# The Whispering Statue

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Nancy Drew 14, published 1937

The Whispering Statue Original edition cover Author Carolyn Keene Illustrator Russel H. Tandy Cover artist Russell H. Tandy Language English Series Nancy Drew Mystery Stories Genre Juvenile literature Publisher Grosset & Dunlap Publication date 1937, 1970 Publication place United States Media type Print (hardback & paperback) Pages 179 ISBN 0-448-09514-9 OCLC 514896 LC Class PZ7.K23 Nan no. 14 1970 Preceded by The Mystery of the Ivory Charm Followed by The Haunted Bridge

***The Whispering Statue*** is the fourteenth volume in the [Nancy Drew Mystery Stories](/source/Nancy_Drew_Mystery_Stories) series. It was written by [Mildred Wirt Benson](/source/Mildred_Wirt_Benson),[1] whom many readers and scholars consider the "truest" of the numerous [Carolyn Keene](/source/Carolyn_Keene) ghostwriters, following an outline by [Harriet Stratemeyer](/source/Harriet_Stratemeyer).[2] The book was originally published by [Grosset & Dunlap](/source/Grosset_%26_Dunlap) in 1937. An updated, revised, and largely different story was published under the same title in 1970.[3]

## Plot summary - 1937 edition

Nancy, Bess, and George encounter a troublesome stray terrier on their way to the opening festivities of a new park and recreation complex in River Heights. The terrier grabs the handbag of one of the guest speakers and loses it in a nearby pond. Nancy helps groundskeepers retrieve the handbag and uses the notes found inside to prompt the nervous speaker during her address. She also finds a mysterious personal ad in the handbag. In a casual observation, the "clubwoman," a Mrs. Owen, tells Nancy about a statue on a deserted seaside estate. The statue, known as "The Whispering Girl," bears an uncanny resemblance to Nancy. As it turns out, Nancy is bound for that very area with her father and her friends Bess and George.

Reluctantly, Nancy decides to keep the terrier for a little while, dubbing him Togo (after a [famous Alaskan husky](/source/Togo_(dog)), who in turn was named after a [Japanese admiral](/source/T%C5%8Dg%C5%8D_Heihachir%C5%8D)). Togo follows her to the train station, and she has no choice but to bring him to Sea Cliff with her. On the train, the girls observe a strange elderly woman identified as a Miss Morse, and they suspect a man who has just approached the woman is trying to swindle her.

Once in Sea Cliff, the girls hunt for the statue that resembles Nancy – and for Miss Morse, who has excited Nancy's curiosity and protectiveness. Further mysterious complications occur when Miss Morse acknowledges that she is being swindled but dismisses Nancy and when Nancy happens to overhear the crook from the train boasting about his conquest. There are several encounters with quirky but ultimately helpful older men. A [seaplane](/source/Seaplane) accident leads Nancy to rescue a client of her father who is then linked both to Mrs. Owen and to the mysterious Miss Morse. In the long climactic sequence of the story, Nancy ventures to a cliffside mansion to confront Miss Miss Morse and Mitza. This proves to be a tactical blunder on Nancy's part as she is quickly taken prisoner by the pair. While Nancy tries to talk the two down, the police suddenly show up at the house. Quickly Miss Morse claps her hand over Nancy's mouth so the girl cannot scream. She and Mitza tie and gag Nancy and lock her in a closet. With her mouth gagged, Nancy cannot call out to the officers as they search the grounds, and they eventually give up. Once they leave, Mitza and Miss Morse leave Nancy alone in the closet. Nancy manages to struggle free of her bonds, and slips out of the mansion without the pair noticing. Hiding on the grounds, she then sees Mitza making his way along the hedge. Having an idea to trick him, Nancy hides behind the statue and uses her voice to make the statue appear to speak to the con man. However, the man sees through the ruse, seizes Nancy and drags her inside the house. She screams, to no avail. Miss Morse is bed-ridden by this point, so Mitza overpowers Nancy and keeps her gagged and bound this time to a chair in the middle of the room, so he can keep an eye on her. As the climax progresses, the cliffside mansion falls into the ocean, necessitating another dramatic rescue.

This edition of the novel is considered one of the most ragged, overpopulated, and coincidence-heavy of the series. It does, however, introduce the enduringly popular Togo, who becomes a mainstay in the series thereafter. The book is full of atypically harsh episodes, including a man who beats Togo cruelly, apparent elder and child abuse, and some saucy behavior by Nancy herself. It is perhaps the book most extensively overhauled for the reissue.

