Nancy Drew Sleuth

Nancy Drew Twin Thriller Club Letter

2012-02-10T21:59:00.004-07:00

I purchased recently a Nancy Drew Twin Thriller book club edition at eBay - the seller had listed several and included an original letter with one of the books. I snapped that up quickly :) I am in an ongoing quest to amass as much research material as I can about Nancy Drew for my books and writing projects--not to mention my collection!

This letter--if you click on the above image it will enlarge to be able to read it--mentions a few interesting things.

First, I was aware of this book club being advertised in different publications--including some Teen ones. I have an original Young Miss magazine advertising the club in an insert. It was referred to as the "Twin Thriller Book Club" but the letter above calls it the "Parents' Magazine's Nancy Drew Twin-Thriller Book Club" - both the magazine ad and this letter have the same New Jersey address. I suppose it's likely that depending on where it was advertised, it was changed slightly--or it may have been taken over by Parent' Magazine at some point.

Second, the letter refers to them being out of the introductory volumes--which included Old Clock/Hidden Staircase and Bungalow Mystery/Lilac Inn were out of stock so they were substituting Mirror Bay/Double Jinx and Glowing Eye/Forgotten City.

The book I bid on was Mirror Bay/Double Jinx. So I got one of the volumes they were substituting.

I love finding book club memorabilia! If anyone ever has any they're interested in parting with and you happen to come across this blog while searching what you have, please contact me!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Cafe Press Shop Sale: 10% off $40+ orders!

2012-01-25T13:26:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Shop 10% off $40+ Sale!

WHEN: Sale Runs From Jan. 25 to Jan. 28, 2012

SAVE: 10% off Orders $40+

CODE: SHOPTJ2

WHERE: www.cafepress.com/nancydrewshop

Be sure you're ordering from the shop page only--marketplace orders do not count for this promotion, so if you're at the main website and/or using search boxes to add items to your cart, those are considered marketplace items. You must order from the Nancy Drew shop page itself. If you have any trouble with the code--contact Cafe Press customer support (there's a phone number you can call right away) and they can help you with it.

Thanks for your support!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew & The Sign of the Twisted Candles Play

2012-01-18T13:41:00.006-07:00

NANCY DREW AND THE SIGN
OF THE TWISTED CANDLES
Based on the book by Carolyn Keene,
adapted and directed by Damon Kiely

Nancy Drew must search every corner of a spooky mansion to solve the mystery of a 100-year-old man’s disappearing fortune. Will solving the case jeopardize her friendship with best pals Bess and George? Will the fortune be taken by the bad guys, or will Nancy use her brain power (and some luck) to save the day? Recommended for ages 7 and up, and Nancy Drew fans of all ages!

Attend this play--here are the dates it's running and where it's being held plus ticket prices:

January 14 – February 28, 2012 – at DePaul’s historic Merle Reskin Theatre: 60 E. Balbo Dr., Chicago, IL 60605

Tickets are $8. Discounted Group Rates are available – call 312 922 0999 or email theatregroupsales@depaul.edu

Learn more at their website!

Here are more images from the play:

All photos courtesy of Johnny Knight!

Jenn:)

Harriet Stratemeyer Adams Wire Photo

2011-12-31T15:54:00.003-07:00

I found this wire photo for sale online when I purchased the recent Bonita Granville/Nancy Drew photos when I searched their archive of photos and wire photos with various names associated with Nancy Drew. This photo of Harriet Adams was used for a NYT piece it appeared. The paper is thinner than usual photo paper with these wire photos.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Books: Scary Things Kids (& Adults) Do #14

2011-12-30T14:18:00.004-07:00

I can't think of a more romantic way to express one's feelings for good old Dan! Ok, I could think of a lot more ways other than WRITING on the closed page edges of a Nancy Drew book! Such as these apparently completely original and unheard of ideas - love letter, t-shirt, a banner trailing a plane, hot air balloon ride, etc. etc.

Do you think she's still with Dan?

Jenn:)

Bonita Granville Nancy Drew 1930s Movie Photos

2011-12-07T18:22:00.004-07:00

I recently acquired these 2 Nancy Drew Reporter movie press photos at eBay. They were from the archives of the Baltimore Sun and they arrived today.

I have so little in the way of 1930s memorabilia that these are a treasure to me. I love the detective/Holmes look of them and hadn't seen anything like this before.

On back they refer to her as "Sherlock Holmes Granville." And "in character for her role in 'Nancy Drew, Reporter'." They're also stamped Dec. 2, 1938.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Books: Scary Things Kids (& Adults) Do #13

2011-12-06T15:19:00.005-07:00

This lovely vintage Nancy Drew book comes with its own personal threatening message! How apropos...or not!

Don't you dare cross this little Sleuth wannabe! Or she'll sic Bushy Trott on you and send a few phone threats and goons your way!

Of course the irony of the written damage here probably didn't resonate with the 8 to 12 set ;-) I love finding things like this. Saw this one at eBay.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Cafe Press Shop Sale: 15% off $45+ orders!

2011-11-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Shop 15% off $45+ Sale!

WHEN: Sale Runs From Nov. 29 to Dec 1, 2011

SAVE: 15% off Orders $45+

CODE: ADEC1145

WHERE: www.cafepress.com/nancydrewshop

Be sure you're ordering from the shop page only--marketplace orders do not count for this promotion, so if you're at the main website and/or using search boxes to add items to your cart, those are considered marketplace items. You must order from the Nancy Drew shop page itself. If you have any trouble with the code--contact Cafe Press customer support (there's a phone number you can call right away) and they can help you with it.

Thanks for your support!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Cafe Press Shop Sale: Free Ship on $40+ Orders

2011-11-27T00:49:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Shop Free Ship on $40+ Sale!

WHEN: One Day Sale -Starts/Ends Nov. 28, 2011

SAVE: Free Economy Shipping on Orders of $40+

CODE: SHOPNOV28

WHERE: www.cafepress.com/nancydrewshop

Thanks for your support!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew 2012 Calendars

2011-11-22T01:52:00.001-07:00

2012 Nancy Drew Calendars

In addition to our Russell H. Tandy and Rudy Nappi Nancy Drew book cover calendars (out in 2011) which are available again this year with a 2012 calendar, we have added 2 new styles to the mix (click on images for larger views):

A) Vintage Nancy Drew Mystery Calendar - Features 12 black/white Russell H. Tandy illustrations from the books with accompanying text from the mystery that sets the scene of the illustration. Very "Sleuth Noir." Featuring Nancy Drew in the typical perilous predicaments she often found herself in.

B) Things We've Learned From Nancy Drew - Features 12 classic Nancy Drew black/white illustrations of Nancy and quotes about things we've learned from our favorite intrepid sleuth. In case you ever play Nancy Drew, these might come in handy!

Calendars are $21.99 each plus $5.50 flat rate ship total no matter how many calendars are ordered. That's US shipping. If you're in Canada or overseas, please contact me about shipping rates at nancydrewsleuth@aol.com.

You can purchase them by check or money order to:

Jennifer Fisher
P.O. Box 128
Higley, AZ 85236-0128

You can have me invoice you via Pay Pal or send a Pay Pal to: nancydrewsleuth@aol.com.

Or you can purchase at The Sleuth Shop or in our Cafe Press Nancy Drew Shop:

Sleuth Shop

Nancy Drew Cafe Press Shop

Jenn:)

2011 Book Hunting for Nancy Drew #4

2011-11-18T16:33:00.018-07:00

Book Hunting Adventures with Sleuth Gina

Gina came to visit to help with planning on the 2012 Nancy Drew & Sleuth Con Conventions and we spent some time running around book hunting. Above are 4 finds Gina made at Alcuin Books in Scottsdale, AZ.

Here were my overall finds from all the bookstores - Nancy Drew books (format 11 blue 30s silhouette Shadow Ranch and a 1st printing of the 2nd art for Bungalow Mystery), a Dana Girls book, an old flight/stewardess series, Uncle Wiggily book for my mom and Roger Garis's My Father Was Uncle Wiggily plus a first of the Nancy Drew Scrapbook and Mildred Wirt's The Shadow Stone. For Dean I found a Hardy Boys puzzle.

Don't worry Sleuths we left a ton of books for you for next March :-)

Antique Mall finds in Apache Junction, AZ

Gina spots a Cherry Ames

Book Vault in Mesa, AZ

Half-Price Books in Mesa, AZ

A set of 29 Brown Hardy Boys for $40.00

A random find in a paperback exchange bookstore!

Book Gallery in Mesa, AZ - lots of series

UK Hardy Boys spotted

Beverly Gray listing to itself and thick for $30

Gina searches for paperbacks at Bookman's

Alcuin Books has lots of old vintage series with most in dust jacket from Tom Swift to Penny Parker to everything in between!

Book Gallery in Phoenix, AZ had a lot of series as well and these had just arrived to the store!

Lots of early and nicer/pricier ones

Lots more on the shelves in back

Nancy Drew Cameos, White Spines, tons of Judy Boltons and more...

We had a lot of fun and found that there's a nice variety of vintage series just waiting to be discovered in the Phoenix area!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Books: Scary Things Kids (& Adults) Do #12

2011-11-12T11:15:00.003-07:00

HYPERS! I'm not sure, but this may just be one of the worst things I've seen thus far in my Scary Things Kids (& Adults) Do series of blogs.

When I saw this listing at eBay I laughed and shook my head. Some little monster took a sharpie or marker and wrote all over the inside of the dust jacket as you can see it shows above and then below. You can buy it now for $4.99 in all its glory.

Looks like they wrote all the names of their buddies down like Mike, Bill, and Phil--rhyming buddies perhaps. They even knew John Hancock! WOW. And of course Kathy and Tom. And maybe Dan with the smiley face inside the D. My bet is Kathy is the culprit since it's the only girls' name here and she was listing her boyfriends she was stalking around the playground.

Just for good measure, she added more names to the endpapers in case the dust jacket didn't cut it...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Jenn:)

2011 Book Hunting for Nancy Drew #3

2011-11-09T22:34:00.006-07:00

I was traveling through Albuquerque and decided to stop at a favorite spot for vintage series books, Page One Bookstore - they have a rare/antique book room you have to buzz to get into and there's always something in there plus outside the room is several shelves of vintage series too. And then there's the regular kids section that has new and some used books too. I almost didn't stop as my mom and I were headed home from her art show and needed to beat some snow conditions before dark, but we dashed in for a quick look and boy was I glad...

When I got the 80th promotional kit for Nancy Drew with the stand up cardboard Nancy and the poster and buttons, my kit didn't have the shelf talker--shown above are 2 of them. The one we auctioned off in VA had one in the kit, so I was sad at missing out on it. They had 2 on the shelf at Page One so I asked if I could buy one of them and they gave it to me, which was very kind! They are very friendly and helpful at this store. You can check them out at 11018 Montgomery St at the SW corner of Juan Tabo. Their number is: (505) 294-2026. Click here for their website.

In the book room they had a set of 1-22 Cherry Ames in Dust Jacket for $300.00 but they are on sale right now for 20% off making them $240.00 if anyone is interested contact them above.

I spotted a Penny Nichols book on the shelf.

They also had quite a few boys' series including some of these Rick Brant books. I saw some Three Investigators, Tom Swift, and Beverly Gray as well as other various series books.

I purchased a #15 (final book in series) Betty Gordon and the Mystery Girl in DJ--Russell H. Tandy illustrated this one and I collect books that he illustrated. It was only $20.00.

Jenn:)

Happy Halloween Nancy Fans & Thanks

2011-11-01T01:13:00.003-07:00

I wanted to thank all of you for coming to my Nancy Drew Blog party all month long! It was fun and I hope you enjoyed it :) Thanks for all the great comments! I didn't get a chance to reply as much as I would have liked, it's been so hectic with all the party planning and Halloween stuff going on.

Hope to blog here more often so check back often and see what's going on in the world of Drew :)

Hope you all had a fabulous Halloween! Tonight we had 161 trick or treaters, so I gave out a lot of loot bags to the kids! Hope you had a good turnout.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 31: Nancy Drew Halloween Party

2011-10-31T00:02:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew & The Hidden Staircase
Halloween Party

No one got lost in the secret passageway or tumbled down the hidden staircase, but they did spot a rat or two and an old Sleuth member who wandered down into the depths of Haunted Twin Elms never to be spotted again until now...

A window silhouette of Nancy climbing the stairs and a ghostly creature lurking behind her...

The porch became the hidden passageway with the faux stairs I created with boxes and spray "stone" paint. The walls were covered with a faux stone room roll.

Cobwebs greeted guests as well as a spooky Nancy Drew silhouette lantern--these were hung on either side of the porch. A sign at the top of the stairs warned, "Enter if you dare."

Who is this mysterious Sleuth member wearing one of our PA '08 Nancy Drew convention tees? They're enjoying a glass of wine with their Nancy Drew book, The Witch Tree Symbol.

Mostly black/white decor greeted guests in the parlor of Twin Elms. Paintings were haunted by covers made from vintage Nancy Drew book pages and silhouettes. Nancy Drew silhouette buckets were filled with candy.

The menu included Texas brisket, roasted vegetables (carrots, potatoes, celery, onions), salad with all the trimmings, a balsamic vinaigrette and assorted dressings, rolls, cider and tea, assorted wines, plus an assortment of sides and appetizers brought by members. Desserts included Reeses Cookie Cups and Rice Krispy Treats made with candy corn pieces plus cookies.

Sleuths Arlene and Dede pose in the library

Spooky ghostly images great guests in the hall as well as a Nancy Drew Halloween tree with black/white silhouette paper decorations. Goody Bags with the Nancy Drew silhouette were filled with candy and goodies.

Rice Krispy Treats and ghoulish glow in the dark witch fingers beckoned guests as did the Toile style Nancy Drew decoupaged pumpkin I crafted. Eyeball chocolates were yummy. Miss Flora's Brown Owl watched suspiciously...

Nancy Drew haunts this painting...

Sleuths Cheryl and Judy

A reverse silhouette effect in the parlor as the sun is starting to set. A creepy skull adorns a black cake stand.

Edward Stratemeyer haunts this old-fashioned frame

Reese's Cookie Cups garnished with edible bones and skulls adorn this silver 3-tiered stand topped with a couple of small skulls.

Sleuths Beth Marie, Tina, and Gail

Bess gave these her seal of approval!

Sleuths Sherry & Tori

Nancy Drew Goody Bags

Sleuths played a game of bingo involving trivia about members and Nancy Drew trivia. Prizes were given out to the first 3 bingos and then consolation buttons to the rest of the guests.

Who was kidnapped in The Hidden Staircase?

Everyone works out their bingo play in the library

A Nancy Drew lantern glows bright

Sleuths Becky and Carol

Judy and Dede gave me this neat Nancy Drew candle which fit the decor perfectly.

The whole gang!

Gift Exchange Gifts - Members created treat bag/containers with Nancy Drew imagery for the exchange--see images of these below:

Goody bags are handed out to guests as spooky sounds echo from other rooms in the house...

Loot included candy, witch fingers, Halloween pencils, glow in the dark eyeballs and mini Hidden Staircase buttons.

The party was so much fun! Now to treat the kids tonight with lots of loot and fanfare...

Happy Halloween everyone! Make it a spooky one :)

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Pumpkin Contest Winner

2011-10-31T00:01:00.001-07:00

Our Nancy Drew Pumpkin
Decorating Contest Winners Are...

1st Place: Nancy Lauzon!

Other prize winners:

2nd - Gina Travis
Tie for 3rd - Elise/Hazel/Wade & Sarah

Nancy and 3rd place winners--please e-mail me your address to send your prizes to: nancydrewsleuth@aol.com.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 30: Nancy Drew Halloween Party Sneak Peek

2011-10-30T00:02:00.002-07:00

Nancy Drew Halloween Party Sneak Peek

The Nancy Drew Hidden Staircase party was last night and here's a few pics from the event which was so much fun :) Above is a group photo in front of my collection.

