Started off well but I lost interest later on. ( )

Tippy Chan is still trying to come to terms with the recent sudden death of her Chinese father whom she adored. Making things worse, it seems that her mother wants to erase all memory of him by removing his photos from their walls.

When her Mum wins a cruise, Tippy's Uncle Pike volunteers to come to look after her. He brings with him his flamboyant boy friend. Pike and Devon decide to help their neighbor Melanie win the local Queen of the Show.

In the meantime one of Tippy's friends has a fall from a bridge into the river and ends up in hospital in a coma. Photos arrive on Tippy's phone that seem to indicate that he has been a witness to something he shouldn't have seen.

I had a lot of trouble "getting into" this novel., and I am not totally sure why. There are really 3 or 4 plots progressing together and I had trouble in deciding who to trust. So separating out these plot strands was probably part of my problem. There is a large range of characters and their interaction with each other is at times a bit obscure. ( )

I’ll be honest, as a preteen I much preferred Trixie Belden to Nancy Drew but I would leap at the chance to join The Nancy’s who feature in this delightful debut from New Zealand-born Australian author R.W.R McDonald.

Eleven year old Tippy Chan lives in a tiny town in South Otago. Her mother, Helen, a nurse at a local hospital, has won a two week cruise and so Tippy’s Uncle Pike, and his boyfriend Devon, have flown in from Sydney to look after her. It’s been a difficult year for Tippy after the death of her beloved father, and Tippy is a little anxious about her mother’s absence, increasingly so when first one of her best friend’s is badly injured in a fall from the town’s single lane bridge, and then her teacher’s naked headless body is discovered nearby. Tippy, a fan of the Nancy Drew mystery series, has the idea to investigate both incidents, a pursuit Pike and Devon indulge with a murder board written on a living room window in permanent texta, a mantra (Everyone’s a suspect), and matching t-shirts designed by Devon (after several attempts).

Calling themselves The Nancy’s, the three rely on their charm, insider’s knowledge (Pike grew up in Riverstone) of the town and its residents, and a little luck to try and solve the mystery but investigating a murder isn’t quite as easy as Nancy Drew makes it seem. The closer they get to finding the truth, the less Tippy is sure she really wants to know. I’m not sure how I feel about the mystery element of the novel, I thought the manner of death and the behaviour of the killer was unnecessarily outlandish, and it wasn’t as strong overall as I expected it to be, though it was satisfyingly resolved.

Whatever weakness there may be in the plot, I adored the main cast of The Nancy’s. Tippy is a delightful narrator - bright and quick, but still appropriately childish. She admires Nancy Drew for a number of reasons, so it’s no surprise she wants to emulate her. Still grieving the sudden loss of her father, the investigation is a way for her to gain some control over her life, and the things that scare her.
Uncle Pike, who looks like Santa Claus, only with tattoos, and Devon, described as Ken wearing Barbie, are outrageous characters with larger than life personalities. Irreverent, with a penchant for drink, swearing and innuendo, they are not really appropriate guardians for a child, but are warm, supportive, and fun which is exactly what Tippy needs. I found them absolutely hilarious, though I recognise their potential to offend.

There is variety in the supporting characters from elderly neighbours Mr and Mrs Brown and their granddaughter Melanie, an unctuous real estate agent, and a toothy tv presenter (who is also Pike’s ex-boyfriend), to a hard nosed journalist, a closeted policeman, and Tippy’s other best friend, Sam, and his family. The tiny community of Riverstone allows McDonald to explore the ironies of small town life, particularly as Pike and Devon make over goth girl Melanie to enter the annual beauty contest.

A murder mystery laced with mirth, The Nancy’s is a witty, warm, and wildly entertaining novel. I can’t wait to read about The Nancy’s next adventure in McDonald’s Nancy Business. ( )

I expected to like this more but I couldn’t resonate with the characters who seemed stereotypical and not that funny. There are some good moments of tension and an ample supply of red herrings, but the side story seemed more froth than substance. ( )

Hands up those of us who thought we'd grow up to be Nancy Drew, although I will confess I was more in the Trixie Belden camp. But those books, The Secret Seven, The Famous Five and the Three Investigators series probably had a lot to do with anybody around our age addicted to mysteries, thrillers and crime fiction. Although I doubt anybody quite expected the homage that is THE NANCYS by Kiwi-Australian writer R.W.R. McDonald. And potential readers should be warned - this is not a book you'd be giving to your average 8 year old. Unless you're of a particularly broad mind and even then you may find yourself in some complicated explanation situations.

THE NANCYS, in short, is the story of when 11 year old Tippy Chan, Uncle Pike and his new boyfriend Devon solve a murder in the small New Zealand town in which Tippy and her mother Helen (Pike's sister) live. It's the same town where Pike grew up, the town he left as a young man, thinking his sexuality wasn't small town living compatible. It's the town where Helen married and lived with Tippy's father until his recent death, and now, after Helen has headed off on a much needed vacation, Tippy, Pike and Devon (henceforth known as The Nancys) investigate the violent murder of Tippy's teacher, and the accident that put one of her best friends in hospital, in a coma.

THE NANCYS is part detective story, part family saga, part small-town expose, with a hefty dose of extrovert gay culture and introvert or flat out odd local behaviour. There's the weirdo's next door, the local beauty pageant, an empty house and a pushy real-estate agent, the derelict hospital, the single traffic light (where the body was found), the problems in keeping in touch via Skype from an ocean going cruise, a young girl struggling with the reasons behind her beloved father's death and her mother's anger, the dive off a bridge taken by her friend that put him in the coma, her best friend and his family, the girl next door, the weirdness of the town, and nail polish in bright colours. It's over the top, it's reeking with banter and in-jokes, it's slightly smutty, slightly absurd, often times a little repetitive, and it's funny. It's definitely not subtle funny, sometimes it's hilarious funny, at other time's it's going to make you squirm. Individually the three main characters here, The Nancys, are interesting and together they are a sort of slightly off colour, slightly weird group of colleagues, with very unusual workplace conditions. Tippy, Pike and Helen however are a classic family grouping with tensions, and aggravations and love and support and a strong desire to kill each other at points. The affection that Tippy has for her Uncle Pike is immediately obvious, and it's touching the way that she connects to, and worries about Devon's role in her life into the future.

This isn't classic crime fiction pacing though, so settle in for a lot of byways, highways, and laneways. You'll be working through a fair bit of set up, and you'll be reading a lot about pasts and futures, about life in a small town when you're not one of the same, when it might appear that small towns have their own array of "not the same" as most other locations.

At the core of it though, this is character driven and Tippy's very engaging, Uncle Pike's funny and caring and Devon can bring his design stylings to our neck of the woods any day he likes. In the end THE NANCYS solve the crime, give the girl a chance to work through the highs and lows of life, and keep friends reasonably close. It's a mystery, wrapped up in a family rubbing along, in a small town where everyone's an individual, except they aren't.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/nancys-rwr-mcdonald ( )