This is a list of all Hardy Boys books published, by series.
100-551: In 1979, the Hardy Boys books began to be published by Wanderer Books Simon & Schuster in paperback format. Though formatted differently from the original 58-volume series which continued under Grosset & Dunlap's control, these new books were published under the Hardy Boys Mystery Stories banner. These books feature increasingly contemporary cover illustrations and some books have multiple versions of
200-544: A hybrid electric vehicle and using a cell phone. In 2012, the Girl Detective series ended, and a new series, Nancy Drew Diaries , was launched in 2013. Illustrations of the character evolved over time to reflect contemporary styles. The Nancy Drew franchise has been adapted into other forms of media with varied success. As of April 2020, the character has been adapted into six feature films, three television series, four television pilots, 33 video games produced by
300-419: A Rock Star and as sweet as Betty Crocker ." Nancy is well-off, attractive, and amazingly talented: At sixteen, she 'had studied psychology after and in school, and was familiar with the power of suggestion and association.' Nancy was a fine painter, spoke French, and had frequently run motorboats. She was a skilled driver who, at sixteen, 'flashed into the garage with a skill born of long practice.' The prodigy
400-517: A Trace ) "hold a shallow mirror to a pre-teen's world." Leona Fisher argues that the new series portrays an increasingly white River Heights, partially because "the clumsy first-person narrative voice makes it nearly impossible to interlace external authorial attitudes into the discourse," while it continues and worsens "the implicitly xenophobic cultural representations of racial, ethnic, and linguistic others" by introducing gratuitous speculations on characters' national and ethnic origins. The character
500-405: A character named Pete and his adventures: "I had a character named Pete and I usually had him encountering all these different adventures on an isolated island. But that night I was running out of things for Pete to do, so I just asked what they would do". His two daughters came up with different paths for the story to take and Packard thought up an ending for each of the paths: "What really struck me
600-490: A different cover that used the current Hardy Boys Mystery Stories (Digest) cover of a file folder with modified art from Hardy Boys #152, exclusively for Borders Bookstores. The Canadian rights to the Casefiles and its spin-offs have been held by Paperjacks (April 1987-December 1989) and Distican, Inc./Simon & Schuster Canada (January 1990 – present; Simon & Schuster US bought out Distican in 2002 and just changed
700-464: A mass cancellation of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys spin-offs, except for younger children. The Files series ran until the end of 1997, while both the Super Mystery and On Campus series ran until the beginning of 1998. In 2003, publishers Simon & Schuster ended the original Nancy Drew series and began featuring Nancy's character in a new mystery series, Girl Detective . The Nancy Drew of
800-699: A new series, Hardy Boys Adventures , publishing four volumes in 2013. The reboot series publishes two to three new titles a year in paperback, hardcover book with dust jacket, and as eBooks. This series is written in the first person, with chapters alternating between Frank's and Joe's narration. The first four titles initially printed 25,000 copies in paperback and 2,500 copies in hardcover. Books 5 through 8 had an initial print run of 25,000 in paperback and 5,000 in hardcover. Books 9 and 10 had an initial print run of 10,000 in paperback and 5,000 in hardcover. Audio books were released starting in 2015 on CD and download, read by Tim Gregory. The first three titles were published as
900-500: A similar format to its predecessor with first person narration and references to modern pop culture and technology. The books, written under the Carolyn Keene pseudonym, are targeted to readers aged 8–12 and primarily follow Nancy, with her friends Bess and George, solving both violent and nonviolent crimes. There are 26 books in the series, including one holiday special published in 2018 that also features The Hardy Boys. Like in
1000-498: A single volume in June 2016 using the cover art from the first book in the series. The Hardy Boys Adventure books were quietly canceled in 2023 by Simon and Schuster. No further titles are planned, and editors stated lack of resources and other projects were taking precedence over publishing new titles. The Hardy Boys Secret Files is a series begun in 2010 by the publisher Simon & Schuster under their Aladdin imprint. It features
1100-538: A strong female heroine. Stratemeyer initially pitched the new series to Hardy Boys publishers Grosset & Dunlap as the "Stella Strong Stories," adding that "they might also be called 'Diana Drew Stories,' 'Diana Dare Stories,' 'Nan Nelson Stories,' 'Nan Drew Stories,' or 'Helen Hale Stories.'" Editors at Grosset & Dunlap preferred "Nan Drew" of these options, but decided to lengthen "Nan" to "Nancy". Stratemeyer accordingly began writing plot outlines and hired Mildred Wirt , later Mildred Wirt Benson, to ghostwrite
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#17327837760731200-630: A teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene . Created by the publisher Edward Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series, the character first appeared in 1930 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, which lasted until 2003 and consisted of 175 novels. Over the decades, the character has evolved in response to changes in American culture and tastes. Beginning in 1959,