I "haunted" a few paintings with covers I created.

The faux hidden staircase with silhouette lantern.

Jenn:)

My Nancy Drew Obsession...er...Collection Photos

2011-10-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Collection Photos

I haven't taken photos of the collection in awhile and so I'm posting a few I took after setting it up better for the Nancy Drew party. I have 2 new shelves which I've moved all binders, scrapbooks, magazines, reference books, and modern series to which I like better.

Of course when setting up everything, I realize I need about 4 or 5 more shelves ;) So much remains boxes due to lack of space. Mostly collectible items, paper ephemera items and other series books. I've got to work on getting some of that out for the 2012 Nancy Drew convention before everyone visits.

I also found things in reorganizing that I was puzzled at having 2 of the same thing and found duplicates--and thinking this is so out of control :) I need to get to cataloging it better. I've started taking digital photos of everything.

Jenn:)

Last Minute Costume Idea: Go as a Nancy Drew Book

2011-10-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Last Minute Nancy Drew Costume Ideas:
Nancy Drew Book

I typically plan these events and forget to deal with/put off planning the costume aspect of them until the last minute. On Friday afternoon I sent off an image of Mystery of the Glowing Eye to the copy shop and had them blow it up to where the face would be about life size and then glued it to cardboard and cut out Nancy's face.

Goofy yes, but simple and easy to throw together ;-)

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 29: 1980s Classic Series Nancy Drew

2011-10-29T00:02:00.001-07:00

1980s Nancy Drew

By the 1980s we had quite a different looking Nancy Drew--published now in paperback by Simon & Schuster with early art by Ruth Sanderson. These were Wanderers at first and then Minstrels. Digest sized paperbacks. They began with internal illustrations but later down the road they dropped those. The internal illustrations at first were really nice! Nancy has a modern preppy 80s look to her. The covers to me--many of these earlier Wanderer first art covers from #57 to #78 had a very Gothic feel to them and you can get a sense of that from some of the ones pictured below:

Flying Saucer is no doubt one of those love it or hate it books--the bad swamp gas and weird space dreams were a bit "out there" for me ;-) I wrote a somewhat humorous piece on this book that was in SP&F years ago I should dig out sometime and reprint here.

One of my favorite covers has always been The Secret in the Old Lace--with the Gothic castle, fog and the mysterious man in the background. Love it! A lot of these earlier paperbacks are very much similar to the style of the classic Nancy Drew books since the Syndicate was working on most of these.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Sleuthing Tip #4

2011-10-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

When locked in a hallway by feisty “pearl cultists,” Nancy finds that carrying a large set of master keys with her comes in handy while solving The Thirteenth Pearl.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Week 4 Prize Winner

2011-10-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Blog Party Week 4 Prize Winner is....

Corrie - Congrats! Please e-mail me your address to ship your prize to at nancydrewsleuth@aol.com

Prize: Nancy Drew Spiral Bound Journal & Buttons

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 28: Witch Tree Symbol Discussion

2011-10-28T00:02:00.001-07:00

Amish Country, shoofly pie, and a witch tree! Let's Discuss! Add your comments to this posting below and let me know what you think of this story. Does it rate as a good spooky mystery apropos for a fall setting? Did you like the original or revision better? What's your favorite cover art of the 2 classic covers?

A Few Fast Facts:

Original Ghostwriter: Harriet Adams

1 Illustrator: Rudy Nappi

Synopsis From My Website:

Nancy, Bess, and George travel to Pennsylvania to search for missing furniture and uncover the meaning behind the witch tree symbol hex sign that keeps appearing. Their search for a clue in an old table leads to solving an ancient mystery and helps reunite a young Amish woman with her family.

I really like this Nancy Drew mystery for several reasons. The setting is late summer and there's lots of veggies being harvested, the food sounds fabulous and mouth watering, and the countryside so quaint! The spooky cover with the witch tree that I had growing up (2nd art) always intrigued me and I enjoyed the mystery with the historical George Washington tables and the old ancient lore behind the missing family members and what happened to them. It wasn't an overly spooky or suspenseful mystery but it was a fun travelogue. The Sleuths made this book our convention theme in 2008 when we headed to Amish country. We were there in the fall in October and it was just fabulous all around. One of my favorites.

Original vs. Revised - 1 Interesting Clue:

1. Not in the original, but added in the revision is George saying, "Hypers!"

3 Mysterious Things About Nancy:

1. She hates making a nuisance of herself to the police!

2. She doesn't approve of her dog Togo roaming the streets.

3. Nancy carries matches in her pocket.

Sleuthworthy Rating on a Scale of 1-10:

9--Loved the setting, the historical mystery, and the activities and sleuthing in the books.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew 2011 Halloween Party Planning #5

2011-10-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Halloween Party -
Painted Metal Buckets

Here's my quick and easy project for painting buckets with the Nancy Drew silhouette. I purchased these two lacy buckets in the Ikea gardening area with the plan to display them on one of the party tables filled with treats.

Materials:

Black paint
Tiny paint brush
Bucket
Printed silhouette

Instructions:

I printed out the silhouette to size and then traced the outline onto the bucket. Then I proceeded to paint and fill in the lines.

Very simple project and easy to do. Can't wait to use them at the party.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 27: 1970s Nancy Drew

2011-10-27T00:02:00.005-07:00

1970s Nancy Drew

The 1970s rounded our our era of classic Nancy Drew ending with volume #56 in 1979. The series continued with a new style with publisher Simon & Schuster starting with #57 in paperback and would run for another 24 years through #175.

1970s Nancy Drew kept up the traveling schedule but this era ushered in some unusual stories and some wilder/brighter covers--like this one for #48 The Crooked Banister:

The mysteries in this decade were unusual at times and elements could be a bit bizarre. Crooked Banister involved a weird robot and a villain on the lam with a very odd home that had a moat that caught on fire and a room full of poison. Mirror Bay involved faux sorcerers covering up weird experiments involving mushrooms. Double Jinx involved jinxes and "specters". Glowing Eye involved a light that could paralyze victims and a strange villain called Cyclops. Sky Phantom involved a revolutionary gang running arms with weird magnetized clouds. Strange Message in the Parchment utilized a strange villain tactic--flocks of mechanical birds that could attack at will! Thirteenth Pearl involved a strange pearl cult with its leaders really jewel thieves. I would call this decade the Creepy and Weird Decade of Drew! Still a fun one though, don't get me wrong, but definitely unusual!

By the 1970s, sleuthing was very much group effort--with Burt and Dave appearing more along with Ned. They might as well have been driving around in the Mystery Machine. Some of these themes were similar to Scooby Doo. Nancy relied more and more on her friends and delegated a lot of tasks to them. She could call up the local police and just rattle off a list of things for them to do and they of course would get right on it!

Jenn:)

Things We've Learned From Nancy Drew #6

2011-10-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

Have a prearranged code between you and your friends in case one is kidnapped and needs to send a coded message. (The Invisible Intruder)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 26: Nancy Drew Consulting - Nancy Drew Engagement Calendar

2011-10-26T00:02:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Consulting:
Rizzoli Engagement Calendar

A Nancy Drew engagement calendar was put together for 2010 by Universe Publishing, a division of Rizzoli International Publications. I was contacted early in 2009 about providing scans for the calendar. At the time I was working on the style guide for Nancy Drew licensees and helping them with scans of book covers. There wasn't an archive anywhere of book covers to use so they had to reach out to collectors like me to provide these.

Some of the images in the calendar are from flashlight pcs because the matte picture covers produce texture when scanning--sometimes it can be cleaned up well in graphics programs, but not always and they didn't like the look of the texture on some of them.

The calendar was full of images spanning the years of classic Nancy Drew plus endpaper images and internal illustrations sprinkled throughout. It was a really fabulous product and unfortunately didn't receive enough support from retailers who didn't pick it up for sales in stores. So you had to order it online at online shops. That was a shame. Everyone I spoke to really loved this calendar. I had hopes they'd do more or update it for 2011, but due to the distribution issue, that didn't happen. We produced a 2011 set of calendars in our Cafe Press Shop and will do so again for 2012--with new styles coming mid-Nov plus the Tandy/Nappi styles from last year for anyone who didn't get those our would like them again in a 2012 calendar.

I received some copies of the calendar and was given credit inside for helping out with it.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew & Mystery Book Club Party

2011-10-26T00:01:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew in Phyllis Hoffman
Celebrate Halloween

I'm big on Halloween--that's an understatement I suppose--but I do stay up with the trends and what's coming out in the magazines for my party business. Every fall/Halloween magazine I tend to purchase if it's got some good stuff in it for reference and enjoyment. One such magazine is always Phyllis Hoffman's Celebrate Halloween issue--you can get it on stands most anywhere and order it online at her website. She always has some interesting and sometimes unusual party themes. Year before last I think there was a Clue/mystery dinner which was neat. Well imagine my surprise when I was thumbing through this years and spotted the NANCY DREW silhouette and did a double take!

I was delighted to see the Mystery Book Club Dinner Halloween Party theme piece--it featured all kinds of fun mystery theme decor and used the Nancy Drew silhouette on some of the printables. I really almost fell over in the floor when I saw it as you don't see Nancy Drew done like this a lot and since Country Living was doing the Nancy Drew collecting spread, it was so neat to see her show up in two big magazines! Other mystery characters include Miss Marple, Perry Mason, The Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes, Nero Wolfe and many other fun ones.

Here some examples of the printables--a bookmark and a match game. You can view all the printables for the party here. The magazine has some great pics of everything put together.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 25: Nancy Drew Consulting - Lucas Films

2011-10-25T00:02:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Consulting:
Lucas Films Edward Stratemeyer
Documentary DVD Extra

Volume 1 of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles released on DVD features the episode Spring Break Adventure in which "Indy and his girlfriend Nancy Stratemeyer, whose father created the Nancy Drew mystery series, visit the fascinating laboratory of inventor Thomas Edison." Of course this is fictional, as Edward Stratemeyer didn't have a daughter named Nancy, however with the release of these Young Indiana DVDs, the filmmakers put together some really nice companion historical documentaries on the various people and places in the episodes.

They put together one on Edward Stratemeyer, "The Mystery of Edward Stratemeyer." Fellow collector and researcher James Keeline and I provided quite a few images for the documentary and are credited. I recommend the DVD, as this is the first documentary put together on Stratemeyer. There are some inaccuracies to it--like the scene where it shows numerous ghosts typing away at typewriters as if Stratemeyer really had a fiction factory going at his disposal like that ;-) It looked interesting for the piece though, but not exactly how it worked. They also interviewed Kathleen Chamberlain and Cynthia Lum, great-grand daughter of Edward Stratemeyer.

I was first contacted about this project through Simon & Schuster--Lucas Films needed some scans of Nancy Drew images and some from the books of text and other info. So they put me in touch with some people who were working on the documentary. This was several years before it actually came out on DVD, so it was a long process to produce this documentary on their end. I provided scans at very high resolution of the Nancy Drew covers you see in the documentary. I received a small fee for my contributions and once it was ready, a DVD of the documentary arrived. I enjoyed it very much!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew 2011 Halloween Party Planning #4

2011-10-25T00:01:00.002-07:00

Nancy Drew Halloween Party -
Decoupage Nancy Drew Pumpkin

I decided to do a crafty Nancy Drew pumpkin for the Nancy Drew Halloween party. Part of my decor is black/white mostly so the multi pic endpapers from the Nancy Drew books worked perfectly. It's kind of got a Toile look to it. I think I'm going to paint the stem black tomorrow once it finishes drying overnight.

Materials:

I purchased all of these items at Michael's.

Faux pumpkins
Modge Podge
Foam Brush
Images

Instructions:

Set up your table with something the pumpkin (and you) won't stick to--I used plastic. Also, cut out your images first so you'll have them ready to go assembly line once you start. Tip: Take a bowl to set your pumpkin in to work on as this makes it easier to work with. I covered my bowl with some saran wrap to keep the modge podge off it. Another Tip: Have your images printed at the copy shop--so the ink won't bleed as it will on an ink jet printer. If you have some special spray then you can print your own and use the spray to keep the ink from running.

Begin placing your images on the pumpkin--I started out at the bottom and worked my way up. You can brush the pumpkin with modge podge and then place the image but I found it easier to paint it on the bottom of the paper and then apply. I also wore some painters gloves so I wouldn't have to spend half the night scraping modge podge off my hands.

As you work it will go quickly. Sometimes you have to trim things certain ways to make it fit better--I find smaller pieces work better on surfaces like this that aren't flat.

Do about half the pumpkin at one time and then let it dry and then do the other side. I printed images for the earlier version of these endpapers with the 22 little scenes like the blue multi pic endpapers but didn't get a chance to start the second pumpkin.

It was a pretty easy project to do--you can't really mess up this kind of project! I completed mine while watching Dancing with the Stars and Castle with wait times for drying so it wasn't too time consuming.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 24: Nancy Drew Party Kit

2011-10-24T00:02:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Party Kit

We're having a blog party so we might as well do it in style right?! Wish you could join me and have some cupcakes and candies and some fun Nancy Drew party favors :)

Our new printable DIY Nancy Drew Party Kit is about to be readied for purchase. It comes with downloadable files and instructions to create invitations, thank yous, labels, cupcake picks, cupcake sleeves, flags, triangle banners with different slogans and images, purse favor boxes, party hats, straw/pencil toppers, silhouette images to use for posters and decorating, style sheets to use as placemats, scrapbooking and other projects, trivia, scavenger hunt activity, and mystery/clues hunt suggestions. Some of these files are customizable where you can change the text like the invites, labels, and flags

It comes in 4 colors - lemon bar, roadster blue, sleuth pink, and mysterious black/white. The black/white images can also be printed on color paper/cardstock of any color to suit your party needs if you want to feature other colors or just one.

With a little tape, glue, scissors, papers, elbow grease and your imagination, you can use our kit to wow at your parties! Embellish to your hearts desire and as far as your imagination takes you.

Vintage props add flair!

Here's snapshot of each file you'll be sent when ordering the set. Once purchased, files are e-mailed to the buyer. Files are for your personal use only. I'm working on specific book themes like The Secret of the Old Clock and The Hidden Staircase too. Many thanks to Sleuth Allison for all her help with the graphic work!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Trick or Treat Project

2011-10-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Trick or Treat Project

If you want to do something clever for your trick or treaters and promote Nancy Drew, here's an easy and quick project. Click here for the PDF file.

The file contains some small bookmarks which you can print on cardstock and then cut out. Laminate them if you wish to make them more sturdy. If you don't have a laminator or cardstock on hand, you can have this done at your local copy shops.

The bottom 4 images are labels you can print out and adhere to treat bags or tape onto candy bars with double sided tape (works best).

TIP: If you don't want to print the bookmarks in color, have them do black/white printing on orange cardstock.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Pumpkin Decorating Contest Entries 1-4

2011-10-24T00:00:00.001-07:00

#1 is from Gina and is a Nancy Drew fan pumpkin girl reading a Nancy Drew book, The Secret of Shadow Ranch.

#2 is from Nancy Lauzon and features Nancy Drew from the cover of The Invisible Intruder and is wearing a beret.

#3 above is from Elise, Hazel and Wade. It features the ND initials and a spooky scene.

#4 is from Sarah and is a Shadow Ranch entry with Nancy on her horse and the phantom horse rearing up.

Voting will begin today! You can vote in the poll up top right as to your favorite. Voting will run from today through the 30th and I'll announce the winners on Halloween!

Thanks to everyone who participated! If you didn't get your pumpkin done in time, you can still share photos with me once you get it done and I'll post them.

