Nancy Mania, Day FOUR!

The second part of our exclusive interview with Nancy Drew

Your boyfriend Ned Nickerson is so supportive and awesome. Do you ever disagree about anything?

ND: Ned’s great and he’s so patient! He knows that mysteries are very important to me, though he’s always pestering me to attend Emerson fraternity dances but sometimes a girl just has to sleuth! Mysteries often have a way of catching up to me at Emerson events and often our dates involved stakeouts and chasing after suspects. Ned’s even taken a few punches and been kidnapped in the pursuit of my suspects. He’s such a trooper and he never complains. What a guy!

Now we've heard some buzz about you and FRANK HARDY! Is it possible Frank could ever eclipse Ned in your affections?

ND: Ned is so patient, he's a great guy, he can take a few punches for the team and bounce right back--he also follows orders. I've trained him well. He's really into football and insurance sales though, so sometimes Frank Hardy can seem like an adventurous side trip--he's got great detective skills and has a lot in common with me. I'll admit, I've given him more than a passing glance before and we have kissed, but I think in the long run, Ned is the steady guy for me.

You have used many aliases and disguises. What was your most memorable disguise? Do you have any advice for the modern girl who wants to conceal her identity?

ND: My most memorable disguise would have to be from The Whispering Statue case, where I dressed up as “Debbie Lynbrook” complete with a dark wig and glasses. George even made me a set of calling cards with my alias on them! In hindsight, my worst alias was probably Nan Drewry…My advice for the modern woman, would be to use both a disguise and a good alias that has nothing to do with you or your name. And speak with an accent for that extra dash of flair!

You have helped so many crime victims with your sleuthing abilities. Do any cases stand out in your mind as being especially rewarding to you personally?

ND: I always help others, it’s my great passion in life, and every case has been rewarding in so many ways. Of course, I always have help from my friends and couldn’t have done it without them! My first case, I always have a special place for in my heart as I was able to help so many in need of money to better their lives in The Secret of the Old Clock. And in The Password to Larkspur Lane, I was able to catch a host of thieves who were stealing elderly people’s fortunes and imprisoning them in a fake nursing home.

Talk about a great job!
Thanks to Jennifer Fisher for playing the part of Nancy for part 1 &2 of this interview as nobody else could. Fisher is an author, consultant and historian of all things Nancy Drew; she conducts lectures, programs, conventions and interviews nationwide, consults on book identifications and values. (She was the Nancy Drew Consultant for Warner Brothers on the 2007 Nancy Drew movie!) and is President of the Nancy Drew Sleuths fan group. Find Fisher at nancydrewsleuth.com

Tracy examines a Modern Nancy Drew Book!

TITLE: The Mistletoe Mystery – A Nancy Drew book
AUTHOR: Carolyn Keene
SERIES: Hello! It’s Nancy Drew!

REASON FOR READING:
Well, I had planned on reading another ND book that my daughter has, but it mysteriously disappeared when I was looking for it (maybe I should call ND and her come investigate). Anyway, so I got this one from the library.

SUMMARY: (from Goodreads)
Nancy's friend Bess has been hired by Special Effects, a River Heights company, to decorate Albemarle's department store for the holidays. When Bess discovers that her friend Ali Marie is now working at the store, she's thrilled -- the two of them can have lunch and try on clothes for fun! But when some dresses are swiped, Ali is accused of stealing, and the party's over.
Sure of her friend's innocence, Bess calls in Nancy to help find the real thief. With all the suspects and misleading clues, Nancy and her friends are running in circles -- and the holiday shopping rush isn't helping! Can they figure out the identity of a clothes-hungry kleptomaniac before the holiday season turns sour?

THOUGHTS/OPINION:
So I was a little hesitant to read this book because it was one of the newer Nancy Drew Mysteries and I wanted to read one of the older ones to get that feeling again that I felt when I was reading them 1000 years ago. But, CJ convinced me to read it anyway.

It was very strange to read this book. It was good, and from what I remember a typical Nancy Drew Mystery, but it was so updated that it was odd.

Let’s get a little into the story…
So as you read in the summary, Nancy is trying to solve the mystery of the theft of a shipment of dresses from the Juniors Department at a large Department store in River Heights. (The place kind of sounds like a Macy’s or Bloomingdale’s from the description). Ali works in Wave (Junior department) and is accused of stealing the dresses, but management is obviously not convinced she’s done the stealing since she’s only been fired, but not arrested. Along with the dresses being stolen Ali has informed Nancy that there are things being stolen out of the electronics department as well. (This is one of those places that seemed odd to me since they were talking about minicomputers, handhelds and other electronics. Those weren’t invented in the earlier books!)

Nancy has stepped in to try to help figure out who is taking the merchandise. She talks to the head of security, Jack, and although he’s heard of Nancy and her great reputation of solving crime, he says he doesn’t need her help, thank you anyway. Nancy basically doesn’t listen and keeps up her investigation.

This part irked me a little in the fact that this is a huge department store with security cameras, etc., but Nancy still feels that they need her help. Did she do this in all her books? I just can’t remember. She even goes so far as to sneak into the head of security’s office, copy security reports and steal passwords! This was sooooo not the Nancy I remembered! THEN, as if that were bad enough, Nancy, Bess and George basically break into the office again, hack into Jack’s computer (well I guess it’s not hacking since she stole his password!) and looked into personnel files. I was appalled that this happened! My Nancy just doesn’t do that kind of thing!

Nancy did tell Jack the next day that she broke into his computer and although he wasn’t happy he just told her not to do it again. WTF???? OMG – how about call the police?! Lol (sorry Nance but that’s just wrong!) When I was reading the books when I was younger and Nancy used to do things she wasn’t supposed to do I thought it was pretty cool. Maybe because I couldn’t do any of that stuff? Did she always break laws to get her cases solved? IDK. Am I just old? Again, IDK!

Nancy ended up getting help from her friends and solving the crime in the end. She got commendations from the department store and ended up saving them a ton of money because the thefts stopped.

Overall I think it was a great little book and would definitely recommend it to young teens. Nancy as usual was inventive in her case cracking and capture of the criminal.

Find Tracy at the fabulous Ahhhhh Romance


Newsy updates:

Sarai has caught Nancy Drew fever! Check her "13 Things Nancy Drew Taught Me." One of my faves:

#4: Always keep your friends close. You never know when they might come in handy as a decoy for a foiled kidnapping scheme.

Tomorrow: Winners announced and more!