1300-402: A variety of clothes for all social occasions, and an awareness of good housekeeping, is often praised for her seemingly masculine traits… she operates best independently, has the freedom and money to do as she pleases, and outside of a telephone call or two home, seems to live for solving mysteries rather than participating in family life." At the insistence of publishers Grosset & Dunlap ,
1400-413: Is a blue roadster in the original series and a blue convertible in the later books. Despite the trouble and presumed expense to which she goes to solve mysteries, Nancy never accepts monetary compensation; however, by implication, her expenses are often paid by a client of her father's as part of the costs of solving one of his cases. The character of Nancy Drew has gone through many permutations over
1500-417: Is a fictional amateur detective. She is originally depicted as a blonde-haired and blue-eyed 16-year-old high school graduate, but in later editions is rewritten as a titian-haired and blue-eyed 18-year-old graduate and detective. In the series, she lives in the fictional town of River Heights with her father, attorney Carson Drew, and their housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. Carson is very successful in his job, and
1600-407: Is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based upon a concept created by Edward Packard and originally published by Constance Cappel's and R. A. Montgomery 's Vermont Crossroads Press as
1700-455: Is a series of paperback books which replaced the Digest paperbacks in early 2005. The Hardy Boys are now agents of A.T.A.C. (American Teens Against Crime) and are solving more realistic and/or violent crimes. This series is written in first-person narrative style with Frank and Joe alternating chapters. Spy Set - box set of volumes 1–4 (2005) The Nancy Drew and
1800-917: Is a short-lived Hardy Boys spin-off that joined boy inventor Tom Swift with the crime -solving Hardy Boys, Frank and Joe. Although the Franklin W. Dixon pseudonym was used, the series was more akin to the then-current Tom Swift IV series and listed in the Tom Swift books as part of that series. Published as mass-market paperback books under the Archway imprint of Simon & Schuster. Both books were written by Bill McKay. From 1998 to 1999, Simon & Schuster published three Hardy Boys Casefiles Collector's Editions that contained three previously published Casefiles stories (Vol. 1 #'s 38, 39 and 40; Vol. 2 #'s 48, 51 and 52; Vol. 3 #'s 55, 58 and 59). In 2005, Simon & Schuster reprinted Vol. 3 in hardcover with
1900-557: Is a successful lawyer), she maintains an active social, volunteer, and sleuthing schedule, as well as participating in athletics and the arts, but is never shown as working for a living or acquiring job skills. Nancy is affected neither by the Great Depression —although many of the characters in her early cases need assistance as they are poverty-stricken—nor World War II . Nancy lives with her lawyer father, Carson Drew, and their housekeeper , Hannah Gruen. Some critics prefer
2000-403: Is also the heroine of a series of graphic novels, begun in 2005 and produced by Papercutz. The graphic novels are written by Stefan Petrucha and illustrated in manga -style artwork by Sho Murase. The character's graphic novel incarnation has been described as "a fun, sassy, modern-day teen who is still hot on the heels of criminals." When the 2007 film was released, a non-canon novelization of
2100-533: Is an interactive series, as readers will get to write down their clues and predictions. A page before the final chapter has questions the reader can answer regarding suspects, clues, and solutions. The first book in the series references events in the last book of the Hardy Boys Secret Files series, making this a continuation of that series. Published by Dynamite Entertainment . Choose Your Own Adventure Choose Your Own Adventure
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#17327837760732200-410: Is at hand—Bess much more so than Helen, who is only glimpsed very, very occasionally in later volumes. Nancy is also occasionally joined by her boyfriend Ned Nickerson , a student at Emerson College , who is introduced in the seventh book. Nancy is often described as a super girl. In the words of Bobbie Ann Mason , she is "as immaculate and self-possessed as a Miss America on tour. She is as cool as
2300-462: Is cited as a formative influence by several women, from Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Sonia Sotomayor to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former First Lady Laura Bush . Feminist literary critics have analyzed the character's enduring appeal, arguing variously that Nancy Drew is a mythic heroine, an expression of wish fulfillment , or an embodiment of contradictory ideas about femininity. Nancy Drew
2400-406: Is now a less perfect and therefore more likable being, one whom girls can more easily relate to – a better role model than the old Nancy because she can be emulated, rather than a "prissy automaton of perfection." Some, mostly fans, vociferously lament the changes, seeing Nancy as a silly, air-headed girl whose trivial adventures (such as discovering who squished the zucchini in 2004's Without
2500-473: Is often called away on business for days or even weeks at a time, leaving Nancy on her own—and when this happens, he is always shown to have complete faith and trust in Nancy's ability to look after herself, and to solve mysteries. Nancy for her part is very proud of her father and his work, and is unshakable in her respect and admiration for him. She loses her mother at the age of ten in the original versions and at