There will be a first, second, and third place winner. 4th place will receive a consolation prize :)

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 23: Nancy Drew Consulting - 80th Old Clock

2011-10-23T00:02:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Consulting:
80th Old Clock

Grosset & Dunlap wanted to do a special edition of the first Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the Old Clock, for the 80th anniversary in 2010. They put out a bookstore kit with a stand-up of Nancy Drew from The Hidden Staircase that included a poster and buttons for bookstore promotions and had a lot of publicity and a press release around the anniversary in April 2010. They contacted me some months before the release of the special edition asking if I would like to write a short page of fun facts about Nancy Drew for the book. It was only one page, so I had to keep it pretty short and sweet. I sent them a list of items they could pick and choose from.

It was a very nice opportunity to be a part of the 80th anniversary celebration. I also got to do some media interviews including one at Media Bistro online and those were a lot of fun.

I have to address an issue with a few people that seemed to come up--one in a review at an online book site--and one who e-mailed me to ask what in the hell was I thinking to associate myself with---wait for it....---the revised text version ;-) Apparently that's a terrible thing? I never really responded to any of that because I thought it was kind of un-Nancy like. But for anyone who did wonder (without resorting to tearing up/burning/and or some other kind of disposal of this book-ha!) why Grosset & Dunlap used the revised text, I would suspect that it's because that's what's currently in print and has been since 1959--51 years now. So, that wasn't really a surprise to me if you understand the original version which does have some racial stereotyping going on--in a chapter or two and it's brief--but it's still there. Grosset & Dunlap doesn't print the original version anymore--and frankly the PC police would probably be all over it if they did--think of what a stir that would have been :) I wouldn't have minded the original being used--that would have been pretty cool--but I didn't lose any sleep over it being the revised version which is what I grew up on and enjoyed as a kid.

Perhaps for the 85th, we'll see more commemorative items. I'd sure love to see a boxed set of the first 3 books--the originals even--with original Tandy illustrations on the box. I think that would be quite lovely!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew 2011 Halloween Party Planning #3

2011-10-23T00:01:00.007-07:00

Nancy Drew Halloween Party -
Window Silhouette

Part of any great Halloween celebration is setting the scene! One neat way to do so, is to create a window silhouette. Choose a window that has a great focal point to your house and the party. A front window that isn't obstructed from view from the street is ideal too, so everyone walking and driving by can see how spiffy you are ;) Ha!

Materials:

Silhouette Image
Black Poster Board
Tape
Scissors
Pencil
Tissue Paper

Instructions:

The first thing to do is figure out your design for the window and print it out to use as a guide. I printed mine out, divided it into 4 parts for the 4 areas of my window.

I then taped up my 4 pieces of black poster board into the window so I could use the above silhouette image as a guide while I drew the outline onto the poster board in pencil.

Here's an example of my design--I had to erase several times until I got it right--my first stab at it had Nancy's head being about 3 times as big and the proportion was totally off--so keep proportion in mind when doing this! If you happen to have a projector--projecting the silhouette onto a wall where you've taped your paper is much easier and goes quicker. What I did was old school since I don't have a handy projector.

Once you have the desired look, cut out the pieces--I set them down on the tile to get a visual before taping in the window.

Begin taping your silhouette into the window--I try not to use too much tape and tape in areas where it won't show too much like on the backs of strips that are going across the panes, etc. I decided that my silhouette needed to be on stairs so I added stairs to the window.

I also added the ghost to the right--that side was rather bare and since we're going to be in a "haunted" house next weekend for the party, it seemed to fit well. Kind of spooky too.

My husband rocks! I was going to back the silhouette with yellow tissue which I like to use with silhouettes and then have it inside the flashlight part with the outline of the edges of the beam in black, but he thought if I used blue tissue it would look better. I decided to try and it and I think it worked great! Nancy's supposed to be in a hidden passageway so it makes it have a darker and spookier effect and then sets off the yellow tissue for the flashlight beam really nicely. It kind of has an almost blue-grey look in person.

The key is to layer the tissue and not overlap too much as overlapping shows up darker. Piecing with tissue can be time consuming but it's worth it.

If you want to make a silhouette that you can use again and again without too much wear, you can make it out of felt. I have a red felt banner with black felt silhouette and in a window it glows nicely. If you used yellow or white and then a black silhouette on it, it will look great too and keep nicely.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 22: 1960s Nancy

2011-10-22T00:02:00.001-07:00

1960s Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew was more demure and like a pretty deb in the 1960s as seen on the cover of #38 The Mystery of the Fire Dragon - a lovely cover by Rudy Nappi. She relied more on her chums and Ned by the 1960s and in revisions of some books. She often delegated a lot of her sleuthing tasks to Ned and others--her dad Carson or the police chief McGinnis.

More and more there was a focus on parental permission--with each mystery, having to get permission from Carson or Bess and George having to make that phone call home (which their families probably dreaded due to the danger they were always in) to ask permission to traipse off with Nancy in search of villains. Often, Nancy couldn't go unless Bess or George would accompany her. I'm not sure how much help they were though as in #44, The Clue of the Crossword Cipher, as Nancy was nearly blown out of a plain, bucked off an ox and nearly blown up by a bomb under their watchful eyes. ;-)

The illustrator for Nancy Drew by the 1960s was Rudy Nappi and he would go onto revise many covers and even some of his earlier ones. Covers in the 1960s were still very scene oriented featuring a scene of action like the one above with Madam Alexandra showing Nancy a jeweled box.

Nancy sported a trademark flip hairstyle and red hair or Titian as it was called in some of the books. Most definitely not blond anymore.

Nancy became quite the world traveler in the 1960s, traveling to Hong Kong, Scotland, France, Peru, and Kenya. Really, she was just following in her ghostwriter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams' footsteps. Harriet loved to travel and often based one of her books on a place she had recently visited.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Pumpkin Decorating Contest Entry #2

2011-10-22T00:01:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Pumpkin #2

Entry from: Gina Travis
Medium: Carving

Gina created a cute display of a Nancy Drew Fan pumpkin girl reading a Nancy Drew book!

Send photos of your pumpkins to me by Sun. Oct. 23 to be entered into the contest!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Week 3 Prize Winner

2011-10-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Blog Party Week 3 Prize Winner is....

LuAnn - Congrats!

Prize: Nancy Drew Old Clock/Old Attic Coin Purse

Don't forget, comment on blog postings throughout week 3 to win the next prize: Nancy Drew Spiral Journal & Button Assortment!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Pumpkin Decorating Contest -Enter by 10-23!

2011-10-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Pumpkins!

Think you've got what it takes to create a spook-tacular (or should I say SLEUTH-tacular) Nancy Drew pumpkin!? I've only received 2 entries--so get yours done this weekend and turned in by Sun. Oct. 23 to be included!

Enter our pumpkin decorating contest! Whether you carve it, paint it, decoupage it, or any other interesting crafty scheme you can come up with, we'd love to see it. We'll be showcasing entries in the pumpkin decorating contest here at the Blog all month long. Then we'll have a vote to determine the winners! There will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.

Once you create your Nancy Drew theme pumpkin, take a photo and e-mail it to me at: nancydrewsleuth@aol.com. Deadline to enter: Oct. 23. Voting will begin on Oct. 24 and run through Oct. 30. I'll announce the winners on Halloween!

Prizes:

1st Place: Leather Nancy Drew Watch & Nancy Drew Halloween Party Goody Bag

2nd Place: Leather Nancy Drew Coin Purse

3rd Place: Nancy Drew Paper Dolls

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 21: Blackwood Hall Discussion

2011-10-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

A band of swindlers using fake seances to steal from victims, burying your jewels in the woods, and spirit photographers. Let's Discuss! Add your comments to this posting below and let me know what you think of this story. Does it rate as a good spooky mystery apropos for a fall setting? Did you like the original or revision better? What's your favorite cover art of the 2 classic covers?

A Few Fast Facts:

Original Ghostwriter: Mildred A. Wirt Benson

2 Illustrators: Russell H. Tandy and Rudy Nappi

Synopsis From My Website:

When Mrs. Putney seeks Nancy's help in recovering her stolen jewelry, the search for thieves takes Nancy, Bess, and George to New Orleans. Mrs. Putney's strange behavior and two young women involve Nancy in a case about a cruel hoax of "haunting" spirits at Blackwood Hall.

I enjoyed this mystery with the old spooky house, the "ghost", the hidden elevator and all those spooky trappings plus the old woods and family lore. It was nice to see Togo have a larger role in the story. The original version flows better as usual and is enjoyable to read, the revision choppier.

Original vs. Revised - 5 Interesting Clues:

1. In the original, Ned is chloroformed and tied to a tree--this does not happen in the revision.

2. George uses the phrase "Jumping Jellyfish" in the original.

3. In the original, Carson Drew is described as keeping a pocketknife in his pocket.

4. Hannah goes from being the "faithful" housekeeper in the original to the "family" housekeeper in the revision.

5. The original focuses on Ned's radio hobby.

3 Mysterious Things About Nancy:

1. She has legal blood in her veins (according to Carson Drew).

2. She has a sweet tooth.

3. She's the best amateur detective in River Heights

An Important Lesson We Learned From Nancy:

It never pays to flimflam the public!

Sleuthworthy Rating on a Scale of 1-10:

9-Good spooky mystery, liked the brief trip to New Orleans, Mrs. Putney was not one of my favorite characters overall though.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew's Aliases: Some Good, Some Totally Silly

2011-10-21T00:01:00.002-07:00

Sometimes Nancy had to snoop incognito and used an alias which she paired with a disguise every once in a while. When the aliases were transparent like "Nan Drewry," she often was found out but her disguises often helped when paired with an alias.

Some of Nancy's aliases:

Dru Gruen
Nan Drewry
Anne Boonton
Irene Insbruck
Debbie Lynbrook

Nancy managed to outwit the villain in The Whispering Statue (revision) when she sleuthed under the alias Debbie Lynbrook and wore a disguise--self-tanning lotion and a dark wig and glasses. The villain in the end screamed, “Your hair! You were wearing a wig that half-covered your face! You’re Nancy Drew, not Debbie Lynbrook!”

Best way to avoid being detected with a good or bad alias: a dumb criminal!

Here's an article I wrote back in 2005 on Nancy's aliases if anyone's interested. If you want to disguise yourself as Nancy Drew there's always the Nancy Drew costume shown in a recent Blog entry here--you might see one at eBay someday!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 20: Nancy Drew Consulting - 2007 Nancy Drew Movie

2011-10-20T00:02:00.004-07:00

Nancy Drew Consulting:
2007 Nancy Drew Movie

The biggest consulting job I've had was getting the opportunity to work on the 2007 Warner Brothers Nancy Drew movie. It was such a fun opportunity and in the end somewhat bittersweet due to the box office returns, fan critiques, and lack of a sequel. I'd definitely do it again--so Warner Brothers if you're out there listening--let's try and get it right with the fan base on try #2 :)

I recently dug through a massive file I kept with correspondence--e-mails and letters, contracts, legal forms, and other interesting items. Anything mailed and legal items were always marked "Privileged & Confidential." I dug through it just at the start and realize it's a project that will take some time and reflection to better catalog it. It all began about 6 1/2 years ago, when one April afternoon in 2005, I logged into my website e-mail and there was an e-mail from someone at Jerry Weintraub Productions contacting me about the movie. Before I get into the dance of joy that commenced, I'll give a bit of background previous to this e-mail.

I'd been hearing about Warner Brothers working on a new movie for a little while--in fact, the licensing/subrights man at Simon & Schuster had copied me on an e-mail to someone working on the pre-development part of the film over some questions--which I need to dig up to refresh, but I recall thinking about offering my services for consulting but was shy about it. When I was in New Orleans in 2005 for the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival on a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys panel, I spoke to Simon & Schuster and they mentioned that the movie folks were looking at actress Amanda Bynes for the role. I was luke warm about that choice, but open--it eventually went to Emma Roberts due to a scheduling conflict with Bynes. It was very shortly after I got back that I received that e-mail dated April 18, 2005 and here it was:

"Dear Jenn Fisher,

I work for Jerry Weintraub Productions at Warner Brothers and we are in the process of developing the feature film of Nancy Drew. We were wondering if your knowledge about Nancy Drew includes consulting for film. If you are interested in consulting for the feature film, please e-mail me."

Interested? Uh, yeah! I did a little dance and then quickly replied that why yes I'd love to :) I had no idea what that was going to entail and I'd never consulted on a film before so I was certainly a fish out of water to that.

Soon after I spoke on the phone with another person at JWP who had been doing some research on Nancy Drew--she had a script by Tiffany Paulsen and had been pushing the project at JWP/WB and they were in need of a consultant. She had found my website online. It was very random in a way that this consulting gig fell into my lap.

Let's start out with what I didn't do. I didn't get to work with everyone from cast to crew, top to bottom, spreading my knowledge about what would and wouldn't work and what they should and shouldn't do. I didn't get to consult on the wardrobe, set design, or casting. I wasn't a full service consultant.

What I did do, was work with the director, Andy Fleming, who was rewriting the script that Paulsen wrote. He needed someone who could research aspects of Nancy Drew, point him to specific things in the books he was looking for and things like that. We began to chat soon after I signed on to consult via phone and sometimes e-mail. I was sent a copy of the script eventually once first rewrites were done. Filming didn't begin until January 2006. After reading the final script I gave some critiques. I visited the set in March 2006 and spent 3 days watching it being filmed which was just so much fun and educational to see how a movie is filmed. They were on the sound stage at the time filming scenes in the Draycott mansion and I got to see the passageways and various parts of the house as set up. The costume director showed me a neat binder of all the costumes and sketches which was great. They even brought in Nancy's sleuth kit from the movie for me to check out. Prop assistants showed off some of the neat props around the set.

I took lemon bars I'd made from scratch to the set the first day I was there and presented them to Andy in a tin. I also took my script and had Andy, Emma, and her father Carson aka Tate Donovan sign it:

Some examples of what Andy asked me were about Nancy's roadster and other things about Nancy's world in the books. He was a fan of classic Nancy Drew (not the modern stuff) by the way. He asked me about spookier Nancy Drew books and ones that he should definitely read from the classics and I pointed him to Hidden Staircase, Old Attic and ones like that with the spooky houses and passageways.

After receiving the final script version, I discovered I'd written to Andy on the 13th of January 2006, just 2 weeks before filming was to begin and attached a Word doc of some thoughts and suggestions. I kept a copy of that and perused it. I pointed out the following things:

1. Nancy's In School: older script vs. newer script

I noted that my biggest issue with the script was that Nancy was still in school. In a previous script version she appeared to be more undercover at the school.

2. Corky's Age/Crush on Nancy

I noted that if Nancy was 18 and Corky was around 14 to be in HS, it was strange that in the script his age was 11 and the age issue was odd. They ended up working that out I guess--Nancy was 16 too in the final version.

3. Nancy's politeness

I made note that even book Nancy wouldn't have shaken the hands of the thugs at the beginning though it was somewhat minor of a critique.

4. Georgie

They had George as Georgie and I said no--he made that change.

5. Chief McGinnis

I was happy with his portrayal though it was brief.

6. River Heights Does Have an Airport

7. Bess and George

I noted that I missed that they weren't a larger part of the mystery and suggested that a sequel should feature them more.

I also made some comments on the script revisions from previous scripts. I noted that Leshing being a suspect in the new script was a welcome addition. I also pointed out that he worked in a lot of classic Nancy Drew elements--sleuthing in the old spooky mansion, flashlight and sleuthing tools, villains and their foibles to get her off the case including a phone threat and stealing stuff from her room. If you're a fan of classic Nancy Drew it was pretty hard not to miss those kinds of things!

