Girls wanted to be her...Guys wanted to Date Her...The One & Only...Nancy Drew...

 “I loved Nancy Drew.  Looking Back, I think she was a great role model—a strong, independent young woman…” Marti Schmidt Martin

Nancy Drew and The Secret of the Old Clock

A Review by Jim Romano

Hey 1000 Bookies!!  Today we are heading to the American Midwest to a fictional town named River Heights, to meet Nancy Drew, the famous detective.  The latest book I completed on the 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die is The Secret of the Old Clock, which has the distinction of being the very first Nancy Drew mystery.  The story was originally written in 1930 but was re-written in 1959 (to soften Nancy and to change some racial stereotypes).  The “author” is  credited as Carolyn Keene, however there is no Carolyn Keene.  According to James Mustich, “'Carolyn Keene’ is the pseudonym for a group of ghostwriters who, over several decades, have composed and revised the Nancy Drew Tales”. There were many authors over the years however the most prolific writers in the series were Mildred Wirt Benson and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. 

When I first saw that Nancy Drew had made the 1,000 Books list, I wrinkled my nose.  However, when I completed my research, I came to realize that she ultimately did belong on such an important list.  The Nancy Drew phenomenon includes 533 separate books in 9 separate book series.  She has also collaborated in 6 novels with the famous Hardy Boys. However, as a tween, I always wanted to know which Hardy Boy Nancy would pick as a love interest.  Almost immediately, Nancy Drew made it to the movie screen in the 1930s.  Eventually she would hit the television screen in the 1970s.  Two modern Nancy Drew movies have been filmed, one in 2007 with Emma Roberts and one which came out in 2018.  Currently Nancy Drew is a TV series on the CW network with Kennedy McMann as Nancy and Scott Wolf as her father, Carson Drew, the attorney. 

The story of The Secret of the Old Clock is a morality tale centering around the will of Mr. Josiah Crowley.  Mr. Crowley died of natural causes (and old age) however prior to his dying Mr. Crowley seems to have promised to help out many struggling friends and relatives financially with his estate.  However, when Mr. Crowley dies, he is living with some wealthy relatives, the Topham Family who have a will that entitles them to Mr. Crowley’s fortune. Case closed right, the will was found giving the money to this family…or is it? Then in walks Nancy Drew.  Obviously, you get the picture that the Topham family does not deserve the money, they are a disagreeable and greedy group.  Accordingly, there are more deserving people for Mr. Crowley’s fortune.  There must be another will somewhere and Nancy is determined to find the missing will. 

One random day, Nancy Drew is driving her convertible home when she sees a child almost get hit by a truck.  Nancy stops and helps the child and discovers that she lives with two elderly great-aunts because her parents are dead, the Turner sisters.  Nancy being basically a girl scout asks lots of questions and determines that Judy and her aunts are barely scraping by.  Nancy hears their tale of woe and resolves to help them.  The Turner sisters thought their cousin, Mr. Crowley was going to remember them in his will, at least he told the sisters that. Along the way of the story, Nancy finds quite a few people that were promised resources from the Crowley estate and makes numerous friends.  Along with the Turner sisters, Nancy meets The Hoover Sisters (Grace & Allison); The Matthews Brothers (Fred & William); and Abby Rowen, an elderly and handicapped woman.  All these families need the assistance and were promised some help. In reality, know plenty of people who were waiting for some relative to pass away only to be thwarted in the end.

The Topham Family are the antagonists in the story, Nancy (and most everyone else) dislikes them intensely, even their own lawyer.  They are rich, uppity and have little sympathy for anyone else.  The Topham girls (Ada & Isabel)went to school with Nancy and they were NOT friends.  We all have those people in our past, a rival who is our nemesis from middle and high school.  All that was missing in this story was a boy for Nancy and the Topham girls to fight over at the country club dance.  Nancy also has to do battle with furniture thieves, yes furniture thieves.  These men go around and steal people’s (maybe valuable?) furniture.  They are the ones who almost run over Judy at the beginning of the story as they sneakily steal from the Turner Sisters.  At some point they steal Mr. Crowley’s clock from the Tophams lake house and Nancy has to intrigue to retrieve it.  The thieves eventually lock Nancy in a closet when they catch her catching them.  I won’t ruin the ending since the story is a mystery.   

In his analysis on the book in 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die, James Mustich writes “The first three women to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor, have something in common besides mastery of the law; their childhood love for Nancy Drew Mysteries”.  Nancy Drew has inspired multiple generations of families with her mystery solving abilities.  I only had to look to my own family to prove that fact.  My grandmother, my mother, my wife and my daughter each have read Nancy Drew Mysteries.  My grandmother told me about her time as a girl in the 1940s reading the series while living with her domineering grandmother.   The novels were an escape for her.  Having lost her father when she was two years old, my grandmother identified with Nancy Drew who lost her mother at a young age.  Nancy Drew began a 70+ year love of mystery novels for my grandmother.  At 87, I recently purchased a mystery for her (in large print) because I know how much she loves a good mystery. 

My mom was a huge fan of Nancy Drew, she identified with her as an explorer and a tomboy.  My mom was the oldest with three brothers so the tomboy antics of Nancy Drew appealed to her. My mom’s favorite Nancy Drew mystery was The Hidden Staircase.  She gave her copy to my daughter to read.  My wife and my daughter both read books in the series.  My wife said of Nancy Drew, “I was excited to read Nancy Drew as my mom had talked about how much she loved the books, but in the end the series wasn’t for me, but overall I don’t like reading fiction”.  My daughter said, "I was excited to read my grandmother's favorite Nancy Drew mystery."

I asked my friends on social media if they read Nancy Drew and why.  I received some fantastic feedback.  One friend, Ashley Gregory wrote, “Nancy Drew was a refuge on lonely summer days as a child.  I would go to the library and check out as many as I could and rush home to devour my treasures.  Nancy Drew taught me forthrightness and tenacity, to notice details and trust my gut”.  My cousin Nicole Snyder wrote, “She was a problem-solver.  She was intelligent.  She was inquisitive and wasn’t afraid to ask questions”.  My aunt, Marie Weisgerber wrote, “I used to save my money to buy Nancy Drew books. Back then they were about a dollar. Also took them to school and got in trouble reading when I was supposed to be doing other lessons”. 

Nancy Drew entertained and inspired at least four generations of American girls (and some boys too).  Nancy has had quite the impact on literature and reading.  Pick up a copy of a Nancy Drew Mystery for yourself or for a young person, the memories will be priceless. 

 Keep Reading My Friends!!