2600-429: Is often dressed provocatively, in short skirts, shirts that reveal her stomach or cleavage, or a bathing suit. She is often pictured with an attentive, handsome boy in the background and frequently appears aware of and interested in that boy. The books emphasize character relationships, with Nancy Drew and Ned Nickerson becoming more of an on-off couple and having other love interests that span multiple books. However, at
2700-423: Is the greatest phenomenon among all the fifty-centers. She is a best seller. How she crashed a Valhalla that had been rigidly restricted to the male of her species is a mystery even to her publishers." The earliest Nancy Drew books were published as dark-blue hardcovers with the titles stamped in orange lettering with dark-blue outlines and no other images on the cover. The covers went through several changes in
2800-419: Is the somewhat flighty but fun-loving Helen Corning, but this character is quickly supplanted by the fifth book by her two long-term closest friends, cousins Elizabeth "Bess" Marvin and George Fayne . Bess is delicate and feminine, while George is a tomboy. The two are very much opposites, although both are both loyal and devoted friends of Nancy, and usually end up assisting her in the solving of whatever mystery
2900-602: The Super Mystery series, began in 1988. These books were in continuity with the similar Hardy Boys spin-off, The Hardy Boys Casefiles . In 1995, Nancy Drew finally goes to college in the Nancy Drew on Campus series. These books read more similar to soap opera books, such as the Sweet Valley High series. The On Campus books focus more on romance plots and also center around other characters;
3000-628: The Casefiles since the early 1990s in the UK and other British Commonwealth Nations (except Canada). In 2005/06 Simon & Schuster UK reissued four Casefiles under the Undercover Brothers label, with two other books being planned but cancelled before publication. Armada/Collins held the UK/British Commonwealth (except Canada) rights to the Casefiles from about 1988 till 1991, with reprint rights continuing throughout
3100-412: The Girl Detective series drives a hybrid car , uses a mobile phone, and recounts her mysteries in the first person . Since the series is set in the 21st century, several technologies and pop-culture references exist. Many applaud these changes, arguing that Nancy has not changed at all other than learning to use a cell phone. Others praise the series as more realistic; Nancy, these commentators argue,
List of Hardy Boys books - Misplaced Pages Continue
3200-496: The Girl Detective series, Diaries features themes of environmentalism. This is the first series to be available in three different formats: paperback, hardcover (with dust jacket), and eBooks. Consistent with other Stratemeyer Syndicate properties, the Nancy Drew novels were written by various writers, all under the pen name Carolyn Keene. Following the customs of Stratemeyer Syndicate series production, ghostwriters for
3300-470: The Hardy Boys series (although the first volumes were not published until 1927), which was such a success that he decided on a similar series for girls, featuring an amateur girl detective as the heroine. While Stratemeyer believed that a woman's place was in the home, he was aware that the Hardy Boys books were popular with girl readers and wished to capitalize on girls' interest in mysteries by offering
3400-513: The "Adventures of You" series, starting with Packard's Sugarcane Island in 1976. Choose Your Own Adventure , as published by Bantam Books , was one of the most popular children's series during the 1980s and 1990s, selling more than 250 million copies between 1979 and 1998. The series has been translated into 40 languages. When Bantam, now owned by Random House , allowed the Choose Your Own Adventure trademark to lapse,
3500-421: The 1980s and '90s." Stratemeyer edited the first three volumes, and Harriet Adams edited most subsequent volumes until she died in 1982. In 1959, the earlier titles were revised, largely by Adams. From the late 1950s until she died in 1982, Adams herself wrote the manuscripts for most of the books. After Adams' death, series production was overseen by Nancy Axelrad (who also wrote several volumes). The rights to
3600-457: The 1990s, allowing Armada to publish different 2-in-1 and 3-in-1 books of the first 10 Casefiles . The Clues Brothers books were aimed at younger readers, particularly in third and fourth grades. The series was introduced in 1997 and was cancelled in 2000 for lack of popularity. Starting in 2013 the series is available as ebooks. This series had some big differences from the other Hardy Boys books, such as: The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers
3700-453: The 1990s, the series faced competition from computer games and was in a decline. The series was discontinued in 1999, but was relaunched by a new company, Chooseco, in 2003. In June 2018, Z-Man Games issued a licensed co-operative board game called Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger inspired by R. A. Montgomery's book in the series. In January 2019, Chooseco initiated a trademark infringement legal challenge against Netflix for
3800-965: The 99 Steps (1966), Lima in The Clue in the Crossword Cipher (1967), Nairobi in The Spider Sapphire Mystery (1968), Istanbul in " The Mysterious Mannequin " (1970), Austria in Captive Witness (1981), Japan in The Runaway Bride (1994), Costa Rica in Scarlet Macaw Scandal (2004), and Alaska in Curse of The Arctic Star (2013). Nancy is also able to travel freely about the United States, thanks in part to her car, which