While on the set I managed to finagle one of these that I saw on a lot of the director style chairs:

It was hard to visualize the script at times and how it would translate to film and be acted and I don't think when I read the script that the "mean girls" concept translated as strongly as much as it did in the filming. I didn't pick up on it as strongly though it was there and the fish out of water part was there. I did note that Nancy was never a fish out of water and was always one of the popular girls and wore the latest fashions.

The montage at the beginning of the film with the books featured mostly books from collector David Farah and myself. I sent off tons of boxes of books to Warner Brothers of books 1-22 (they only had legal rights to film covering those books) and they also had me send some of my Mildred Wirt Benson books and series--like Penny Parker--to use because they liked the looks and colors of a lot of those spines. That was a huge undertaking.

My other consulting job was working with legal briefly to go through the script and check it for situations and plots that occurred in books outside of classic Nancy Drew books 1-22 as they wanted to avoid having to deal with those kinds of legal issues/licensing. I ended up getting credit in the credits after some wrangling and it was a thrill to see it on the big screen:

The Nancy Drew Sleuths had our 2007 annual Nancy Drew convention out in Pasadena that June during the week that the movie premiered in theaters and that was so much fun. We toured Warner Brothers, saw costumes from the Nancy Drew movie, received copies of the newspaper from the movie, held various events and went and saw the movie together in the theater. The previous weekend I'd flown out to Hollywood for the Grauman's Chinese Theater premier of the movie and had a lot of fun at that debut and the after party.

I had high hopes for it but there were some issues and roadblocks--like FICKLE fans and you know who you are ;-) If you want to see movies made, you kind of have to support the endeavors... Please don't anyone take that the wrong way, but you have to be able to step out of the box and look at all sides. As I tell most companies now, they are never going to please all Nancy Drew fans--there's always going to be the I love anything Nancy Drew crowd and then the naysayer Nancy Drew is only like this and nothing else crowd. Thankfully though, I think most of us probably fall into the reasonable middle of those extremes kind of like Nancy fell in the middle between Bess and George, though we still have our moments!

However, that being said, what tends to please most fans, is sticking to the classic formula of Nancy Drew--it apparently is pretty tried and true as it's still a great seller on paper with sales of classic Nancy Drew holding steady over the years while other departures and modern incarnations have gone by the wayside. When you turn Nancy Drew into something that people don't recognize or even like that much, you've lost your base. And it's the base of any kind of popular character that will always turn out and support something--most of the time. So you don't want to alienate that base!

I think when the trailers hit the theaters and TV sets around the country, people saw one main theme played up--Mean Girls. It was the Hollywood girls vs. Nancy who looked less capable than her book self. The mystery aspect of the book--which is the main part actually--was way underplayed and I think that immediately turned off the fickle crowd and made those of us to try to keep an open mind question whether it was worth the price of the ticket. I immediately contacted marketing at WB and made a lot of points about how the fan base wasn't going to like it--and they needed to target that base with a more mysterious trailer based on the mystery in the movie. But I think the damage was probably done at that point.

Woulda Coulda Shoulda. I can rattle off a list of things that I think they could have done better and should have done, but we can't change that now. OK, I'll rattle off a brief list ;) Nancy should have looked a bit older, been 18, been sleuthing with Bess and George, and not being a fish out of water--she should have been the bold intelligent girl we know her to be without all that mean girls stuff--it should have at least been toned down. Hannah should have been less ethnic--she didn't come across that way in the books. Nancy's perfection shouldn't have been parodied so much although it was funny to see her besting all the girls at the high school at every task she did. Hollywood though does take creative license with things. I think in the case of something like this though, it's better to not depart too far from the character and what makes the character so popular in the books.

I think too they were trying to appeal to today's tween and teens who were a target audience--many of whom weren't that familiar with Nancy Drew. It is sadly very hit and miss anymore with young Nancy Drew readers--some read them and some don't. Back in the day, just about everyone read Nancy! So they wanted to play up that typical mean girls/tween movie stereotypical plot that tends to play well with the tween set. But even then, that didn't attract those girls in droves either. The mystery for some of these kids may have well been, who the heck is Nancy Drew?! The addition of Corky--the wise cracking side kick--was an attempt to get boys to see the movie and bring in that crowd. So, we had a mismatch of targeted audiences. But in every endeavor like this, the base is what anchors any project and without them, it's a lost cause. Some of the base was clearly missing from the support of this movie. There was really nothing I could do about that, and it was frustrating.

But even with all that, the movie was a cute movie, the house was nice and spooky and all those classic elements of classic Nancy Drew were there, so they got some of it right. The costumes were clever as well. I enjoyed the convertible she drove--the Nash--and got to see one of them on the set which was neat. People may not think about it, but a lot of hard work and effort was put forth on this movie. It's unfortunate that some things didn't resonate well and that other things we're not focused on more that would have satisfied fans more.

Bottom Line: I'd love to work on another movie and I think I could do a better job this time of trying to convey what Nancy Drew fans want and how not to alienate that base--I think in this aspect, I was underused, though I did warn them and try to convey what fans want. For anyone wishing to do a project on Nancy Drew or a product, the first thing to do is not overlook the fan base, they are far more powerful in the purse than many seem to give them credit for!

Jenn:)

Things We've Learned From Nancy Drew #5

2011-10-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

When you interrogate someone and they quickly make excuses to go, they’re probably the guilty party. (#4 The Mystery at Lilac Inn, revision)

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 19: Eloise & Effie

2011-10-19T00:02:00.001-07:00

Intriguing Nancy Drew Characters:
Eloise & Effie

When it comes to characters in the Nancy Drew classics, who are some of your favorites? Two of mine aside from the regulars are Nancy's Aunt Eloise and the comical Effie Schneider!

Eloise Drew is Carson Drew’s sister, a retired school teacher who lives in New York City and who Nancy resembles. Nancy often visits Aunt Lou during a case or travels with her to exciting places. She has a cabin in the Adirondacks and at Mirror Bay near Cooperstown. She also sometimes watches Togo for Nancy when Nancy is off having adventures. Sometimes danger is close to home for Eloise, like the time a villain leaves a firecracker bomb in her oven in #38 The Mystery of the Fire Dragon.

Effie Schneider is Hannah Gruen’s dingy niece that pitched in when needed to help with housework or even barricade the Drew’s out of their house—by accident of course. In The Clue in the Old Attic, an annoyed Nancy tells the terrified girl, “Buck up, Effie.”

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Sleuthing Tip #3

2011-10-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

To keep in communication with her sleuthing chums, Nancy issues everyone police whistles in the revision of The Clue of the Crumbling Wall and in The Secret of the Forgotten City.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 18: Vintage Nancy Drew Collectibles

2011-10-18T00:02:00.001-07:00

Vintage Nancy Drew Collectibles

Aside from all the great books and stories we love so much and treasure, there are some neat Nancy Drew collectible items to collect as well. The drawback to these collectibles is that there are not a lot of vintage ones! While modern merchandising has really taken off in the last 5+ years, in the beginning there wasn't a lot on the market. One major reason for this was that the Syndicate was very guarded over what they would agree to license--especially in the 1970s. Back in the 1930s to 1940s, licensing and branding for books like these wasn't what it is today where you can see your favorite characters slapped on anything and everything from toothbrushes to cereal boxes to stickers and school supplies. There was a planned clothing line in the 1930s though for Nancy Drew that never took off--unfortunately--those clothes would have been such neat fashion to collect!

There are 3 main areas of collectibles from 1930 to 1979: 1930s movie collectibles, book related collectibles, and TV collectibles. The lobby card shown above is an example of 1930s memorabilia. It's downright hard to find--from posters to lobby cards and press kits plus stills and other odds and ends. A reproduction lobby card of mine is featured in the October 2011 issue of Country Living. Prices for lobby cards and posters is incredibly high and I do not see these come up for sale too often.

The Nancy Drew mystery game shown above and the Madame Alexander dolls shown below are examples of book related collectibles. The first such item was the game above coming out in 1957 with another version in 1959 featuring a different cover. The dolls were a brief 1967 item from MA which went on the market and Harriet Adams didn't approve--so sales ceased but not before some made it out into collector's hands. I see these several times a year for sale at eBay in the various outfits.

This lunchbox is based on actress Pamela Sue Martin from the Nancy Drew 1970s TV show. You can find it often at eBay. By the 1970s, we had a lot more licensing going on due to the TV show--even more so for the Hardy Boys who were also on TV. From puzzle books to lunchboxes to puzzles to shirts and watches and even fan clubs. These items can be easier to come by than the 1930s memorabilia but a few items seem pretty elusive--like the Nancy Drew watch that I happened to get at eBay--the only one I've ever seen listed there in over 14 years I've been searching. There were also some book related items from the 1970s like a Cookbook and Sleuth Book plus private eye diaries that followed and a few other items. Visit my Nancy Drew Website to learn more about vintage and modern Nancy Drew collectibles.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Vintage Halloween Costume

2011-10-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Halloween Costume

This is one a great item for me--it's a crossover item from Nancy Drew to Halloween :) I got my costume at eBay a few years back--well more like 8 or 9 it had to be since I had this for the 2004 Today Show shoot back in TX. I remember having to pay quite a bit for it! I haven't seen too many listed since then. Mine came with the box though it's in worn shape. It does have the costume and the mask so that is a plus.

The costume was also sold on a hanger as the one shown below:

I captured this image from an eBay auction, though I was not the winner of it. Would love to own the one on the hanger!

The likeness is supposed to be Pamela Sue Martin on the mask--but it looks pretty creepy don't you think? A more youthful looking PSM is shown on the costume itself.

Keep a look out at eBay--you never know when one will surface and sometimes the Collegeville Costume catalogs featuring it will also be sold.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 17: Nancy Drew Sleuths

2011-10-17T00:02:00.003-07:00

Join our Fan Club!

The Mystery Behind Nancy Drew Sleuths

Back in the mid-1990s, there existed a couple of message boards online devoted to book collecting and a couple were about Nancy Drew. Several issues on some of these boards led to fellow Nancy Drew enthusiast Gayle and I creating an online discussion group at what is now Yahoo Groups April 10, 2000. It is an e-mail discussion group with web posting capabilities. We set up a forum for collectors to meet, sell and trade Nancy Drew books and collectibles, and discuss the books. At the time I was the moderator of the group. We gained quite a following of fellow fans and collectors and scholars writing and researching about Nancy Drew and similar series books.

Mildred Wirt Benson
Toledo, OH - 2001

Spring 2001, I traveled to Toledo, OH to meet the original Carolyn Keene ghostwriter, Mildred Wirt Benson. She was still alive and working as a journalist in Toledo, OH and was 95 years old. One of our discussion group members lived in the Toledo area and we organized and impromptu get together of around 12 Sleuths to meet Mildred and get books signed by her. This would turn out to be our first unofficial convention, and we've been getting together every year since for an annual Nancy Drew convention set all around the country where classic Nancy Drew books have been set.

While in Toledo, I interviewed Mildred for an article I was writing and she also interviewed me for one of her columns. When she asked what my title was for the group, I told her I was the group's moderator. That didn't sound spiffy enough for her so she proclaimed me the president of the Sleuths in the article and from then on, that stuck. We began to organize more formally and created a membership based organization. We have annual conventions, the online discussion group, a fanzine called The Sleuth about Nancy Drew and similar series books published 6 times per year, regional book discussion groups and gatherings, and other fun projects we do from time to time. I began an officially licensed Nancy Drew merchandising line at my website and at Cafe Press to provide the kinds of products and images that collectors and fans desire which currently in some cases aren't on the market.

Our group has over 550 official Sleuth members throughout the USA and in other countries, both men and women, average ages 20s to 60s, all from many different walks of life with one shared passion in Nancy Drew!

If you'd like to learn more about our annual conventions, The Sleuth, and other things we've been up to, visit our website! Join us--a lifetime membership costs just $10.00. We also have a ND Sleuths Jr. Detective Squad for kids 18 and younger.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Pumpkin Decorating Contest Entry #1

2011-10-17T00:01:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Pumpkin #1

Entry from: Nancy Lauzon
Medium: Carving

It shows Nancy from the cover of #46, The Invisible Intruder! She's also wearing a beret--a great object for hiding evidence you need to remove from a crime scene (original text Broken Locket). Very clever :)

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 16: Nancy Drew Consulting - Clues for Real Life

2011-10-16T00:02:00.008-07:00

Nancy Drew Consulting - Clues for Real Life:
The Classic Wit & Wisdom of Nancy Drew

Writing the Book:

After I returned from our 2006 Nancy Drew convention in Chicago, October 2006, I received an e-mail from the licensing agency for Simon & Schuster representing the Nancy Drew properties. A publisher, Meredith Books, was in the process of creating a gift/nostalgia book about Nancy Drew. They had created a concept and had done some test marketing to see how popular such an idea would be with their audiences and found it to be something they wanted to go forward with. The concept was to be a book giving advice from Nancy on a variety of topics like career, men, fashion, food, and so forth with the addition of interactive elements and quizzes, trivia, and other fun things. To get it published by fall of 2007 they needed it written by December 2006, so they needed someone who had a lot of knowledge about Nancy Drew. Enter me!

I'm not sure if everyone has heard about my experience or how I came to write the book, so I thought I'd share that with everyone. It was something that fell into my lap out of the blue, as I was at work on several book concepts myself which I'm still trying to find the time to shore up and finish. But I jumped at the chance to get published and write about something that I love--Nancy Drew! I had just finished a few months before a complete read through of the classic Nancy Drew books 1-56 including original and revised versions of the first 34 and had very detailed notes at the ready. So, the timing was perfect.

I was paid a flat fee for the work, no royalties. I was contracted as a "writer for hire" and though the book doesn't have an author name on it--since it's advice from Nancy--I am credited as having compiled it on the copyright page which I negotiated.

They gave me a loose outline of the chapter themes and some of the extras that could accompany each chapter. It was intended to be humorous in places and tongue-in-cheek. The main thing to do was go through the books and my notes to create quotes and advice from Nancy on the theme chapters. I created a ton of quotes for each chapter theme and they picked from those which ones they wanted to feature. There were also text box intros to accompany each chapter and sub-chapters. Stephanie Karpinske was my editor on the book and she did a great job. Every week I had a chapter or two due to be turned in and over the course of several weeks got everything completed in time for the December deadline. The book is full of great graphics from the books--covers and lots of internal images that they've colorized for added flair.

Chapter 1 is about Nancy Drew's history, so I had to write that up and then some of the side-bar information and the trivia section. Chapter 2 is Career Clues and had fun extras that included all the talents of Nancy and also what her resume might look like. Chapter 3 is Friendship Files and included these fun extras: telling friend from foe and also a personality quiz to see if you're Bess, George, or Nancy. Chapter 4 is Mysterious Men and fun extras included personal ads for Nancy and Ned if they were seeking a "special friend" plus a quiz on how Nancy used her wits and rescued herself when Ned wasn't around. Chapter 5 is Everyday Villains and fun extras included a match game on matching villains to their crimes, a quiz on seeing how Nancy would deal with everyday villains. Chapter 6 is The Traveling Suitcase on Nancy's traveling adventures and includes fun extras such as a match game on matching the mystery to the mysterious locale and places (like homes or interesting landmarks) to the mystery. Chapter 7 is The Style Sleuth about fashion and fun extras include matching Nancy's outfit to the sleuthing situation. Chapter 8 is Recipe for Adventure all about comfort food in the books and fun extras include a food quiz and recipes for some foods from the books like Carson Drew's pot roast, Hannah's cheese souffle, Nancy's cinnamon toast, and the Drew's hot chocolate. Chapter 9 is a final chapter with fun extras that include some match games on clues and treasure hunts from the books, and hidden rooms and secret compartments. Also there's a talk like Nancy lingo section with words and phrases from the books like George's signature "Hypers!" There's also a running mystery throughout the books where you collect letters and then decode them.

