This is the fifth Nancy Drew Mystery in the long line of Nancy Drew mysteries. The suspense holds up more than 80 years since it was written. The reader may notice the absence of cell phones, lack of air conditioning in the car, and watching a movie in a theater instead of at a drive-in, but this all adds to the mystery and suspense of this, now- period, piece. New readers to the mystery genre will enjoy this book as much today as when it was new in 1931.

Nancy has just flown into Phoenix, AZ, for a vacation with her friends at their aunt and uncle’s Shadow Ranch. Uncle Ed and Aunt Bets are the new owners of the ranch which they acquired in payment for a debt. Now things are starting to go wrong at the ranch beginning with the appearance of a mysterious glowing phantom horse who runs through the pasture at night right before something goes wrong. Once after the phantom horse appeared  the ranch’s only source of power and the water stopped working. Sabotaged! Another time the phone lines were cut (and even if this was in today’s time, the ranch would be in a dead cell zone, considering how far out from town they are). Nancy’s friends are very confident she will be able to solve the mystery of the phantom horse in time to prevent their aunt and uncle from loosing their ranch. Nancy analyzes the events. She is full of suppositions and suspicious of everyone outside of the family. Trips into town to talk with the sheriff and get supplies add new clues and suspects into the mix. As it turns out, Nancy is gifted an antique watch from the 1880s, which once belonged to the daughter of the original ranch’s owner, for helping stop a thief. This watch becomes one of the first real clues to solving the mysteries. The watch’s original owner was in love with a robber who had buried a treasure somewhere on the ranch. Horseback rides into remote parts of the ranch, a near kidnapping of Nancy, and setting a trap in an ancient Indian dwelling keep the suspense and intrigue going through until the end.

The cover art was very appealing, but the horse’s rider should have been wearing Western attire, not English riding clothes.