3900-689: The Hardy Boys Super Mystery books are a new series first published in June 2007 and are not to be confused with the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys SuperMystery series that was published between 1988 and 1998. Many fans, in order to avoid confusion with the earlier series, refer to this series as the Super Mystery'07 series. This is a spin-off series of the Nancy Drew: Girl Detective series and The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers series. Books are narrated in
4000-610: The Hardy Boys, Frank and Joe, as grade-school detectives. Three new titles are published yearly as paperback books and eBooks. This series rebooted in 2016 as the Hardy Boys Clue Book series. This is a re-boot of the Hardy Boys Secret Files series published by Aladdin Paperbacks in paperback, hardcover, and eBook editions written by Franklin W. Dixon with covers and internal illustrations by Matt David. Illustrations and cover art for book #7 by Santy Gutierrez. This
4100-437: The Nancy Drew books were revised in 1959 to make them more modern and eliminate racist stereotypes . Although Harriet Adams felt that these changes were unnecessary, she oversaw a complete overhaul of the series, as well as writing new volumes in keeping with the new guidelines laid down by Grosset & Dunlap. The series did not so much eliminate racial stereotypes, however, as eliminate non-white characters. For example, in
List of Hardy Boys books - Misplaced Pages Continue
4200-473: The Nancy of these volumes, largely written by Mildred Benson. Benson is credited with "[breathing]… a feisty spirit into Nancy's character." The original Nancy Drew is sometimes claimed: "to be a lot like [Benson] herself – confident, competent, and totally independent, quite unlike the cardboard character that [Edward] Stratemeyer had outlined." This original Nancy is frequently outspoken and authoritative, so much so that Edward Stratemeyer told Benson that
4300-484: The Syndicate in 1931: "Can you let us have the manuscript as soon as possible, and no later than July 10? There will only be three or four titles brought out then, and Nancy Drew is one of the most important." The 6,000 copies that Macy's ordered for the 1933 Christmas season sold out within days. In 1934, Fortune featured the Syndicate in a cover story and singled Nancy Drew out for particular attention: "Nancy
4400-413: The Syndicate signed contracts that have sometimes been interpreted as requiring authors to sign away all rights to authorship or future royalties. Contracts stated that authors could not use their Stratemeyer Syndicate pseudonyms independently of the Syndicate. In the early days of the Syndicate, ghostwriters were paid a fee of $ 125, "roughly equivalent to two months' wages for a typical newspaper reporter,
4500-596: The Water , was released. This series was published in mass-market, or rack-sized, paperbacks to widen the distribution of the books to supermarkets and other outlets. In September 1987 the Hardy Boys Digest series was revived and continued with #86 The Mystery of the Silver Star . Events from the Casefiles are not referenced in the Digest series, and Iola Morton is alive and connected with Joe Hardy as in
4600-564: The Werewolf was originally listed as the next book at the end of Sting of the Scorpion . Grosset & Dunlap continued to list this until they lost a court case against the Syndicate and Simon & Schuster in May 1980. The book was later revised to eliminate the next title and instead referenced the first book in the series, The Tower Treasure . They later published Night of the Werewolf and
4700-419: The age of three in the later version. This loss is reflected in her early independence—running a household since the age of ten with Hannah clearly identified as a servant in the earlier series, who is however later referred to as a surrogate parent. As a teenager, she spends her time solving mysteries; some she stumbles upon, and some begin as cases of her father's. In the opening volumes, Nancy's closest friend
4800-401: The book and it sold 8,000 copies, a large amount for a small local publishing house. The series was later marketed to Pocket Books , where it also sold well, but Montgomery believed that it would sell better if a bigger publisher could be found. After some discussion, Montgomery was able to make a contract for the series with Bantam Books . Packard and Montgomery were selected to write books for
4900-447: The books were extensively revised and shortened, partly to lower the printing costs, with arguable success. In the revision process, the heroine's original character was changed to be less unruly and violent. In the 1980s, an older and more professional Nancy emerged in a new series, The Nancy Drew Files , that included romantic subplots for the sleuth. Launched in 2004, the Nancy Drew: Girl Detective series features Nancy driving
5000-419: The brand HeR Interactive , and two different comic book series. Film and television adaptations of the character have been met with mixed reviews, while the video games by HeR Interactive have often been lauded. The character proves continuously popular worldwide; at least 80 million copies of the books have been sold, and the books have been translated into over 45 languages. A cultural icon , Nancy Drew
5100-455: The character was "much too flip, and would never be well received." The editors at Grosset & Dunlap disagreed, but Benson also faced criticism from her next Stratemeyer Syndicate editor, Harriet Adams , who felt that Benson should make Nancy's character more "sympathetic, kind-hearted and lovable." In Benson's words, Adams repeatedly asked Benson to "make the sleuth less bold… 'Nancy said' became 'Nancy said sweetly,' 'she said kindly,' and