Editing the Book:

By the spring of 2007, we were in the editing phase and I was sent galley sheets of the book as it was designed--in full color--of the layout and images to be used and all the quotes and text. I had to go through and proofread everything and look for any errors. Corrections were made and we were done by the start of summer. There was one chapter on Sleuthing which included a lot of use your wits to get out of certain situations like Nancy and sleuthing tips and tricks but that chapter was vetoed by Simon & Schuster during editing because of a similar book (The Unofficial Nancy Drew Handbook) coming out and they didn't want any similarity. It really wouldn't have been that big of a similarity, but that is how that goes...

Publicity and Marketing Issues:

We had our 2007 movie theme Nancy Drew convention out in Pasadena, CA in June 2007 and the publisher sent some flyers for me to hand out to advertise the book. We also worked on a press kit closer to fall and I sent some things for that to be used for it.

The book came out fall of 2007 and was a semi-huge print run of around 60,000 or more books and sold fairly quickly though a few trickled into stores like Half Price books by 2008 or 2009. It went out of print without a 2nd print run due to cuts at Meredith Books and scaling back on some gift books and production. I purchased the remaining 275+ books they had left to use at signings and sell at my website. I do sell signed copies that come with a bookmark I've crafted with quotes from the book. I see it listed some on eBay and some used book sellers have it at Amazon. It's on their back list, so it could possibly be printed again if the publisher wished to.

There were 2 issues with this book that may have affected publicity/sales. One issue was that the June 2007 Nancy Drew movie had generated massive publicity leading up to the premier in June and following it throughout July. Many papers and magazines ran articles and I was interviewed for so many articles and publications that it was hard to keep up. That makes it harder to get a lot of publicity a few months later when Nancy Drew has been everywhere.

The second thing--a major issue that I still shake my head over--was that after the book was released around October 2007, I went out to the local bookstore just for the excitement of seeing it on the shelf and didn't find it anywhere I expected it to be. It wasn't at the front with similar sized gift books, it wasn't back with the Nancy Drew books, and I didn't see it in any pop culture sections. I was puzzled, so I went to the desk to ask about it and if you can believe it, it was located in the SELF-HELP section! I shook my head and told her there must be some mistake and she took me over in person and there it was!

I couldn't imagine why it would be in the self-help section because the book was a gift/nostalgia book and meant to be somewhat humorous and tongue-in-cheek. I mean, would someone in the shape of needing a self help book--say for having guy troubles or commitment issues perhaps--really benefit from advice like "Do act mysterious, it always keeps them coming back for more!" from the Mysterious Men chapter? Acting mysterious or aloof could be the problem in the first place! Of course with Nancy and Ned, she tended to act mysterious as with this quote from Nancy's Mysterious Letter--and it was intriguing to Ned. If someone was in the self-help section dealing with diet issues, would this quote from the comfort food chapter section on dieting tips from Bess such as "Do spinach and grapefruit really make a good substitute for fries and a sundae?" really be the motivator they need? That quote is based on The Whispering Statue where George wants Bess to eat healthier--we, like Bess, probably prefer the sundae! ;-)

It was somewhat laughable. When I got home I fired off an e-mail to Meredith (editors/marketing/etc.) and asked about this and wondered if it was a mistake and suggested they should be putting it in a much different section--especially so people could actually find it! They checked it out and said that is what Corporate designated it as. So it was stuck in self-help and that didn't do it any favors. I had people asking me where to find it as they didn't see it in bookstores. Many had ordered from me for signed copies from our community of collectors or had ordered at Amazon and it so at least it was easy to find online.

Getting Credit for Compiling It:

One of the big reasons that I wanted official credit for the book was to avoid some of the issues with typical writer-for-hire agreements or ghostwriting--which is having official credit. Many Carolyn Keenes have remained anonymous as is the norm for a ghostwriter unless they've been outed or unmasked like the classic ghosts have been. Issues with authorship and controversies over classic Nancy Drew ghostwriters have been dogging that part of Nancy Drew's history for years. Not that I'm comparing myself to Mildred Wirt Benson or Harriet Adams--I wouldn't do that--but I wanted to avoid some of those types of issues and I wanted to be involved with the marketing and promotion of the book as well.

However, issues did come up and still do from time to time. When it was listed at Barnes and Noble or Amazon and similar bookstores online, you don't see my name 95% of the time. You'll see my editor's name listed instead--Stephanie Karpinske. And when I was being interviewed for the 2007 movie press, when mentioning the book dutifully to help promote it's soon to be release, I had some people question whether I'd really written the book since Karpinske was listed and so I had to point out that she was listed as the editor and that I was credited on the copyright page. Of course, no one had the book in hand yet to verify that. That was kind of frustrating to me. As if I would be making that up... I've had some people actually write to my website to question my authorship and I've pointed them to the copyright page. It's very minor compared to the classic ghostwriter authorship issues, but has proven to be interesting and somewhat enlightening as to how some people may feel when authorship is questioned or at issue. So, I'm grateful they agreed to credit me on the copyright page to head off some of those kinds of issues.

The experience was somewhat surreal to me and very rewarding to be able to put together a book like that and it was a lot of fun! I hope that those of you who have checked out the Clues For Real Life book have enjoyed it as well!

Jenn:)

Week 3 Nancy Drew Prize

2011-10-16T00:01:00.001-07:00

Week 3 Prize

Don't forget to comment all week on blog postings--those posting from Sat. Oct. 15 through Fri. Oct. 21 will be entered to win this week's prize--our Nancy Drew Old Clock/Old Attic leather coin purse from our Nancy Drew Sleuth Shop .

Jenn:)

Things We've Learned From Nancy Drew #4

2011-10-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

When holding a midnight stakeout to catch a thief, it’s best to not bring friends along who fall asleep on the job. (#7 The Clue in the Diary)

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 15 - 1950s Nancy Drew

2011-10-15T00:02:00.000-07:00

1950s Nancy Drew

By the 1950s, Nancy Drew had aged to eighteen - due to driving laws in the states - and she sported a fresher look--more innocent perhaps and less sophisticated. A young "June Cleaver" style as shown on the cover of The Ringmaster's Secret above with shirt dress and monogrammed handbag.

1950s Nancy was very polite and respectful of law enforcement and had an ally in River Heights Police Chief McGinnis who considered her to be as good or better as his detectives on the force!

Nancy began to rely more on her chums to help her in sleuthing and Ned to rescue her more. Ned also began to take more punches for the team so to speak like in The Secret of the Wooden Lady.

By 1957 the books began to be produced in a 20 chapter format and around 180 pages starting with #35, The Haunted Showboat. In 1959, the first revisions of the first 34 began to appear--the revisions of The Secret of the Old Clock and The Hidden Staircase.

This period began the main transition of taking the Syndicate properties in house and doing away with outside ghostwriters. After #30, The Clue of the Velvet Mask and #32 The Scarlet Slipper Mystery, the books and revisions were worked on by in house staff/partners. Velvet Mask was Mildred Wirt Benson's last Nancy Drew book.

We also had the debut in 1950 of revised cover art for books 1-9 and 11 by illustrator Bill Gillies who also illustrated books #27-29. Rudy Nappi took over at book #30.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Week 2 Prize Winner

2011-10-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Blog Party Week 2 Prize Winner is....

Juliet - Congrats! E-mail me at nancydrewsleuth@aol.com with your name/address to send the prize to.

Prize: Nancy Drew Old Clock Necklace

Don't forget, comment on blog postings throughout week 3 to win the next prize: Nancy Drew Old Attic/Old Clock Coin Purse!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 14 - Old Attic Discussion

2011-10-14T00:02:00.003-07:00

The Secret in the Old Attic

Witchy Diane Dight, missing sheet music, and a villain named...Bushy Trott! Let's Discuss! Add your comments to this posting below and let me know what you think of this story. Does it rate as a good spooky mystery apropos for a fall setting? Did you like the original or revision better? What's your favorite cover art of the 3 classic covers?

A Few Fast Facts:

Original Ghostwriter: Mildrd A. Wirt Benson

2 Illustrators: Russell H. Tandy and Rudy Nappi

Synopsis From My Website:

Nancy races against time to unravel clues in a dead man's letters. If she succeeds, Philip March and his little granddaughter can be saved from financial ruin. Following the obscure clues, Nancy undertakes a search for some unpublished musical manuscripts which she believes are hidden in the dark, cluttered attic of the rundown March mansion. But someone else wants them enough to put many frightening obstacles in Nancy's way.

This story is one of my favorites! Not only do we have a bit of that light/flirtatious romance going on between Ned and Nancy (more so in the original) but we have the super spooky old house with all the trappings of suspense--the secret room, the spiders, the skeleton, the ghostly burglar and the spooky old Dight factory too. The revision removes some of the drama from the original that made it a better story so the revision becomes a little less thrilling than the original.

Original vs. Revised - 5 Interesting Clues:

1. The original version has a subplot involving Nancy's nemesis Diane Dight coming between Nancy and Ned in stealing a telegram about an Emerson dance and then sneakily getting an invite from Ned.

2. Helen Corning appears briefly in the original version.

3. In the original version, Bushy Trott appears to be older than he does in the revision.

4. In the original, Trott leaves a tarantula spider to harm Nancy. It's a black widow in the revision.

5. Only in the revision do the fumes from the gas at the Dight factory knock Nancy out.

3 Mysterious Things About Nancy:

1. Nancy has a piano.

2. Nancy thinks many old things are far prettier than newer ones.

3. An owl hoot signal is one of her sleuthing specialties!

An Important Lesson We Learned From Nancy:

As important as it is to use your own wits and rely on yourself, sometimes it just feels really good to be rescued by a cute strong boy.

Sleuthworthy Rating on a Scale of 1-10:

10--Loved this one. All the trappings of that Gothic style mystery--suspense, secret rooms, the skeleton/spiders, a creepy maniacal villain, a dramatic rescue at the end.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Old Attic Halloween Party

2011-10-14T00:01:00.006-07:00

"Old Attic" Porch

2009 Nancy Drew Old Attic
Halloween Party

Flashback to my 2009 Old Attic Halloween Party! To go with today's book discussion, I thought it might be fun to revisit the Old Attic Halloween Party I had in AZ with local AZ Sleuths attending.

To see lots of photos and a recap of the party, click here.

If you're looking for ideas this year for "haunting" your homes or transforming your porches for the trick or treaters and you'd like to use a Nancy Drew theme, Old Attic is a pretty easy one to do. I turned the porch into the attic from the book and without actually dragging a real wardrobe out there and an old trunk (which I didn't have), I created some props to give it an attic feel that were pretty simple if you'd like to try it. Here's a checklist which includes most of what was described from Old Attic:

1. Trunk or old suitcase (what I used) works well--prop it open and put some old objects inside like I did which were bottles, rolls of sheet music (musical note scrapbook paper I got at Michaels) and a Currier and Ives print. Don't have a C&I print? You can find images online and print them like I did.

2. Hat boxes. If you don't have any old ones laying around (I had vintage ones from my grandmother), you can buy hat boxes at craft stores like Hobby Lobby or possibly Michaels or JoAnn's. If you're crafty you can recover them or age them.

3. Old furniture. Don't break your back dragging out heavy pieces. A small table or some chairs even can do just fine. I used a small table we got at an antique store in Texas.

4. Bottles. Any old jars or bottles you have lying around. Some colored ones too. I happened to have some old ones and also a few colored ones I'd picked up at Ikea. Craft stores also have lots of bottles.

5. Spiders and webbing. I used the stucco texture of the porch walls to drag and about and adhere faux spider webbing all over the walls and around structures on the porch and objects. I also stuck spiders around--you have to have spiders in the attic!

6. Wardrobe. This is your must-have prop! I took 2 cardboard boxes I had on hand and glued a thinner one on top of the wider base at the front of it. I spray painted it brown and cut the front fully and removed flaps, so you could open it up like a wardrobe and keep it propped open. I covered it with some spider webs and hid some prizes in the bottom of the top portion under webbing.

7. Skeleton. I imagine unless you have one on hand you'll need to purchase one of these. You can find inexpensive smaller ones just about anywhere this time of year. I had a 3' tall one I wired inside the top of the wardrobe and wired his hand on the door so like in the book, when it opens, the hand comes thrusting outward to spook your guests!

8. Candle Holder - an old fashioned one or one styled like it with a candle works great! However, I found a plastic one that is battery operated at Michael's in the shape of the old-time candle holders and it made a great prop for kneeling at the "trunk" like Nancy on the cover of Old Attic.

Other touches I added not in the book were a poster of Old Attic in a black frame that I had done at Staples--enlarged from a book cover image. I also made use of some silhouette hurricanes from a past convention that I made using tall glass votives and printing the silhouette on velum paper which I wrapped around the votives. And I used a shoeprint silhouette kit no longer in production from Martha Stewart Crafts to create a suspects footprints coming out from the wall and into the wardrobe. You can just buy black cardstock or construction paper and make your own footprints using templates you can Google online.

I created silhouette pumpkins using faux white Funkins which I painted on the Nancy Drew silhouette. I printed out the silhouette in the desired size and traced it onto the pumpkins and then painted it in.

I have had a felt silhouette banner of the Nancy Drew Silhouette that I use at various Nancy Drew conventions and I made use of it in the window as a window silhouette. I hung it so that at night with the light on in the room, it glows and the silhouette shows up to those passing by. Very cool looking at night! You can make such a felt piece that can be easily reused or what's simpler and what I do often is to just buy some black poster board and cut out a silhouette for the window. Tape it to the window and then cover the whole window with white or yellow tissue paper so at night it will have a nice glow. I think yellow tissue works best--a pale to light yellow is what I typically use.

Then you can create a game based on the Old Attic book if you like. I created a simple game using the rolled up "sheet music" that I left some on the porch and some around the party rooms inside the house. On each roll was a black spider ring. On each spider I wrote in silver sharpie a letter. Guests had to go around and write down all the letters they found and then unscramble them. The answer was the location of where they would find their prize. They spelled out "W A R D R O B E." In the wardrobe I had mini Old Attic books I printed out and created using cardstock and some sticky foam pieces inside to give the books a shape.

Favors were simple and featured a spider web theme on the treat boxes and had spiders attached and spider web designed ribbon with an Old Attic image sticker I printed out that said Trick or Treat. Inside was lots of candy and also some skeleton favors.

What's fun is to bring alive a book and do things related to the mystery. This is something we do each year at our Nancy Drew Conventions but it's lots of fun to do on a smaller scale at your own home too and with a little imagination you can whip up something pretty simply without having to go to too much trouble. Even just a window silhouette and the silhouette pumpkins can be a great way to add flair to your home for Halloween or any Nancy Drew party.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 13 - Nancy Drew Consulting: Paper Dolls

2011-10-13T00:02:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Consulting:
Nancy Drew Classic Paper Dolls

A few months ago, I was put in touch with Paper Studio Press by the licensing agents for Simon & Schuster's Nancy Drew properties. PSP was just signing as a licensee for doing Nancy Drew paper dolls.

I offered some suggestions briefly at first and then designs were shared with me--mock ups from artist Darlene Jones like this one for Nancy Drew 1950s Lilac Inn:

I went through the proposed sketches and made some suggestions based on the style of the faces as well as the clothing. There were a few things that needed adjusting to match the books better and other minor corrections. Overall it was a pretty easy process as everything was mostly in order.

Then came the galleys with the layout for the book. One minor issue with some feathers on the Mysterious Letter hat came about but everything looked great!

I was then asked about writing an essay to go inside the back of the paper doll book about Nancy Drew. I decided to include fashionable things to go along with the fashion theme of the book--where Nancy Drew used fashion in her sleuthing. Like lipstick to write an SOS or a skirt being used as a ruler and those sorts of things.

