Today’s theme song for the Nancy Drew Files is “I’ve Been Redeemed,” thanks to Secrets Can Kill.

This afternoon I sat down and read the first “Case Files” book,  Secrets Can Kill, and much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it.  True, I knew who the culprit was within the first few minutes, but these books aren’t exactly meant to be real thought provoking.

In this book, Nancy is asked to go undercover as a student at a nearby high school to find out who’s been breaking into offices and stealing video equipment and whatever else may or may not be missing.

As she arrives to school, Principal Parton pairs Nancy up with Student President Daryl Gray as her contact for the case.  Not only is he the student president, but he’s also quite popular, good-looking, and drives a nice Porsche.  Ned had better watch out!  As usual, the main suspects are determined quickly and Nancy sets out to get all the puzzle pieces and put them together.  The story has quite a bit of action and overall was just an enjoyable, lazy afternoon read.

I just have to come out and say it.  I do not like the Nancy Drew Files.  Over the last several months we’ve been “collecting” any and all Nancy Drew books we came across at the thrift stores and managed to get a couple of the Files.  I read them, but they just didn’t do it for me.  They were not MY Nancy Drew, the sophisticated, smart and ever-brilliant girl that she is, yet I couldn’t pin-point exactly what it was.

Now my daughter, on the other hand, who has just officially become a teenager absolutely loves them and picked up a couple at the library the other day.  And since they are Nancy Drew, I decided to read them.  Well, I think I might have figured out what it is I don’t like.

I just read Two Points to Murder, the eighth book in the series.  In this story, Nancy has been summonsed to Emerson College, the school that Ned Nickerson attends and plays basketball for.  Someone is playing practical jokes on the team, causing them to lose their morale.  Nancy quickly determines a few suspects, but the main guy happens to be one of the team’s best players and Ned’s best friend, Mike.  Well, Ned doesn’t take to kindly to this development and let’s Nancy know what he thinks about it.  As usual, in the end, Nancy gets it all figured out and saves the day.

Overall, I liked the plot of the story.  There are still “exciting” moments of “uh-oh” and Nancy still uses her good wits to get out of some pretty dire straits, but my problem with the story (and the Nancy Drew Files in general) is the personalities.  Nancy and Ned both really came off as just a couple immature, hot-headed know-it-alls and Bess and George contributed nothing to the story.  They seemed to just be placeholders so there would be a string of continuity between the original Nancy Drews and this set.

So there it is, as much as I love Nancy Drew, I do not like “The Nancy Drew Files”.

Over the years, the Nancy Drew books have grown to include at least thirteen different series and specials.

THE NANCY DREW MYSTERY STORIES

These are the original. The first 56 books (The Secret of the Old Clock to The Thirteenth Pearl) were published from 1930 to 1979 by Grosset & Dunlap. In 1979, The Stratemeyer Syndicate (creator of Nancy Drew) changed publishers and Simon & Schuster started publishing the stories with Book 57, The Triple Hoax. There are now 175 books in the series.

THE NANCY DREW FILES

In 1986, Simon & Schuster began publishing The Nancy Drew Files for a slightly older audience than the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories. The series was discontinued in 1997 with a total of 124 titles beginning with Secrets Can Kill and ending with Crime at the Chat Cafe.

THE NANCY DREW NOTEBOOKS

From 1994 to 2005, The Nancy Drew Notebooks were released for the 5 to 8-year-old reader. These 69 books with titles such as The Slumber Party Secret showcase an 8-year-old Nancy as she begins solving her first mysteries with her best friends George Fayne and Bess Marvin. In 2006, this series was re-launched under the title Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew.

NANCY DREW ON CAMPUS

It only took about 65 years, but in 1995 the Nancy Drew on Campus series sent our dear Nancy to college, accompanied with the usual stress and pressures of such an ordeal. However, the change was not well received and the series only lasted for three years and 25 books. Our “perfect” Nancy had been too “normalized” and was involved more in romantic escapades with stories like New Lives, New Loves than she was with solving a good mystery.

NANCY DREW GIRL DETECTIVE

In 2004, Simon & Schuster released Without a Trace, the first book in the Nancy Drew Girl Detective series. Nancy and her sleuthing pals have been updated and the stories are told in first person from Nancy’s perspective. The series currently has 36 books with plans for more books to be released. This series has also produced Nancy Drew Ghost Stories, as well as five Super Mysteries.

NANCY DREW GRAPHIC NOVELS

Would you believe Nancy even found herself launched into the comics? In 2005, Papercutz released The Demon of River Heights and began a series of Nancy Drew Graphic Novels. These graphic novels have kept our same beloved characters and given them a modern appearance and storyline.

NANCY DREW AND THE HARDY BOYS

Between 1981 and 1994, Nancy has also been teamed up with our other two favorite detectives, Frank and Joe Hardy. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Sleuths (1981) and Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Sleuths 2 (1984) were both book volumes containing seven stories each. In 1984 and ’85 six stories were released in the Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Be a Detective Series. This set of books was written so that the reader could take an active part in the story and the ending would be based upon decisions that the reader made. Then between 1988 and 1998, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys SuperMystery Series was released with 36 books.

ALL NANCY, ALL THE TIME

As you can see, there is a little bit of Nancy for just about everyone, and more are in the works and/or out there already. There have been books about our favorite girl sleuth, as well as those to help us be more like her. Could I interest you in The Nancy Drew Cookbook or how about The Official Nancy Drew Handbook: Skills, Tips, and Life Lessons?