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#17327837760735200-483: The character were sold in 1984, along with the Stratemeyer Syndicate itself, to Simon & Schuster . Book packager Mega-Books subsequently hired authors to write the main Nancy Drew series and a new series, The Nancy Drew Files . In 1980, Harriet Adams switched publishers to Simon & Schuster, dissatisfied with the lack of creative control at Grosset & Dunlap and the lack of publicity for
5300-700: The company name). Aside from inserting an ad for their 'Books By Mail' program, their address on the copyright page, and a small Maple Leaf with "Printed In Canada" being put on the front covers, and distributing the books, Paperjacks was allowed no other editorial/layout changes to the books. Once Distican took over the rights in January 1990, the books were all published in the US and just distributed by Distican in Canada with no publishing occurring in Canada. Simon & Schuster UK have published many 2-in-1 and 3-in-1 books of
5400-431: The cover art. To collectors of Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books, books in the original series published at Simon & Schuster are called "Digests". This is due to the books resembling Digest-size paperbacks, differing from Grosset & Dunlap's hardcover books (one of the reasons Adams switched to Simon & Schuster was that Grosset & Dunlap did not like this move, while Simon & Schuster agreed to it). In 2005,
5500-457: The early years: leaving the orange lettering with no outline and adding an orange silhouette of Nancy peering through a magnifying glass; then changing to a lighter blue board with dark blue lettering and silhouette; then changing the position of the title and silhouette on the front with black lettering and a more "modern" silhouette. Nancy Drew is depicted as an independent-minded 16-year-old who has already completed her high school education (16
5600-401: The end of the last book in the series, statements imply that Nancy keeps dating Ned. The end of the book Murder on Ice strongly implies that Nancy and Ned engage in sexual intercourse (at the very least, they go into a Jacuzzi together). Nancy also becomes more vulnerable, being often chloroformed into unconsciousness, or defenseless against chokeholds . Furthermore, the minor thefts of
5700-496: The energy of a girl shot out of a cannon, Nancy bends conventions and acts out every girl's fantasies of power." Other commentators see Nancy as "a paradox—which may be why feminists can laud her as a formative 'girl power' icon and conservatives can love her well-scrubbed middle-class values." The character was conceived by Edward Stratemeyer , founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate . In 1926, Stratemeyer created
5800-468: The film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch . Netflix settled the suit in November 2020. A Smithsonian article criticizes the style as "formulaic" and quotes a scholar stating that "in terms of literary quality, many of the multiple-storyline books are true skunks". Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and TV shows as
5900-853: The first Nancy Drew spin-off, titled The Nancy Drew Files . However, after the above-mentioned two Mystery Stories books, as implied in The Double Horror of Fenley Place , Nancy appears to be dating Ned again and the series continues without any reference to Nancy dating other guys in The Bluebeard Room or in The Phantom of Venice . The Nancy Drew character in the Files series has earned mixed reviews among fans. Some, including sex-positive feminists , contend that Nancy's character becomes "more like Mildred Wirt Benson's original heroine than any [version] since 1956." Others criticize
6000-567: The first eight volumes from Wanderer (#59-66) were republished by Grosset & Dunlap, alongside the first eight Nancy Drew volumes from Wanderer. These republications went out of print in 2013. The main plot, formula, and continuity of the books remained similar to the original Grosset & Dunlap books still being published at the time. After Harriet Adams died in 1982, the Syndicate continued with five of its partners (Adams' remaining three children, plus authors Nancy Axelrod and Lilo Wuenn), until its sale to Simon & Schuster in 1987. Night of
6100-421: The first person with chapters alternating between Nancy's, Frank's, and Joe's view. Series was cancelled with Nancy Drew: Girl Detective and The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers in 2012. The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers also appear in a series of graphic novels by Papercutz . (A new graphic novel series from Papercutz) In 2011, Simon & Schuster canceled the Undercover Brothers series and launched
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#17327837760736200-427: The first volumes in the series under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene . Subsequent titles have been written by several ghostwriters under the same pseudonym . The first four titles were published in 1930 and were an immediate success. Exact sales figures are not available for the years before 1979. Still, an indication of the books' popularity can be seen in a letter that Laura Harris, a Grosset and Dunlap editor, wrote to
