Tuesday 19 April 2011

N is for...Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew is rich, lives in a gorgeous town, drives a convertible, has a super smart boyfriend, is athletic, brainy and pretty, has good friends – and solves impossible crimes. If she had just one flaw then you could sort of imagine she is human, but flaws are not part of Nancy’s world. Her life is rather glossy, but that is half the fun.

The books all had brilliant titles that couldn’t fail to capture the interest of mystery readers - The Hidden Staircase; The Sign of the Twisted Candles; The Clue in the Crumbling Wall; The Secret of the Forgotten Cave. I remember reading The Secret of Mirror Bay, which I think I originally picked up because of the cover art. Sadly I discovered Nancy Drew just as my reading tastes changed and so only read a few of the books. If I had been a few years younger I probably would have loved the series!

Although researching this post has made me want to seek out the earlier books for the fantastic covers - beautifully stylish illustrations.


Nancy Drew series
Published between: 1930... and still going, in many reincarnations.
Author: Credited to Carolyn Keene, a pseudonym that covered a syndicate of writers.

My day in mystery titles one: The Strange Case of Jayne and the On-Time Train
My day in mystery titles two: The Riddle of the Girl in the Green Polka-dot Dress
My day in mystery titles three: The Mystery of The Empty Cake Plate in the Office
My day in mystery titles four: The Hidden Dance Class in Baker Street
My day in mystery titles five: The Secret of the Late A to Z Blog Post

29 comments:

Melissa Ann Goodwin said...

Oh How I loved Nancy Drew!! Besides the mystery stories themselves, I loved the description of what she wore, like: Nancy wore a pale pink twinset that perfectly matched the rose pattern in her full A-line skirt. And I think she had a convertible. She was my idol.:-) Good choice for a post.

Wendy@FabNouveau said...

Oh I've been here lots of times. Anyway you can never get too many compliments. I love your blog.

Oh I loved Nancy Drew and I learnt so many things about the world in those books. for example when we refer to distance between houses in Should Africa we count streets not blocks. So one of the things I remember trying to figure out was what she meant when she said Pete's house was 4 blocks away for example.

Wendy@FabNouveau said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nicole said...

Eeee! I love Nancy Drew, still read them :) I have them up at our cabin so will have great fun reading them again this weekend!
Damsel in a Dirty Dress

Laura S. said...

Lol, love your day in mystery titles!

I read only some Nancy Drew books when I was a kid. My brothers had tons of Hardy Boys books (that used to be our dad's!) so when I wanted a mystery I read those. I should get a Nancy Drew out of the library for fun!

Rain-drop said...

I read her books as a kid! I was more into mystery as a kid than I am now, funny enough...I read Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and whatsername...Trixie something? Her, too. And before that I read the Boxcar Children...I was full on into mystery!

Thanks for the memories. =)

Kittie Howard said...

Great post! I remember coming home from the library with Nancy Drew books and curling up on the sofa, oblivious to the world around me. I screamed with delight when I opened a Christmas present and saw a Nancy Drew book. Far-fetched, frivolous, unbelievable - critics say today - I didn't care...Nancy Drew had IT.

Dolly said...

Oh I adored Nancy Drew. When I was old enough for my own library card I was there every day as I was a quick reader and would be in my own world as I read of her adventures. Yes, the covers were fabulous. My brother read the Hardy Boys and I read those too but he would never dream of reading Nancy Drew lol I also liked the Famous Five because they were so very English.

Old Kitty said...

OH what memories!! Nancy Drew (and the Hardy Boys!!)!! You know I can't tell you the plot of the Nancy Drew stories I read but I do remember enjoying them! I remember reading them with my sisters - we were all under 10 years old - it was a great time!!!

Lovely!! Take care
x

Ann said...

I loved the sleuthing of Nancy Drew. What a girl!

Liz P said...

Oh Nancy Drew - I couldn't get enough of those books growing up. I remember our library had the entire set (or what seemed like it!), and I had a blast working through the series. I'm not too keen on the newer incarnations - I like the original stories.

catdownunder said...

Oh dear! Confession time...I have never read a Nancy Drew. This may have something to do with the fact that I do not think I even saw one as a child. From the comments here I think I must have had a deprived childhood because I also failed to read Cherry Ames and the Bobbsey Twins!

Elizabeth Mueller said...

My teengirl LOVES those books. You should see her collection. I think she's read what you've got here. :)

♥.•*¨Elizabeth¨*•.♥

fairyhedgehog said...

I've never read Nancy Drew and now I'm wondering what I'm missing! I like a good bit of escapism in my reading.

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

Loved this post! I didn't get to read all of the series either, but i was captivated by the ones I did read. I'm also captivated by the new Jayne series -- especially the Riddle of the Girl in the Green Polka-dot Dress.

Unknown said...

Fun! I was never a Nancy Drew fanatic (tomboy Trixie Belden was more my style), but I read my fair share of her mysteries when I was growing up. I always liked that shiny convertible!

Out on the prairie said...

A neighbor gave my mom about twenty books so I read a few. I liked Hardy Boys so thought they would be close.

Happy Frog and I said...

I know of Nancy Drew books but have never read one so it was interesting to hear from your point of view and perspective. It is annoying though when you find a series of books just at the wrong time ie just when your reading tastes are changing.

Jan Morrison said...

I wasn't such a big Nancy Drew fan but I LOVED Trixie Belden...

Unknown said...

This brought back lots of memories :) I loved reading Nancy Drew! You've featured many of my favourite childhood books in the A to Z challenge - I look forward to reading more.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Nancy Drew was my first series. No, I take it back. The first was The Bobbsey Twins, but when I outgrew them I discovered Nancy Drew. The best ones are the originals. Don't even bother with those written later, from the 1960's on.

Toyin O. said...

I will have to check out Nancy Drew's stuff:)

AC Quigley said...

I loved reading Nancy Drew too! I still have a couple of old battered ND stories on my bookshelf which I sneak out to read when I need some good ol' fashioned entertainment.

Katie Anderson said...

Oh, Nancy Drew. Loved her. I remember that I was a big fan of the clue in the crumbling wall - but have no recollection of what that clue was!

Arlee Bird said...

I remember those both of the pictured books--such great covers and titles. My sister had the complete collection and I had the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift series. I read my boy books and she read her girls books, but they were so similar in the way they looked and the story styles. It was just a gender thing. I wish we'd both kept our collections.


Lee
Tossing It Out

jkraus8464 said...

I can't believe you picked these. I was an avid Nancy Drew follower, as well as Sue Barton, and Cherry Ames. As a matter of fact, Nancy inspired my first writing. My sister and I collaborated as girls and wrote Nancy Drew parodies about Nancy and her friends. We named them Nancy Drool, Ned Tickertape, Bess Moron, George Paine, Carson Drool, And Hannah Gruesome. We wrote a lot of stories and she illustrated them. I still have them. A while back I put a couple up on my blog.

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Melissa Sugar said...

You really brought back some fond memories of my childhood. I was a devoted Nancy Drew & of course The Hardy Boys fan. I have not thought about those series in quite a while. I think I need to make my kids read some of my old time favorites. Thanks for the memory jolt. Nancy Drew first sparked my interest in writing mystery.

Trisha said...

I never read any Nancy Drew. Shame! I should check out some of the books now that I'm older :D