Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Nancy D goes 21st century

he Secret of the Old Clock: A Nancy Drew Detective Story by Marci Kay Monson and Ryan Wheatcroft

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Who used to read the Nancy Drew books? There are the originals, reissues, and adaptations for all ages. The first book was about an old clock mystery. I read it back in the day, but was more of a Hardy Boy fan and never read too many Nancy’s adventures. Yet, when I had the opportunity to get an online copy of  The Secret of the Old Clock: A Nancy Drew Detective Story by Marci Kay Monson and illustrations by Ryan Wheatcroft (due later April 2026), […]

Nancy wins!

Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene

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CBR15 BINGO: Hold Steady, because Nancy holds steady until she finds that missing will and saves the day! Note: I read the 1959 edition. A few weeks ago I posted a review of the first Hardy Boys mystery and started a friendly debate about who was better: the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew. It had been a long time since I’d read any of these mysteries, but I remember, as a youngster, having a slight preference for the novels featuring the more feminine detective (I’m […]

Nancy Drew: Girl Detective, White Whale

The Secret of the Old Clock: Nancy Drew Mystery #1 by Carolyn Keene, Mildred Benson

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Cbr13bingo White Whale I somehow managed to make it into my 6th decade having never read a single Nancy Drew book. I have always been somewhat ashamed of this given how great an impact Nancy Drew novels have had on so many women. It’s even more shocking and shameful when I recall that growing up, there were dozens of the Nancy Drew novels in my bedroom closet!! My sister read them all, and I’m pretty sure my mom and aunts had read them when they […]

“Why had my life suddenly become a Nancy Drew mystery from hell?”

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie by Anthony Del Col

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Review title is a quote from Rachel Hawkins’ Demonglass This book is like comic book fan fiction from my 8th grade brain. But more violent, and less me-as-Bess-kissing-a-cute-Frank-Hardy. Imagine the writers of Riverdale picked a different universe to focus their melodramatic musings on. Imagine that world was the pivotal Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys super mysteries, when it seemed like maybe they were trying to do a Christopher Pike thing? (For the record, The Nancy Drew Files were my favorite version.) But imagine instead of leaning into […]

A disappointing history of Nancy Drew, my childhood hero.

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So aside from this gorgeous Scandinavian fairytale book I used to repeatedly check out from the library as a child*, the Nancy Drew books make up the entirety of my first real literary memories. When you have a bookworm for a child, know that that child will scour your entire house for any book it can find**, and will then proceed to read any and all books indiscriminately. This works out well for the child, generally, but you should know it’s going to happen. That’s […]

Scooby-Doo Meets Nancy Drew

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Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore (Ember, 2011) reads like something written by Zane Grey after an all-night peyote bender and Veronica Mars marathon. It mashes up tropes from a half-dozen different genres–the plucky girl detective, the hot cowboy, the lost Spanish goldmine, the restless ghost–and gently pokes fun at itself for doing so. In another writer’s hands, the book could have been a disjointed mess, but Clement-Moore’s breezy, self-aware style manages to pull it all together into a mostly enjoyable read. What’s it about? During […]



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