Customer Reviews
Very positive 
2006-02-13
I just loved this mystery, starting out with a shopping trip, where Bess wanted Oriental perfume, that the cashier, an
Indochinese girl named Yvonne Wong did not want to sell. Then
Nancy tried to help Millie Burd, whom she aroused from faint on the train home, find a job as a gal Friday. However, Yvonne Wong got the job instead, because Al Sniggs, who had the office, was a part of the same racket, Hale Syndicate, that had the Oriental shop! (Just as good that Millie DIDN'T land the job, as she would have landed in JAIL with the rest of that illegal outfit, which would have broken Grannie Burd's heart!) The rest of the story revealed how the shop where Bess bought the perfume though Yvonne Wong was reluctant to sell it, the office where Millie sought work, and the Black Snake Colony (a supposed Nature cult) ALL were part of same criminal caboodle! The end was delightful,
with the gang ending up in jail and the foreclosure of Red Gate Farm averted. Really shows what Nancy and her friends were like.
From a young reader's view 
2005-05-26
Traveling on a train after buying exotic perfume, Nancy Drew and her friends, who are famous for solving mysteries, meet a girl named Joanne. Something strange was happening, the sales lady at the perfume shop was very reluctant to sell the Blue Jade Perfume. Then at Red Gate Farm, there are some strange people from a "nature clan" called the Black Snake Colony. They perform weird chants and dances; Nancy helps one of the colony members, who later warns her to stay away from the hills of Red Gate Farm where the Black Snake Colony members reside. So of course this young sleuth sniffs up a mystery.
Nancy and her friends decide to investigate this mystery themselves. They dress up as clan members and follow them into a mystifying cave. Who are those people? What are they doing? Read The Secret Of Red Gate Farm to find out!
If you love thrilling action, and extreme suspense The Secret of Red Gate Farm is the book for you! You won't be able to put it down until your finished!
C.L.
The Secret of Red Gate Farm 2004-11-01
I have just read an enticing book, The Secret of Red Gate Farm by Carolyn Keene. This book is part of the Nancy Drew Mystery series. Nancy is an adventurous, fun-loving and determined girl. Wherever Nancy goes, a mystery seems to follow. In this book Nancy makes a new friend and helps here with a few problems. Nancy's new friends invited her to her grandmother's farm, kind of as a repayment since Nancy was so kind. At the farm they stumbled upon a counterfeiting ring, which amazed Nancy. Personally I thought this book was very exciting and accelerating. I really don't like mysteries ,but this one showed me they aren't so bad. So I recommend this book to people who really don't like mysteries ,like me. The descriptive words and accelerating actions made me like the book.
A pretty good book! 2004-06-28
I read the 1931 version. As usual with the original Nancy Drew books, the writing was good. But this particular volume stands out as being one of the better Nancy Drew books. While the whole book is good, the ending at the cave is really exciting.
Kindness Personified 2003-06-21
I read this book not too long ago after a long break from reading the hardcovers. I forgot how much I liked it!
In this book, Nancy and the gang helps out a girl and her granny at their farm, and becomes entangled in solving a mystery involving counterfeiting, greed, and a KKK-like "clan."
What really stood out in this book was Nancy's eagerness to help others, and her generosity. I love how Nancy shows so much concern for Joanne. She drove Joanne to different towns in search of a job, and went to her farm to be a paying boarder just so they wouldn't have to sell the place. You don't read about that sort of thing in the paperbacks nowadays. I haven't read a YSPC in a really long time, so it was a treat to read something so refreshing and different! You really lose sight of the real Nancy when you start reading paperbacks. I've never really realized how different Nancy had become since the 50s, or the 30s, for that matter, until now.
This book is the quintessential example of Nancy Drew being a great role model.
S.J.
The Red Gate Review 
2008-02-04
In "The Red Gate Farm" I thought that the setting was a perfect place to have the plot. I thought it was a good place because it was a perfect place to have counterfeit money making place where nobody ever goes to and where people would never think of a cave and a farm to do all the making of fake money.
