NANCY DREW. Nancy Drew, girl detective, is the eponymous heroine of multiplejuvenile mystery series published under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Since her debutin 1930, Nancy has appeared in at least twelve different series totaling over 460 volumes,with sales exceeding 80,000,000 copies. The character and series elicit varied responses:Nancy has been praised as a positive role model for girls but criticized for racism andclassism; the series’ formulaic nature has been faulted for literary quality yet credited withbestowing mythic attributes upon its heroine. Indeed, Nancy has gradually been elevatedto the status of a cultural icon. Her appearance and environment have changed repeat-edly in response to the times, and her history illustrates the growing commodification ofchildren’s culture. Loved and lampooned, Nancy is one of the best-known characters infiction, with a name that has become synonymous with female sleuth.

History and Commercialization. Nancy was the creation of Edward Stratemeyer(1862–1930), founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate and now acknowledged as an earlybook packager. Eager to capitalize on the popularity of mysteries (especially after the suc-cess of books featuring Nancy’s male counterparts, the Hardy Boys), Stratemeyer proposeda series about a teenage girl. During the planning stages, the character went through sev-eral name changes, including Diana Dare, Helen Hale, and Stella Strong. Each surnameimplied appropriate traits, but publisher Grosset & Dunlap selected Nancy Drew.Stratemeyer planned the initial volumes, which introduced the character and the series’premise: 16-year-old Nancy, daughter of famous attorney Carson Drew, regularly becomesinvolved in solving mysteries related to her father’s cases. His outline for the first volume,The Secret of the Old Clock, described Nancy as “an up-to-date American girl at her best,bright, clever, resourceful, and full of energy.” Working from Stratemeyer’s three- to four-page outlines, ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson (1905–2002) developed the materialinto full-length manuscripts. The series was an immediate success and, by 1934, was evenoutselling the Syndicate’s more established products. After Stratemeyer’s death in 1930,

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his elder daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (1892–1982), assumed primary responsi-bility for plotting and editing the volumes, the majority of which, through 1948, wereghostwritten by Wirt Benson. In the mid-1950s, after brief stints with several ghostwriters,Adams began writing the series herself, adding new volumes annually—a schedule shemaintained for over 20 years. That era also saw a revised Nancy, part of a massive projectinitiated by Grosset & Dunlap: in the period from 1959 to 1975, most of the first thirty-four titles underwent renovations that resulted in shorter texts, updated accessories andattitudes (and sometimes plots), and new cover art.

More changes occurred when the series acquired a new publisher, Simon & Schuster,in 1979. Nancy appeared in a digest-size paperback starting with volume 57, The TripleHoax, although Grosset & Dunlap continued to reprint earlier titles in hardback. In 1984,two years after Adams’s death, Simon & Schuster purchased the Stratemeyer Syndicateand stepped up production of the series. By the early 1990s, new titles were appearingbimonthly. Book packagers, most notably Mega-Books, farmed out the various volumes,which were plotted and written by an assortment of ghostwriters. The original NancyDrew Mystery Stories series ended in 2003 after 175 volumes; its successor, Nancy Drew,Girl Detective, began in 2004 and, as of mid-2006, had reached 17 volumes.

Simon & Schuster’s acquisition of Syndicate properties also allowed the publishing houseto create multiple Nancy Drew series, designed to capture a wider audience. One of the ear-liest attempts, The Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Be a Detective Mystery Stories (6 volumes,1984–1985), offered interactive adventures modeled after the then-popular “choose yourown adventure” books. Recognizing that the original series was now reaching mostly pre-teens, Simon & Schuster sought to attract young adults with several new series, all issued inthe smaller mass-market or rack-sized paperbacks. Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys Super Mysteries(36 volumes, 1984–1998) paired Nancy with Joe and Frank Hardy, extending a conceptfrom the sleuths’ television series, while The Nancy Drew Files (124 volumes, 1986–1997)introduced more hazardous adventures, a trendier Nancy, and more romance. Romance anda new cast of characters—including Nancy’s next-door neighbor—figured in River Heights(16 volumes, 1989–1992), a series set in Nancy’s hometown, in which the sleuth playedonly a minor role. The much-publicized Nancy Drew on Campus (25 volumes, 1995–1998)unsuccessfully attempted to impose serious alterations on Nancy’s environment: Nancyattended college for the first time in the series’ 65 years, encountering contemporary issuessuch as drugs and date rape—as well as a breakup with longtime boyfriend Ned and a focuson new romantic interests.

