The Cinderella Ballet Mystery

  Can Nancy follow the trail of this fairy tale?

  Nancy and her friends are going to be in a ballet! After months of taking dance classes, Nancy, George, and Bess will perform in a ballet version of Cinderella! The Clue Crew is excited to wear fancy costumes and dance on a real stage! Nancy’s friend Andrea is going to play the part of Cinderella. And she’ll wear special glass slippers just like in the fairy tale!

  But when the glass slippers disappear, Nancy is determined to help. Can the Clue Crew uncover Cinderella’s slippers before the clock strikes show time?

  TEST YOUR DETECTIVE SKILLS WITH THESE OTHER CLUE CREW CASES!

  #1: Sleepover Sleuths

  #2: Scream for Ice Cream

  #3: Pony Problems

  #5: Case of the Sneaky Snowman

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  A Ready-for-Chapters Book

  Cover designed by Lisa Vega

  Cover illustration copyright © 2006 by Macky Pamintuan

  Ages 6-9

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  A Cinderella with no glass slippers?

  “I think we’re rehearsing the ballroom scene,” Nancy called out to her friends.

  “I love that scene,” Bess gushed. “It’s so pretty!”

  They got to the top of the stairs. Nancy expected to see all the students stretching at the barre and on the floor. But instead, everyone was huddled around Mr. McGuire. He looked very serious.

  Andrea turned around and saw Nancy and her friends. She came running up to them. “Nancy! Bess! George!” she cried out. Her eyes were shiny with tears.

  “Andrea, what’s going on?” Nancy asked her curiously.

  “My Cinderella slippers are gone,” Andrea announced. “Somebody stole them!”

  Join the Clue Crew

  & solve these other cases!

  #1 Sleepover Sleuths

  #2 Scream for Ice Cream

  #3 Pony Problems

  #4 The Cinderella Ballet Mystery

  #5 Case of the Sneaky Snowman

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Text copyright © 2006 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Illustrations copyright © 2006 by Macky Pamintuan

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS, NANCY DREW AND THE CLUE CREW, and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  NANCY DREW is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Designed by Lisa Vega

  The text of this book was set in ITC Stone Informal.

  First Aladdin Paperbacks edition October 2006.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2006920995

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-1256-9 (print)

  ISBN-10: 1-4169-1256-8

  ISBN: 978-1-4424-5908-3 (eBook)

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE: THE CINDERELLA BALLET

  CHAPTER TWO: SLIPPERY SLIPPERS

  CHAPTER THREE: MISSING!

  CHAPTER FOUR: THE FIRST CLUE

  CHAPTER FIVE: THE DRAMA QUEEN

  CHAPTER SIX: A BLAZING HEADLINE

  CHAPTER SEVEN: A NEW SUSPECT

  CHAPTER EIGHT: THE FRENCH CLUE

  CHAPTER NINE: BRAVO!

  CHAPTER ONE

  The Cinderella Ballet

  Nancy Drew slipped on her pink ballet shoes. “Let’s stretch!” she said to her friends George Fayne and Bess Marvin.

  George nodded. “Last one to the barre is a rotten egg!”

  “Hey, not fair, you’re closest to the barre!” Bess cried out.

  The three friends hurried to the long wooden bar in front of the mirrored wall. Running was against the rules at Tim McGuire’s Dance Studio, so they walked really, really fast instead.

  The three girls had been taking lessons at Mr. McGuire’s studio since the beginning of the school year. They were in the middle of rehearsing for a full-length ballet of “Cinderella.” Opening night was on Saturday, only five days away.

  Nancy got to the barre first, then Bess, then George. “Hmm, I wonder who’s the rotten egg?” Bess joked.

  George made a face. “Ha, ha.”

  Nancy put her right foot up on the barre with her toes pointed. She held onto the barre for balance. Then she curved her left arm over her head and leaned her body toward her right foot. Bess and George did the same. Nancy could feel the muscles in her right leg and the whole left side of her body stretching and getting loose.

