Nancy Drew: Girl Detective

Book series

Nancy Drew: Girl Detective is a 2004–2012 book series which replaced the long running Nancy Drew mystery series. This new series is written in first person narration, from Nancy's point of view, and features updated versions of the main Nancy Drew characters. New secondary characters are introduced to populate River Heights and appear over multiple books, adding a framework to Nancy's world. Though this series has many improvements over the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, the drastic change in the main characters' personalities was hard for many readers to accept. The series was negatively reviewed by many fans of the series, mainly over the change in Nancy's character. In 2008, the series was changed into a trilogy format, which gained even more negative reviews than before. Simon & Schuster cut back to 4 books a year in 2010, before low sales finally forced the cancellation of the Girl Detective series in 2011. In 2013, the Nancy Drew Diaries series was launched as the replacement for Girl Detective.

In the 90s and early 2000s, sales of the Nancy Drew novel series began to drop. At a Nancy Drew conference held in early 2005 in New York, a Simon and Schuster representative said that the digests had been selling about 30,000 copies. In order to boost sales, the original series was ended and the Nancy Drew series re launched. This new incarnation of Nancy Drew was initially supervised by Bonnie Bryant (Jacobson), with three ghost writers writing the initial six books. The first volume of the new series, Without a Trace, reached the New York Times bestseller list in the Children's Series category and #113 on USA Today's Top 150 sellers list due to the .99 cents introductory price.

The Nancy Drew: Girl Detective novels are usually based in the fictional town of River Heights, which is located in Illinois. Other fictional cities that are mentioned are Silver Creek, East Bank, Cutler Falls, and Trib Falls, which are all near River Heights and the Muskoka River. River Heights is a 1 hour drive west of the real city, Chicago, which has been mentioned frequently.

Nancy Drew is an 18 year old young woman who lives with her father in River Heights. When she was only 3 years old, her mother died, something with which she has had trouble coming to terms. She and her two best friends Bess and George and boyfriend Ned Nickerson solve mysteries in River Heights and places they visit. Nancy is confident, determined (which her dad calls a 'stubborn streak'), and sometimes forgetful when thinking about a case. Her friends help her out to stay on track. Nancy has shoulder length, strawberry blond hair, blue eyes, and is said to be She thinks style is okay but prefers comfort. Georgia "George" Fayne, is one of Nancy's best friends. She is an athletic tomboy who is really good with modern technology. She has brown eyes, short brown hair and is tall and thin and does not care about fashion at all. Unlike the original series, George is also now characterized as a sarcastic pessimist. Bess Marvin is Nancy's other best friend and George's cousin, though they don't have much in common except their friendship to Nancy. Bess is flirty and, according to Nancy, seems perfect in every way. She has blue eyes, blond hair, and curves, unlike her cousin George, who has brown eyes, short brown hair, and is skinny. In Murder on the Set, Bess is said to be Ned Nickerson is Nancy's boyfriend. He sometimes comes along with Nancy on her cases. Ned is in college and tends to be casual. He works for his father's newspaper, the River Heights Bugle. In Murder on the Set, Ned is said to be Carson Drew, Nancy's father, is a lawyer. He is famous in River Heights for being good at solving crimes, a gift he passed down to his daughter. He will sometimes refer small cases his clients have to his daughter. In False Notes, he celebrates his birthday. Hannah Gruen has been living with the Drew family ever since Nancy's mother died. Hannah is their housekeeper and is like a member of the family. She is protective of Nancy, sometimes even when she is working on a case. Deirdre Shannon is Nancy's nemesis and former classmate. Deirdre's father, like Nancy's, is also a lawyer in River Heights. However, Deirdre is an obnoxious, spoiled brat, and frequently being compared to Nancy by her parents. Thus, Deirdre is jealous of Nancy, and the two's rivalry can be traced back to the first grade. Deirdre hates her grade school nickname, DeeDee, and becomes irritated if called by that; thus, George Fayne often refers to her in that way. She has a not so subtle big crush on Ned Nickerson, even though he is dating Nancy. With her black hair, green eyes and pale skin, she looks like a Cruella de Vil II. In Murder on the Set she is mistakenly named "Dierdre Simmons". Chief Pete McGinnis is the local police chief. Unlike the old Nancy Drew stories, in which he and Nancy had a friendly relationship, their relationship is more antagonistic in the new series. Nancy beats him to crime scenes and solves mysteries before him, so he is jealous of her success. In Fishing for Clues, his first name is revealed to be Pete. Harold Safer is Nancy's neighbor. He owns the town's cheese shop, and likes sunsets and Broadway musicals. In the first book, Without a Trace, Harold is accused of smashing a zucchini patch. Nancy and her friends help him prove his innocence. In Lights, Camera and Action!, he co stars with Nancy on a TV movie being shot in River Heights. Charlie Adams works at Carr's Garage, and is a friend of Nancy. He often doesn't charge Nancy, because he is in love with her (though those feelings are not reciprocated). In Pit of Vipers, Nancy is surprised to discover he is a snake collector, when he gets arrested on suspicion of stealing a snake from the local zoo. Luther Eldridge (originally Atchinson) is an expert on River Heights history and he often helps Nancy on her cases. Nancy likes spending time with Luther because she can learn interesting things from him. She was a friend of his daughter, but Luther's entire family died in a car accident when Nancy was still young; afterwards, Luther quit his job while struggling with depression. Mrs. Mahoney is the wealthiest person in River Heights, and the owner of Rackham Industries. Her husband Julius's ancestors were a part of the Rackham Gang, who committed the infamous River Heights Heist and escaped with the money on the Muskoka River (as explained in Action!). While she is very charitable and kind, her late husband is described as the complete opposite.