6300-538: The gamebook format, sometimes introducing unexpected twists such as endless page loops or trick endings. Examples include the "paradise planet" ending in Inside UFO 54-40 , which can only be reached by cheating or turning to the wrong page by accident. The only way out of this is to "reset", or close the book and start over from the first page. According to Packard, the core idea for the series emerged from bedtime stories that he told to his daughters, revolving around
6400-421: The kitchen in early stories, became less a servant and more a mother surrogate. Critics saw this Nancy of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s as an improvement in some ways, a step back in others: "In these new editions, an array of elements had been modified… and most of the more overt elements of racism had been excised. In an often overlooked alteration, however, the tomboyish nature ature of the text's title character
6500-427: The like, all designed to produce a less abrasive, more caring character." Many readers and commentators, however, admire Nancy's original outspoken character. A prominent critic of the Nancy Drew character, at least the Nancy of these early Nancy Drew stories, is mystery writer Bobbie Ann Mason . Mason contends that Nancy owes her popularity largely to "the appeal of her high-class advantages." Mason also criticizes
6600-825: The manuscript. Edward Stratemeyer and his daughters Harriet Adams and Edna Stratemeyer Squier wrote most of the outlines for the original Nancy Drew series until 1979. Volume 30, The Clue of the Velvet Mask (1953), was outlined by Andrew Svenson . Usually, other writers wrote the manuscripts. Most of the early volumes were written by Mildred Wirt Benson . Other volumes were written by Walter Karig , George Waller, Jr. , Margaret Scherf , Wilhelmina Rankin , Alma Sasse , Charles S. Strong , Iris Vinton , and Patricia Doll . Later titles were penned by Nancy Axelrad , Sharon Wagner , and James Duncan Lawrence , and according to Book Riot , Carol Gorman , Ellen Steiber , and Alison Hart Edward "each wrote several Nancy Drews in
6700-457: The movie was written to look like the older books. A new book was written for each of the Girl Detective and Clue Crew series, which deal with a mystery on a movie set. In 2008, the Girl Detective series was re-branded into trilogies with a model on the cover. These mysteries became deeper, with the mystery often spread across three books and multiple culprits. These trilogies also met with negative fan reception due to Nancy's constant mistakes,
6800-462: The mysteries are merely used as subplots. By reader request, Nancy broke off her long-term relationship with boyfriend Ned Nickerson in the second volume of the series, On Her Own (1995). Similar to the Files series, reception for the On Campus series was also mixed, with some critics viewing the inclusion of adult themes such as date rape as "unsuccessful". Carolyn Carpan commented that
6900-511: The new series. The books read are drastically different from the preceding novels of the past 55 years. For example, The Phantom of Venice (1985) opens with Nancy wondering in italics, " Am I or am I not in love with Ned Nickerson? " Nancy begins dating other young men and acknowledges sexual desires: "'I saw [you kissing him]… You don't have to apologize to me if some guy turns you on.' 'Gianni doesn't turn me on!… Won't you please let me explain.'" The next year, Simon & Schuster launched
7000-458: The next seven titles in 2005, with the permission and collaboration of Simon & Schuster. These last eight titles were discontinued once the license ran out. After volume 85, the series took a two-and-a-half-year hiatus due to the sale of the Stratemeyer Syndicate to Simon & Schuster. At this point, book packager Mega-Books took over the series, and hired different ghostwriters for the job (many of whom are still unknown). Mega-Books worked on
7100-462: The old-fashioned way. I must confess, though, that I love it." In the revised 1975 version, Beulah is changed to Anna, a "plump, smiling housekeeper". Many other changes were relatively minor. The new books were bound in yellow with color illustrations on the front covers. Nancy's age was raised from 16 to 18, her mother was said to have died when Nancy was three, rather than ten, and other small changes were made. Housekeeper Hannah Gruen, sent off to
7200-510: The original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories , tried to claim rights with the Library of Congress in 1933, the Syndicate instructed the Library of Congress not to reveal the names of any Nancy Drew authors, a move with which the Library of Congress complied. The Syndicate's process for creating the Nancy Drew books consisted of creating a detailed plot outline, drafting a manuscript, and editing
7300-445: The original books are replaced by murders and murder attempts, and Nancy is frequently in mortal danger. In an extreme example, in the book Deadly Doubles , the fate of an entire nation and millions of lives are at stake, a character is tortured and strangled off-screen, and Nancy and her allies are nearly killed on five separate occasions. The Files also launched its spin-off. A crossover spin-off series with The Hardy Boys , titled
7400-468: The original version of The Hidden Window Mystery (1956), Nancy visits friends in the South whose African-American servant, "lovable old Beulah… serves squabs, sweet potatoes, corn pudding, piping hot biscuits, and strawberry shortcake." The house mistress waits until Beulah has left the room and then says to Nancy, "I try to make things easier for Beulah, but she insists on cooking and serving everything