  Nancy glanced at the wall clock; it was five minutes before four. Almost time for the rehearsal to begin, she thought. The studio was filled with students who were busily putting on their ballet slippers or stretching.

  Nancy noticed that Mr. McGuire was off in the corner talking on his tiny silver cell phone. His eyebrows were knit tightly together, and his mouth was pursed in a deep frown. Nancy thought that he looked upset. She wondered who he was talking to.

  “Hey, Nancy Drew! I have a mystery for you,” someone said.

  Nancy glanced over her shoulder. Deirdre Shannon was standing there. Deirdre’s best friend, Madison Foley, was standing next to her. They were dressed in identical shiny, purple leotards with matching supershort shorts, pink tights, and pink leg warmers.

  “It’s the mystery of the weird ballet outfit,” Deirdre continued. “Did aliens come and dress George Fayne in the middle of the night? Curious minds want to know!”

  George was wearing a soccer T-shirt and shorts instead of a fancy leotard combo like Deirdre. Mr. McGuire didn’t have strict rules about what to wear for rehearsals.

  “You’re so hilarious, Deirdre,” George said. “Not!”

  Deirdre cracked up. She looked over at Madison, who was searching through her dance bag for something, and poked her with an elbow.

  “What? Oh!” Madison started cracking up too. Madison always did whatever Deirdre told her to do.

  Nancy rolled her eyes and resumed stretching. She and her friends were used to getting all kinds of attention, even teasing, about the Clue Crew.

  The Clue Crew was Nancy, Bess, and George’s mystery-solving club. Their headquarters were located in Nancy’s room. They stored their clues in one of Nancy’s desk drawers. George kept track of their cases on Nancy’s computer.

  Just then, a boy named Gregory Auffredou came up to the girls. He was wearing a black T-shirt with the words “Dancing Fool” on it, black sweat pants, and black ballet shoes. He gave a friendly wave.

  “Hi,” Gregory said. “My mom made some chocolate chip cookies. Does anyone want one?” He reached into his dance bag and pulled out a plastic container.

  “Yum! Thanks!” Bess plucked a cookie out of the container and bit into it. She began coughing and gagging. “Yuck! What is this?”

  Gregory burst into laughter. “I got you!” he guffawed. “These cookies are totally fake. They’re from my sister’s toy kitchen.”

  Deirdre quickly took her digital camera out of her dance bag and snapped a picture. “I got you too Bess!” she giggled.

  She held out the tiny screen on her camera for everyone to see. She had managed to get a picture of Bess’s grossed-out expression and the fake cookie hanging out of her mouth.

  Nancy shook her head at Gregory. He
always seemed to be playing practical jokes. Once he’d put fake worms in George’s water bottle. Another time he’d put ice cubes in Madison’s ballet slippers.

  Bess handed the “cookie” back to Gregory. “You can have this back,” she said huffily. She turned to Deirdre. “And you can delete that picture!”

  “No way,” Deirdre said with a grin. “I might even post it on my website!” Deirdre had her own website, called Dishing with Deirdre. Her father had helped her set it up.

  “Don’t you dare!” Bess cried out.

  Mr. McGuire clapped his hands. “Girls and boys! I want everyone on the floor. Now.”

  Nancy and her friends hurried over to the middle of the floor and sat down with their legs crossed. Deirdre, Madison, and Gregory sat down nearby.

  The other students in the class included Nadine Nardo and Andrea Wu from River Heights Elementary School. There were also about a dozen kids who went to other schools. In “Cinderella,” Gregory played the part of the prince. Deirdre and Madison were the wicked stepsisters. George was the wicked stepmother. Bess was the fairy godmother. Nancy, Nadine, and Andrea were mice who magically turned into Cinderella’s coach drivers. They were also dancers and attendants at the prince’s ball, along with some other kids.

  The lead role of Cinderella was played by a girl named Autumn Gooden. Nancy glanced around. Autumn wasn’t here yet. It wasn’t like her to be late for class.

