The Message in the Hollow Oak
| File:Origndtmitho.jpg | |
| Author | Carolyn Keene |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Nancy Drew Mystery Stories |
| Genre | Juvenile literature |
| Publisher | Grosset & Dunlap |
Publication date | 1935 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Preceded by | The Clue of the Broken Locket |
| Followed by | The Mystery of the Ivory Charm |
The Message in the Hollow Oak is the twelfth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene and first published in 1935.
Front Flyleaf
The front flyleaf, which appears on the second page of some Nancy Drew books, gives a short summary of the story. The front flyleaf of the 1972 version of The Message in the Hollow Oak reads as follows:
"A group of professional detectives challenge Nancy to a mystery that they have failed to solve: find an invaluable message hidden by a missionary centuries ago in a hollow oak tree in Illinois.
While searching the woods for the ancient tree, Nancy and her friends live with a group of young archeologists who are excavating prehistoric Indian burial mounds on a nearby farm. A shadowy enemy stalks Nancy and harasses everyone at the dig. The young investigator pursues her dangerous adversary to an outlaws' cave, and is threatened when she discovers an unusual treasure.
How Nancy, with few clues to go on, solves this complex mystery will thrill all readers."
Plot summary - 1935 edition
Nancy Drew finds out that she has won a rather unusual prize in a contest, a piece of land in Canada. She takes a trip, her first outside of the United States[1], to see what her new property looks like.
As she is traveling by train to Canada, she meets an authoress named Ann Chapelle who is also traveling to Canada. Suddenly, the train crashes, and everything is thrown into confusion. Nancy and her two friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne, are alright, but the authoress that Nancy talked to is in a nearby hospital, gravely injured. When they find her, Miss Chapelle tells Nancy the reason she was going to Canada, and asks a favor of her - to give a message to Miss Chapelle's grandfather, and to a lost love whom she hasn't seen since she ran away from home some years ago.
Along with this request, Nancy also has another problem: Two men have heard that there might be gold on Nancy's land, and are determined to get there first.
1972 revision
New York City detectives can't find a clue to a missionary's fortune, which is hidden in a hollow oak tree. Nancy goes to a burial site in Illinois that is connected to the mystery.