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NANCY DREW. Nancy Drew, girl detective, is the eponymous heroine of multiple juvenile mystery series published under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Since her debut in 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 and classism; the series formulaic nature has been faulted for literary quality yet credited with bestowing mythic attributes upon its heroine. Indeed, Nancy has gradually been elevated to the status of a cultural icon. Her appearance and environment have changed repeatedly in response to the times, and her history illustrates the growing commodication of childrens culture. Loved and lampooned, Nancy is one of the best-known characters in ction, with a name that has become synonymous with female sleuth. History and Commercialization. Nancy was the creation of Edward Stratemeyer (18621930), founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate and now acknowledged as an early book packager. Eager to capitalize on the popularity of mysteries (especially after the success of books featuring Nancys male counterparts, the Hardy Boys), Stratemeyer proposed a series about a teenage girl. During the planning stages, the character went through several name changes, including Diana Dare, Helen Hale, and Stella Strong. Each surname implied 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 becomes involved in solving mysteries related to her fathers cases. His outline for the rst 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 Stratemeyers three- to fourpage outlines, ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson (19052002) developed the material into full-length manuscripts. The series was an immediate success and, by 1934, was even outselling the Syndicates more established products. After Stratemeyers death in 1930,

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his elder daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (18921982), assumed primary responsibility for plotting and editing the volumes, the majority of which, through 1948, were ghostwritten by Wirt Benson. In the mid-1950s, after brief stints with several ghostwriters, Adams began writing the series herself, adding new volumes annuallya schedule she maintained for over 20 years. That era also saw a revised Nancy, part of a massive project initiated by Grosset & Dunlap: in the period from 1959 to 1975, most of the rst thirtyfour titles underwent renovations that resulted in shorter texts, updated accessories and attitudes (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 Triple Hoax, although Grosset & Dunlap continued to reprint earlier titles in hardback. In 1984, two years after Adamss death, Simon & Schuster purchased the Stratemeyer Syndicate and stepped up production of the series. By the early 1990s, new titles were appearing bimonthly. Book packagers, most notably Mega-Books, farmed out the various volumes, which were plotted and written by an assortment of ghostwriters. The original Nancy Drew 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 & Schusters acquisition of Syndicate properties also allowed the publishing house to create multiple Nancy Drew series, designed to capture a wider audience. One of the earliest attempts, The Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Be a Detective Mystery Stories (6 volumes, 19841985), offered interactive adventures modeled after the then-popular choose your own adventure books. Recognizing that the original series was now reaching mostly preteens, Simon & Schuster sought to attract young adults with several new series, all issued in the smaller mass-market or rack-sized paperbacks. Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys Super Mysteries (36 volumes, 19841998) paired Nancy with Joe and Frank Hardy, extending a concept from the sleuths television series, while The Nancy Drew Files (124 volumes, 19861997) introduced more hazardous adventures, a trendier Nancy, and more romance. Romance and a new cast of charactersincluding Nancys next-door neighborgured in River Heights (16 volumes, 19891992), a series set in Nancys hometown, in which the sleuth played only a minor role. The much-publicized Nancy Drew on Campus (25 volumes, 19951998) unsuccessfully attempted to impose serious alterations on Nancys environment: Nancy attended college for the rst time in the series 65 years, encountering contemporary issues such as drugs and date rapeas well as a breakup with longtime boyfriend Ned and a focus on new romantic interests. In the 1990s, recognizing the growing market of newly emergent readers, Simon & Schuster developed the Nancy Drew Notebooks (69 volumes, 19942005), depicting Nancy and her cousins as 8-year-olds already solving mysteries; the series was renovated in 2006 as Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew (2 volumes as of mid-2006)the name signaling its adoption of the current trend favoring ensemble casts. Another format change occurred 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 lmed version of the girl sleuths adventures has yet to succeed, it is not for lack of trying. Bonita Granville starred in four Nancy Drew movies produced by Warner Brothers in 19381939. The television series The Nancy Drew Mysteries (later combined with The Hardy Boys Mysteries as The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries) aired on ABC from January 1977 until August 1978 in the Sunday evening family hour; in the 19951996 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 a Nancy Drew pilot doubling as a TV movie on ABCs Wonderful World of Disney raised vain hopes 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 by Parker Brothers, and, since 1997, fourteen computer games from Her Interactive (several of which are based on books from the various series). Additionally, she has served as the basis 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 ofcially sanctioned merchandise, Nancy has provided fodder for numerous parodies, further evidence of her popularity and cultural penetration. In addition to their humor, many of these takeoffs incorporate criticisms or alternative readings of the series. National Lampoons Nancy Drew and the Clue of the Missing Heiress (1974) targets Nancys afuent world and insularity, as well as the early volumes often-derogatory depictions of African Americans; the play The Clue in the Old Birdbath (1978) offers a feminist take on the series and addresses the implications of Nancys missing mother; Mabel Maneys three-volume Nancy Clue series (19931995) postulates lesbian relationships among Nancy and other series heroines; Chelsea Cains Confessions of a Teen Sleuth (2005) purports to a be manuscript by the real Nancy Drew, turning the virginal, titian-haired teen into a white-haired grandmother by the ends of the novel. Nancys Dual Nature. Numerous studies have tried to analyze the original series appeal, generally concluding that it resides in wish fulllment or in the books inherent paradoxes. As many have noted, Nancy has it all: an adoring father who gives her virtually unlimited freedom and an apparently unlimited allowance, so that she is able to maintain her own car and an extensive wardrobe; close friends who are never as competent as she is and who are regularly available to accompany her on trips and serve as an admiring chorus; a supportive boyfriend who willingly cedes rst place to her interest in mysteries; fame and respect from the adults she encounters; and constant success, not just at solving mysteries, but at all other tasks she undertakes. Nonetheless, paradoxes abound. As Bobbie Ann Mason observes, Nancy is both conventional and revolutionary, well mannered and wholesomely feminine; she is also independent, strong, resourceful, and bold. Simultaneously protected and free, she manages to satisfy two standardsadventure and domesticity (1975, pp. 138, 149, 175, 160). It is easy to theorize that the method of productionmanuscripts by Wirt Benson, who has spoken of her sense of Nancy as assertive and self-reliant, and editing by Adams, who favored a somewhat softer, more genteel characterresulted in the unique blend that makes Nancy so successful. Moreover, the contributions of others added key ingredients during the series early years: Stratemeyers secretary, Harriet Otis Smith, wrote the outline for The Secret at Shadow Ranch (1930), the volume that introduced Nancys two female cousins and perennial companions, Bess and George; and Stratemeyers younger daughter, Edna Stratemeyer Squier (then Edna Stratemeyer), developed the outline for The Clue in the Diary (1932), the volume in which Ned Nickerson, Nancys boyfriend, rst appeared. Thus, while literary purists may criticize the series mechanized creation process, it ultimately proved advantageous. The series mixed literary origins contribute to the paradoxes, for volumes often combine elements from two genres, detective ction and Gothic romances. Many of the qualities that make 1930s1940s Nancy a feminist icon are also those of (the primarily male) investigators from the eramobility, assertiveness, level-headedness, courage, and persistence. Indeed, the standard representation of Nancy depicts her with magnifying

