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Nancy Drew:
Secrets Can Kill
Developer:Her Interactive
Publisher:Her Interactive
Platform:PC
Genre:Adventure
Release Date:1998
Article Posted:October 2006
System Requirements


Adventure gamers of all ages, this is the first in the Nancy Drew series entitled “Secrets Can Kill”. Put your trigger fingers away because you won’t need them. Please keep the discs handy because you will need them. This is a walkthrough. It will give you all the answers you need to complete the game. There are other things to see, but if they didn’t help toward the end game, they have been left out.

The magnifying glass you are holding will turn red around the edges when you have located a “hot spot”. Click on that item to view it more closely. The magnifying glass will turn blue around the edges if you hold it near the right or left edges of the scene and will allow you to move your view right or left. The same is true to look up or down. To exit a close up, move the magnifying glass toward the bottom of the scene until it turns into a “U Turn” arrow.


Do not read further if you don’t want the answers.



And now, Adventure Lantern and Southern Belle present “Nancy Drew - Secrets Can Kill”.

Aunt Eloise’s Home

  • Look at the clock.
  • Look at the letter next to the clock.
  • Open the drawer on the right and take the phone card.
  • Turn left and enter the living room.
  • Open the drawer in the end table on the right and take the remote control. Click on the envelope under the scissors. Click again. The combination to the safe is the four gold letters across the top. Sigma, Phi, Kappa, Delta.
  • Look at the bookshelf. Open the eighth book from the right and take the key.
  • Use the key to open the chest. Take the quarter. Close the chest to exit the scene.
  • Turn right and look at the books on the left end of the couch under the window. The flowers in the book are labeled – Miniature Iris Tulip Crocus Hyacinth. The green letters spell Mitch.
  • Go back out into the foyer.
  • Go left.
  • Click on the tapestry.


  • Enter Sigma, Phi, Kappa, Delta. The fifth, fourth, sixth and ninth buttons.
  • Take the key on the right.
  • Solve the slider box puzzle. The top of the box is the completed slider puzzle. If you don’t want to solve the slider puzzle, here is the password and login.


  • Click on the tapestry to exit the safe.
  • Turn around, click on the front door and go to the diner.


    The Diner

  • Talk with Daryl Gray.
  • Look at the menu board. The red letters spell out – soup ladle and bolt cutter.
  • Turn right. Look at the menu on the table in the nearest booth. See the word danger. Unscramble – atosbage – to get sabotage.
  • Turn around and go left to the kitchen.
  • Enter the kitchen and look to the right at the paper on the refrigerator. The first letter of each line spells out – “Support Gas Line”.
  • Turn left and look at the wall in between the table and the stove. Take the bolt cutters. Don’t do anything else until you complete this task or the kitchen will explode.
  • Step back and turn left. Look at the black dishpan under the sign that says “Safety First”. Take the ladle.
  • Go back to the gas line and use the ladle to prop up the pipe.
  • Step back from the pipe and look at the cutting board. See the words “WATCH OUT”.
  • Look to the right and click on the work schedule. Click again. The numbers across the bottom represent the numerical positions in the alphabet of letters. It says – “Jake’s fate happened deliberately, gravity was not his worst enemy.”
  • Step back twice to exit the work schedule.
  • Exit the diner.


    Paseo Del Mar High School

  • Go to Paseo Del Mar High School and enter the front door.
  • Turn right and go down the hall.
  • Turn around and look at the yellow paper on the floor. 555-DRUG.
  • Turn right and look at the bulletin board. See the message “Student files under lock and key will show the lies of a doctor-to-be.”
  • Step back and go right. Enter the first door on the right, the Student Union.
  • Talk with Connie.
  • Look at the bulletin board on the right side of the door to the Teachers’ Lounge. Look at the red and white notice. All around the edges are the words – “Side of School”.
  • Exit the Student Union, turn around and go past the Student Union and into the Study Dome.
  • Talk with Hal. When you finish see if you can talk with him again. Do this until the only thing left to say is – “Talk to ‘ya later.”
  • Turn left and look at the bulletin board to the left of the window. Click on the white notice under “Get Involved”. It says – “Jake’s locker combo was part of his name. Just find a phone to decode his name.”
  • Turn left and look, but do not go, down the hall with the Senior Prom sign. Click on the bulletin board on the left wall. See a blue and white sign. It says – “A Crane contestant in a masked disguise won the prize money despite all the lies. The ultimate hang-out in the center of everything is the place you need to go to set up the final sting.”
  • Step back from the bulletin board and turn right.
  • Go forward once and turn right so that you are looking at the doors to the Library. Look at the bulletin board on the right. Click on the notice on the right side of the board. It says – “There’s more than one way to remove a chain so thick, aside from the combination, Mel’s bolt cutter can do the trick.”
  • Use the silver key to open the library door.


