This was another tedious read. It seemed that no matter how far I got in the book we were still only half way through.

I understand this book was written a pretty long time ago and is meant for a younger audience, but the writing was crap and the story was not believable. At all. Nancy's dad gets a turkish rug from a client who went on the lam. The rug has a hidden message woven in. Multiple languages and usage of the old name of Istanbul (was Constantinople) and pictures of shoe shine stands. The message says to send him his mannequin. Really? You couldn't write a letter? Maybe a phone call? Maybe it was a let's-see-how-complicated-I-can-make-this game. Well, Farouk Tahmasp, you are the winner.

There were too many subplots that were suppose to coalesce into this main plot. Saving the boy from the water wheel. His father just happened to have a travel agency that had a trip to Istanbul planned. There just happened to be 8 seats left, the exact number in Nancy's party. The 8 people had the money and passports on hand to go to on this trip. Aisha having perfect friends to take in the group, as well as, the tour bus she apparently hid in her back pocket. There was the burglar who wanted the rug and then, after losing tug of war with Nancy, returned to move the rug from upstairs to downstairs and roll up a scimitar in it. WTF! There was the random guy who threw a hissy fit at Nancy in the restaurant. No purpose for that subplot as we never see that guy again. The kidnapping of Bess and the attempt at a ransom. Then Nancy is pushed into the cistern, but is ok because the water softened the blow?!

There was a weird attempt to describe Istanbul and the different treatment of men and women, but it was sad and very much lacking. In fact, it took away from the book (as if there was anything to take from the book).

I kept asking my 5 year old daughter if she liked the book. Night after night she said, "yes." Night after night I read this book.
"Are you sure you want to keep reading this?"
"Yes"
-sigh- ( )

In many of the later books, Nancy feels compelled to leave the country, and this one is no exception. Nancy travels to Turkey in the final leg of her mission, in which she has had to track down a mannequin through Greek and Turkish neighborhoods that aren't always friendly to her. She knows that a man with a skeleton key is as anxious to find it as she is, so she has to use her sleuthing skills as best as she can to make it in time. ( )

Another interesting case, involving a fugitive carpet dealer and his mysterious mannequin who is more than she seems. ( )