Crime in the Queen's Court

0.46 MB·english

by  Carolyn Keene [Keene

Crime in the Queen’s Court

Nancy and Bess decided to join a few other ladies-in-waiting who
were sitting on a blanket, munching on biscuits and cold chicken.
As the two girls walked across the clearing in their Elizabethan
costumes, Nancy’s gaze shifted to the woods, and she admired the
shafts of soft sunlight falling on the trees.

Then Nancy approached the ladies-in-waiting seated under a large
oak tree and said, “Mind if we join you?”

Suddenly, Nancy heard a sharp whizzing noise near her ear. She
flinched in surprise and felt a rush of air on her cheek.

Looking to her left, she let out a gasp. Lodged in the tree, only
inches from Nancy’s head, was a quivering arrow!
NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES

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#62 The Kachina Doll Mystery #90 The Puzzle at Pineview School
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#66 Race Against Time #94 The Picture-Perfect Mystery
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#70 The Broken Anchor #98 The Haunting of Horse Island
#71 The Silver Cobweb #99 The Secret at Seven Rocks
#72 The Haunted Carousel #100 A Secret in Time
#73 Enemy Match #101 The Mystery of the Missing Millionairess
#74 The Mysterious Image #102 The Secret in the Dark
#75 The Emerald-Eyed Cat Mystery #103 The Stranger in the Shadows
#76 The Eskimo’s Secret #104 The Mystery of the Jade Tiger
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#78 The Phantom of Venice #106 The Case of the Artful Crime
#79 The Double Horror of Fenley Place #107 The Legend of Miner’s Creek
#80 The Case of the Disappearing Diamonds #108 The Secret of the Tibetan Treasure
#81 The Mardi Gras Mystery #109 The Mystery of the Masked Rider
#82 The Clue in the Camera #110 The Nutcracker Ballet Mystery
#83 The Case of the Vanishing Veil #111 The Secret at Solaire
#84 The Joker’s Revenge #112 Crime in the Queen’s Court
NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES

#112

CRIME IN THE
QUEEN’S COURT

CAROLYN KEENE

A Minstrel Book
PUBLISHED BY POCKET BOOKS
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either
products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

A MINSTREL PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

A Minstrel Book published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

Copyright © 1993 by Simon and Schuster, Inc.
Produced by Mega-Books of New York, Inc.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof
in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of
the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN: 0-671-79298-9

First Minstrel Books printing April 1993

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

NANCY DREW, NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES,
A MINSTREL BOOK and colophon are registered trademarks
of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Cover art by Aleta Jenks

Printed in the U.S.A.
Contents
____________________________________________________________

1 Merry Old England 1
2 A Mysterious Poet 11
3 Rehearsal for Disaster 20
4 An Unlucky Break 28
5 Her Majesty’s Secret Service 37
6 Poetry in Motion 45
7 Courtly Clues 57
8 A Visitor and a Visit 72
9 On the Hunt 78
10 A Pointed Warning 87
11 Much Ado About Something 95
12 The Play’s the Thing 102
13 The Real Thing? 112
14 A Player Is Unmasked 124
15 To Catch a Thief 132
16 A Royal Wrap-up 142

1

Merry Old England

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” Bess
Marvin exclaimed with an exaggerated sweep of her
hand. Turning to her friend Nancy Drew, she asked,
“So, what do you think?”
Nancy smiled as she shielded her eyes from the
bright sunshine. “Well, you probably shouldn’t give up
your day job,” she said teasingly.
Bess giggled and tossed her long blond hair. “I guess
I just got carried away. This Elizabethan festival makes
me feel so . . . so . . .”
“Festive?” finished Bess’s cousin, George Fayne, as
she guided Bess back into line.
Bess made a face at her cousin. “Well, it does. Admit
it,” she said to George. “Doesn’t just being here make
you think of crowns and royalty and England and ladies
with long dresses and—”
1