Books in the Nancy Drew: Girl Detective series were released in paperback format by Simon & Schuster. From 2008 to 2012, the stories were presented in three book arcs, drawing the mystery out over three separate, but linked, titles. The re designed covers feature model Jessica Silverman as Nancy Drew.

+ Titles and publication dates (main series) Trilogy No. (Number) Title Publication date Author rowspan="29" 1 Without a Trace March 1, 2004 rowspan="11" 2 A Race Against Time 3 False Notes 4 High Risk 5 Lights, Camera May 1, 2004 6 Action! July 1, 2004 7 The Stolen Relic September 1, 2004 8 The Scarlet Macaw Scandal November 1, 2004 9 Secret of the Spa January 1, 2005 10 Uncivil Acts March 1, 2005 11 Riverboat Ruse May 1, 2005 12 Stop the Clock July 1, 2005 George Edward Stanley 13 Trade Wind Danger September 1, 2005 rowspan="2" 14 Bad Times, Big Crimes November 1, 2005 15 Framed January 1, 2006 George Edward Stanley 16 Dangerous Plays March 1, 2006 rowspan="32" 17 En Garde May 1, 2006 18 Pit of Vipers July 1, 2006 19 The Orchid Thief September 1, 2006 20 Getting Burned October 24, 2006 21 Close Encounters December 26, 2006 22 Dressed to Steal February 27, 2007 23 Troubled Waters April 24, 2007 24 Murder on the Set May 8, 2007 25 Trails of Treachery August 21, 2007 26 Fishing for Clues October 27, 2007 27 Intruder December 26, 2007 28 Mardi Gras Masquerade February 5, 2008 29 The Stolen Bones April 22, 2008 Perfect Mystery Trilogy 30 Pageant Perfect Crime June 3, 2008 31 Perfect Cover July 29, 2008 32 The Perfect Escape October 7, 2008 Identity Mystery Trilogy 33 Secret Identity December 16, 2008 34 Identity Theft January 27, 2009 35 Identity Revealed March 24, 2009 Model Mystery Trilogy 36 Model Crime June 2, 2009 37 Model Menace August 4, 2009 38 Model Suspect October 6, 2009 Eco Mystery Trilogy 39 Green Eyed Monster December 1, 2009 40 Green with Envy February 9, 2010 41 Seeing Green April 6, 2010 Sabotage Mystery Trilogy 42 Secret Sabotage June 8, 2010 43 Serial Sabotage October 12, 2010 44 Sabotage Surrender February 8, 2011 Malibu Mayhem Trilogy 45 California Schemin June 14, 2011 46 Mystery at Malachite Mansion October 18, 2011 47 Stalk, Don't Run February 21, 2012

Starting in 2006, Aladdin Paperbacks published a new series to replace the Nancy Drew Notebooks series for younger readers; it exists in the same universe as the Nancy Drew: Girl Detective series. It features Nancy Drew, George Fayne, and Bess Marvin as eight year olds in the third grade at River Heights Elementary School, and solving kid sized mysteries, from finding a stolen ice cream formula entry to the culprit who cut the cake before the bride. This series also sets George's mother working her own catering company, and reveals George's real name to be Georgia. This series ended in 2015 to be replaced by the Nancy Drew Clue Book series. + Titles, authorship, and publication dates (Clue Crew) # Title Publication date 1 Sleepover Sleuths June 1, 2006 2 Scream for Ice Cream June 1, 2006 3 Pony Problems August 1, 2006 4 The Cinderella Ballet Mystery October 3, 2006 5 Case of the Sneaky Snowman December 5, 2006 6 The Fashion Disaster February 6, 2007 7 The Circus Scare April 10, 2007 8 Lights, Camera Cats! May 8, 2007 9 The Halloween Hoax August 7, 2007 10 Ticket Trouble September 25, 2007 11 Ski School Sneak November 27, 2007 12 Valentine's Day Secret December 26, 2007 13 Chick napped! March 4, 2008 14 The Zoo Crew May 6, 2008 15 Mall Madness July 1, 2008 16 Thanksgiving Thief September 9, 2008 17 Wedding Day Disaster November 4, 2008 18 Earth Day Escapade January 6, 2009 19 April Fool's Day March 10, 2009 20 Treasure Trouble May 19, 2009 21 Double Take July 21, 2009 22 Unicorn Uproar September 8, 2009 23 Babysitting Bandit November 10, 2009 24 Princess Mix up Mystery December 29, 2009 25 Buggy Breakout March 9, 2010 26 Camp Creepy May 4, 2010 27 Cat Burglar Caper September 14, 2010 28 Time Thief January 4, 2011 29 Designed for Disaster May 3, 2011 30 Dance Off September 13, 2011 31 The Make a Pet Mystery January 3, 2012 32 Cape Mermaid Mystery May 1, 2012 33 The Pumpkin Patch Puzzle September 25, 2012 34 Cupcake Chaos March 5, 2013 35 Cooking Camp Disaster July 9, 2013 36 The Secret of the Scarecrow November 12, 2013 37 The Flower Show Fiasco March 25, 2014 38 A Musical Mess July 8, 2014 39 Museum Mayhem November 4, 2014 40 Butterfly Blues March 24, 2015