Nancy Drew has been part of growing up since forever. fred flare’s Keith and
Lulu revisit the adventures of their childhood heroine with a new outlook. Please
join us as they discuss in order Nancy’s original 56 thrilling cases.

Keith: I’m so excited to begin our book club!

Lulu: I’m so excited that Nancy Drew is the theme of our club.

K: I’m excited that we’re also reading our own childhood copies… Yours even has
your 8-year-old signature inside! We’re geeks!

L: I’m happy I no longer dot my i’s with big circles like that. Nancy didn’t seem to
mind though and it’s super fun to look at now…

K: Yeah, it’s been super fun going back in time. Which brings us to the topic at
hand: The Secret of the Old Clock. Can I confess I have a little controversial
rereading of the text that might change your life forever?

L: I’m ready for anything, just like Nancy. But keep in mind the importance of
this episode because it was the first in the original 56 and sets up Nancy as a
capable teen agent ready to crack any case that comes her way.

K: Precisely. I just find it particularly poignant that this first episode concerns
itself with a clock. Nancy’s chasing this old clock all over the place for some
hidden clues inside – the whereabouts of a will – and even has to remove the
hands and face of the clock to make her discovery. Given what we know about
Nancy – that she’s forever this perfect teen sleuth who never ages and is still
solving mysteries today in the more current yet lame Nancy Drew files – I’d like
to propose that this clock had some secret powers. That Nancy’s first case,
without her knowledge, actually curses her to an eternity of detective work!

L: This is a interesting theory... I did find it odd that Nancy accepted that clock
as a gift at the end when in later books she would normally be incredibly thankful
yet decline any gift of value. Something I’m really excited about is rereading the
series in order. I think it will be helpful in really understanding her development.
I need to collect more clues about what you’ve proposed but we may have a
mystery of our own to solve!

K: Well, let’s cover some basics for our readers who are less familiar with our
heroine and we can all work on it together… I do think this episode introduces
Nancy brilliantly and sets up some of the familiar constructs of the books to
follow. The opening paragraph reads, "Nancy Drew, an attractive girl of eighteen,
was driving home along a country road in her new, dark-blue convertible."
Glamorous! She’s just delivered some legal papers for her famous lawyer father
whom she assists instead of going to college. There’s no mother – she died when
Nancy was young – but there’s that housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. What else?

L: We know that she is very loving and caring and has a lot of feminine
characteristics but is also incredibly independent and isn’t afraid to get her hands
dirty. In this book alone she changes a flat tire and fixes a boat motor. I found it
interesting in this episode that she doesn’t rely on the help of her friends George
and Bess to assist in solving the mystery. I think that’s important in the first few
books to help her establish credibility as a detective although it’s much more fun
when she isn’t working alone. Any thoughts?

K: I don’t know. I kinda feel like in some weird way that she’s always alone,
even when her friends and that boyfriend Ned show up in later books. You have
to admit, she’s a strange bird. She’s super caring, that’s true, and all about
helping others, but she’s distant. Always off to the next thing. Okay, I’m getting
too philosophical. Let’s be trivial! Can I just say she always looks great! I love all
the descriptions of her outfits!

L: I agree. Super cute! She has to be off to the next thing quickly, though, she
only has 180 pages to solve the mystery and save the world! Or at least her
hometown of River Heights. I do agree she is a bit distant and definitely has a
few commitment issues but that’s why we have to explore the significance of that
clock more in depth. I really think you could be on to something and can’t wait to
investigate further!

K: Me too. Can I still be trivial for another second, though?

L: Of course.

K: Well the other thing I’m really into in these books are all the descriptions of
the meals Nancy has. That girl can eat! There’s always those dinners with Dad
when they discuss the case at hand but in this episode there are several luncheons, that one girl makes a birthday cake, Nancy fixes a sandwich for a
poor old lady, she devours pound cake with hot applesauce late one night and in
the last chapter enjoys strawberry waffles! Maybe this detective purgatory she’s
stuck in ain’t half bad… I have a fun idea! How about we share detective work in
the books to follow? You write down all of Nancy’s outfits as you read and I’ll write
down all of her meals as I read and we’ll present the evidence to all our readers!

L: That sounds like a great plan! I can’t wait to critique all of her fashions and
hopefully sample some of her goodies. I’ve been thinking, since you pointed out
the clock, what kind of role model Nancy would be if she did live in the real world.
As a little girl reading Nancy Drew I just remember wanting to be like her. As an
adult, of course, I still want to be like her but often think how the things she does
would never be possible. You really have opened me up to the possibility that all
is not what it may seem.

K: I agree that Nancy is an impossible ideal. That’s why I’m kinda into this curse.
It adds another level, one that’s impossibly sad. It also goes to show that the
key to enjoying these mysteries is a good imagination! I love to dress her up in
Marc Jacobs while I’m reading or imagine her frightened in that dark closet she
gets locked into.

L: Totally. Well I can’t wait to get started on episode 2, The Hidden Staircase!
Please join us as the mystery unfolds.

06/2002