In the 1990s, recognizing the growing market of newly emergent readers, Simon &Schuster developed the Nancy Drew Notebooks (69 volumes, 1994–2005), depictingNancy and her cousins as 8-year-olds already solving mysteries; the series was renovatedin 2006 as Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew (2 volumes as of mid-2006)—the name signal-ing its adoption of the current trend favoring ensemble casts. Another format changeoccurred in 2005, when Papercutz issued the Nancy Drew, Girl Detective graphic novels(5 volumes as of mid-2006), capitalizing on the growing popularity of that genre.

Nancy has also appeared in other forms. Although a filmed version of the girl sleuth’sadventures has yet to succeed, it is not for lack of trying. Bonita Granville starred in fourNancy Drew movies produced by Warner Brothers in 1938–1939. The television seriesThe Nancy Drew Mysteries (later combined with The Hardy Boys Mysteries as The HardyBoys/Nancy Drew Mysteries) aired on ABC from January 1977 until August 1978 in theSunday evening “family hour”; in the 1995–1996 season, the syndicated Nancy Drew ran

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on Saturday mornings in most U.S. markets, alternating with Hardy Boys; and in 2002 aNancy Drew pilot doubling as a TV movie on ABC’s Wonderful World of Disney raised vainhopes of another series. Most recently, a movie titled Nancy Drew was released in 2007.

Nancy Drew merchandise includes a doll by Madame Alexander, a board game byParker Brothers, and, since 1997, fourteen computer games from Her Interactive (severalof which are based on books from the various series). Additionally, she has served as thebasis for theatrical productions (Nancy Drew, Girl Detective), a ballet, a line of accessories(including handbags and cosmetic cases), and even lunchboxes and Halloween costumes.

In addition to officially sanctioned merchandise, Nancy has provided fodder for numer-ous parodies, further evidence of her popularity and cultural penetration. In addition totheir humor, many of these takeoffs incorporate criticisms or alternative readings of theseries. National Lampoon’s “Nancy Drew and the Clue of the Missing Heiress” (1974) targetsNancy’s affluent world and insularity, as well as the early volumes’ often-derogatory depic-tions of African Americans; the play The Clue in the Old Birdbath (1978) offers a feministtake on the series and addresses the implications of Nancy’s missing mother; MabelManey’s three-volume Nancy Clue series (1993–1995) postulates lesbian relationshipsamong Nancy and other series heroines; Chelsea Cain’s Confessions of a Teen Sleuth (2005)purports to a be manuscript by the real Nancy Drew, turning the virginal, titian-haired teeninto a white-haired grandmother by the ends of the novel.

Nancy’s Dual Nature. Numerous studies have tried to analyze the original series’appeal, generally concluding that it resides in wish fulfillment or in the books’ inherentparadoxes. As many have noted, Nancy has it all: an adoring father who gives her virtu-ally unlimited freedom and an apparently unlimited allowance, so that she is able tomaintain her own car and an extensive wardrobe; close friends who are never as compe-tent as she is and who are regularly available to accompany her on trips and serve as anadmiring chorus; a supportive boyfriend who willingly cedes first place to her interest inmysteries; fame and respect from the adults she encounters; and constant success, not justat solving mysteries, but at all other tasks she undertakes.

Nonetheless, paradoxes abound. As Bobbie Ann Mason observes, Nancy is both “con-ventional” and “revolutionary,” well mannered and “wholesomely ‘feminine’”; she is alsoindependent, “strong, resourceful, and bold.” Simultaneously “protected and free,” she man-ages to “satisfy two standards—adventure and domesticity” (1975, pp. 138, 149, 175, 160).It is easy to theorize that the method of production—manuscripts by Wirt Benson, who hasspoken of her sense of Nancy as assertive and self-reliant, and editing by Adams, who favoreda somewhat softer, more genteel character—resulted in the unique blend that makes Nancyso successful. Moreover, the contributions of others added key ingredients during the series’early years: Stratemeyer’s secretary, Harriet Otis Smith, wrote the outline for The Secret atShadow Ranch (1930), the volume that introduced Nancy’s two female cousins and perennialcompanions, Bess and George; and Stratemeyer’s younger daughter, Edna Stratemeyer Squier(then Edna Stratemeyer), developed the outline for The Clue in the Diary (1932), the volumein which Ned Nickerson, Nancy’s boyfriend, first appeared. Thus, while literary purists maycriticize the series’ mechanized creation process, it ultimately proved advantageous.