  Scruffy, Mr. McGuire’s golden retriever, came up to Gregory and gave him a kiss. For some reason, Scruffy loved to give Gregory wet, sloppy dog kisses. Nancy wondered if it was because Gregory often fed the dog cookies—real cookies—when Mr. McGuire wasn’t looking!

  Mr. McGuire sat down on his special blue director’s chair in the front of the studio. “Hello, class,” he began.

  “Hi, Mr. McGuire,” the class replied in unison.

  Mr. McGuire had light brown hair and a slender, serious face. He used to be a professional ballet dancer. Nancy, George, and Bess had seen him in a production of The Nutcracker last year in Chicago. Nancy had loved the special holiday ballet, especially the second act, which was set entirely in the Land of Sweets. The stage had been filled with giant-size candies, cakes, and other goodies. Too bad those sweets were fake!

  “I have some good news and some bad news,” Mr. McGuire began.

  Nancy, George, and Bess exchanged glances. I wonder what the bad news is? Nancy wondered.

  “The good news is that all the costumes are now ready, thanks to Ms. Zelda’s hard work,” Mr. McGuire said. He smiled at Ms. Zelda, who was standing in the corner. Ms. Zelda was the costume manager. She nodded and waved.

  “What’s the bad news?” Deirdre asked.

  Mr. McGuire’s smile faded. “I just got a call from Autumn’s mom,” he said. “Autumn tripped on the stairs this morning and sprained her ankle. Fortunately, nothing’s broken, so she’s going to be fine in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to dance the part of Cinderella.”

  Nancy gasped. Poor Autumn! She had been practicing so hard for her wonderful starring role. Now she wouldn’t be able to be in the ballet at all.

  “So who’s going to be the new Cinderella?” a girl named Melanie asked him.

  Mr. McGuire turned to Andrea, who was sitting in the back row. “Well, it only makes sense that Andrea should be the new Cinderella, since she’s the understudy,” he replied. Nancy remembered that an understudy was someone who learned a starring role in case he or she might have to be a substitute at the last minute.

  “Yay!” Andrea squealed happily. “I mean, I feel really bad for Autumn. But I’m really glad I get to be Cinderella. And I already know all the dances!”

  A boy named Rich who was sitting next to Andrea gave her a high five. Other kids congratulated her too.

  Just then a pink ballet slipper came flying through the air. It hit the mirrored wall and fell to the ground.

  Nancy recognized Nadine’s shoe.

  “That’s not fair!” Nadine cried out.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Slippery Slippers

  Nancy stared at Nadine. Mr. McGuire had just named Andrea to be the new Cinderella. And Nadine wasn’t taking it very well.

  Why does Nadine always have to be such a drama queen? Nancy thought.

  “Ms. Nardo, we don’t throw shoes in the studio!” Mr. McGuire scolded her.

  “It … was an accident,” Nadine stammered.

  “Yeah, right,” Bess whispered to Nancy and George. “A likely story.”

  “Besides, why does Andrea get to be the new Cinderella?” Nadine went on. “I should be the new Cinderella!”

  Nadine had tried out for the part of Cinderella last month along with Autumn and Andrea. After the audition, Mr. McGuire had picked Autumn. Afterward, he had taken a long time to choose between Andrea and Nadine to be Autumn’s understudy. In the end, he had gone with Andrea and made Nadine one of the mice instead.

  “Andrea is my choice and that’s final,” Mr. McGuire said firmly to Nadine. “Now, let’s get started with the rehearsal. First we’ll run through the beginning of the ballroom scene….”

  “Hmph,” Nadine protested. She didn’t say anything more.

  The students scrambled to their feet and took their places. Nancy was one of the dancers at the prince’s ball, along with Nadine. As the fairy godmother, Bess was not in the scene. George, playing the wicked stepmother, would not be in the scene until later.

  Mr. McGuire started playing the music on the CD player. Nancy’s heart began racing. The music was so elegant and regal. She could almost imagine that she was at a royal ball in a beautiful castle in some faraway kingdom. She wondered what sort of pretty ball gown she would get to wear for this scene. Would it be purple, her favorite color? Or maybe blue?

