Nancy Drew has never been to summer camp and Nancy needs a vacation. Nancy’s best friend Bess talks her into being a camp counselors at Bess’s old camp. Chapter one ends, “Please don’t let there be a mystery to solve at Camp Cedarbark!” (14)

It’s Nancy Drew, so, of course, there will be a mystery. The mystery revolves around a camper who drowned about 5 years ago. One of the new counselors (Bella) wants to hold a seance, after dark, with her ouija board, to keep the drowned girl’s spirit away. Nancy takes the ouiji board away from Bella saying she will tell the new camp’s owners if the seance is held. Next, during the counselors’ swim test of treading water, both Deborah and Nancy are yanked under the water by their ankles. A few days later, the counselors’ training period is over. “Even though the past two nights had been filled with creepy, ice-cube-down-the-spine moments, it was hard to recall those feelings when the sun first shone into our cabins. Even more so now, when our cabin was full of giggling, smiling campers.” (83)

The incidences at the lake set the tune, but Nancy’s up beat spirit keeps this chilling story from becoming too scary. Nancy works with the camp’s new owners to solve who is out to sabotage the camp. Is it one of the campers, one of the counselors, or someone from the small nearby town who is out to close the camp? This story has as many twists and turns as one of the camps’ trails.

I have been at camp as an adult chaperone and this book brought back the wonderful feelings of being at summer camp.

This ‘Carolyn Keene’ writes in the present with references to Netflix and smart phones. This is not a reprint of a former Nancy Drew.