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glass in hand as she searches for cluesthe picture of the independent, rational investigator. The mysteries she encounters, however, often carry Gothic overtones: suggestions of supernatural occurrences, visits to Victorian mansions, discoveries of hidden passageways, and titles like The Ghost of Blackwood Hall all serve to reinforce the connection with a genre traditionally associated with beleaguered females. Resolutions to Nancys cases are similarly ambiguous: while Nancy is as successful as any professional investigator, she will not accept a fee. Her compensation usually takes the form of dainty mementos, which can later decorate her home; in essence, these serve as souvenirs, thus perhaps equating Nancys efforts solving mysteries with vacationing and leisure activities. The post-1950s volumes adopted some new approaches. Stories became shorter but events moved at an accelerated pace. The streamlined revisions of pre-1960s texts renovated everything from Nancys outts and transportation (her trademark blue roadster became 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 the more obvious examples were eliminatedoften, critics charged, along with most nonwhite characters. Ironically, though Nancys age shifted from 16 to 18, to some fans her revamped character seemed less independentand, sometimes, less competentand it was not until the late 1980s that the series restored the more adventurous, familiar, mystery-oriented heroine. The 2004 reincarnation introduced additional changes in an attempt to make Nancys character more realistic. Although Nancy is still avidly involved in solving mysteries, the formerly calm and capable sleuth is now somewhat impulsive and absent-minded, forgetting her cell phone and arriving late and slightly disheveled for appointments; Bess and George, however, have become stronger, more knowledgeable characters, further compromising Nancys idealized image. For the rst time, Nancy narrates her own adventures, and the use of rst person contributes to her vulnerability. Nancys 75-year history means that her appeal has become cross-generational, with mothers and grandmothers introducing girls to the series, and sometimes continuing to read the books themselves. Perhaps the best example of the sleuths ubiquity are the many forms in which the original Nancy currently appears: new volumes in the Girl Detective series, hardcover copies of 1980s titles previously issued in paperback, multi-volume editions of the 1960s titles, and facsimile reprints of the 1930s and 1940s textsa Nancy for 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. Iowa City: 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. Martins Press. Rehak, Melanie. (2005). Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her. New York: Harcourt.

DEIDRE A. JOHNSON

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