## 1970 revision

Nancy is asked to solve a puzzling mystery, whereupon she encounters a second case. The first mystery concerns a valuable collection of rare books. Wealthy Mrs. Horace Merriam has commissioned a supposedly reputable art dealer to sell the collection, but she now suspects that the man is a swindler who is not giving Mrs. Merriam her portion of the proceeds. The second mystery involves the baffling theft of a beautiful marble statue, which is thought to "whisper," and which bears an uncanny resemblance to Nancy. She becomes an undercover employee of the dealer, with the alias Debbie Lynbrook. The mystery becomes complicated when the returned marble statue is discovered to be fake. An attempted kidnapping, a nearly disastrous sailboat collision, and an encounter with a dishonest sculptor are just a few of the exciting challenges that Nancy is faced with as she gathers evidence against a clever ring of art thieves.

## Artwork

The original 1937 cover art is by [Russell H. Tandy](/source/Russell_H._Tandy), and shows Nancy crouched behind a statue, speaking to a man. [Rudy Nappi](/source/Rudy_Nappi) illustrated the same scene for the 1962 picture cover edition, with updated clothing and hairstyles. Nappi also illustrated the cover of the 1970 edition, which is predominantly blue and white, featuring Nancy's profile behind an overlay of a statue.

## Critique

Adult collectors of juvenile series often discuss artwork and plot elements in various fanzines and list serves. The original story introduces the recurring character of Nancy's dog Togo, who begins as a [bull terrier](/source/Bull_terrier) (a popular breed in 1937) but is mentioned as a [fox terrier](/source/Fox_terrier) or illustrated as a [Scottish terrier](/source/Scottish_terrier) in later appearances. The whispering element in the original version is simply Nancy fooling individuals; in a climactic moment, Nancy and Mrs. Conger are swept out to sea inside of a floating house, a somewhat strange and criticized element. In the revision, Nancy and her friends "hide" by kneeling inside three empty picture frames, a somewhat laughable idea. The statue whispers because of special holes drilled in the original that the wind could pass through when positioned in a garden. The artwork on the 1970 cover and interior text illustrations make the statue's resemblance to Nancy undeniable: they both wear their hair in a bobbed flip. Since the statue is a likeness of a long-dead woman, it is [anachronistic](/source/Anachronistic) that the statue sports a hairstyle not popularized until 1960 or later, a point of discussion among critics.

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [WOSU Presents Ohioana Authors: The Works of Mildred Wirt Benson](http://www.ohioana-authors.org/benson/works.php)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Rehak, Melanie (2006). *Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her*. Harcourt. p. xiii. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780156030564](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780156030564).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Editions of *The Whispering Statue*](http://www.worldcat.org/title/whispering-statue/oclc/70600893/editions) at [WorldCat](/source/WorldCat)

## External links

- [*The Whispering Statue*](https://fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20201215) at [Faded Page](/source/Distributed_Proofreaders_Canada) (Canada)

- [Children and Young Adult Literature portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Children_and_Young_Adult_Literature)
- [Novels portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Novels)

