Old house wiring - 57 AC output

Have an old house where some of the outlets don't work. They show an AC voltage of 57. However the outlets on the other side of the house are on the same breaker and they read ~118-120 and work fine. Any ideas what the problem might be?

 

Maybe a loose connection or loose wire at the back of the outlet. That may cause a voltage drop from that point on downstream.

 

All connections are secure. I get the 57 volt reading on wires going into the outlets.

 

You have an open circuit (usually on the neutral) and are reading phantom voltage. The open circuit could be anywhere on the circuit. If you have already check the connections on the dead receptacles, then also check them on nearby receptacles and lights and switches that are still working. Move all backstabbed connections to the adjacent screws, and try to pull individual wires from any wire nuts to see if they are secure.

If the receptacles have three holes, spend $8 on an outlet tester, the kind with the two amber lights and the red light. That will be more useful than your voltmeter.