Message in a Haunted Mansion is the 3rd installment in the Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew is a fictional young amateur detective in various mystery series for all ages. She was created by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate book packaging firm. The character first appeared in 1930. The books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published...

 video game series by Her Interactive

Her Interactive

Her Interactive is the leading mystery-maker and pioneer of fun and inspiring interactive entertainment. The company, with 24 awards to its name, designs, develops and publishes high-quality, mystery adventure games and apps, and is the world leader in the mystery games category. Her Interactive's...

, and was released in 2000. It is preceded by Stay Tuned for Danger and followed by Treasure in the Royal Tower

Treasure in the Royal Tower

Treasure in the Royal Tower is a computer game which was based loosely on a book of the same name. The book is part of a popular mystery series, created in 1930 by Edward Stratemeyer. The heroine of the books, as well as the computer game, is named Nancy Drew. It is based on book #128 in the Nancy...

. It takes place in San Francisco, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, and is based on the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories was the long-running "main" Nancy Drew series, published between 1930 and 2003. Initially, titles were published by Grosset & Dunlap, but with #57 publication switched to Simon & Schuster. Most people consider these first 56 to be the original series and consider the...

 novel #122, The Message in a Haunted Mansion.

Plot

Nancy is helping Rose, a friend of Nancy's house keeper, get settled into an old Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 mansion

Mansion

A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...

 in San Francisco that she is turning into a bed and breakfast. But, there are other uninvited guests, visitors from the past--spirits who want the place all to themselves. Strange accidents are slowing down the renovation, and Nancy is trying to figure out who, or what, is trying to scare everyone away. Nancy suspects that there is another force at work: greed.

Characters

• Rose Green -- A friend of Hannah Gruen's who invited Nancy out to San Francisco to help her with some renovation work on her Victorian mansion. She plans to open a bed and breakfast with her friend and co-owner Abby. However, several accidents have caused her to worry about being able to open on time. She's invested her life savings into the place, but is she reconsidering this venture? If so, how far will she go to regain her money? Enough to destroy the mansion?
• Abby Sideris -- A friend of Rose who helped her buy the mansion at auction. She is very spiritual and believes in ghosts. At one point in the game, she even holds a séance
  Séance
  A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...
  
  . She insists that the house is haunted and hopes to advertise as such. Could she be faking these hauntings to bring in guests? Is she also somehow involved in these so called accidents?
• Charlie Murphy -- A young workman who is helping Rose with renovation
  Renovation
  Renovation is the process of improving a structure. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential.-Process:The process of a renovation, however complex, can usually be broken down into several processes...
  
  s. He is inexperienced and very uncomfortable when the accidents get brought up. He is found in the basement most of the time.
• Louis Chandler -- An suave, middle aged, antique dealer who runs Chandler Interiors and specializes in the Victorian Period. He works in the library
  Library
  In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
  
  , and is helping Rose with choosing authentic decor. He claims to not know anything about the mansion, but is he lying? Could he be the one causing these accidents so he can have Rose sell the mansion to someone else?
• Hannah Gruen
  Hannah Gruen
  Hannah Gruen is a character in the popular Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. She is the Drews' housekeeper in River Heights, and treats Nancy as she would her own child. She is something of a mother figure to Nancy, and has worked for the Drews since the death of Nancy's mother. She cooks...
  
  -- The Drew's housekeeper who sent Nancy to the mansion to help her friend Rose. She can only be heard through the phone and is not a suspect.
• Bess Marvin and George Fayne- Friends of Nancy. Like Hannah, they can only be heard through the phone and they aren't suspects.
• Lizzie Applegate- An actress from the 1880's. What is her connection to this place? Could she be a ghost, lurking the hallways?
• Diego Valdez-A bandit also from the 1880's. He was hispanic and is mentioned in the game. His voice can be heard during Abby's seance. Could he be searching the mansion for his wife? Who is his wife?

Cast

• Nancy Drew -- Lani Minella
  Lani Minella
  Lani Minella is a voice actress who has voiced in over 500 computer and video games as well as several TV and anime series. She is best known for voicing Nancy Drew, Millie Strathorn, Loulou the Parrot and Freddie in the Nancy Drew computer games, Ivy Valentine in the Soulcalibur video game...
  
  
• Rose Green—Janis Page
• Abby Sideris—Valerie Mosley
• Charlie Murphy—Scott Carty
• Louis Chandler—Brian Hargus
• Hannah Gruen—Maia McCarthy
• Emily Foxworth—Shannon Kipp
• Bess Marvin' -- Katie Denny
• George Fayne—Lindsay Newman

Second Chances

There are many ways of accidents in this game where the player has to use the second chance option. Some of them are:

• Loosening the chandelier too much so that it falls and breaks.
• Not putting out the fire in time.
• Going through the secret passage without a lantern.
• Spending too long going through Louis's briefcase and getting caught.
• Telling Louis that you found "Gum Bo Fu" in a book instead of in a magazine.
• Staying in Abby's room after 6pm and getting caught.
• Letting the culprit get away.