  “First position,” Mr. McGuire called out. All the dancers put their heels together with their toes pointed out to the sides. They held their arms curved out in front.

  “Tendu left and glissade stage right,” Mr. McGuire said.

  Nancy had finally gotten used to hearing the ballet steps called out in French. To do the tendu, she slid her left foot to the front, toes still pointed. Then she slid her foot to the side, then to the back.

  For the glissade, Nancy glided over a few feet to the left. That was one of the most confusing things about ballet. “Stage right” meant go to the left. “Stage left” meant go to the right. It had to do with the audience’s view, not the dancers’ view. But it sure sounded backward to Nancy.

  Still, the glissade was one of Nancy’s favorite steps. It felt so light and breezy, as though she was dancing on air.

  “Michael, don’t lock your knees. Keep them loose. Nadine, other direction,” Mr. McGuire said.

  “Right, left, what difference does it make,” Nadine said under her breath. Nancy was dancing close to her and could hear every word. “A terrible mistake has been made!” Nadine added.

  “I’m sorry you didn’t get to be Cinderella,” Nancy whispered to Nadine as she did a tendu with her right foot. “But you’re an awesome dancer! We need you in this scene.”

  “Hmph,” Nadine said.

  The group continued to rehearse the steps. Nadine kept muttering about how she should have been Cinderella.

  Nancy couldn’t help wondering: Was Nadine going to keep complaining about not being Cinderella? Was she going to make trouble for Andrea and the other dancers?

  “The Cinderella slippers have arrived!” Mr. McGuire announced.

  It was Tuesday afternoon. Nancy, George, Bess, and the rest of the class were gathered in the studio for another rehearsal.

  Nancy sat on the floor, pulling on her sky blue leg warmers, which matched her tights and leotard. She pulled her water bottle out of her bag and took a long drink.

  “What Cinderella slippers?” Nancy asked the teacher.

  “We ordered them from a very special store in Paris, France,” Mr. McGuire explained. “They are for Autumn, I mean Andrea, to wear to the pri
nce’s ball. It’s a lucky thing both girls wear the same shoe size. Ms. Zelda is downstairs now, getting the package from the deliveryman.”

  “Cinderella’s glass slippers!” Bess whispered excitedly to Nancy and George.

  Nancy nodded. She loved that part of the Cinderella tale.

  In the story, Cinderella’s fairy godmother waved her magic wand and made Cinderella a special pair of glass slippers to wear to the prince’s ball. She also turned Cinderella’s raggedy dress into a beautiful ball gown, a pumpkin into a coach, and mice into coach drivers.

  The fairy godmother warned Cinderella that she had to leave the ball by midnight because the magic spells would wear off then. Cinderella agreed. At the stroke of midnight, she left the prince’s arms and rushed out of the ball. But in her haste, she lost one of her glass slippers. Later, the prince would comb the kingdom searching for her. He knew that whoever the tiny glass slipper fit must be his beloved princess.

  “So Andrea has to dance in glass slippers?” George whispered to Nancy and Bess.

  Nancy shrugged. “I don’t know. She’d have to be really careful not to break them!”

  Just then, Ms. Zelda came running out onto the studio floor. She was dressed in a silvery gray T-shirt and jeans. Her golden curls were piled on top of her head with fancy combs and pins. She was holding a white box covered with brightly colored stamps.

  “The package has arrived from Paris!” she announced breathlessly. She had a soft voice with a French accent that sounded very sophisticated to Nancy.

  “My Cinderella slippers!” Andrea exclaimed.

  Mr. McGuire smiled. “Let’s see them!”

  Ms. Zelda started to open the box. She tried to rip the tape off. But it seemed to be stuck.

  Gregory was standing next to Ms. Zelda. “You want some help, Ms. Z?” he asked her.

  Ms. Zelda thrust the box at him. “Oui, that would be very kind.”

  Gregory took the box and began ripping. After a moment, he had the box open.

  He reached in and pulled out a white shoe box with pink and silver stripes on it. He opened the lid and parted several layers of white tissue paper. Then he pulled out one of the glass slippers.