Was it punishment to read a pile of Nancy Drew mysteries as research—you decide!
Key to book titles at the end of the post.
Reunions are a speciality!
If you are the local crazy cat lady who is secretly giving your last dime to some young actress protégé in New York, Nancy will reunite you with your old flame who will buy your play from you and get it produced and enable your protégé to pay you back and will also share an inheritance with you that he never knew he had from relatives who died a long time ago and no one really misses them anyway (#16).
If you are estranged from your one true love because you are being blackmailed into jewel robbery, she will find the lost jewels and reunite you with your fiancé--who is still single (#15).
Warning: Nancy can read codes better than anyone (#16, 18, 44). Don’t even try to keep secrets from Nancy. If you drop a piece of paper anytime during your criminal career, she will find it and trace you.
Nancy’s Thick Skull
Not actually our blonde/titian haired heroine. Just some slut on a Detective Magazine cover.
Tinkering with Perfection
Original Nancy Drew Cookbook
Key to book titles at the end of the post.
Nancy's always looking out for you, Dear.
Carson Drew’s attractive daughter is a darling friend to have.
If you are poor and need singing lessons, she will find an old clock that is on a truck making its way out of the state that holds a secret compartment holding a key to a safe-deposit box with a will in it that leaves you enough money to take singing lessons and she will also arrange for an audition with the local opera singing teacher (#1).
If you are the local crazy cat lady who is secretly giving your last dime to some young actress protégé in New York, Nancy will reunite you with your old flame who will buy your play from you and get it produced and enable your protégé to pay you back and will also share an inheritance with you that he never knew he had from relatives who died a long time ago and no one really misses them anyway (#16).
If you are estranged from your one true love because you are being blackmailed into jewel robbery, she will find the lost jewels and reunite you with your fiancé--who is still single (#15).
If you have run away from your too-strict Amish parents, Nancy will reconcile you with your father, once he stops believing that Nancy is a witch (#33).
No distance is too great. Nancy can reunite relatives when one is touring America and the other is suffering from amnesia in Africa (#44).
The chums face vicious organists! 
The Krewe of Drew
Nancy’s friends are few, but versatile. Housekeeper Hannah Gruen cooks like a dream. Bess Marvin likes to eat and wear nice clothes. Her cousin, George Fayne, who is really a girl, likes to fight bad guys and play tennis. Nancy's boyfriend, Ned Nickerson, is an engineering major at Emerson College, has his own car, and can drop anything for Nancy. His two best friends are the “best dates” of Bess and George.
Bess and George are not Nancy’s best friends all the time. In Sign of the Twisted Candle they snub her because she sides with the waitress who inherits the mansion, which they hoped would come into their family--don't worry, it all works out. In the first few books, Helen Corning is Nancy’s best friend, but Helen gets married and loses touch.
Don’t ever leave out Nancy’s tall, attractive lawyer father. Carson Drew is one of the best lawyers in the state and always has a legal opinion or two.
Whenever Nancy has to go out of town, there is always a relative of hers or one of her dear friends who can put her up. Entertaining Nancy Drew is one of life’s simpler pleasures because she loves everything you cook. She loves to help out with housework and cooking!
Bonnie Granger starred as Nancy in several movies.
The Law and Nancy Drew
Nancy can find a cop, especially a state trooper, anytime she wants. And she can have a confidential conversation with any police chief and they will thank her for bringing in those clues and changing the criminals’ minds (#2). When she asks for police protection, it is automatically given—despite the large number of assaults committed on the officers given this assignment (#9).
Nancy Drew, Girl Extraordinaire
Nancy is always polite and wins friends easily. She is always at her ease and knows the proper etiquette for dropping in on reclusive millionaires (#9), cat ladies (#16), insecure young actresses (#16), and foreign millionaires (#45).
Nancy can canoe, drive a speedboat, scuba dive, golf, sing, cook Amish-style breakfasts, make a sauce, play tennis, and rescue you if you are drowning (#3). Nancy can win a golf tournament despite having a severely strained wrist from fighting off bad guys and playing a nationally-ranked champion (#15).
Nancy can learn to sing a song in an African language in a few minutes and then sing it for an African village so that they all become her friends (#44).
If a barn is about to fall on you, Nancy will save you (#33).
If a bad guy sets all your clothes on fire while you are in Africa, Nancy will be so popular that other girls will donate clothes to you (#44). She will also rescue you from any baboons that steal your wig (#44). Getting Around
Miss Drew, she of the blue convertible, is a great driver. She never causes any of the accidents. Those are caused by bad people (#15, 45, 18, 33). She’s not very lucky with boats, either (#2, 4, 18).
Nancy’s Thick Skull
The Girl Detective gets hit on the head a lot. In the average mystery, Nancy Drew receives more than one blow to the skull, often resulting in her being unconscious for a while. Yet she is a stranger to the Emergency Room.
Nancy Drew Doll Accessories--should include a few bandages.
Oops! Kidnapped Again
People kidnap Nancy and her friends all the time. I mean, all the time. And sometimes even her father. A few examples: The Spider Sapphire Mystery (Ned); The Hidden Staircase (Carson Drew); Clue of the Tapping Heels (Nancy, twice); Witch-Tree Symbol (Nancy).
Not actually our blonde/titian haired heroine. Just some slut on a Detective Magazine cover. Nancy rarely has free time.
But when she does, she’ll come over to your house and notice that the neighbor is awfully mean to cats and doesn’t mow his lawn and you’ll discover, after a few bangs on the head and kidnappings and coded messages and visits with state police—that he’s a wanted jewel thief/blackmailer/embezzler/smuggler.Tinkering with Perfection
In the late 1950s, the publishers went through the earliest books and removed various ethnic characters (and their descriptors: darky, colored, and Oriental). In the same “modernization”, they surmised the TV Generation wanted fewer words in their books and removed five chapters from each book.
More serious Nancy Drew readers than I have observed “Nice Nancy” is a result of the 50's re-writes, when her proto-feminist spunkiness was removed by one of the series authors/editors. The original 56 mysteries have been followed by several waves of “sequel series,” including an unfortunate romance-tinged series and the new graphic novel series.
Another thing about Nancy Drew--you can always find her at the Library.
Key to the book references.
#1. The Secret of the Old Clock
#2. The Hidden Staircase
#3 The Bungalow Mystery
#4 Mystery at Lilac Inn
# 9 Sign of the Twisted Candles
#15 The Haunted Bridge
# 16 The Clue of the Tapping Heels
#18 The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion
# 25 The Ghost of Blackwood Hall
#33 The Witch-Tree Symbol
# 45 The Spider Sapphire Mystery
Original Nancy Drew Cookbook There are lots of fan sites on Nancy Drew and because of the whole 1930-2010 thing, you'll be hearing more about the Girl Detective. Maybe even from me.
Comments
I loved, loved, loved this post.
We also happened to catch one of those 1930s-era Nancy Drew movies on TV a few months ago. Also fun.
This was great fun!
That's cause she easy...oops, I mean, I wouldn't know why!! ;)
Great post. I never got into Nancy Drew. I was more of a Hardy Boys guy. They were sluts too!! :D
Rated.
Serious Helmet Hair, if so! =o)
I was a Hardy Boys and Tom Swift, Jr. kinda guy, but I can relate.