How Nancy Drew Me In

Never let it be said this isn't an EOB (Equal Opportunity Blog).  I previously blogged about The Hardy Boys after picking up a few of their adventures a while back. Now it's time to give their female counterpart her day.

I found these Nancy Drew Mystery Stories at a garage sale a few weeks ago.  I'm not sure which of these covers is "off-model", but Nancy looks different in every one, even with different colored hair. Will the real Nancy Drew please stand up?

I was about to make a comment that this really isn't a puppet, but rather a marionette.  Then I looked up the definition and apparently "puppet" can mean marionette as well. Mind. Blown.

Is Nancy posing in the same fashion as the statue in the hope the sneaky guy in the background will think she's also a statue? It could work. Criminals are dumb like that.

Hey Nancy. Lay off the eyebrow pencil.

I don't know what's going on in this cover. The "ghost" looks more like Nancy Drew than the person on the right.  And is the ghost emanating from the bracelet the other girl is wearing? Is it a projection a la Princess Leia? I guess I'll have to read it. Did I mention I haven't read any of these yet?

More Nancy Drew Mysteries are listed on the back of each book.

My exposure to Nancy Drew is strictly through the 1970's "The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries" TV show and I usually turned it off when it was a Nancy Drew.

Nancy Drew was created in 1930 by the same publisher as The Hardy Boys, Edward Stratemeyer.  Due to the success of The Hardy Boys, even among girls, he felt a strong female investigator would also be successful. There were several names proposed for this new character including "Stella Strong", "Diana Drew", "Diana Dare", "Helen Hale" and "Nan Nelson" before settling on "Nancy Drew".

In addition to the aforementioned television series, Nancy has appeared in a 1930's serial starring Bonita Granville, a 1995 television series, a 2002 made-for-tv movie and more recently, a 2019 theatrical release called "Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase" and a new TV series on the CW to premiere this Fall.  After 90 years, it looks like Nancy is a girl (detective) to be reckoned with.  Maybe I will read those books.