v t e Nancy Drew Stratemeyer Syndicate Carolyn Keene Edward Stratemeyer Characters Nancy Drew George Fayne Ned Nickerson Writers Mildred Benson Walter Karig Harriet Adams Susan Wittig Albert George Edward Stanley James D. Lawrence See also The Hardy Boys Tom Swift TV series The Dana Girls Books Nancy Drew Mystery Stories The Secret of the Old Clock (1930) The Hidden Staircase (1930) The Bungalow Mystery (1930) The Mystery at Lilac Inn (1930) The Secret at Shadow Ranch (1931) The Secret of Red Gate Farm (1931) The Clue in the Diary (1932) Nancy's Mysterious Letter (1932) The Sign of the Twisted Candles (1933) The Password to Larkspur Lane (1933) The Clue of the Broken Locket (1934) The Message in the Hollow Oak (1935) The Mystery of the Ivory Charm (1936) The Whispering Statue (1937) The Haunted Bridge (1937) The Clue of the Tapping Heels (1939) The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk (1940) The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion (1941) The Quest of the Missing Map (1942) The Clue in the Jewel Box (1943) The Secret in the Old Attic (1944) The Clue in the Crumbling Wall (1945) The Mystery of the Tolling Bell (1946) The Clue in the Old Album (1947) The Ghost of Blackwood Hall (1948) The Clue of the Leaning Chimney (1949) The Secret of the Wooden Lady (1950) The Clue of the Black Keys (1951) The Mystery at the Ski Jump (1952) The Clue of the Velvet Mask (1953) The Ringmaster's Secret (1953) The Scarlet Slipper Mystery (1954) The Witch Tree Symbol (1955) The Hidden Window Mystery (1956) The Haunted Showboat (1957) The Secret of the Golden Pavilion (1959) The Clue in the Old Stagecoach (1960) The Mystery of the Fire Dragon (1961) The Clue of the Dancing Puppet (1962) The Moonstone Castle Mystery (1963) The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes (1964) The Phantom of Pine Hill (1965) The Mystery of the 99 Steps (1966) The Clue in the Crossword Cipher (1967) The Spider Sapphire Mystery (1968) The Invisible Intruder (1969) The Mysterious Mannequin (1970) The Crooked Banister (1971) The Secret of Mirror Bay (1972) The Double Jinx Mystery (1973) Mystery of the Glowing Eye (1974) The Secret of the Forgotten City (1975) The Sky Phantom (1976) The Strange Message in the Parchment (1977) Mystery of Crocodile Island (1978) The Thirteenth Pearl (1979) The Triple Hoax (1979) The Flying Saucer Mystery (1980) The Secret in the Old Lace (1980) The Greek Symbol Mystery (1980) The Swami's Ring (1981) The Kachina Doll Mystery (1981) The Twin Dilemma (1981) Captive Witness (1981) Race Against Time (1982) The Broken Anchor (1983) The Mardi Gras Mystery (1988) The Case of the Rising Stars (1988) The Mystery of the Masked Rider (1992) The Treasure in the Royal Tower (1995) The Wedding Day Mystery (1997) The E-mail Mystery (1998) Whispers in the Fog (2000) The Legend of the Emerald Lady (2000) Mystery By Moonlight (2002) The Bike Tour Mystery (2002) The Mistletoe Mystery (2002) No Strings Attached (2003) The Riding Club Crime (2003) Danger on the Great Lakes (2003) Werewolf in a Winter Wonderland (2003) Other series The Nancy Drew Files (1986-97) Nancy Drew Notebooks (1993-2005) Nancy Drew on Campus (1995-98) Nancy Drew: Girl Detective (2004-12) Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew (2006-15) Nancy Drew Diaries (2013-present) Nancy Drew Clue Book (2015-present) Hardy Boys crossovers Be a Detective Mystery Stories (1984-85) Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys Supermystery (1988-98) Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Mystery (2007-12) Other media Video games Secrets Can Kill (1998) (Remastered, 2010) Stay Tuned for Danger (1999) Message in a Haunted Mansion (2000) Treasure in the Royal Tower (2001) The Final Scene (2001) Secret of the Scarlet Hand (2002) Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake (2002) The Haunted Carousel (2003) Danger on Deception Island (2003) The Secret of Shadow Ranch (2004) Curse of Blackmoor Manor (2004) Secret of the Old Clock (2005) Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon (2005) Danger by Design (2006) The Creature of Kapu Cave (2006) The White Wolf of Icicle Creek (2007) Legend of the Crystal Skull (2007) The Phantom of Venice (2008) The Haunting of Castle Malloy (2008) Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses (2008) Ransom of the Seven Ships (2009) Dossier: Resorting to Danger (2009) Warnings at Waverly Academy (2009) Trail of the Twister (2010) Shadow at the Water's Edge (2010) The Captive Curse (2011) Alibi in Ashes (2011) Tomb of the Lost Queen (2012) The Deadly Device (2012) Ghost of Thornton Hall (2013) The Silent Spy (2013) The Shattered Medallion (2014) Labyrinth of Lies (2014) Sea of Darkness (2015) Midnight in Salem (2019) Mystery of the Seven Keys (2024) Film and television Nancy Drew: Detective (1938 film) Nancy Drew: Reporter (1939 film) Nancy Drew: Trouble Shooter (1939 film) Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939 film) The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977 TV series) Nancy Drew (1995 TV series) Nancy Drew (2002 TV movie) Nancy Drew (2007 film) Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019 film) Nancy Drew (2019 TV series)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Whispering Statue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whispering_Statue) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whispering_Statue?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.