Give A Hoot, Read A Book.

Pet

Pleased to be of help, Ms Ponygurl. Good luck with your story.

To judge from the few I've now read, girl detective novels are great -- just the thing for reading in bed at night. After reading the first couple of novels in the Girl Detective Megapack, I decided to read some other detective material -- and started on Sherlock Holmes. Compared with the Mary Lou mysteries, I found, Sherlock Holmes is pants. For some while, I kept thinking 'the next Sherlock Holmes story must be better', but it never was. So I'm back with the girl detectives.

I checked Nancy Drew (whose mysteries, I'm afraid, I've never read) on Amazon. They work out a lot more expensive than the Girl Detective Megapack -- the first one ('The Secret of the Old Clock') is £3.67 for Kindle, and most of the subsequent volumes are more than £4 each (and there are a great many subsequent volumes). Compared with 37p for 25 novels in the Megapack, Nancy Drew costs a fortune. Also, I wonder whether someone has messed with the texts. An Amazon reviewer mentions that Nancy drives a blue roadster. Using the 'look inside' feature for 'The Secret of the Old Clock', I see that it has become a 'blue convertible'. I'd much prefer a roadster. So, in between the expense and my doubts about the text, I hesitate to buy Nancy Drew books for my Kindle. Do you have any opinion on this, Ms Ponygurl?

Ponygurl

Hmm, maybe they've tried to modernize her? I like the roadster too. Have you ever downloaded free books from the library? I know it's purely Americana, so it may not even be part of the e-collection..but you could look.

Pet

I have, in the past, downloaded some free e-books. But, just now, I searched Nancy Drew by price (low to high). It seems that none of them are available for free. Looking again inside the book, it seems that the illustrations may have been modernised, as well as the text. The car in the picture looks more like a convertible than a roadster. Bah! I think they should leave these things in period.

Ponygurl

Wow..just read the following. Looks like they really did a number on her character-

"Nancy Drew is a fictional young amateur detective in various mystery series for children and teens. Created by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate book packaging firm, the character first appeared in 1930.
The books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene

Over the decades the character has evolved in response to changes in American culture and tastes. The books were extensively revised, beginning in 1959, largely to eliminate racist stereotypes, with arguable success.Many scholars agree that in the revision process, the heroine's original, outspoken character was toned down and made more docile, conventional, and demure. In the 1980s a new series was created, the Nancy Drew Files, which featured an older and more professional Nancy as well as romantic plots. In 2004 the original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, begun in 1930, was ended and a new series, Girl Detective, was launched, with an updated version of the character who drives a hybrid electric vehicle and uses a cell phone. Illustrations of the character have also evolved over time, from portrayals of a fearless, active young woman to a fearful or passive one."

Pet

That's truly dreadful! The upshot, I suppose, is that -- if I ever wish to read Nancy Drew -- I need to buy pre-1959 editions of the books.

It's worrying that modernising Nancy Drew involves making her more docile. Wasn't there something called feminism? Or did I imagine it?

Ponygurl

There's no such thing as a docile woman. I believe that was imagined.

iuventus

Pet said:
It's worrying that modernising Nancy Drew involves making her more docile. Wasn't there something called feminism? Or did I imagine it?

Mind you, that was a 1959 modernization. In the US, you would find that the 60's editions are available in abundance at used book stores. My father and I opened a bookshop in 1995, and we always had shelves and overstock of the vintage (60's/70's) editions. He recently retired his establishment, but I could ask him whether or not he's ever seen the 30's-50's editions.

iuventus

Pet, do an eBay search for 'Nancy Drew in Antiquarian and Collectible.' They are not inexpensive.

Pet

Or Abebooks allows one to search by publication date...

Nah! I've tried that. A load of these books are clearly listed by original publication date, not the date of that specific edition. In fact, I was unable to get an Abebooks search to show satisfactory results.

Pet

As to Ebay, it used to be easy to find a list of their categories and subcategories so that one could search them. Now, they've changed Ebay so much that I've no idea how to find subcategories of books and magazines. I just tried to figure it, and gave up.

iuventus

The original publication date would change if the book were changed, edited, rewritten.

For eBay type in Nancy Drew; then, narrow it down twice, first to books, second to antiquarian and collectible. You know, exactly like I said above.

Pet

It's the narrowing down to antique and collectible that I can't figure.

iuventus

When something comes along that you really want or need, you'll make adequate effort.

Pet

Maybe. But they have fucked about with Ebay. It used to be easier to find stuff.

Actually, I have more physical books than I have room to store. I should be finding homes for the surplus, rather than buying more.

Hells_Bells

Close by Martina Cole. Would love to meet Martina as she seems so down to Earth and funny away from her books and does lots for charity. She's not up herself like some crime writers. Plus it's pretty simple to understand. Hate pretentious literature :-B

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