I also wrote up the blurbs in the inside front on the three classic illustrators Russell H. Tandy, Bill Gillies, and Rudy Nappi. PSP added the blurb about paper doll illustrator Darlene Jones.

I was elated to get my set in the mail recently and see how nicely it turned out! The homage to 1930s-1950s Nancy Drew is very well done. What makes this kind of product stand out in my opinion, is the complete tie-in to the books. They could have created outfits that had nothing to do with those shown on the covers reminiscent of the Nancy Drew Cookbook where they just threw in recipes and gave them titles from the mysteries instead of taking specific foods mentioned in the books and creating recipes for a cookbook! I think for a product to be successful, it has to substantially tie in to the books and the character. There are a few extra outfits in the book-- like the swim set and Ned's letter sweater added to the mix which were fun, but 98% are taken off the covers and to me that was what made these so well done. It's the attention to detail that matters most to me.

I am very proud to have been asked to help out with the paper dolls and I heartily recommend them! I am selling signed copies in The Sleuth Shop.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Pumpkin Decorating Contest

2011-10-13T00:01:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Pumpkins!

Think you've got what it takes to create a spook-tacular (or should I say SLEUTH-tacular) Nancy Drew pumpkin!? Is anyone entering the contest--I've not received photos yet so I'm crossing my fingers someone takes the plunge ;) !?

Enter our pumpkin decorating contest! Whether you carve it, paint it, decoupage it, or any other interesting crafty scheme you can come up with, we'd love to see it. We'll be showcasing entries in the pumpkin decorating contest here at the Blog all month long. Then we'll have a vote to determine the winners! There will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.

Once you create your Nancy Drew theme pumpkin, take a photo and e-mail it to me at: nancydrewsleuth@aol.com. Deadline to enter: Oct. 23. Voting will begin on Oct. 24 and run through Oct. 30. I'll announce the winners on Halloween!

Prizes:

1st Place: Leather Nancy Drew Watch & Nancy Drew Halloween Party Goody Bag

2nd Place: Leather Nancy Drew Coin Purse
3rd Place: Nancy Drew Paper Dolls

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Cover Art Paintings

2011-10-13T00:00:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Cover Art Paintings

As a Nancy Drew collector, how much to do you covet the artwork? Does it inspire you to read the books? If it's not appealing, does it make you not want to read the books?

If you could own a painting of a Nancy Drew cover, which one would it be?

There are collectors who own dozens of original Nancy Drew cover paintings. I have managed to acquire 3. And that's probably it for me. They tend to be very expensive! I own a Files painting and then 2 Rudy Nappi paintings--both shown above--The Hidden Staircase and The Witch Tree Symbol. Staircase I purchased directly from Nappi. Witch Tree fell into my lap so to speak, being auctioned off by a gallery in Oregon.

Both of the books above are 2 of my childhood and adult favorites so not only am I thrilled to own them but they have that extra sentimental connection too. Hidden Staircase is such an iconic image that I feel especially happy to have that one in my collection.

Speaking of consulting--Grosset & Dunlap used this painting to create a stand-up display of Nancy right off the cover for some 80th anniversary promotions last year. I had to take it to a graphics company (very high end) in Scottsdale to be scanned as they needed it done at a very high resolution and it apparently was quite a scanning process.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 12 - Nancy Drew Spin-offs

2011-10-12T00:02:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Spin-Off Series

Since the 1980s we've had several paperback spin-off series published. These include the Nancy Drew Files, Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries, Nancy Drew Ghost Stories 1 and 2, Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Sleuths 1 and 2, Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Be a Detective Series, Nancy Drew Notebooks, Nancy Drew Clue Crew, Nancy Drew On Campus, Nancy Drew Graphic Novels, and Nancy Drew Girl Detective.

Of these spin-offs, the longest running spin-off was the Nancy Drew Files series at 124 books. It was probably the most successful of the spin-offs, although the Notebooks and Clue Crew are definitely pretty popular as well. Nancy Drew Girl Detective had a 7 year run but won't even have reached 50 volumes once it ends early next year.

Of these spin-offs, my favorites are the Nancy Drew Files and the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries. These came out when I was a teenager and I liked the modern style of them to a degree and the romance. Nancy also solved murders and there was some flirtation between her and Frank Hardy which was different from the usual Ned Nickerson.

The one I like least? Nancy Drew On Campus. This is the antithesis of what Nancy Drew--classic Nancy Drew--was all about and such which was "safe and sane" entertainment for kids. Harriet Adams and the Stratemeyer Syndicate's mantra. To which I firmly agree with. These books were more about social issues and college romance than mystery. Not at all the reason why kids read Nancy Drew. They read Nancy Drew for MYSTERY. Without much mystery they were just terrible all around. And while Nancy Drew Files was a bit of a departure from Classic Nancy, it was much better styled as a mystery series and was more successful in that regard.

Which ones do you like and dislike and why?

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Sleuthing Tip #2

2011-10-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

When Nancy finds herself about to be tied up by villain Stumpy Dowd in #3, The Bungalow Mystery, she hold her hands in a particular manner—an old detective trick she read about—in order to be able to slip out of her bonds.

Clever!

Jenn:)

Vintage Nancy Drew Books in the Sleuth Shop!

2011-10-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

Vintage Nancy Drew Books For Sale

I've added vintage Nancy Drew books to the Sleuth Shop if anyone is interested. Lots with dust jackets! Blue boards, paperbacks, yellow spine pcs, and book club editions.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 11 - My Favorite & Least Favorite Nancy Drew Books

2011-10-11T00:02:00.001-07:00

5 Favorite Nancy Drew Books

What are your favorite Nancy Drew books? Was it a particular cover art or a story and plot that you were intrigued by? Or was it sentimental--maybe the first book you read or a book someone special gave you?

1. #2 The Hidden Staircase - I like this one because of the plot and the spooky setting and suspense with the haunted house, hidden staircases and passageways, and the historical nature of the home.

2. #4 The Mystery at Lilac Inn - I prefer the revised text since the story is set mostly at the inn in this revision plus the lilacs and clues related to them become more a part of the mystery and I love lilacs.

3. #9 The Sign of the Twisted Candles - I love the rain storm that draws the girls to the spooky old inn, the mysterious turret room and the old-timer Asa Sidney and his hidden treasures and secrets are neat. The humorous way the original is written by ghostwriter Walter Karig is great too--the way Nancy makes the bumbling villain Semitt "eat her dust" in the car chase is hilarious as is his falling down the stairs when caught eavesdropping. I like some of the revision too for the fact that there's more of a treasure hunt around the inn.

4. #21 The Secret in the Old Attic - Another old spooky house with history--love those. The secret room and hidden treasures is always fun. The spiders and the old factory provide some spookiness as well. Loved the skeleton hanging in the wardrobe. We also get to see just how ditzy maid Effie is in this volume with all her histrionics.

5. #33 - The Witch Tree Symbol - A trip to Amish country in PA complete with lots of fabulous food and the search for a mysterious witch tree and an old family secret/fortune to be discovered plus the historical background of the antique furniture was great!

5 Least Favorite Nancy Drew Books

Which Nancy Drew books rate as your least favorite? Why?

Here's mine:

1. #11 The Clue of the Broken Locket - (Original Version) The original text is a different story from the revised and I don't particularly care for it. The over-the-top dramatic actors, the blah twins, and the missing mother in histrionics on the cliff edge. I much prefer the revision set at a mysterious lakeside area with the phantom launch and all the other shenanigans going on.

2. #13 The Mystery of the Ivory Charm - I've never particularly cared for this one either with the strange home with trapeze ropes to the weirdo lady and her chanting "powers" plus the mystical potion that saves a life in the end was a bit out there.

3. #47 The Mysterious Mannequin - This is another of those books that Nancy travels outside the US and some of the trip is interesting, but overall I didn't find the mystery and the mannequin to be that thrilling. Even Helen Corning's reappearance for a quick game of tennis didn't do much for me ;)

4. #53 The Sky Phantom - The cover to this book is incredibly unappealing--Nancy's hair looks unattractive and the sky phantom isn't even related to the sky phantom in the book. The mystery set on a ranch has such a strange crime--arms smugglers for Nancy to be solving, though more cutting edge than finding missing heirlooms of past mysteries I suppose. The discovery of oil in them thar hills was also a bit silly and Nancy gave up her riches to the prospector. Silly girl! What was really silly was Bess's getting hysterical over choosing between a cowboy she dates and Dave Evans. In the end she settles on Dave but I was rolling my eyes right along with George through the process.

5. #54 The Strange Message in the Parchment - The setting on a sheep farm was OK, but not my favorite setting. I was amused when Nancy purchased items in a store to be polite after gaining clues from the shop owner. Really bizarre was the gang of union/mobster types screwing the little guy and their flock of mechanical birds terrorizing people. Mechanical birds!? As a child I'm sure I thought that was the darndest thing! ;)

Jenn:)

Things We've Learned From Nancy Drew #3

2011-10-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

When you knock over your purse, that all too helpful stranger checking out the contents while helping you gather your belongings, might really be spying on you! (#12 The Message in the Hollow Oak)

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 10 - Nancy Drew Consulting - Lost Files

2011-10-10T00:02:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Consulting:
The Lost Files of Nancy Drew

First--what is a Nancy Drew Consultant? I get asked that a lot when I say that's something that I do. I mean, who grows up wanting to be a Nancy Drew consultant when they choose a career? I certainly didn't! And though it's not my career per se, it's certainly something that over the last few years has taken up quite a bit of my time. And it's not very often a paying job either...

I'm often asked by companies producing products or by the publishers to ofter advice, research items, provide scans and images of books and collectibles, and feedback. Fact checking is also something I like to do to help try and avoid misinformation that exists in print. Mostly I receive samples for my work.

When the Nancy Drew movie from Warner Brothers was set to be released in 2007, some of the licensees and publishers for Nancy Drew came out with some products in timing with the publicity and fanfare the movie would produce.

One such product was the Lost Files of Nancy Drew. I was first contacted about this book by Grosset & Dunlap when they were conceptualizing it. Unfortunately they didn't need me to design it :) They already had a UK book packager working on it--Brainwaves Limited. But they wanted me to check the history section of the book over for any errors. That section lies in the back of the book and focuses mostly on Edward Stratemeyer, Mildred Wirt Benson, and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. I received a copy of the book and a credit in the Bibliography section where my website is listed.

Because mostly new content was being written, the packager in the UK didn't need my help in any of the blurbs for the books featured.

The book is over sized with soft covers and inside pages that have pull tabs, pop ups and other interesting layouts. It's supposed to be like a top secret interactive journal that Nancy Drew kept on some of her famous cases.

Books featured are The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, The Mystery at Lilac Inn, The Clue in the Diary, The Clue of the Broken Locket, The Secret in the Old Attic, The Ghost of Blackwood Hall, The Mystery at the Ski Jump, The Scarlet Slipper Mystery, The Mystery of the 99 Steps, The Invisible Intruder, The Strange Message in the Parchment, and The Thirteenth Pearl.

There's also a fashion section in the back of Nancy Drew through the decades--thought it doesn't feature images of Nancy, and instead features models wearing clothes from that decade. In the very back there's an envelope of postcards featuring Nancy Drew covers.

It's probably one of the neater items that a publisher has put together to commemorate Nancy Drew!

The covers they featured were the original ones--mostly the Tandy art for the earlier volumes but some of them like Lilac Inn and Broken Locket also used some things from the revised texts that were not in the original versions. I didn't get to proofread the book journal pages to catch errors like that unfortunately.

You can still find this book at online bookstores and at eBay pretty often if you haven't picked up a copy. I bought a second copy so I could play with it more and open the postcard envelope and have kept the other one in unused condition.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Vintage Book Cover Journals

2011-10-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Vintage Book Cover Journals

We are now doing the spiral bound journals again featuring vintage matte yellow spine picture cover books recycled due to being worn and having other issues. Sprinkled throughout the blank pages in these journals are some pages from the vintage book pictured on the cover - endpapers, internal illustrations, and some other interesting pages to make it more exciting.

Pictured here are two spookier journal covers evocative of the fall/Halloween season, though these mysteries are not about Halloween. We've also got a lot of other journals in the Nancy Drew Sleuth Shop to choose from!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 9 - 1940s Nancy Drew

2011-10-09T00:02:00.004-07:00

1940s Nancy Drew

By the 1940s, Nancy Drew was becoming less brash and daring--still quite the adventurer, but more toned down. By this time, the housekeeper Hannah Gruen was becoming more a part of the family too. And Nancy's boyfriend Ned was starting to do a little more of the helping and even the rescuing like the scene at the end of The Secret in the Old Attic when he gallantly rescues Nancy from the near-death of a venomous spider and she feels so good to be swept up and rescued in such strong arms ;-)

The artwork reflects the changing fashion styles and the Rita Hayworth like hair. We even see some reflection of the war years, though it's not mentioned, when in The Clue in the Jewel Box, Nancy doesn't really use her car but does use a bicycle to get around.

The internal illustrations by now have gone from glossy to plain paper and have been revised to reflect the style of the 1940s.

Nancy begins to start to travel around a little more too - to Buenos Aires in The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk and to an island in the Caribbean or somewhere similar The Quest of the Missing Map, to Maine (not specifically mentioned but geography appears to be Maine) in The Mystery of the Tolling Bell and to New Orleans in The Ghost of Blackwood Hall. We'll see her travel more often to real US states and foreign countries more by the 1950s onward.

This was also a period of transition beginning behind the scenes of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The second to last book that ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson wrote was #25, The Ghost of Blackwood Hall published in 1948. The next 4 books would have different ghosts and her last would be #30, The Clue of the Velvet Mask.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Sleuthing at eBay #20

2011-10-09T00:01:00.002-07:00

Ending Today at eBay #2

I thought I'd highlight 3 auctions that caught my eye ending today (9th) that some of you may be interested in. The first, shown above, is a set of hardcover Grey Castle editions of the Nancy Drew Files books.

Here's a set of French editions of Nancy Drew where she's Alice! For those of you who collect foreign editions or want to jump in, here's a nice lot of 10 of them!

And this lot features some vintage Nancy Drew blues and some with dust jackets. While these aren't in extra fabulous shape, there are some nice reading copies and some dust jackets would clean up OK in a Mylar protector. Some like to display a set of naked books in their shelves, so if these don't sell too high, it's a nice decorative lot too.

Jenn:)

Week 2 Nancy Drew Prize

2011-10-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

Week 2 Prize

Don't forget to comment all week on blog postings--those posting from Sat. Oct. 8 through Fri. Oct. 14 will be entered to win this week's prize--our Nancy Drew Old Clock necklace from our Nancy Drew Cafe Press Shop.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 8 - Nancy Drew Collecting 101

2011-10-08T00:02:00.003-07:00

Nancy Drew Collecting Tips

The following two lists of collecting tips are good rules of thumb to collect by--check out more on collecting at my website:

Get A Clue - 5 Fast Facts Before You Collect:

1. Nancy Drew books have been in print from 1930 until present day, so there are a lot of formats the books have gone through over the years. Check out the Collecting Nancy Drew-Formats section at this website to view the various formats from the dust jackets to book covers to endpapers to internal illustrations--will give you some perspective on when these were available and what books came in these formats.

2. Beware of the Copyright Red Herring. Just because the book has a 1930 copyright, doesn't mean it's a printing from 1930. Some sellers do not realize this. One way to help you figure out the general date of the book as a general rule, is to check book lists either on dust jackets or internal listings of books. Whatever Nancy Drew book is listed last, check to see when it was published. If your copy of The Secret of the Old Clock book lists to The Clue of the Velvet Mask (#30), it is likely a printing circa 1953 for example.

3. How to determine an original from a revised? Rule of thumb number one is that only the first 34 books were revised. Number two is that an original will have 25 chapters, a revised only 20.

