Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew is the heroine of a popular mystery series for girls. The series was created by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the
Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was the publisher of a number of series for children and adults including the Nancy Drew mysteries, the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Jr., and others.
The Syndicate was the brain-child of Edward Stratemeyer, whose ambition was to be a "paperback writer", a la Horatio Alger. He succeeded in this ambition (eventually even writing some books under the pseudonym "Horatio Alger"), churning out inspiring, up-by-the-bootstraps tales with titles such as "I Want to be an Electrician"...... Click the link for more information. . The series was ghostwritten in the early years primarily by
Mildred Wirt Benson Mildred Wirt Benson (July 10, 1905, to May 28, 2002), writing as Carolyn Keene, was the author of 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew mysteries.
Benson was born Mildred Augustine in Ladora, Iowa, and was married to Asa Wirt and, after Wirt's death, to George Benson, editor of the Toledo Blade newspaper of Toledo, Ohio. She was a graduate in journalism from the University of Iowa. She worked for 58 years as a journalist and was still writing a weekly column for the Toledo Blade at 96 at the time of her death...... Click the link for more information. . Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (who succeeded her father Edward as the head of the Syndicate), contributed a number of volumes and oversaw the substantial revisions begun in the fifties.
All books are published under the pseudonym
Carolyn Keene Carolyn Keene is the pen name of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery series, published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Stratemeyer hired writers, including Mildred Benson, to write the novels in this series, who were initially were paid only $125 for each book and were required by their contract to give up all rights to the work and to maintain confidentiality. Edward Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Adams, also wrote books in the Nancy Drew series under the pseudonym...... Click the link for more information.
Over 200 million have been sold worldwide. Many people collect the series, which has gone through several formats over the years. The series has spawned various spin-offs, most prominently the Nancy Drew Files, starting with Secrets Can Kill (1991).
Nancy Drew's father is Lawyer Carson Drew, her mother died when she was young, so she lives in River Heights with her father and her housekeeper Hannah Gruen. She is often joined in her sleuthing activities by her close friends George Fayne and Bess Marvin. Nancy's boyfriend is (usually) Ned Nickerson who often lends his support and help, while George calls on her on-off counterpart Burt Eddleton, and Bess on Dave Evans.
An - incomplete - list of Nancy Drew books:
The Secret of the Old Clock The Secret of the Old Clock is the first book in the Nancy Drew mystery series by Carolyn Keene.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Hidden Staircase The Hidden Staircase is the second book in the Nancy Drew mystery series by Carolyn Keene.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Bungalow Mystery The Bungalow Mystery is the third book in the Nancy Drew mystery series by Carolyn Keene...... Click the link for more information.
The Mystery at Lilac Inn
The Secret at Shadow Ranch
The Secret of Red Gate Farm
The Clue in the Diary
Nancy's Mysterious Letter
The Sign of the Twisted Candles
The Password to Larkspur Lane
The Clue of the Broken Locket
The Message in the Hollow Oak
The Mystery of the Ivory Charm
The Whispering Statue
The Haunted Bridge
The Clue of the Tapping Heels
The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk
The Mystery of the Moss Covered Mansion
The Quest of the Missing Map
The Clue in the Jewel Box
The Secret in the Old Attic
The Clue in the Crumbling Wall
The Mystery of the Tolling Bell
The Clue in the Old Album
The Ghost of Blackwood Hall
The Clue of the Leaning Chimney
The Secret of the Wooden Lady
The Clue of the Black Keys
The Mystery at the Ski Jump
The Clue of the Velvet Mask
The Ringmaster's Secret
The Scarlet Slipper Mystery
The Witch Tree Symbol
The Hidden Window Mystery
The Haunted Showboat
The Secret of the Golden Pavilion
The Clue in the Old Stagecoach
The Mystery of the Fire Dragon
The Clue of the Dancing Puppet
The Moonstone Castle Mystery
The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes
The Phantom of Pine Hill
The Mystery of the 99 Steps
The Clue in the Crossword Cipher
The Spider Sapphire Mystery
The Invisible Intruder
The Mysterious Mannequin
The Crooked Banister
The Secret of Mirror Bay
The Double Jinx Mystery
Mystery of the Glowing Eye
The Secret of the Forgotten City
The Sky Phantom
Strange Message in the Parchment
Mystery of Crocodile Island
The Thirteenth Pearl
The Triple Hoax
The Flying Saucer Mystery
The Secret in the Old Lace
The Greek Symbol Mystery
The Swami's Ring
The Kachina Doll Mystery
The Twin Dilemma
Captive Witness
Mystery of the Winged Lion
Race Against Time
The Sinister Omen
The Elusive Heiress
Clue in the Ancient Disguise
The books were reprinted in the 1970s and 1980s, and in the early 1990s, a new series of books were created for
Simon & Schuster
Simon and Schuster is a publishing house founded in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and Max Schuster, notable for its publication of Crossword puzzle books.
Crossword puzzles first appeared in the New York World in 1913. By 1924, they had been a weekly feature for many years. According to Frederick Lewis Allen's Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920's Simon's aunt, a crossword devotee, asked him whether there was a book of these puzzles that she could give to a friend. Simon discovered that none had been published, and, with Schuster, launched a company to exploit the opportunity...... Click the link for more information. , under the new epithet The Nancy Drew Files. The 'Original' series was also extended, and in more recent years, the extra series' Nancy Drew on Campus and Nancy Drew Notebooks have added to the tales about the titian-haired sleuth.
