berran: page 39 Rick snapping
Nancy’s picture as she emerges from lunch with Carson
and Dallas |
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Minstrel cover by Linda Thomas: p 149 reviewing the
video tape with Pete where he isolates frames with
subliminal messages mixed into the rock video footage |
Armada (UK) cover by unknown artist: p 121 - cherry
bomb explodes when Nancy opens car door (described as
Nancy unlocks the passenger door for Bess then leans
over to unlock the driver’s door from the inside) |
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| Wahlströms (Swedish) cover by Hector Garrido | Tammi (Finnish) cover by Hector Garrido |
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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).
Published: 1984FOREIGN TITLES
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Language |
Foreign Title |
Title's translation |
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Swedish |
Kitty och videomysteriet |
Nancy and the video mystery |
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Finnish |
Neiti etsivä ja valokuvan arvoitus |
Nancy and the puzzle of the photograph |
| Indonesian | Kesan Misterius | Mysterious impression |
The Mysterious Image, artwork by Hector Garrido © 1984 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Mysterious Image, artwork by Bob Berran © 1987 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Mysterious Image,, artwork by Linda Thomas © 1990 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Mysterious Image,, artwork unattributed © 1985 by Fontana Paperbacks, London.
Kitty och videomysteriet, artwork by Hector Garrido © 1984 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
Kesan Misterius, artwork by Hector Garrido © 1984 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
© 2002, 2016 Lea Shangraw Fox
receives threatening note