Nancy Drew #61
	The Swami's Ring

Setting	River Heights
Recurring Characters	Bess Marvin, George Fayne, Carson Drew, Hannah Gruen, Ned Nickerson, Burt Eddleton, Dave Evans, Chief McGinnis, Miss Hanson
Characters and Suspects	Lisa Scotti - nurse at Rosemont Hospital, former schoolmate of Nancy’s “Cliff” - amnesia patient found at the bottom of a cliff; real name Randy Dr. Randolph - director of Rosemont Hospital Tommy Johnson - Nancy’s neighbor, in the hospital after being hit by a car (by Mr. Flannery) while riding his bike – leg broken in 2 places Mrs. Johnson – Tommy’s mother Mr. Jhaveri - jeweler; cousin of Keshav Lal Dr. DeNiro - professor at Oberon College, anthropologist; doing a government study on India Angela Pruett - harp soloist Phyllis Pruett - Angela’s 16-year-old runaway sister Deli clerk at Green Pond Motor lodge desk clerk Ramaswami - spiritual leader who maintained a retreat for his followers near Swain Lake Mr. Hillyer - manager of the River Heights Music Festival Vince - sound and light technician at the RH Festival
Culprits	Dev Singh - aka Prem Nath Mr. Flannery - a burly bearded man who poses as Dr. DeNiro Mrs. Flannery - owner of guest house where Phyllis was staying Keshav Lal - employee at the Swain Lake Motor Lodge Motvation:  As an assistant to the Ramaswami, Keshav Lal had been intercepting gifts from devotees and selling them through his cousin’s jewelry shop.  When Cliff overhears Lal plotting, he exposes the scheme to the swami. Secondary Plot:  Brady Tilson - young man from Castleton with long hair; owns a silver hatchback
Resolution	The retreat where Nancy, Phyllis and Cliff are being held is found and the culprits are subdued and arrested.
Nancy's Mis-adventures	grabbed on trail to retreat; chloroform attacked by water snake while bound kidnapped, tied to a chair, mouth stuffed with bread
Key clues	large gold ring, extremely ornate, large size - hidden in a secret pocket in Cliff’s knapsack tan car with light side racing stripe on trunk with license 197 MAP Ramaswami pamphlet
Nancy's outfits	summer skirt, puffed-sleeve blouse, white sandals
Hannah Cooks	peach pie, tarts
Nancy's talents	hospital volunteer
Meaning of the title	Cliff/Randy's ring that he planned to donate to the swami is the catalyst for the mystery
Reward/memento	Party to celebrate
items of interest	mention of titles of 59 and 60, like a Mildred Wirt teaser Carson is on the board of the hospital Castleton is to the south of River Heights Swain Lake and Green Pond are on either side of a mountain ridge near the airport

Wanderer "Arch" cover by Ruth Sanderson: fantasy combination of a) pg. 188 - Cliff/Randy tells of being jumped by Lal & Singh after he had told the story of thievery to the swami; and b) pg. 36 - Nancy examining the ring	Wanderer "Checkerboard" cover by Steven Stroud: pg 81 - Nancy about to be knocked out on the trail.  It has stopped raining at this poin in this scene.  Nancy does not expect the attack and does not see the man coming.  Ned is with Nancy on the trail but is missing from the illustration.  The attacker is supposed to be East Indian. (trivia: this is a self-portrait of Steven Stroud)
Minstrel cover by Linda Thomas and Fernández (Mexican) cover by copyist: page 36 - Nancy examines ring with magnifying glass (Bess and George should be present)
Angus & Robertson (Australia) and Wahlströms (Swedish) covers by Peter Archer: page 85 - Nancy is laying bound in an old cabin near an old iron stove when she sees a venomous water snake moving in her direction, prepared to strike
Armada (UK) cover by unknown artist: fantasy montage of Nancy bound at the cabin, the water snake, Brady's silver hatchback, a couple running and possibly the Flannery house	Forlagshuset (Norwegian) cover by unknown artist: appears to be a take off on the Sanderson artwork, but the artist does not know the story and makes it appear that Nancy has just found the ring while she is out hiking with a couple of friends.
Hachette (France) Format "J" and Format "O" cover by Philippe Daure: Nancy holding the ring in the foreground, the man in the turban is either Keshav Lal or Prem Nath/Dev Singh, and the bewhiskered man is Mr. Flannery.  The cabin is probably the one where the hostages are being kept rather than the swami's retreat. This artwork also appears on Format "K" and "L" covers , but in something like the "Case of the Disappearing Icons" only Nancy and the turbaned man appear on all covers; the house disappears after K and the bewshiskered man departs after L.
Tammi (Finnish) cover probably by Pentti Ajanto: page 11 - the bearded man (Mr. Flannery) is choking "Cliff," the man with amnesia and demanding to know where the ring is	Tammi (Finnish) cover by Kaarina Hanström:  Nancy appears to be sitting in a field inspecting the ring which she has just removed from the backpack, while "Cliff" lies unconscious.  This scene does not take place in the book, as Nancy first meets Cliff in the hospital after his fall, and the ring has been found in a secret pocket in the backpack by the staff.
Vergara (Argentine) cover: utilizes Sanderson artwork	Indira (Indonesian) cover: utilizes Sanderson artwork
Fargoes (Malay) cover by unknown artist: same scene as Angus & Robertson above; Nancy should still be bound whenthe snake is harrassing her

