Evelyn's Mystery Books

A surprise gift!  I received a lovely surprise in the mail today: an eBay seller sent me this Nancy Drew Files book as a gift. I have ordered a few books from this seller, and I'm sure that I'll order more in future. I love the cover art on this book, and the book is set in Maryland, where my mother grew up and where I still have family. Here's a view of the back of the book: The back of the book. It sounds like a fun book! I don't have many of the files books. I haven't focused on finding them, but I'll slowly work on collecting them as they come up for sale at good prices. I actually only have three out of the 124 files books, so I have a ways to go with my collection! Here are the three books that I have: Three files books.

My gorgeous new set of Nancy Drew books! I recently received a beautiful set of Nancy Drew books from my new friend Todd. This set of 8 books was published in 2014 and 2015 with new cover artwork that is modern but reminiscent of 1930s Nancy Drew. The cover artwork is stunning -- I absolutely love it. These books were apparently for sale at Target, and only eight titles were published. I wish I'd bought them when they came out, but fortunately Todd had an extra set to send to me. Todd and I are trading books. He is sending me some books from America, and I am sending him some books from Australia, mostly UK edition Nancy Drew books. Here are some more pictures of this lovely set of books: The backs of the books. The spines of the books. Closer view #1. Closer view #2. Closer view #3. Closer view #4. What a beautiful set of books!

Two UK edition Susan Sand books. Excitingly, I have found two more UK edition Susan Sand books: #7 "The Search for the Snowship Songs" and #8 "The Mystery at Beggarbay Bluff". I am thrilled to have found these because the #7 and #8 Susan Sand books are fairly hard to find. Generally the UK editions are very hard to find, although they are likely much easier to find here in Australia compared to in the USA. The books were reasonably affordable and are in fairly good condition. Book #8 is a little crumpled but still in decent shape. Here are some more pictures of the books: The spines of the books. The backs of the books. Interior page - book #7. Title page - book #7. List of other books - book #7. Book order page - book #7. Interior page - book #8. Title page - book #8. List of other books - book #8. So far I've found UK versions of books #5, #7, and #8 in the Susan Sand series. I need to keep my eyes out f...

My gorgeous rare Susan Sand book! I recently obtained a rare version of the first Susan Sand book: an Advance Reading Copy of "The Mystery at Hollowhearth House". This book was produced just as the series began, to promote the series. The book format is similar to the later published version, except that there is an extra banner on front and the back has promotional text instead of the plot summary, which is instead located in the interior of the book. The book also does not have a price, ISBN number, or barcode. All of the Susan Sand books are scarce, but this book is truly rare. I only know of one other series book collector who has a copy. Not many of the Advance Reading Copy books would have been published, and probably most of the ones that were published did not survive. I feel very fortunate to own one! I found the book by accident. I ordered the book from Thriftbooks for $8 US, including shipping to Australia. There were no pictures of the book, but it was d...

My beautiful new book! I recently received a new Severn House edition Dana Girls book, a copy of "Mystery of the Wax Queen". I bought this book from a seller in the UK, and it took awhile to arrive. I'm so happy that I bought it, though, since the book is in beautiful condition and not ex-library. It is apparently very difficult to find copies of these Severn House books that are not ex-library, so I feel that this one is a real gem. Here are some more pictures of the book: The back of the book. The spine of the book. The title page. The copyright page. The Table of Contents. The side of the book. It really is in excellent condition. A couple of the interior pages. Here is the book compared to the other hardcover and softcover version: The fronts of the books. The backs of the books. I have found three of the Severn House editions so far: My three lovely Severn House books. The books on the shelf. I bel...

Two more Susan Sand books. I'm continuing to build my collection of Susan Sand books. I received two more books in the mail today. The first book is a very worn copy of book #4 "The Riddle of Raggedrock Ridge". I bought this book from ThriftBooks fairly cheaply, including the cost of shipping from the US to Australia. I knew that the book wouldn't be in good condition, but that's fine since I want a copy for reading. I'll work on getting a better copy of the book later. The second book is a copy of #3 "The Clue in the Witchwhistle Well", which is also very worn. I bought it very cheaply for $3.25 AUD. Since the Susan Sand books are rare, I am buying whatever ones I can find at decent prices in Australia. I'm ending up with some extra copies, but that's fine. Perhaps one day I can pass some along to another series book collector or someone who I know will enjoy reading the books. I also plan to keep two sets of books for myself: a go...