"The Red Gate Farm" was a very good book I thought. The events that I liked were the beginning when the man comes up to Nancy in the train because that's when the first start of the mystery begins to show up. Also I liked how nice and kind Nancy was to Joanne because she was having such a rough time with her grandma's farm. I thought Nancy was nice because she helped Joanne when she fainted from the perfume, and when Joanne needed to find a job and a place to stay for the night. A third thing I liked was how each character acted, like it just gave them character. Like Mr. Kent, Maurice Hale, Mrs. Hale, Nancy, Yvonne, Joanna, and others, but those were the ones I thought were good because how they acted I thought just gave them a lot of a variety in each character. Another thing I liked was when finally they got all their costumes ready to go and sneak into the Black Snake Colony Cult. I thought it was very brave of them all to do this very risky thing to do. When they snuck in and found a lot of information of what the Cult was doing and who a lot of the people were. I guess I just liked how exciting and sometimes suspenseful it was to see what was going on and what was going to happen. Lastly I loved when at the end when Nancy and her friends were caught, and you thought it was the end for them, suddenly you read that the secret service was there to arrest the criminals and then when the mystery was finally solved. I liked the book, but those were the few events in the "Red Gate Farm" I really like.
I really liked "The Red Gate Farm" but there were some thing's I didn't like that much. Some things were that I thought the snake biting George part didn't really matter all that much. Also I thought some things could have been cut out and get right to the point, but I guess the author was just making it a little suspenseful. The things that could have been cut out a little bit were the parts of them making the costumes; to me they weren't that all important. Also I thought that some of the spying on the Cult wasn't as important because no real significant events happened, and sometimes the Cult wouldn't even gather, so sometimes I thought it was kind of pointless. Other than those couple of events I thought the book was really good!
I thought it was good. Same deal as the others before it. 2007-09-10
They all have the same generic plot to them except for
different mysteries. The end was actually surprising
with it's couple of twists. I think this book is where
I end my reading of Nancy Drew. The books were good
and occupied my time in a good way. They were fast
enjoyable reads that I could read in a few hours.
thank you for your time
and feel free to comment
this review,
Loran
Good Book 2007-03-06
If you like mysteries, than you are sure to like this one. Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin, and Goerge Fay go to this new friends farm because someone is trying to buy her mom's farm and she doesn't want her to sell it. One night the girl told Nancy these people come and dance on her lawn sometimes. Nancy tries to figure this mystery out, but she learns she is going to need help along the way. The more touble she gets in, the more help she needs. See what happens to her by reading the story.
Thanks
The Case of Nancy Drew: An Adult Reader's Thoughts On RED GATE FARM 2006-09-20
Originally written by Mildred Wirt Benson from outlines by Edward Stratemeyer, the Nancy Drew series was first published in 1930s. THE SECRET OF RED GATE FARM was the sixth book in the series, and like the earlier books it presented its heroine as a rich, headstrong, and distinctly reckless teenager who sometimes carried a pistol and who wasn't above breaking the law when it suited her purposes.
As the series progressed and other writers began to generate Nancy Drew novels, the character changed and Nancy was "toned down;" instead of flatly rich, she became reasonably affluent; recklessness was replaced by commonsense caution; and while she might be willing to bend the law a bit she would never knowingly break it. In the 1950s and 1960s the earlier novels were re-written to reflect this change in character.
Originally published in 1931, RED GATE FARM was re-written in 1961--but unlike several other re-written titles the story remains much the same. In this instance, Nancy and her friends Bess and George visit Red Gate Farm, where owner Mrs. Byrd is in financial difficulty and has rented a portion of the land to a religious cult. When Nancy becomes curious, she and her friends are threatened by the cult members--and they decide to infiltrate the group's strange gatherings.
It is worth noting that the cult, which is called The Black Snake Cult, dresses in white robes with odd, peaked hoods, and Nancy and the girls consider disguising themselves with sheets and pillowcases the better to spy upon their activities. Given the era of the book's first publication and later re-write, this would seem to be a subconcious reference to the Klu Klux Klan on the author's part! As always in the original series, the story is very much of its era: there are no cell phones, computers, or modern gadgets, and Nancy is very much an ideal of the time: she can sew, herd a cow, treat a snakebite, and still seem to dress appropriately for all social occasions.
The Nancy Drew books are not great literature by any stretch of the imagination--they are too distinctly formula for that--but they are competently written, literate, and never talk down to their target audience. They are also good "comfort reading" for grown-ups who recall their childhood reading fondly. RED GATE FARM is an amusing read for old fans and newcomers alike.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Have Only Read the Rewrite 2006-05-19
I can't wait to read the original book. I have only read the rewrite and I am curious to see how it stacks up. I'll be sure to let you know!
