The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse

A Nancy Clue and Cherry Aimless Mystery, Book 1

By: Mabel Maney

Narrated by: Emily Beresford

Nurse Cherry Aimless's first vacation from her hectic career in a big-city hospital takes her to visit her spinster Aunt Gertrude in thrilling San Francisco. Wistfully trading her starched white cap and dress for a bright yellow poplin frock with a flared skirt, young Cherry takes to the highway, never imagining the gay adventures that await her. Imagine her surprise to learn that Aunt Gertrude has been kidnapped!

Armed only with the contents of her purse, and with the help of new chums Midge, Velma, and a dashing female police officer named Jackie, the plucky but innocent Cherry must save her aunt, find a gaggle of missing nuns, and stop an illegal land grab - all under the warm gaze of her hero, girl detective Nancy Clue. And when the queer caper has ended, will there be a chance for Nancy and Cherry?

Mabel Maney's camp classic The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse has been beloved by readers since it was first published in 1993. This sparkling parody of 1950s girl adventure stories will make you laugh out loud and long for a lemon Jell-O mold. Golly, it's a good time!

©1993, 2002 Cleis Press (P)2012 Cleis Press

Delightful!

At first the storyline and heroine felt a little naive to my liking, but then I fell in love with all the characters and really enjoyed the novel. I look forward to listening to more ftom this series!

If you loved Nancy Drew but wanted her to get a Clue.

This stars Cherry Aimless and Nancy Clue as Cherry goes on a blind quest to help a patient with amnesia or so she thinks, but meets Nancy on the way, as bad priest who try kill her and Nancy, there is a bomb, carnival, more evil priest, brave nuns, food, and Nancy's kisses. It's all good fun and maybe what you wishe for way back when reading all thoses Nancy Drew Books.

Amazing Narration, Fun Story

I read Hardy Boys and Boxcar Children as a kid but never Nancy Drew. That said, I understood the beats and crazy plots and loved them. The crazy plot (kidnapped nuns), the characters, and setting. It's a world that doesn't shy away from the real-world homophobia of the time period but gives the characters a space they can express themselves without fear. Plus, there's some great representation of butch women!

Gloriasly funny

What did you love best about The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse?

Very funny, very campy. Very unseriously. Nancy is a very nice nurse.
We should be so lucky to have one as competent and naive as her

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse?

When Nancy so unpretentiously decides that she likes her detective idol.

What about Emily Beresford???s performance did you like?

Sounds just like Nancy as a character. REally funny and enjoyable

If you could take any character from The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Nancy and her detective girlfriend

Any additional comments?

I hope audible gets more of this serious and I intend to buy everyone or them. It is a very light hearted read.

very entertaining

this book was such a kick. now i keep wanting to use the word "queer" in it's original meaning just to amuse myself. the narration was great, except that once in a while she made the butchier characters sound all high pitched and squealy which just didn't seem right.

I Remember It As Better

I read the two Cherry Aimless/ Nancy Clue books the summer between my junior and senior years of high school and found them silly and campy but fun. I'd accompanied my newly found dad to Phoenix so he could introduce me to all the people he'd been tight with there. That's right Phoenix in Summer; naturally neither of us wanted to be too active during those two weeks so I spent a lot of time tanning at the hotel pool. The Phoenix library had these two books so Mabel Maney became forever connected to Hawaiian Tropic and hiding from my uninitiated father my illegal access to Margarita's.
Thus when I saw the titles Not-So-Nice-Nurse and Good-For-Nothing-Girlfriend I played my 'only child' card and put the books on his Cart. Evidently I've either matured a great deal or I had access to more margarita's than I remembered because the books have somehow lost the majority of their charm for me. Maybe you have to be either a teen or wasted to appreciate these literary masterpieces or maybe it's just me but I'm not recommending the works of Mabel Maney.

Adorable!

This is such a sweet, fun book! I smiled and laughed all the way through. The narrator brought the characters to life so well, especially Cherry. I really enjoyed the playful spin on the classic girl detectives.

not a fan

I am a huge fan of lesbian pulp novels so when I saw this one I was very happy, that stopped the moment I started listening ,the narrator makes the lead lass speak like a game show host's assistant selling a brand new set of steak knifes ,the high pitch enthusiasm killed the hole thing for me,if you can get past that (good luck) the story from what I can tell is not authentic it feels fake to me ,but as I say I'm a fan of these kinds of novels ,someone reading this for the sake of reading it may have a different experience, If your into lesbian Pulp novels give this one a wide birth.

awful

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

awful writing aside - the narrator was just the most terrible thing ive come across.

What could Mabel Maney have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

do you need to use the same adjective over and over and over.... and over again? also - whats with the long descriptive of totally useless elements. okay stop describing the out fits.. "yellow dress" will do just fine.

What didn’t you like about Emily Beresford’s performance?

one word. headache.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

meh.. not really. I love a gay girls romp through lala land but the writer and narrator just destroyed it for me. couldnt finish