The Whispering Statue

infobox Book |
name = The Whispering Statue
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Carolyn Keene
illustrator =
cover_artist = R.H. Tandy
country = United States
language = English
series = Nancy Drew Mystery Stories
genre = Mystery novel
publisher = Grosset & Dunlap
release_date = 1937
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = ISBN 0-448-09514-9
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Whispering Statue" is volume 14 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories Series. It was originally published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1937. An updated, revised, and largely different story was published under the same title in 1970. The original cover art is by R.H. Tandy, and shows Nancy behind a statue, speaking to a man. Rudy Nappi illustrated the same scene for the 1962 picture cover edition, with updated clothing and hairstyles. Nappi also illustrated the cover of the 1970 edition, which is predominantly blue and white, featuring Nancy's profile behind an overlay of a statue.

Plot summary

In the 1937 edition, Nancy, Bess, and George, encounter a troublesome stray terrier on their way to the opening festivities of a new park and recreation complex in River Heights. The terrier carries one of the speakers' handbag into a nearby pond. Nancy retrieves the handbag, and uses the wet notes to prompt the speaker during her address. Nancy learns the woman seeks her estranged husband. Nancy keeps the terrier temporarily, and takes it with her when she, her father and friends go on a retreat to the seashore. On the train, the girls observe elderly Bernice Conger, and suspect a youthful companion of trying to swindle the woman.

Once there, the girls find a statue with an uncanny resemblance to Nancy, in a whispering pose. Further mysterious actions occur when Mrs. Conger acknowledges she is being swindled, and dismisses Nancy. A seaplane accident leads Nancy to the estranged husband she has been seeking. In the climax of the story, Nancy poses behind the statue and uses her voice to make the statue appear to speak to both Mrs. Conger and the crook.

In the 1970 version of the story, Nancy is asked to solve a puzzling mystery. She then encounters a second case. The first mystery concerns a valuable collection of rare books. Wealthy Mrs. Horace Merriam has commissioned a supposedly reputable art dealer to sell the collection, but she now suspects that the man is a swindler. The second mystery revolves around the baffling theft of a beautiful marble statue, which bears an uncanny likeness to Nancy. Nancy becomes an undercover employee of the dealer. An attempted kidnapping, a nearly disastrous sailboat collision, and an encounter with a dishonest sculptor are just a few of the exciting challenges that Nancy is faced with as she gathers evidence against a clever ring of art thieves.

Criticism

Critics of the series express amusement that the likeness of the statue on the 1970 cover and in its text illustrations looks like Nancy due in part to its flip hairstyle. Since the statue is a likeness of a long-dead woman, it is anachronistic that the statue has a sleek 1960's era flip.