Nancy Drew has (in)frequent crossover stories with The
Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys are the heroes of a popular series of detective books for boys. Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate created the plot outlines, while Leslie McFarlane wrote 18 of the first 24 books in the series, all under the pen-name Franklin W. Dixon. The first three books were published in 1927. (Some later books were also written by Harriet (Stratemeyer) Adams, daughter of Edward Stratemeyer)...... Click the link for more information. , created under the pseudonym
Franklin W. Dixon Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by a variety of different authors who wrote the Hardy Boys novels for the Stratemeyer Syndicate.
Due to the popularity of the Syndicate's various series, its ghostwriters have produced "crossover" novels, containing characters drawn from multiple, otherwise independent series. For example, the Hardy Boys have solved mysteries with both Nancy Drew and Tom Swift. In several cases, these efforts are credited to Dixon, who is given preference over Carolyn Keene and Victor Appleton, the pseudonyms associated with the other series...... Click the link for more information. .
The name
Carolyn Keene Carolyn Keene is the pen name of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery series, published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Stratemeyer hired writers, including Mildred Benson, to write the novels in this series, who were initially were paid only $125 for each book and were required by their contract to give up all rights to the work and to maintain confidentiality. Edward Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Adams, also wrote books in the Nancy Drew series under the pseudonym...... Click the link for more information. has also been used to author a shorter series of books in a similar (female detective) vein, as a more accurate crossbreed of The
Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys are the heroes of a popular series of detective books for boys. Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate created the plot outlines, while Leslie McFarlane wrote 18 of the first 24 books in the series, all under the pen-name Franklin W. Dixon. The first three books were published in 1927. (Some later books were also written by Harriet (Stratemeyer) Adams, daughter of Edward Stratemeyer)...... Click the link for more information. and Nancy Drew, entitled
The Dana Girls The Dana Girls mystery stories, 1932 - 1968, were created by American author Harriet Stratemeyer Adams to capitalize on the popularity of both the Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys books. The series was mainly written by Adams and Mildred Wirt Benson, who also wrote many of the early volumes in the Nancy Drew series.
"The adventures of resourceful Louise Dana and her irrepressible sister Jean..... Click the link for more information. , featuring detective sisters.
Actress Bonita Granville portrayed the character of Nancy Drew in four movies in the
1930s Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s - 1930s - 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
Years: 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
Events and trends
Technology
Jet engine invented
Science
Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann
Pluto, the ninth planet from the Sun, is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh ..... Click the link for more information. . A
television See TV (disambiguation) for other uses of TV.
Television is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance. The term has come to refer to all the aspects of television programming and transmission as well. The word television is a hybrid word, coming from both Greek and Latin. "Tele-" is Greek for "far", while "-vision" is from the Latin "visio", meaning "vision" or "sight"...... Click the link for more information. series called The
Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys are the heroes of a popular series of detective books for boys. Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate created the plot outlines, while Leslie McFarlane wrote 18 of the first 24 books in the series, all under the pen-name Franklin W. Dixon. The first three books were published in 1927. (Some later books were also written by Harriet (Stratemeyer) Adams, daughter of Edward Stratemeyer)...... Click the link for more information. Nancy Drew Mysteries appeared on television in the
1970s Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Years: 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Events and trends
Computers, technology
Pocket calculators make the slide rule obsolete.
Home computer revolution starts
Unix created along with C programming language
Microsoft is founded (1975) ..... Click the link for more information. , and another, brief series appeared in
1995 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). It has a Golden number of 1, and was the first year of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995-2005): http://www.unesco.org/culture/indigenous/
Years:1992 1993 1994 - 1995 - 1996 1997 1998Decades:1960s 1970s 1980s - 1990s - 2000s 2010s 2020sCenturies:19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1995 in aviation1995 in film1995 in literature1995 in music1995 in sports1995 in television..... Click the link for more information. . In
2003 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar), and also:
The International Year of Freshwater
The European Disability Year
Years:2000 2001 2002 - 2003 - 2004 2005 2006Decades:1970s 1980s 1990s - 2000s - 2010s 2020s 2030sCenturies:..... Click the link for more information. ,
ABC
The American Broadcasting Company or ABC is a television and radio network in the United States, today owned by The Walt Disney Company.
The ABC logo was designed by Paul Rand in 1962, and is still in use today. He also designed the IBM and UPS (United Parcel Services) logos.
Founding of American Broadcasting Company
In 1940 the Federal Communications Commission..... Click the link for more information. broadcast a TV film featuring
Maggie Lawson Maggie Lawson is an actress who has starred in the sitcoms Family Rules, Inside Scwartz and It's all Relative and the movie Nancy Drew. She is often confused with Rachel Blanchard...... Click the link for more information. as Nancy Drew.
The following titles have been adapted as computer games:
Secrets Can Kill
Stay Tuned for Danger
Message in a Haunted Mansion
The Treasure in the Royal Tower
The Final Scene
The Secret of the Scarlet Hand
The Haunted Carousel
The Secret of Shadow Ranch
External links
Information on interactive Nancy Drew computer games
Information on Nancy
http://nancy-drew.mysterynet.com
http://www.onlynancydrew.com/
Fantastic Fansite, with sections on every aspect of Nancy's world
Around the World with Nancy Drew
http://nancydrew2001.tripod.com/index.html
http://nancydrew2001.tripod.com/nd0.htm