4. Only the first 38 books came out with dust jackets, books 39 to 56 all came out as yellow spine picture covers. Of course, eventually books 1-38 were produced in the YSPC format.

5. Is it RARE?! Probably not. Beware of listings that shout from the rooftops that the book is rare. There aren't too many rarities in the Nancy Drew collecting world--most are just scarce items.

10 Nancy Drew Format Tips In A Nutshell:

#1: How to tell an original text (OT) from a revised text (RT):

1) Only the first 34 books were revised. 2) An original text of 1-34 will have 25 chapters. Revisions have 20!

#2: What does a format #1 Nancy Drew book look like?

A: These format #1 books were out beginning in 1930 through early 1932. Only the first 7 books came out in this format. The format does not have the familiar orange silhouette on the cover--just orange lettering. The endpapers are blank a.k.a creamy white in color--no orange silhouettes.

#3: How can I tell if a book is a first printing?

A: Generally, a first printing will list to itself, however this is not a fail-safe rule. Some books listed to a previous volume, and some lists were not updated for a few printings. To enhance your collecting knowledge, you should invest in a Farah's Guide--you will be able to find out what printing you have and know what to look for.

#4: Q': I want to get vintage Nancy Drew books with glossy internal illustrations, how many volumes came like this?

A: Only the first 13 books did through printings from 1930 to 1936. Because the books continued to look similar in board style after 1936 for a time and they still had a glossy frontispiece, be sure to double check with a seller to see if a book does in fact have 3 internal glossy illustrations. Many sellers don't realize they exist and miss them if they haven't gone through the book very closely. And be sure to check that the illustrations are attached properly.

#5. If you want a vintage set of all white spine Nancy Drew dust jackets, only the first 22 books came in this format.

#6. Beware of the Copyright Date Red Herring. Some sellers think that because a Nancy Drew book carries a copyright of 1930, it's a printing from 1930. Keep in mind, the copyright date did not change overtime, unless a book was revised, or some other necessary information was added to the copyright page!

#7. Beware the prices of glossy flashlight edition yellow spine picture covers. You can still purchase these in bookstores today as they're still printing them, at $6.99 ea in most retail stores, and less in lots in discount stores or wholesale/membership club stores. Bid wisely at online auctions--you can get great deals on these at eBay sometimes.

#8. Yellow spine Nancy Drew picture covers (YSPCs) were not produced until the 1960s--in the matte style--and were published in this style through the mid-80s.

#9. If you're looking for a uniform set of blue boards, the only style of blue boards that you can get for a full run of volumes of 1-38, are the blue tweed boards.

#10. There were no more blue boards with dust jackets after volume #38, the yellow spine picture cover format debuted with volume #39.

Where Can I buy Nancy Drew
Books & Collectibles?

Online Sources:

The Sleuth Shop
Book Search of Databases: AddAll
eBay
Bonanza
Amazon - Used Book Sellers
Links to More Online Sellers

Locally:

Used book stores
Antique shops and malls
Garage, estate and tag sales
Flea markets
Place a "want to buy" ad in the paper
Craig's List (place a want to buy ad or search the ads for sales)

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Week 1 Prize Winner

2011-10-08T00:00:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Blog Party Week 1 Prize Winner is....

Jen Shaw - Congrats!

Prize: Nancy Drew Paper Dolls

Don't forget, comment on blog postings throughout week 2 to win the next prize: Nancy Drew Old Clock Necklace!

Jenn:)

Spooky Nancy Drew Collectibles

2011-10-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

Appropriate for an October Blog post, is the spooky haunted house gift sets that the Nancy Drew books came packaged in--the matte yellow spines versions. I've always managed to miss the auctions for the larger box sets shown above and below.

But I do own 2 versions of the 3 book set below--the slip case version.

The ink-topped pages on my set are all black, not red. Some may come with red if I remember right? There was a bookstore promotion at one time with the first 3 that had red-topped pages so I'm not sure if someone was thinking of those or not.

If anyone has any of the version above which shows the 2 books side by side, and is interested in selling, please contact me :) nancydrewsleuth@aol.com

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 7 - The Hidden Staircase Discussion

2011-10-07T00:02:00.002-07:00

Nancy Drew Cameo Edition Illustration

The Hidden Staircase

A hidden staircase, a runaway truck, scary masks. Let's discuss! Add your comments to this posting below and let me know what you think of this story. Does it rate as a good spooky mystery apropos for a fall setting? Did you like the original or revision better? What's your favorite cover art of the 3 classic covers?

A Few Fast Facts:

Ghostwriter: Mildred A. Wirt Benson

1930 Outline Length: 3 pages

3 Cover Illustrations By: Russell H. Tandy, Bill Gillies, Rudy Nappi

Texts: Revision varies the story quite a bit in parts.

Synopsis From My Website:

Original Text:

A visit by a sinister fellow who claims Carson Drew swindled him out of land that was condemned for the railroad leaves Nancy shaken as the man threatens harm if he does not get his money back. Meanwhile, mysterious goings on and thefts of personal items at the home of the Turnbull sisters leads Nancy to try and catch the house "ghost." Someone is trying to get the Turnbull sisters to leave The Mansion! Carson Drew's disappearance and a series of events that put Nancy in danger as she discovers a hidden staircase and secret passageway lead to the resolution of this spooky and suspenseful mystery.

Revised Text:

Nancy resolves to help chum Helen Corning's aunts solve the mystery of the ghost who seems to be haunting their home, Twin Elms. A mysterious man appears at the Drew home to warn Nancy and her father that Carson is in danger. This warning leads Nancy and Carson to search for the missing Willie Wharton, a land owner, who can prove he signed away his land to the railroad and save the railroad from a lawsuit. Meanwhile, the disappearance of Carson Drew, thefts and mysterious goings on at Twin Elms, and the discovery of a hidden staircase lead Nancy to solve this baffling mystery.

While the original is much more descriptive--as typical for the original texts--it also lacks some of the more descriptive objects, hidden entrances and such that the revision adds in. There are several scenes in the revision that heighten the suspense or add a cliffhanger. These include the scene where a truck nearly runs down Nancy and her father Carson Drew so they must dive into the river to avoid it. Also, the scenes where the outbuildings were searched, the girls dress up in costumes found in the attic for a party, the ceiling falls, and Nancy investigates the roof and finds a trap door. The mystery in the revision also involves more details about the land deal background and the kidnapping of Carson Drew is more developed with extra goons helping out Gomber for the kidnap scheme.

I'd recommend reading the revision, if you haven't, as the story though choppier, manages to describe Twin Elms and it's secret entrances and hidden secrets more thoroughly. And for those fans of Helen Corning, she's featured more prominently. Some goofy additions to the revision like the scary mask held up to the window at Twin Elms. Some interesting sleuthing like rocking the chandelier back and forth and using a hammer to tap the wall for hollow spots.

Original vs. Revised - 5 Interesting Clues:

1. In the original version, Nancy takes Carson Drew's revolver with her to The Mansion. She states, "I don’t know whether I could hit the broad side of a barn or not."

2. There are several name changes. Nathan Gombet becomes Nathan Gomber. The Mansion becomes Twin Elms. And relationship changes. In the original, the Turnbulls are friends of Abigail Rowen. In the revision, they are related to Helen Corning. Further, in the original, Rosemary and Floretta are twin sisters. In the revision they become Rosemary and Flora and Flora is Rosemary's mother.

3. In the revision, Gomber has an odd haunter/helper named Willie Wharton.

4. Once revised, a tall Gombet becomes a short Gomber.

5. Roughing it in the original, The Mansion does not have a telephone!

3 Mysterious Things About Nancy:

1. She dates a boy named Dirk.

2. Nancy likes to read and buys a detective story magazine.

3. She doesn't believe in ghosts.

An Important Lesson We Learned From Nancy:

When someone's trying to buy a house and it suddenly becomes haunted, they're probably the one playing "ghost."

Sleuthworthy Rating On a Scale of 1-10:

10. The perfect blend of suspense, "hauntings," secret passageways, and hidden staircases. I especially love these kinds of mysteries. I enjoyed the revision in that there were more of these kinds of hidden/secret entrances--like the listening post which wasn't in the original.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew 2011 Halloween Party Planning #2

2011-10-07T00:01:00.001-07:00

Pumpkins on the Farm

No Halloween party would be complete without pumpkins! Today I spent the afternoon at Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek, AZ on a mission to snuff out some extra spooky pumpkins for the Nancy Drew party.

I met up with a cute peacock, a miniature donkey almost ate my necklace, got lost in a corn maze, and caught a cute K-9 dog frisbee show.

We had a great time, came home with 2 nice large pumpkins and one small cute one that was most sincere! And like Nancy's foodie friend Bess, I couldn't resist some homemade jars of pumpkin butter, cherry amaretto preserves, cherry blueberry preserves, and peach preserves!

Here's one of my beauties--I liked the stem too. Check out your local farms and corn mazes, they can be so much fun and spooky this time of year!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Cafe Press Shop Sale: 10% off $40+ orders!

2011-10-06T14:25:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Shop 10% off $40.00+ Sale!

WHEN: Ends Oct. 6, 2011

SAVE: 10% off orders of $40+

CODE: AOCT1140

WHERE: www.cafepress.com/nancydrewshop

Be sure you're ordering from the shop page only--marketplace orders do not count for this promotion, so if you're at the main website and/or using search boxes to add items to your cart, those are considered marketplace items. You must order from the Nancy Drew shop page itself. If you have any trouble with the code--contact Cafe Press customer support (there's a phone number you can call right away) and they can help you with it.

Thanks for your support!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 6 - Highlights in Nancy Drew's History

2011-10-06T00:02:00.002-07:00

Nancy Drew History Highlights

Whether you're familiar with the entire 81+ year history of Nancy Drew or maybe you picked up somewhere in the middle when you started reading them in the 1970s or maybe you just discovered Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew for your kids at your local book store, one things for certain--it's a very mysterious history indeed!

My website delves into this topic in the Nancy Drew History section and you might check that out--it's got a nice timeline of events as well at the bottom of the page.

Here, I'd like to highlight some key or pivotal moments in Nancy Drew's history that I feel are important. They're important in some cases because something was new and exciting, sometimes because they were pivotal events that changed the course of Nancy Drew history--sometimes for the better, sometimes not, and in some cases the jury's still out.

10 Key Moments in Nancy Drew's Mysterious History:

1. After creating Nancy Drew, Edward Stratemeyer hires ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson to write the series.

2. Edward Stratemeyer dies on May 10, nearly 2 weeks after the first three Nancy Drew books debuted on April 28, 1930.

3. Edward Stratemeyer's daughters Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and Edna Squier take over their father's Syndicate after failing to find a buyer and carry on the business at hand.

4. While other series falter during the Great Depression, Nancy Drew increasingly becomes a strong seller, outselling many of the popular boys' series.

5. The Stratemeyer Syndicate sells the rights to Nancy Drew to Warner Brothers for a series of four movies which debuted in 1938 and 1939. This agreement would later impact the ability to get Nancy Drew on to radio and television for many years...

6. By the mid-1950s, Harriet Adams began ghosting the Nancy Drew books.

7. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys debut on TV in 1977.

8. Harriet Adams switches publishers in 1979 from Grosset & Dunlap to Simon & Schuster and a major lawsuit between the parties ensues.

9. After Harriet Adams passes away in 1982, the Syndicate is sold to Simon & Schuster in 1984.

10. The classic Nancy Drew paperbacks which continued after the first 56 hardcovers from 57 onward, ends in 2003 with the final book at #175. The Nancy Drew Girl Detective series is then launched in its place.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Coin Purses

2011-10-06T00:00:00.002-07:00

Nancy Drew Coin Purses

Need a coin purse to hide a few clues? Whether it's coins, cash, or even a plethora of store discount shopper cards that are overflowing your regular wallet, our Nancy Drew coin purses are lots of fun! View all our styles in the Nancy Drew Sleuth Shop.

Jenn:)

Things We've Learned From Nancy Drew #2

2011-10-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Old-timers make great sources for information about long lost antiquities. (#34 The Hidden Window Mystery)

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 5 - Nancy Drew Original Texts vs. Revised Texts

2011-10-05T00:02:00.006-07:00

Nancy nearly attacked by a police dog protecting her young.

Nancy helping foil a mail theft ring.

A famous voice teacher helps an aspiring singer thanks to Nancy.

A plot involving exploding oranges at NASA and a mad/rogue scientist.

What do these things have in common? They were not in the original Nancy Drew books but were later added into the revised versions.

Nancy ventures off to the wilds of Canada to claim land won in a prize. She ends up blowing up a dam and flooding the land to thwart crooks trying to steal it. Sound familiar? It probably doesn't if you're not familiar with the original version of #12, The Message in the Hollow Oak and instead read the revision about an archaeological dig in Cairo, IL and Nancy's search for a treasure hidden in a hollow oak.

You know The Mystery at Lilac Inn? In the original version, very little time was spent at Lilac Inn where chicken dinners are their specialty. In the revision, the whole mystery takes place mostly at Lilac Inn.

These are some of the oddities of revising Nancy Drew. It was a project that began in the mid 1950s and led to the first 2 books being revised and published in 1959. From then until 1977, the first 34 books in the series were revised and the 25 chapter originals were cut down to just 20 chapters.

While stereotypes (which were NOT rampant as some would have you believe!) and things that would date the books like "electric lights" or slang and other outdated conventions were updated in these revisions, the real culprit was something far simpler. Money. The publisher could produce a 20 chapter book far more cheaply than a 25 chapter book. This was the factually documented driving force behind the revision process.

If you would like to see just how some of these books changed when revised, check out my article on The Secret of the Old Clock which highlights the stark changes between the 1930 and 1959 texts for this book.

After #18, The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion, the revisions were not as drastic as they had been for some titles and were simpler cut downs. If you read an original and then a revised version of the same title side by side, you'll see many instances of where the same text is still present, but shortened in places, some descriptive passages cut out entirely, some scenes where there's not so much action related to the plot are removed--all to speed up the pace and shorten them. Most of these are still the same story and plot. A few have some added subplots like Nancy thwarting a mail scam in #7, The Clue in the Diary. And eight had mostly or all new plots: #'s 2, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14, 17, and 18.

Learn a little more about revisions and when books were revised at my website.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Q & A #1

2011-10-05T00:01:00.002-07:00

I thought I'd start sharing some of the e-mails I get at my website and my replies as a learning tool for new collectors. Here's one such letter...

Letter From Tracie:

Hi, My name is Tracie, and I saw the awesome feature in Country Living magazine, which I subscribe to. Your book collection in the magazine was wonderful. I'd never heard of the game and really enjoyed the article. (I wish the article was a little longer, but I did enjoy looking through your website for more information, and your website is fantastic). I am not a collector, but I did come across a book I'm a little curious about on my own. I grew up with Nancy Drew and loved her. :)

I have book #36, The Secret of the Golden Pavilion. I have no idea if it's worth anything or not, but of course I'm curious. I think I paid a quarter for it in Goodwill, so it's not something I've invested money in one way or the other, and it was just to read it for fun. I hoped you might be able to answer the question of value if possible. :) It didn't have a jacket, the cover was just as you see it in the photos. Someone did write in it in places--a couple's name, address, and phone number are inside it on one of the white pages. Plus someone doodled in it a little and used a pen to color in hair in places and made little check marks on it in a couple places. And it is dirty and has a couple spots, but the cover is on pretty well and it's very readable as it is. They didn't doodle on the text or anything itself, so the story is still very readable. (It makes me nuts when people draw and write in books anyway--I almost didn't get it, but when I realized they hadn't drawn on the story itself I bought it).

The copyright date said 1959, and the page inside the book with the titles lists a different title as being the last one as the back cover, which also lists books. That confused me. On the page in the front of the book, it lists Clue of the Dancing Puppet as last, but the hard back cover lists The Mystery of the Fire Dragon as last. I have no idea what that might mean as far as that goes. I was curious about my book as soon as I saw the article and was led to your website.

