The Nancy Drew Case Files #47: Flirting with Danger (1990)

Ned's good college friend Josh got an internship out in Hollywood and invited Ned to come stay with him and his family in Beverly Hills for a few weeks and is nice enough to invite Nancy along too. Though they look forward to spending some time alone, she almost immediately gets caught up in a mystery. Rachel, Josh's little sister, is just about to graduate from high school. Nancy overhears her fighting with someone named Dennis on the phone before she goes missing. Rachel drives to her graduation but never shows up.

Our list of suspects include:

Beth: Rachel's best friend keeps trying to tell Nancy something and then hesitating. She also wears this necklace with a cat charm that has white eyes, which she constantly twists when she's nervous, so all the time.

Jessica: Jessica is a super bitch. She keeps saying that it's a good thing Rachel is gone and that no one will miss her, and she stops Beth from talking to Nancy several times.

Mike: Mike was Rachel's boyfriend for years until she dumped him for Dennis. He's not too happy about the break up but assumes that they'll eventually get back together.

Dennis: Dennis is our main suspect. The only problem is that no one can find him. Nancy sees him in a club one time, but he runs away in a panic. They later stake out his apartment, find the door unlocked, and discover that someone ransacked the place. Mike sees Rachel's jacket left behind and finds a note in the pocket that asks someone to please find them.

Nancy checks the appliance store where Dennis worked. Ralph, his boss, says that he fired him because he stole some speakers from him and that he was bad news. She also learns about a rash of thefts in Beverly Hills. Someone leaves a note that says the Kats have Rachel and for her to drop the case. Another someone breaks into the house and ransacks Rachel's room.

Rachel then calls home to tell her parents that she's fine, to stop looking for her, and that she'll be home soon. The cops keep searching for her though. I'll be honest here: I really didn't like this book and started skimming big chunks. It's mainly Nancy and Ned talking with people who know nothing or people who refuse to talk to them. Rachel eventually comes home and tells them the whole story.

She and all her friends were the Beverly Hills robbery ring. Dennis got them involved after getting the job at the appliance store. Ralph, his boss, hired Dennis to steal used appliances for him to sell in his store, and Dennis then brought in Rachel and her rich friends because they knew which houses had what. She tells them that she had proof on videotape, which is why they broke into her house. They also used the Kats name as their club.

Nancy gets Rachel to tell her where they have Dennis. She gets Ralph to confess to everything with the police standing by. It turns out that he would get rid of the serial numbers and make fake warranty information to sell used appliances. He even has a bunch of stolen goods in the basement and was stupid enough to put his name on the building's lease. Dennis confesses to everything and begs the cops to leave Rachel out of it. They tell Nancy that Dennis will likely get charged but that Rachel will be fine. Ned then asks if they can have a normal vacation and kisses her.

*Dennis is supposedly a bad guy. The club he goes to though is for kids under 18 that doesn't serve alcohol. He also looks like a punk according to multiple people, but is clean cut enough that he works in an appliance store.

*Was there really a big market for used appliances in 1990? It seems like an awful lot of work to sell crap like radios and whatever.

*Um no, Rachel would face some charges in the end. Dennis says he bullied her into helping him and that she wasn't guilty, except that she totally helped them steal stuff. There are tons of women in jail/prison right now because they did stuff for their boyfriends.

*My copy is in a collector's edition copy with two other books. The back lists the name of each one and calls this one Flirting with Disaster, even though it's actually called Flirting with Danger.