A Little Bit of Nancy Drew History Before We Begin

When ghostwriter Mildred A. Wirt wrote the first Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the Old Clock (1930), there was no way she could have anticipated the future success of her young heroine. Nancy, her adventures in tow, has spanned decades and crossed generations, fueled by the hungry minds of millions. She has become a household name around the world. The girl slueth has been translated into film, television, computer games, and audio readings. Her many talents and good qualities have idolized her in the eyes of girls everywhere.

Now that that piece of deserved praise is out of the way, I’ll get down to business. As much as I myself have loved Nancy Drew, I was also slightly annoyed by her dated mannerisms and brash attitude in the early books, and the just-plain-bad writing of the latter volumes. So now, in the spirit of being cathardically superficial, Let us begin.