It doesn't mention anywhere in it about printings or editions, and it was published by Grosset and Dunlap, it says on the spine. I hope my pictures are okay; my digital camera is somewhere in a stored box in our house (from moving) and I only had my webcam available. Sorry about that and if things look a little fuzzy in the photos. Thank you for taking time to read my email. I figured it was worth asking you about, and congratulations on having your collection in the magazine and being interviewed about it. :) That must have been fun for you. :)

Thanks again for any information or feedback you may have, and thank you for your time.

Tracie

My Response:

Thanks for e-mailing :) Glad you liked the article. It was really cool to be profiled in the magazine :)

You'll be happy to know you have a first picture cover printing for this title. It's not a first printing overall since it originally came out in the blue tweed hardcover/wrap spine dust jacket format, but this book is from 1962 and is valued--in very good condition--at 15.00 in the Farah's Guide. Due to your flaws, maybe around 5.00 to 10.00.

Jenn:)

Further Clues:

When the picture cover format was introduced in 1962, all of the first picture cover printings of titles from 1-39 listed on the back of the yellow spine picture cover to The Mystery of the Fire Dragon as the last listed title. So finding one that lists to Fire Dragon is a good thing! But, keep in mind some second/third/etc. printings also listed to Fire Dragon--the internal listings of some of these books are what you have to look at to see if it's a first picture cover or 2nd/3rd/etc. And that requires having a Farah's Guide to look up your printing. I do value/identify books at my website. Also, in 1963, when #40, The Moonstone Castle Mystery was published it also listed to Fire Dragon on back.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 4 - 1930s Nancy Drew

2011-10-04T00:02:00.001-07:00

1930s Nancy Drew

As sophisticated as she appeared on the cover of the first Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the Old Clock, Nancy was just a girl of 16. Throughout the 1930s, she remained 16 but the stories presented a seemingly mature girl for her age having very bold and dangerous adventures.

1930s Nancy Drew is not your Nancy Drew of today and she certainly wasn't the same sleuth in the 1950s or 1960s. She was bolder, more daring, worked by herself more often, rarely relied on adults or men to get her out of scrapes, didn't trust the police to do the job right, didn't always respect her elders, and drove like a fiend. She was a rough and tumble girl on the one hand, but yet still refined enough to gracefully dance her way though the ballroom at her special friend Ned Nickerson's college fraternity dances, charming all the boys and gaining admiring glances from the girls.

Sometimes she was quick to judge and sometimes she took awhile to figure things out. She wasn't always perfect and she chided herself frequently. But at the end of the day, she always got her man and sometimes even a female villain or two.

It wasn't until the latter part of the 1930s when Nancy began to be more toned down and by the 1950s was more of a Stepford clone of her early 1930s self.

If you haven't read any of the original versions from the 1930s, I highly recommend them. They are very well written--a very sophisticated style full of lots of suspense and even some melodrama with great cliffhangers. They truly did lose a lot of the spice when they were cut down and revised in that the stories lost characterization and good dialogue and descriptive elements that helped move the stories along.

Where can you buy the original versions? An original version has 25 chapters by the way--a key rule to remember. They aren't to be found in your local chain bookstores--those are the revised versions. To find the 25 chapter originals, you can get Applewood reprints at some bookstores and online. Or, you can for similar prices or even less, find the originals to read at sites like eBay or Bonanza. Because these are so collectible, it can be hard to find them in your local used book stores or antique malls. Sometimes they're marked up too high as well, so you can often get better deals even with shipping at sites like eBay.

Jenn:)

Happy Birthday Edward Stratemeyer!

2011-10-04T00:01:00.002-07:00

Edward Stratemeyer
1862-1930

Today is the 149th anniversary of the birth of Edward Stratemeyer! He was the genius behind the creation of Nancy Drew and many other series like Tom Swift, Hardy Boys, and the Bobbsey Twins.

He formed the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1905 and hired ghostwriters to write stories in various series under pseudonyms, paying them a flat fee for their work. For over 81 years now, a very "mysterious" Carolyn Keene has been churning out stories in the popular Nancy Drew series--and if you didn't know it, it's just one of these many pseudonyms.

A 1934 Fortune magazine article declared him the father of the 50-center and stated that as "oil had it's Rockefeller, literature had it's Stratemeyer." Many of his juvenile series were performing outstandingly in the market--he had really made his mark on the field of juvenile literature!

He passed away just 2 weeks after one of his most popular series, Nancy Drew, debuted and never had a chance to realize its success. It's success over 81 years later is a legacy indeed not only to Stratemeyer but to his daughters Harriet and Edna who carried on his Syndicate after his passing until it was sold to Simon & Schuster in 1984.

As secretive as the Syndicate was at that time Stratemeyer was running it, even today many people don't know a lot about this man behind all the mystery. Researchers and authors like James Keeline, a Stratemeyer expert, are working to change that. Visit James Keeline's website on Stratemeyer--it's a wealth of information.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Sleuthing Tip #1

2011-10-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

Communication By Code

Nancy and her chums develop a handy code for communicating in The Secret of the Forgotten City. Every third word in each sentence of a set of 3 to 4 sentences adds up to a message, such as “I spy a villain!”

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 3 - Nancy Drew Formats 101

2011-10-03T00:02:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Formats 101

I thought I'd highlight in today's posting a Nancy Drew Formats 101 for you visually see all the various formats of Nancy Drew classic series over the years. You can learn more about Nancy Drew formats and an in depth look at each of the various parts - boards, endpapers, dust jackets, picture covers, illustrations, texts, authors, and collecting and selling tips at my Nancy Drew Website.

Nancy Drew Formats in a Nutshell:

Below you'll find a quick guide to formats for the classic series.

White Spine Dust Jacket Format:
Volumes: 1-22
Dates: 1930 - 1961

Wrap Spine Dust Jacket Format:
Volumes: 1-9, 11, 23-38
Dates: 1946 - 1961

Matte Yellow Spine Picture Cover (YSPC) Format:
Volumes: 1-56
Dates: 1962-1986

Glossy Flashlight Yellow Spine Picture Cover Format:
Volumes: 1-56
Dates: 1986-Present Day

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew 2011 Halloween Party Planning #1

2011-10-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Halloween Party Planning Finds

Picked up some interesting items at Ikea recently for this year's Nancy Drew Halloween Party including several things to transform for the party: a blue erlenmeyer style flask container, 2 white lacy buckets and 2 neat lanterns.

Will show the results of my crafty ideas on these in a future blog posting...

This year's theme is a haunted house from one of the classic Nancy Drew mysteries. More on that to come!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 2

2011-10-02T00:02:00.004-07:00

Collection Circa 1997

The Mystery Behind Why I Collect Nancy Drew

I wasn't a serious collector of Nancy Drew until my early 20s--back around the mid-1990s. I was definitely a fan since around age 7 and had hung onto my Nancy Drew books while selling others in garage sales. There was just something about Nancy! A bold, smart, capable heroine besting crooks and righting wrongs. Inspiring others. Giving us a love of reading. Can't beat that!

I discovered a 1930s Nancy Drew book in an antique mall and it was blue with the orange silhouette on it. I had no idea what it was, but I was definitely intrigued. I reclaimed all my Nancy Drew books from my parents house which included yellow spine hardcovers and paperbacks up to around #95. I also had some Files and Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries. I didn't have all the yellow spine hardcovers though. I'd bought some in bookstores on outings with my mom but read a lot of them at the school library. I did have one curious edition which would turn out to be a book club Twin Thriller edition with the 2 stories in one of The Bungalow Mystery and The Mystery at Lilac Inn and it had always intrigued me--I wondered if it was an antique version.

I set out to used book stores and antique malls and began buying up every Nancy Drew book I saw practically. I started going through them trying to figure out how old they were and put little post its inside them with something like "circa 1972 printing" based on the date of the last title listed on the back cover. I even got a bit crafty and made a set of shelves--seen above--using boards and cinder blocks that I painted white and then painted the Nancy Drew silhouettes on in blue and orange. These showcased my existing childhood books and some vintage ones and more yellow spine picture covers I'd been acquiring at antique stores.

Then I got a computer and got online. A friend from high school who had read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys had been online to a message board run by Applewood Books and pointed it out to me. I began to frequent it and found a whole world of Nancy Drew collectors out there chatting away and selling and trading books. I had no idea there was such a dedicated group of collectors! One such collector pointed me to eBay and I was hooked! This was 1997 and now 14 years later, I've amassed a pretty large collection thanks in part mostly to eBay. Here's some of it:

Collection Circa 2009

It was shortly after getting online and finding the message boards online and getting into eBay that I began hearing from other collectors about the history behind the series and that the original Carolyn Keene, Mildred Wirt Benson, was still alive and working as a journalist in Toledo, Ohio! It was so fascinating to learn more and I've since dedicated a lot of my time to researching and writing about this series and the people behind it. I also lamented the fact that I had missed out on a huge Nancy Drew Conference in 1993 at the University of Iowa in which around 500 people from all over the country and some from other countries attended. I had no clue it was going on at the time. I was deep in studies in college at that time.

Over the last 14 years in addition to collecting anything and everything Nancy Drew I've been able to get my hands on and afford as well as writing and researching, I set up a fan group for Nancy Drew and series book collectors, The Nancy Drew Sleuths and since 2001 we've been having annual conventions each year focused on Nancy Drew. Our first one was in Toledo and we were able to meet Mildred Wirt Benson before she passed away the next year. It was such a neat experience! From meeting friends and collectors, learning about Nancy Drew, and passing along the series to today's generation, it's been a very rewarding and fun hobby that has grown into something more. I had no idea years ago when I set out to be a lawyer, that I'd go down this path instead, but I wouldn't do it any differently!

Why do you collect Nancy Drew and how did you get started? I'd love to hear more about your collections. If you want to share photos of your collection, e-mail them to me and I'll share them here at the Blog all month: nancydrewsleuth@aol.com

Jenn:)

Things We've Learned From Nancy Drew #1

2011-10-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Things We Learned From Nancy Drew #1

Men don’t disappear without leaving a forwarding address, unless they have something to hide! (Nancy’s Mysterious Letter)

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Paper Dolls Are Here!

2011-10-02T00:00:00.001-07:00

Nancy Drew Paper Dolls

I've got the Nancy Drew Paper Dolls in stock! And they are so neat :) Love them in person as much as I did in the mock-ups stage. There's an essay inside back that I wrote. The outfits are really great--just about all are outfits from the various vintage Nancy Drew covers and artist Darlene Jones did a great job on them.

You can order them at the Nancy Drew Sleuth Shop. Those of you who have already ordered, your sets will start going out in batches over the next couple of weeks!
Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Day 1

2011-10-01T00:02:00.000-07:00

Got Clues? Welcome to the Nancy Drew Blog Party!

With the recent Nancy Drew collecting article in Country Living and spooky Halloween coming up, I thought it would be fun to devote a month long blog party to Nancy Drew! Someone suggested I call it Sleuth-O-Ween and that has a catchy ring to it!

A few highlights of what you'll be seeing here all month long include weekly prize giveaways, collecting Nancy Drew postings about formats and tips on collecting, we'll revisit the various decades of classic Nancy Drew, discuss the original and revised versions, highlight some history behind the Nancy Drew series, discuss some books and collectibles, and I'll be discussing some things about how I got into collecting and what projects I've been involved with with some interesting behind the scenes info.

Each day will have a featured blog entry and then a few extras like things we've learned from Nancy Drew, Nancy Drew auctions at eBay, some letters and answers from e-mail that I get, party planning updates leading up to my big annual Nancy Drew Halloween party, and other fun stuff.

BOOK DISCUSSIONS:

Starting next week and for the next four weeks we'll do one spooky Nancy Drew book a week to discuss if you'd like to read along with me! We're also going to have a Nancy Drew pumpkin decorating contest--see blog entry below this one for details!

I'll post a book discussion blog on the following dates and participants can chat in the comments about the book and discuss it:

Oct. 7 - #2 The Hidden Staircase
Oct. 14 - #21 The Secret in the Old Attic
Oct. 25 - #25 The Ghost of Blackwood Hall
Oct. 28 - #33 The Witch Tree Symbol

These are neat spookier mysteries and the fall season makes the perfect setting to read them!

NANCY DREW PRIZE DRAWINGS:

To win a weekly prize here at the Blog, you must comment on the blog entries. Everyone who comments during the week, will be entered into the prize drawing for that week. When you post a comment be sure to include your name so I know who to enter into the drawing. Here's the schedule of prize drawings:

Week 1: Comment Oct. 1-Oct. 7, drawing on Oct. 8
Prize: Nancy Drew Paper Dolls

Week 2: Comment Oct. 8-Oct. 14, drawing on Oct. 15
Prize: Nancy Drew Old Clock Necklace

Week 3: Comment Oct. 15-Oct.21, drawing on Oct. 22
Prize: Leather Nancy Drew Coin Purse

Week 4: Comment Oct. 22-Oct. 28, drawing on Oct. 29
Prize: Nancy Drew Spiral Journal & Button Assortment

Hope you have lots of fun here throughout October!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Pumpkin Decorating Contest

2011-10-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

Nancy Drew Pumpkins!

Think you've got what it takes to create a spook-tacular (or should I say SLEUTH-tacular) Nancy Drew pumpkin!?

Enter our pumpkin decorating contest! Whether you carve it, paint it, decoupage it, or any other interesting crafty scheme you can come up with, we'd love to see it. We'll be showcasing entries in the pumpkin decorating contest here at the Blog all month long. Then we'll have a vote to determine the winners! There will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.

Once you create your Nancy Drew theme pumpkin, take a photo and e-mail it to me at: nancydrewsleuth@aol.com. Deadline to enter: Oct. 23. Voting will begin on Oct. 24 and run through Oct. 30. I'll announce the winners on Halloween!

Prizes:

1st Place: Leather Nancy Drew Watch & Nancy Drew Halloween Party Goody Bag

2nd Place: Leather Nancy Drew Coin Purse
3rd Place: Nancy Drew Paper Dolls

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Sleuthing at eBay #19

2011-10-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Ending Today at eBay #1

Ending today, Oct. 1, at eBay is a format #1 Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the Old Clock. Check out the auction here.

It is missing the dust jacket unfortunately and is not in mint condition--they rarely are--but you may be interested in collecting the earliest format of Nancy Drew books. This format #1 as Farah's Guide calls it, features blue boards with no orange silhouette and the endpapers inside are blank (white) with no image on them.

The seller states he believes this book is a first edition. He is correct in that it is the original text of the story, but it is not a first printing. Do not confuse first printing with first edition--a rule of thumb to collect by especially when it comes to Nancy Drew.

Based on the question/answer section of the auction page, the information the seller gives to a potential buyer gives you a clue that it is not a first printing. The listing inside the back of the book of Nancy Drew books goes up to #7 which was first published in 1932. This dates this particular book to around a 1931/1932 range based on that alone.

By using Farah's Guide, I looked up the printing based on the information giving and this is a 1931D-9 printing, so it's a 9th printing overall. Farah's Guide gives the book a value of $150.00 which for a 9th printing, in my opinion, is a little on the high side of what you'd normally pay at eBay anyhow--especially in the condition shown.

These books in this format #1 are not rare and they're not really that scarce. What is scarce is the dust jackets that are often missing and probably discarded years ago. When you find a book in this format #1 with a dust jacket, then you've hit the jackpot!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Blog Party Starts Tomorrow!

2011-09-30T20:09:00.002-07:00

Don't forget! The Nancy Drew Blog Party starts right here tomorrow and runs through Oct. 31st!

Hope you all have fun and gain a few clues too!

Jenn:)