    The Library

  • Enter the library and look at the blue forms on the right side of the counter. The highlighted words read – “Sabotage should cause concern, but with the gloves you will not burn.”
  • Turn right and approach the map case against the far wall. Open the third drawer down and find a hidden word puzzle.


  • I can see – harm, poem, danger, Kanji, Maxine, crime, beware, diner, boiler, video tape, murder, Connie, Crane, Hal, Hulk, Daryl, Drew, case, Jake and Paseo Del Mar on the diagonal, from bottom left to upper right.
  • The fifth drawer down has a blue and green message in it. Read the blue letters first, then the green ones. “The bolt cutter you must take, or you could be the next Jake.”
  • Step away from the map case and look at the card catalogue. Look at the drawer marked “ENG – ESS”.
  • Step away from the card catalogue.
  • Look at the red encyclopedias on the center bookcase. Look at the “B” encyclopedia. It shows the Braille alphabet. The red letters spell Mitch, blue spell, drops, green spell, a and purple spell, gun. “Mitch drops a gun.”
  • Important! Step back and look at the maroon and white encyclopedias in the next bookcase on the top shelf. Look at “K”. You find the meaning for the Kanji symbol that Connie is wearing.
  • Move away from the maroon and white encyclopedias and look at the green books just under them. Look at the “M” encyclopedia. Find Morse code. The red letters spell, find, the green letters spell, VCR and the blue letters spell, tape. “Find VCR tape.”
  • Step away, turn around and go to the other side of the room. Turn right and look at the bookcase against the back wall on the right. Look at the book about dream symbols. The dark letters in the red words spell – “Don’t run Nancy.”
  • Move away from the bookcase and go right to the landing. Look at the dedication plaque on the wall. Rearrange the letters in the principal’s name and get “Boiler Room Door”.
  • Go upstairs and look on your right. Find a book on boiler operations.
  • Look at the books two stacks down. Find a book about Judo.
  • Move forward and left to the other side of the room.
  • Click on the table. Click again and get a close-up of the yellow pad.
  • The top of the page says – “The first shall be last.” Reverse the order of the alphabet and translate the message to read – “The one with the temper and the iron fist is more than a prime suspect on Jake’s blackmail list.”
  • Move away from the table, turn around and go down the stairs.
  • Exit the library and turn right.


    Paseo Del Mar High School

  • Look at the bulletin board on your right. There is a notice in the bottom left corner. It is upside down and backwards. It reads – “When things go astray tonight at Vandelay, it will not help to run so you must grab the gun.”
  • Go forward down the hall and turn right.
  • Look at the eye chart on the left. Read it from right to left, bottom to top. It says – “If you can read this, then make no mistake, a genuine first class detective you’ll make.”
  • Turn right and talk with Hulk Sanchez. Talk with him until the only thing to ask about is “Bye”.
  • Turn around.
  • Look at the bulletin board on the right. Look at the notices in the bottom right corner. They are upside down/mirrored. They read – “ Nowhere to turn to, nowhere to hide, let the books in the library be your answer guide.” “A symbol of Kanji worn with great pride, reflects a big secret that someone must hide.” “He did what it took to make the grade, even if it meant cheating to keep up his charade.”
  • Step away from the bulletin board. Look left.
  • Look at the pink notice on the bulletin board on the right. It reads – “In the face of danger, against a killer if you dare, a very unlikely couple could be a helpful pair”.
  • Look left and go straight down the hall.
  • Turn right and look at the bulletin board on the right. The notice reads – “Find the morning edition and discover another crime, the answer is in black and white to who will do the time”.


  • Back away from the bulletin and look at Jake’s locker. The combination is the letters in Jake’s name, but using their numerical positions on a telephone keypad, 5253. Open the locker.
  • Important --
  • Look at the Judo magazine.
  • Look at the book of essays.
  • Look at the empty tape container.
  • Look at the jacket and see a box cutter on the floor. Take the box cutter.
  • Look at the newspaper.
  • Exit Jake’s locker and go out the front door of the school.


    Outside the school

  • Click on the school to approach the school.
  • Click on the hot spot in the lower right corner of the building to go to the side of the school.
  • Click on the second group of windows.
  • Select the box cutter and click on the third pane from the left. You make a hole in the pane.
  • Click on the hole.
  • Click on the open window.


