Nancy Drew and Friends or How I Learned to Love Mysteries Once Upon A Time...

The Mystery of the Brass Bound Trunk by Carolyn Keene. Gorgeous cover art by Russell Tandy.

The Message in the Hollow Oak by Carolyn Keene. Artwork by Russell Tandy.

The Clue of the Broken Locket by Carolyn Keene.

The Secret at Shadow Ranch by Carolyn Keene.

The Dana Girls. By the Light of the Study Lamp by Carolyn Keene.

The Dana Girls. The Ghost in the Gallery by Carolyn Keene.

The Dana Girls. In the Shadow of the Tower by Carolyn Keene.

The Hardy Boys. The Secret of the Old Mill by Franklin W. Dixon.

The Hardy Boys. The House on the Cliff by Franklin W. Dixon.

The Hardy Boys. Footprints Under the Window by Franklin W. Dixon.

Beverly Gray's Vacation by Clair Blank.

Beverly Gray's Adventure by Clair Blank.

A Judy Bolton Mystery. The Midnight Visitor by Margaret Sutton. Probably illustrated by Pelagie Doane.

A Judy Bolton Mystery. Seven Strange Clues by Margaret Sutton. Probably illust. by Pelagie Doane.

A Judy Bolton Mystery. The Yellow Phantom by Margaret Sutton. Illustrated by Pelagie Doane.

A Melody Lane Mystery. Terror at Moaning Cliff by Lilian Garis. Illustrated by Ruth King.

A Melody Lane Mystery. The Tower Secret by Lilian Garis. Illustrated by Ruth King.

The School on the Moor by Angela Brazil.

Two Girls and a Mystery by May Hollis Barton.

Jimmie Drury Candid Camera Detective, by David O'Hara.

Cherry Ames Chief Nurse by Helen Wells.

Vicky Barr series. The Mystery of Flight 908 by Helen Wells.

Jane, Stewardess of the Air Lines by Ruthe S. Wheeler.

Five Go to Smuggler's Top by Enid Blyton.

The Sea of Adventure by Enid Blyton. Cover art by Stuart Tresilian.

The Rockingdown Mystery Enid Blyton

The Outdoor Girls in the Air by Laura Lee Hope

I like to say that I jumped from Nancy Drew to Agatha Christie because that's the way I remember it. But I know I also read The Dana Girls (which I loved even more than Nancy) and likely there might have been a couple of other series - now faded from memory. 

All I know for sure is that I loved the titles, the early covers, the artwork, the end-papers and of course, the adventures which showed how young people could do for themselves and take charge even way back then, all the while solving mysteries which baffled the rather ordinary police. For sure, it was fantasy, but I fell hard for it all.

I can't remember reading any Enid Blyton, but I'm thinking it's never too late. At one time Blyton was a beloved and widely read writer whose books were in every kid's library - maybe even mine.

You can read more about these various series at this providential link.

Eventually and with regret, I outgrew Nancy and her friends but I know that these books instilled in me a love of mystery fiction (and reading) which continues to this day.

And I know I'm not the only one.

P.S. Wanted to add that my original link to download the Blyton books for free no longer applies. Apologies for that. But I did download the first of the The Five adventures for 99 cents over at Amazon. You can also download various others for 3.99. At least for now. Of course I'd rather have the actual books with the oh-so-charming covers but needs must.

Crime Fiction Alphabet 2011: Letter D - Nancy Drew / The Dana Girls

For the Letter D, I couldn't choose between Nancy Drew and The Dana Girls, so I've decided to write about both. For me, a young Puerto Rican girl growing up on the lower eastside of Manhattan, attending NYC public schools, you'd think the Nancy Drew stories couldn't have been further from my life experience if I'd lived on the moon. You'd be right. (It turns out that Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor - growing up as I did, in NYC - is also a member of the Nancy Drew Sisterhood.)

Read this short piece from the Deseret News, on why all sorts of women have Nancy in common. It only goes to show you that readers do not, necessarily, always want to see mirror images of themselves in what they read. Despite the social and racial chasm between Nancy Drew's priviledged way of life and my own, the moment I read my first Nancy, something clicked. This was the dream world I coveted. I wanted to be a girl with important things to do, wanted to be a girl in charge, a girl with mysteries to solve. Best of all, I wanted a nice blondish page boy hair-do. How, I wanted that hair-do! Never mind that my hair was black and curly. But, most of all, I coveted Nancy's ride - the little yellow roadster of my dreams. (I don't remember if it was actually yellow, but in my mind it will always be the golden yellow of an egg yolk.)

I never did get to own the little yellow roadster, but I did, vicariously pal around with Nancy and the Dana's for years. From the dark and dusty shelves of my memory bank, I vaguely remember that my favorite of all the Nancy books were THE MYSTERY OF THE MOSS COVERED MANSION and THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE. But there were several others I loved as well. And I still do have a great deal of affection for the vintage early covers. The newer covers, years later, just never did it for me - they were so hopelessly banal in design

Nancy Drew, as most everyone knows, was a teenage girl who lived in the fictional town of River Heights with her very accommodating father, attorney Carson Drew, and their housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. Nancy's mother died when she was a young girl. Nancy has a hapless sort of boyfriend, Ned Nickerson and two gal pals, Bess Marvin and George Fayne, who help her in solving the various mysteries she's always running across.

After I'd read my fair share of Nancy Drews, I discovered The Dana Girls books. Truth be told -now I can admit it at last: I always favored The Dana Girls books. There was just something special about the idea of sisters (all I had was a pesky younger brother) working together to solve a problem, sharing danger together. The Dana girls were orphans who, despite having to attend school, still managed to get away enough times to solve whatever mysteries came their way. They lived with their Aunt Harriet and Uncle Ned, who were brother and sister.

The books are similar in tone and story to the Nancy Drew books, except for the Dana girls' family relationship. I think The Dana Girls would have made terrific movies, but I don't believe they were ever filmed. Of the Nancy Drew films over the years, I've always favored the ones from the 1940's featuring Bonita Granville as Nancy. Bonita gave new meaning to the word: spunky. She could be annoying, but mostly she was a hoot.

One day a few years ago, I was in one of those antiques/collectibles shops where anything is possible, when under some stuff in a corner I spied a vaguely familiar blue cover. It was a Dana Girls mystery - something I hadn't seen in many years. I let out such a squeal of joy that the few people in the shop all turned to stare. But far from being embarrassed, I was thrilled. The owner came over thinking something was wrong. I explained and apologized for scaring everyone - but I was overcome by joy at coming across a piece of my childhood. Long story short: Bought the book and took it home. THE SECRET OF THE JADE RING now has pride of place in my kitchen bookcase.

In truth, I remember very little about either of these series except that when I think of them now I immediately feel good. I know these books helped me manage the difficulties of adolescence simply by taking my mind off the various agonies of the day. And maybe, promising me, in some vague way, that somewhere out there was a world where being a teenager wasn't a curse. What could be bad about that? Nothing much. This post is my entry in this week's CRIME FICTION ALPHABET 2011 - for the Letter D. A meme hosted by Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise.

Link to Unofficial Nancy Drew Fan Website.

Link to a Dana Girls Website listing the titles and history of the series.

Note: I do not endorse any websites offering to sell collectible Nancy Drew or Dana Girls books or merchandise, simply because I've never bought any online. I merely enclose links for information's sake.