I found this one to be quite rep titive compared to other entiries in the series: the opening is very similar to the Bungalow Mystery, the new companion Emily Willougby is a rehashing of companion Helen Corning (three years older, & soon to be married), several events in the false haunting narrative bring me right back to The Hidden Staircase etc. Interesting events happen almost randomly, and the motives & goals of the villains seem to shift for the sake of adding more excitement. Though the Nancy Drew books can sometimes be rather dramatic, Lilac Inn features one wildly impossible development after another; the bar is really low for suspension of disbelief in a middle grade novel but I found it difficult not to roll my eyes.

The use of a miniature river submarine, a "vibration machine" to shake a building, and a time bomb in the same book was a little much.

Nancy has a lot of charming quips in this one and it's interesting to watch Maud pull different emotions out of her than the usually good-girl persona, but the other half of the cast (the villains) were just names on a page. This is my current least favorite book, and I predict it will remain at the bottom in my final ranking.