I Closed the Loop

 When I was around 7, our family was on a road trip. We were stopped at a cafe/gift shop/gas station area at one point, and my dad came out with a hard cover book for me:  Nancy Drew Mystery #1: The Secret of the Old Clock.   It was the yellow flashlight edition, a 1959 reedit of the original 1930 story.  It turns out I cannot read in the car for extreme motion sickness, and we had to pull off the road for me to vomit. 

 Nonetheless, I was hooked on Nancy Drew.  I collected a few more over the years, but the real bonanza came when we would visit the downtown library every now and then, and I would acquire three or four of these delicious tomes.  I would set to reading one and would be incapable of pulling myself away for the hours it took to complete it.  My mother was after me to go outside and play, to do my homework,  to practice, to sleep, but these were impossible to put any brain on until Nancy had solved her mystery.  Being a sensitive child, I also found these adventures to be quite hair raising, to the point of being kept awake at night thinking about break-ins and kidnappings, and jumping at the smallest sounds.  I was amazed at Nancy's brilliant hunches and prowess at solving thorny problems with extreme bravery (unable to fathom that she was really a fictional character, bent to the will of the author of the month.)

I think I eventually read everything the library happened to have in stock of the yellow flashlight edition.  I also read some of the newer publishing run which were all paperback, and I quit pretty quickly.  Nancy and her friends were much more flashy and hip, and every mystery seemed centered around the latest technology.  In my mind, they had lost all their charm and intelligence.

A few years ago, my eldest was on a Nancy Drew kick, and acquired two volumes.  Others visited us from the library, and many visited us on audio recordings posted to YouTube. I met a couple new volumes under those circumstances which I had not read before. 

In June or July 2025, I wrote the complete list of the first publishing run of the Nancy Drew's in my notebook (#1-#56), and then read them all, mostly in order.  E had the aforementioned two in her collection, and all the others I borrowed from the county library.  Fortunately interlibrary loan is a thing, so I was able to get most of them hard copy.  There were a few which the library only owns in digital copy at the moment, so those I checked out and read on the library app on my phone.  Weekend before last, I finally finished the complete reading project, and frankly, I was very proud of myself for sticking with it and being thorough. 

Here are a few stats from my project...

Total number of books read:  56

Number read in hard copy: 50

Number read digitally: 6

Number I had read before completely: 34

Number I had read before in part: 3

Number I had never read before: 19

Here are a few more observations...

Although numbers 1-46 had all been re-edited over the years and some substantially, there was a certain thread of subtle racism remaining.  This disapated, though not completely, by the time the series ended.  #47 The Mysterious Mannequin was the first book published still in its original format from 1970.

The series ran until 1979.  

The very earliest mysteries were all set in and around "River Heights", which I estimate to be in New Jersey.  However, there was a strong thread of exoticism introduced fairly early on, with adventures happening in Arizona, New Orleans, NYC, Maryland, California, Ohio, Amish Country, Florida, and also Mexico, Scotland, Turkey, Hong Kong, and Japan.

A couple of the stories bordered on sci-fi, but most of the mysteries were maxed out technologically with wigs and make-up and secret sliding panels.

They were not at all scary now, since I have additional decades of life-experience through which to enjoy them.  Also, the police were way too trusting of Nancy and visa versa.  Very much not legal any more...

I was sad to get to the end, but before I finished, I made up my kind what to read next, and that is The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency.  I already own volumes 1-5, and read volumes 6-9 from the public library when we lived in Rochester.  At that time, the series had only run to number 10, so I will get to go further now.  I have also listened to the children's prequel a few times on library audio book.  They are for a more mature and complex audience, and I am enjoying my third or so trip through the first volume again.