Nancy Drew novels

Identification Series of mystery novels for young readers

Date Launched in 1930

Author Carolyn Keene (pseudonym used by different authors)

Nancy Drew is the most enduring of the sleuthing heroes of young-adult series books. She has been celebrated by the feminist movement as a role model. Although accurate sales figures for the early volumes of the series are incomplete, publishers claim the books, which have appeared in twenty-five languages, have sold more copies worldwide than the mysteries of Agatha Christie.

Nancy Drew was the brainchild of Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which packaged series books for young people, written to formula by a number of ghostwriters. Stratemeyer’s Hardy Boys books, from 1927, had been so successful that he planned a similar series for girls. “Nan Drew” was a name he initially proposed, but his publishers, Grosset & Dunlap, settled on “Nancy Drew.” Stratemeyer wrote plot outlines and devised titles for the volumes.

Mildred Benson wrote the first four volumes to Stratemeyer’s specifications. They were published in 1930, under the name Carolyn Keene. Of the sixteen volumes published during the decade, Benson wrote all but three; Walter Karig became Carolyn Keene for volumes eight through ten. Benson, who received $125 per book, put much of her own personality into the vivacious, outspoken Nancy. Benson was an energetic midwestern journalist who piloted her own plane. Architectural interests took her to Mayan ruins and canoe trips in Mexico.

From the first published volume, The Secret of the Old Clock (1930), to the last volume of the decade, The Clue of the Tapping Heels (1939), Nancy Drew lives a charmed life. She is sixteen years old, relieved of school attendance and parental oversight. Her single parent, Carson Drew, is a busy attorney, preoccupied with his own mysteries, which Nancy sometimes has to solve for him. The housekeeper, Hannah Gruen, provides domestic comforts when Nancy rests from her escapades at the Drew home in midwestern River Heights, an idyllic town untouched by the Depression. Nancy travels backcountry roads in her blue roadster and, when danger threatens, carries her father’s revolver. She never lacks for money, wears beautiful clothes, and snacks in picturesque tearooms. Police sometimes ask her for help, and adults generally defer to her. Though she has little interest in romance, her devoted boyfriend is Ned Nickerson, a college athlete. Always ready to lend their support in her perilous exploits are her best girlfriends: Helen Corning, Bess Marvin, and George Fayne. None of Nancy’s friends resents her beauty, privilege, and facility with horses, boats, the French language, Morse Code, and anything else that comes her way. Most of all, Nancy is skilled at sleuthing. Though she finds herself frequently caught in underground passages; bound up in deserted cottages; and threatened by vicious dogs, poisonous insects, and an array of desperate criminals, she is never at a loss. Every mystery is solved by the end of each book, along with a teaser promoting the next series volume.

The illustrations of the early books, by Russell H. Tandy, a commercial fashion artist, added much to their appeal and made the original volumes collector’s items. Nancy has bobbed hair and wears cloche hats, pearls, and shoes with high heels that are sharp enough to tap out messages when she is held captive. She comes equipped with gloves, handbags, and Art Deco coats. The dust jackets invariably capture Nancy in a dramatic moment, climbing the stairs in a hidden passage or peeping in the broken window of a deserted bungalow.

Impact

The early Nancy Drew volumes have been attacked for their ethnic stereotypes of Jews, Eastern Europeans, and African Americans. Later editions attempted to correct these problems, while making Nancy more conventional, if less interesting. Collectors prefer the original volumes. Nancy’s adventures in River Heights helped readers escape the deprivations of the Depression and rumors of war. The fact that teachers and librarians found the books objectionable only added to their popularity. Nancy enabled young girls to believe they too could lead lives of achievement and adventure. Among the many accomplished women who have acknowledged the early influence of Nancy Drew are politician Hillary Clinton, opera singer Beverly Sills, television journalist Barbara Walters, former First Lady Laura Bush, and the first three women appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bibliography

Mason, Bobbie Ann. The Girl Sleuth: A Feminist Guide. Old Westbury, N.Y.: The Feminist Press, 1975.

Plunkett-Powell, Karen. The Nancy Drew Scrapbook. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.

Rehak, Melanie. Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her. New York: Harcourt, 2005.