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:  1981
author:  Nancy Axelrad
plot outline:  Harriet Adams and Nancy Axelrad

1st
Sanderson/W1/red on light blue/2.50,42345-2,+
bl/pwt/bl/tp+/cp/tc/bl/bl

2nd
Sanderson/W1/red on light blue/2.75,42345-2,+
bl/pwt/bl/tp+/cp/tc/bl/none/bl

3rd
Sanderson/W1/red on light blue/3.50,42345-2,+
bl/pwt/bl/tp+/cp/tc/bl/none/bl

4th
Stroud/W2/two-toned lime green/3.50,pic,+,62467-9
bl/pwt/bl/tp+/cp/tc/bl/none/bl

1st Minstrel
Thomas/M1/red, 350/pic, 62467-9
bl UPC/exc/ND#57-88/tp/cp+/tc/bl/pwt/bl/ND#57-88 ao of/NewBT#1-10 (11) of/HB#59-95 ao of/BF#1-4 of/bl

FOREIGN TITLES

Language	Foreign Title	Title's translation
French	Alice et la bague du gourou	Nancy and the guru's ring
Swedish	Kitty och den indiska ringen	Nancy and the indian ring
Norwegian	Detektiv Nancy Drew og mannen uten hukommelse	Nancy and the man without a memory
Finnish	Neiti etsivä ja intialainen sormus	Nancy and the indian ring
Icelandic	Nancy og Swami-hringurinn	Nancy and the Swami-ring?
Spanish (Argentine ed.)	El anillo del swami	The ring of the swami
Spanish (Mexican ed.)	El anillo misterioso	The mysterious ring
Indonesian	Misteri cincin ramaswami	Mystery of the ramaswami's ring
Malay	Misteri cincin ramasamy	Mystery of the ramaswami's ring

The Swami's Ring, artwork by Ruth Sanderson © 1981 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Swami's Ring, artwork by Steven Stroud © 1986 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Swami's Ring, artwork by Linda Thomas © 1989 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
The Swami's Ring, artwork by Peter Archer © 1982 by Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
The Swami's Ring, artwork unattributed © 1983 by Fontana Paperbacks, London.
Alice at la bague du gourou, artwork by Philippe Daure © 1985 by Hachette, Paris.
Kitty och den indiska ringen, artwork by Peter Archer © 1982 by Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
Detektiv Nancy Drew og mannen uten hukommelse, artwork unattributed © Forlagshuset A/S, Oslo.
El anillo del swami, artwork by Ruth Sanderson © 1981 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
El anillo misterioso, artwork unattributed © 1993 Fernández Editores, Mexico City.
Neiti etsivä ja intialainen sormus, artwork unattributed © Tammi, Helsinki.
Neiti etsivä ja intialainen sormus, artwork by Kaarina Hasntröm © 1993 Tammi, Helsinki.
Misteri cincin ramaswami, artwork by Ruth Sanderson © 1981 by Simon & Schuster, New York.
Misteri cincin ramasamy, artwork unattributed © 2003 by Fargoes, Kuala Lumpur.

© 2002, 2005, 2007 Lea Shangraw Fox