7500-530: The overall mystery. This series is based in the Nancy Drew Files and Hardy Boys Casefiles continuity, so murder, romance, and flirtation between the series regulars are common. Nancy Drew and Frank Hardy share an attraction in this series, though after a brief kiss in The Last Resort this attraction is not acted on. Subsequent books focus on the respect and friendship that developed between
7600-527: The permutations of Nancy Drew, finding Nancy to be simply a good role model for girls. Despite revisions, "What hasn't changed, however, are [Nancy's] basic values, her goals, her humility, and her magical gift for having at least nine lives. For more than six decades, her essence has remained intact." Nancy is a "teen detective queen" who "offers girl readers something more than action-packed adventure: she gives them something original. Convention has it that girls are passive, respectful, and emotional, but with
7700-493: The present day while still containing the same basic formula and style of the books during the Syndicate. In 1985, as the sale of the Stratemeyer Syndicate to Simon & Schuster was finalized, Simon & Schuster wanted to launch a spin-off series that focused on more mature mysteries and incorporated romance into the stories. To test whether this would work, the final two novels before the sale, The Bluebeard Room and The Phantom of Venice , were used as backdoor pilots for
7800-522: The previous 85 titles. The Casefiles universe also merges with the Nancy Drew Files and Tom Swift worlds in titles published as A Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys SuperMystery and A Hardy Boys and Tom Swift UltraThriller . Several spin-off series were cancelled by Simon & Schuster at the end of 1997, including The Hardy Boys Casefiles . In addition, there were three unpublished titles, only two of them known: Book #128, titled Explosive Force ,
7900-405: The primary day job of the syndicate ghosts." During the Great Depression , this fee was lowered to $ 100 and eventually $ 75. All royalties went to the Syndicate, and all correspondence with the publisher was handled through a Syndicate office. The Syndicate was able to enlist the cooperation of libraries in hiding the ghostwriters' names; when Walter Karig , who wrote volumes eight through ten of
8000-407: The protagonist is an adult. The stories are formatted so that, after a few pages of reading, the protagonist faces two or three options, each of which leads to further pages and further options, and so on until they arrive at one of the many story endings. The number of endings varies from as many as 44 in the early titles to as few as 7 in later adventures. Likewise, there is no clear pattern among
8100-599: The reboot of Nancy Drew into Girl Detective , coupled with declining sales, Simon & Schuster ended the original series in April 2005. In these books the reader controls the outcome of the story by choosing different options of advancing the plot, similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure books. The Hardy Boys Casefiles are aimed at early-to-mid teen readers and have more mature themes, including espionage, murder, and slight romance. The new direction
8200-434: The series allow readers choice of whom to take the role of, for example, in an adventure book, readers may be prompted to choose between a climber, a hiker, or a traveler. Stories are generally gender- and race-neutral, though in some cases, particularly in illustrations, there is the presumption of a male reader (the target demographic group). In some stories, the protagonist is implied to be a child, whereas in other stories,
8300-431: The series for its increasing incorporation of romance and "[dilution] of pre-feminist moxie ." One reviewer noticed, "Millie [Mildred Wirt Benson] purists tend to look askance upon the Files series, in which fleeting pecks bestowed on Nancy by her longtime steady, Ned Nickerson, give way to lingering embraces in a Jacuzzi." Cover art for Files titles, such as Hit and Run Holiday (1986), reflects these changes; Nancy
8400-442: The series for its racism and classism, arguing that Nancy is the upper-class WASP defender of a "fading aristocracy, threatened by the restless lower classes." Mason further contends that the "most appealing elements of these daredevil girl sleuth adventure books are (secretly) of this kind: tea and fancy cakes, romantic settings, food eaten in quaint places (never a Ho-Jo's ), delicious pauses that refresh, old-fashioned picnics in
8500-482: The series until #153 Eye On Crime in 1998. Starting with #154 The Caribbean Cruise Caper , Simon & Schuster handled all books internally. The ghostwriters who are known are ones who have either been discovered through other resources, or have publicly revealed themselves as a ghostwriter for the series. With the new millennium, the series changed publishers to the Aladdin subdivision of Simon & Schuster. With
8600-419: The series until she died in 1982. After her death, Adams' protégés, Nancy Axelrad and Lilo Wuenn, and her three children oversaw the Nancy Drew books and other Stratemeyer Syndicate series production. In 1985, the five sold the Syndicate and all rights to Simon & Schuster . Simon & Schuster turned to book packager Mega-Books for new writers. These books continued to have the characters solve mysteries in
8700-449: The series was "more soap opera romance than mystery" and that Nancy "comes across as dumb, missing easy clues she wouldn't have missed in previous series". The series was also criticized for focusing more on romance than on grades or studying, with one critic stating that the series resembled collegiate academic studying in the 1950s, where "women were more interested in pursuing… the 'MRS' degree ." In 1997, Simon & Schuster announced