The series’ mixed literary origins contribute to the paradoxes, for volumes often com-bine elements from two genres, detective fiction and Gothic romances. Many of thequalities that make 1930s–1940s Nancy a feminist icon are also those of (the primarilymale) investigators from the era—mobility, assertiveness, level-headedness, courage, andpersistence. Indeed, the standard representation of Nancy depicts her with magnifying

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glass in hand as she searches for clues—the picture of the independent, rationalinvestigator. The mysteries she encounters, however, often carry Gothic overtones: sug-gestions of supernatural occurrences, visits to Victorian mansions, discoveries of hiddenpassageways, and titles like The Ghost of Blackwood Hall all serve to reinforce the connec-tion with a genre traditionally associated with beleaguered females. Resolutions toNancy’s cases are similarly ambiguous: while Nancy is as successful as any professionalinvestigator, she will not accept a fee. Her compensation usually takes the form of daintymementos, which can later decorate her home; in essence, these serve as souvenirs, thusperhaps equating Nancy’s efforts solving mysteries with vacationing and leisure activities.

The post-1950s volumes adopted some new approaches. Stories became shorter butevents moved at an accelerated pace. The streamlined revisions of pre-1960s texts reno-vated everything from Nancy’s outfits and transportation (her trademark blue roadsterbecame a blue convertible and, still later, a blue Mustang convertible) to outmoded plots.Complaints about racism had been an important factor in prompting the changes, and themore obvious examples were eliminated—often, critics charged, along with most non-white characters. Ironically, though Nancy’s age shifted from 16 to 18, to some fans herrevamped character seemed less independent—and, sometimes, less competent—and itwas not until the late 1980s that the series restored the more adventurous, familiar,mystery-oriented heroine. The 2004 reincarnation introduced additional changes in anattempt to make Nancy’s character more realistic. Although Nancy is still avidly involvedin solving mysteries, the formerly calm and capable sleuth is now somewhat impulsive andabsent-minded, forgetting her cell phone and arriving late and slightly disheveled forappointments; Bess and George, however, have become stronger, more knowledgeablecharacters, further compromising Nancy’s idealized image. For the first time, Nancy nar-rates her own adventures, and the use of first person contributes to her vulnerability.

Nancy’s 75-year history means that her appeal has become cross-generational, withmothers and grandmothers introducing girls to the series, and sometimes continuing toread the books themselves. Perhaps the best example of the sleuth’s ubiquity are the manyforms in which the “original” Nancy currently appears: new volumes in the Girl Detectiveseries, hardcover copies of 1980s titles previously issued in paperback, multi-volumeeditions of the 1960s titles, and facsimile reprints of the 1930s and 1940s texts—a Nancyfor multiple generations.

See also Cross-Merchandising; Ginny Gordon; Series Fiction; Trixie Belden

Further Reading

Caprio, Betsy. (1992). The Mystery of Nancy Drew: Girl Sleuth on the Couch. Trabuco Canyon, CA:Source Books.

Dyer, Carolyn Stewart, and Nancy Tillman Romanov, eds. (1995). Rediscovering Nancy Drew. IowaCity: University of Iowa Press.

MacLeod, Anne Scott. (1987). “Nancy Drew and Her Rivals: No Contest.” Horn Book Magazine 63,314–322, 442–450.

Mason, Bobbie Ann. (1975). The Girl Sleuth: A Feminist Guide. Old Westbury, NY: Feminist Press.Plunkett-Powell, Karen. (1993). The Nancy Drew Scrapbook. New York: St. Martin’s Press.Rehak, Melanie. (2005). Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her. New York:

Harcourt.

DEIDRE A. JOHNSON

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