Recipe for Trouble is the 53rd book in the Nancy Drew Notebooks series. It was published in April 2003 for Aladdin Paperbacks. The cover tagline says “Someone is mixing up a mystery…”
Back of the Book Summary:
Who is cooking up trouble at Le Gourmet–and why?
Nancy, George, and Bess are taking cooking classes at Le Gourmet. And they are learning to make desserts! Nancy can’t think of a sweeter way to spend her spring break than whipping up tasty concoctions with her two best friends. Then at the end of the week, Monsieur Jadot will name one student “Top Chef” at a special ceremony. Nancy can’t help but wonder, will her dessert take the cake?
But this sugary sweet class turns sour when whacky things start happening, and Nancy discovers that someone is tinkering with the recipes! Smells like a mystery–and one Nancy must solve before dessert is served!
Inside Teaser:
*Note: I included grammatical errors below exactly as I saw them in the book.
Cooking up trouble
Nancy’s added the just-washed strawberries into the mix. Then she put the top on and hit the BLEND button. The mixture inside quickly became a pinkish-red mush.
Mmmm! Nancy thought. My smoothie is going to be awesome!
The smoothie continued bubbling…and bubbling…and bubbling. Nancy stared at it. Her smile froze on her face.
Something was wrong. There were way too many bubbles. In fact the bubbles were pushing against the top of the blender.
A few seconds later the top fell away, and the bubbly mixture came pouring out of the blender and onto the counter.
Nancy gasped. Her smoothie was going out of control!
Review:
During spring break week in April, Nancy, Bess, and George take a week-long class with Chef Jadot in learning to make desserts. Each day, while learning a new recipe, something goes wrong with different students’ desserts. Nancy’s smoothie overflows, Bess’s second page to her cookie recipe goes missing, and the butterscotch brownie recipe made by a few students gets too much salt. Other colorful disasters occur and it’s up to Nancy, Bess, and George to investigate.
This story is really fun since it features fun desserts and effects from the science of baking. Some kids are competitive with the big finale presentation at the end of the week, but overall the small class is enthusiastic and eager to make their desserts.
The culprit had an interesting motive, and the clues leading up to the reveal really did leave this reader guessing who was behind the sabotage. I would indeed recommend this story!
Nancy Drew Canon Observations:
Nancy, Bess, and George are eight years old. They are third-graders at Carl Sandberg Elementary school.
Nancy keeps a blue notebook for her sleuthing, and in this book, uses just a pencil. It is mentioned in conversation with Bess that Nancy hasn’t helped her dad with cases yet, but that she hopes to in the future.
George and Bess are cousins. George’s real name is Georgia.
The story mentions Hannah Gruen, the Drew housekeeper who has been the Drew’s housekeeper for five years, since Nancy’s mom died.
Nancy has a black Labrador puppy named Chocolate Chip.
Nancy is described as having strawberry-blonde hair. Carson Drew is described wearing a blue suit, white shirt, and a white tie with Labrador puppies on them, which Nancy had given to him on Father’s day the year before.
Extra Notes:
Printed by Aladdin Paperbacks, which sport the red band on the cover and part of the spine.
Cover photography by Michael Frost. Cover photo-illustration by Joanie Schwarz. Inside pages are illustrated by Paul Casale.
Length: 76 pages in the main story (more with the title page, series lists, and ads).