8800-403: The series was relaunched by Chooseco . Chooseco does not reissue titles by Packard, who has started his own imprint, U-Ventures. Originally created for 7- to 14-year-olds, the books are written in the second person . The protagonist —that is, the reader—takes on a role relevant to the adventure, such as a private investigator, mountain climber, race car driver, doctor, or spy. Certain books in
8900-426: The series would take was set in the first volume, Dead On Target , as a bomb planted in the Hardy Boys' car blows up Joe's longtime girlfriend, Iola Morton , in the first chapter. Book packager Mega-Books and Simon & Schuster released the first two Casefiles under the Archway imprint in April 1987 and continued to release a new title monthly until November 1997. In January 1998 the last Casefile , #127 Dead in
9000-519: The series, including the contracting out of titles to additional authors. The phrase Choose Your Own Adventure was adapted for the next title with the tag line, The Third Planet from Altair: Choose your own adventure in outer space . The series was highly successful after it began printing with Bantam Books. A 1981 article in The New York Times , followed by an interview with Packard on The Today Show , provided free publicity. By
9100-545: The shortness of the books, and the lack of action. With the new trilogy format, sales began slipping. In 2010, Simon & Schuster cut back from six to four Nancy Drew books per year. In December 2011, they announced that the series was canceled along with the Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers . With the cancellation of the Girl Detective series, the Diaries series began in 2013, following
9200-406: The two and their continued feelings for Ned Nickerson and Callie Shaw. Several spin-off series were cancelled by Simon & Schuster at the end of 1997, including the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys SuperMystery series. Starting in 2007, in order to differentiate between the new Super Mystery series, many fans started referring to this series as SuperMystery'88 . The two-volume Ultra-Thriller series
9300-413: The various titles regarding the number of pages per ending, the ratio of good to bad endings, or the reader's progression backwards and forwards through the pages of the book. This allows for a realistic sense of unpredictability, and leads to the possibility of repeat readings, which is one of the distinguishing features of the books. As the series progressed, both Packard and Montgomery experimented with
9400-492: The woods, precious jewels, and heirlooms… The word dainty is a subversive affirmation of a feminized universe." At the bottom, says Mason, the character of Nancy Drew is that of a girl who can be "perfect" because she is "free, white, and sixteen" and whose "stories seem to satisfy two standards – adventure and domesticity. But adventure is the superstructure, domesticity the bedrock." Others argue that "Nancy, despite her traditionally feminine attributes, such as good looks,
9500-437: The years. The Nancy Drew mystery series was revised beginning in 1959, with commentators agreeing that Nancy's character changed significantly from the original Nancy of the books written in the 1930s and 1940s. Observers also often see a difference between the Nancy Drew of the original series, the Nancy of The Nancy Drew Files , and the Nancy of Girl Detective series. Nevertheless, some find no significant difference among
9600-519: Was a sure shot, an excellent swimmer, a skillful oarsman, an expert seamstress, a gourmet cook, and a fine bridge player. Nancy brilliantly played tennis and golf and rode like a cowboy. Nancy danced like Ginger Rogers and could administer first aid like the Mayo brothers. Nancy never lacks money, and in later volumes of the series often travels to faraway locations, such as France in The Mystery of
9700-546: Was also tamed." Nancy becomes much more respectful of male authority figures in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, leading some to claim that the revised Nancy becomes too agreeable and less distinctive, writing of her, "In the revised books, Nancy is relentlessly upbeat, puts up with her father's increasingly protective tendencies, and, when asked if she goes to church in the 1969 The Clue of the Tapping Heels , replies, 'As often as I can." Harriet Adams continued to oversee
9800-399: Was the minimum age for graduation at the time). While the first four books of the series are noted for their strong continuity and sense of passing seasons and time, it is lost throughout the series with changes like Nancy's hair color being changed to titian . Her age is changed from 16 to 18 in book 31, The Ringmaster's Secret (1953), with no in-universe explanation. Affluent (her father
9900-424: Was the natural enthusiasm they had for the idea. And I thought: 'Could I write this down?'" Packard soon developed this basic premise into a manuscript titled The Adventures of You on Sugar Cane Island . He set out in 1970 to find a publisher but was rejected by nine publishing companies, causing him to shelve the idea. In 1975, he was able to convince Ray Montgomery, co-owner of Vermont Crossroads Press, to publish
10000-427: Was written by Jerry Novick, and a complete manuscript exists; Book #130, titled The Crisscross Crime , was rewritten for the original series, and released as #150. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew teamed up in this 36-volume series of paperbacks . This series follows the formula of the main characters and their friends typically involved in separate mysteries that end up being connected. The sleuths join forces to solve
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