    The Teachers’ Lounge

  • Turn around and look at the bookcase.
  • Look at the blue book on the lower shelf and find a piece of paper with sign language on it. The signs spell out – “o was innocent”. Place the red signs in the red circles and the black signs in the black circles. Now it reads – “Connie Watson was innocent”.
  • Step away from the bookcase and turn right.
  • Look at the map.
  • Across the top and bottom it reads – “A trophy was not the only prize, but also money of a greater size.” The sides of the map say CW over and over.
  • Back away from the map and look at the filing cabinets.
  • Important! Open the drawer and look at Hal Tanaka’s essay.
  • Move away from the filing cabinets and turn around.
  • Look at the pink note on the right side of the computer. It reads – “Before you see the enemy, examine the elevator”.
  • Back away from the note and look at the computer. Click on either the keyboard or the mouse.
  • Type in Eloise Drew, press enter on your keyboard and then type in O Wise Elder and press enter on your keyboard.
  • Look at the cogs and see that the lock on the Video Lab needs repair.
  • Look at the key and get the password to the maintenance room – “note”.
  • Click on the printer and get a printed document.
  • Move away from the computer and go left to the printer.
  • Pick up the Security Report.
  • Notice that an exchange student came at 8:05pm to pick up his homework and that two people were seen at the Video Lab at 8:30pm.
  • Look at the bottom of the report and see BR19LL5.K5YP14. If you replace the numbers with letters, it says – “Braille Keypad”.
  • Back away from the printer and look at the Periodic Table above the printer. The elements bordered in red spell – “Search”. The ones bordered in blue spell – “Behind”. And the elements bordered in green spell – “Boiler”.
  • Exit the Teacher’s Lounge through the window and go back in the school through the front door.


    Paseo Del Mar High School

  • Turn right and go to the end of the hall.
  • Turn left, go to the study dome and talk with Hal.
  • Exit the Study Dome and go to the Student Union.
  • Talk with Connie. Keep talking with her until the only thing left to say is “Bye”.
  • Exit the Student Union, go to the Gym and talk with Hulk. Keep talking with him until the only thing left to say is “Bye”.
  • Important! Look closely at the Judo Poster before you leave the gym.
  • Exit the school and go to the Diner.


    The Diner

  • Talk with Daryl. Ask him anything you like, but DO NOT ask him “Pressure the suspects?” You will not get the note that someone left for you. When the conversation is over, you will get the note. Read it. Exit the diner and go back to the school.


    Paseo Del Mar High School

  • Turn right and go to the end of the hall.
  • Turn right and go to the Boiler Room.
  • Save your game before you go in the Boiler Room, just in case.
  • Look at the boiler room door. Press the fourth, third, first and eighth keys in that order.
  • Enter the Boiler Room.
  • Press the elevator button on the right and go down to the boiler.
  • Look at the toolbox and take the gloves.
  • Look at the plaque left and behind the boiler. It reads 1967.
  • Back away from the plaque and look at the padlock. Enter 1967.
  • Put on the gloves and click on the left lever twice, the right lever twice and the left lever once more.
  • Turn around and take the matchbook that is on the crate.


  • Turn left and exit the Boiler Room through the grate in the wall near the floor behind the boiler.
  • Pick up the video tape.
  • Exit the shaft.
  • Back away from the school and go to Aunt Eloise’s home.


    Aunt Eloise’s Home

  • Go into the living room.
  • Turn right and open the center cabinet doors.
  • Use the remote to turn the TV on. Insert and watch the tape.
  • Exit the house and go back to the school.


    Paseo Del Mar High School

  • Enter the school and go to the Student Union. Talk with Connie.
  • Exit the Student Union, go to the Study Dome and talk with Hal.
  • Exit the Study Dome and go to the Gym. Talk with Hulk.
  • Exit the school and go to the Diner.


    The Diner

  • Enter the Diner and talk with Daryl.
  • Exit the Diner and go back to the school.


    Paseo Del Mar High School

  • Go back to the school and talk with everyone.
  • Exit the school and go to the Pharmacy.
  • Witness the brawl.
  • At a certain point, the gun that Mitch had is dropped. It shows up in your inventory.
  • Click on the gun and on Mitch’s back when it is turned to you. You will not fire the gun, but Mitch will surrender.

    PC System Requirements:
    Windows® 95/98
    Pentium® 166MHz
    16MB RAM
    16-bit Windows®-compatible stereo sound card
    8xCD-ROM drive
    42MB Hard disk space
    Mouse and speakers