nancy drew canon 1: basic edition
Jun. 18th, 2009 02:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ndnickersonWant to read Nancy Drew fanfic, but feel intimidated by the hundreds of canon novels? This brief summary might help.
Nancy Drew is a smart, athletic eighteen-year-old girl with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. She lives in a fictional and generally affluent Chicago suburb called River Heights with her father, wealthy and prominent defense attorney Carson Drew, and their housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. Hannah has been a surrogate mother to Nancy since Nancy's own mother, Carson's wife, died when Nancy was about three years old. Nancy graduated from River Heights High School and has been an amateur detective for a few years, long enough to build up a local reputation. When River Heights residents have a problem the police are unable or unwilling to solve, they often call Nancy. Nancy's proficient in self-defense, some martial arts, and the use of a lockpick, although she is staunchly moral and is on good terms with the River Heights Police Department and its head, Chief McGinnis. Nancy drives a blue convertible, and has two best friends and a long-term boyfriend. Nancy is an only child.
Bess (Elizabeth) Marvin is one of Nancy's best friends, who graduated in her class at River Heights High. Bess is petite and curvy, blonde and blue-eyed, a bit plump (although her size is specified in one book as a 6), constantly going on diets to lose the extra 20 points that she feels will put her at her ideal size, only to be foiled by a slice of chocolate cake or an extra scoop of ice cream. She's outgoing, a flirt, a bit of a drama queen, loves to shop, and is the kind of girl who goes on adventures with Nancy when her nails are freshly done and she's in a brand-new pair of stiletto heels. She's a bit squeamish and prissy, but very good-hearted and can be courageous when the situation calls for it. Bess is an only child.
Bess's first cousin and Nancy's other best friend is George Fayne, who also graduated in their class at River Heights High. George is, in fact, a girl, and depending on the book, her name may simply be George or be short for Georgina or Georgianna. George is tall and athletic, brunette, and the most socially awkward of the trio. She can be described as Bess's opposite in almost every way. She's competitive and shy around boys, although she has formed strong attachments to a few, while Bess has a new boyfriend every other week. When she's not doing some sort of physical activity, George is eager to join in on Nancy's adventures. George is also an only child.
Ned Nickerson is Nancy's longtime boyfriend. He is a year or so older than Nancy, Bess, and George, and graduated from Mapleton High School, in the next town over from River Heights. His parents, James and Edith, are well-off and Ned is their only child. Ned is attending Emerson College, at some considerable distance from Mapleton and River Heights, and is a member of the Omega Chi Epsilon fraternity, where he lives. He is tall, square-jawed, brown-haired and brown-eyed, and plays all major sports at Emerson (football, basketball, and baseball; he is co-captain of the basketball team). He is one of the most popular students at Emerson, easygoing and charming, and is eager to join Nancy on her cases when he's not in class. Nancy has often been drawn into cases when visiting Ned at Emerson. He is supportive of her chosen profession but can be jealous of the time she devotes to it, and has made no secret of the fact that he intends to propose marriage to her one day. Nancy has no intention of being married young, and while she loves Ned, Ned does seem more devoted to her than she is to him.
Frank and Joe Hardy, the Hardy Boys, are friends with Nancy, and occasionally the three of them work together on cases as well. Frank Hardy, while somewhat similar in build to Ned, is also an investigator, though he and Joe are occasionally called in on somewhat covert government assignments, a rarity for Nancy herself. Frank is intelligent and capable, and while he has a longtime girlfriend named Callie Shaw, Frank and Nancy are mutually attracted to each other. Anytime they act on said attraction, they feel guilty and conflicted, and have not done much more than make out. Ned, at least, is aware of the attraction, and as such can be overtly jealous where Frank is concerned. Joe is Frank's younger brother, blond and more stockily built, and a bit of a flirt.
The canon:
The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories are the old hardback books, published from 1930 on. Nancy's cases are a bit milder and can sometimes resemble the kind of thing you'd see on Scooby Doo. Nancy and Ned's relationship is pointedly platonic, although Ned has stolen a kiss or two, and made his intentions toward Nancy clear. Nancy and Frank do not know each other in this canon.
The Nancy Drew Case Files were paperbacks published from the mid 1980s through the late 1990s. Nancy and Ned's relationship is more overtly romantic, although it is still limited to making out, but Nancy does investigate more serious crimes, including murder. In this series Nancy is more of a flirt, and though she is in most cases faithful to Ned, she has been known to make out with other guys she meets on cases. Nancy and Frank's relationship is established in the related Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys SuperMysteries series. The Files conclude with Nancy and Ned together.
The Nancy Drew On Campus series overlapped a bit with the end of the Files and was only published for a few years; officially the Files do not have anything to do with the On Campus series. In this series, Nancy, George, and Bess attend Wilder University, Nancy pursuing a journalism degree, and very early in the series Nancy breaks up with Ned, dating a series of fellow students. George has a serious intimate relationship with Will Blackfeather and Bess has a string of semi-serious relationships. Ned and Bess's relationship deepens a bit after Nancy breaks up with him, although the canon doesn't seem to imply that Ned and Bess actually went so far as to date. The series concludes with Nancy single and fondly remembering Ned, possibly implying some sort of reconciliation.
Nancy Drew is a smart, athletic eighteen-year-old girl with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. She lives in a fictional and generally affluent Chicago suburb called River Heights with her father, wealthy and prominent defense attorney Carson Drew, and their housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. Hannah has been a surrogate mother to Nancy since Nancy's own mother, Carson's wife, died when Nancy was about three years old. Nancy graduated from River Heights High School and has been an amateur detective for a few years, long enough to build up a local reputation. When River Heights residents have a problem the police are unable or unwilling to solve, they often call Nancy. Nancy's proficient in self-defense, some martial arts, and the use of a lockpick, although she is staunchly moral and is on good terms with the River Heights Police Department and its head, Chief McGinnis. Nancy drives a blue convertible, and has two best friends and a long-term boyfriend. Nancy is an only child.
Bess (Elizabeth) Marvin is one of Nancy's best friends, who graduated in her class at River Heights High. Bess is petite and curvy, blonde and blue-eyed, a bit plump (although her size is specified in one book as a 6), constantly going on diets to lose the extra 20 points that she feels will put her at her ideal size, only to be foiled by a slice of chocolate cake or an extra scoop of ice cream. She's outgoing, a flirt, a bit of a drama queen, loves to shop, and is the kind of girl who goes on adventures with Nancy when her nails are freshly done and she's in a brand-new pair of stiletto heels. She's a bit squeamish and prissy, but very good-hearted and can be courageous when the situation calls for it. Bess is an only child.
Bess's first cousin and Nancy's other best friend is George Fayne, who also graduated in their class at River Heights High. George is, in fact, a girl, and depending on the book, her name may simply be George or be short for Georgina or Georgianna. George is tall and athletic, brunette, and the most socially awkward of the trio. She can be described as Bess's opposite in almost every way. She's competitive and shy around boys, although she has formed strong attachments to a few, while Bess has a new boyfriend every other week. When she's not doing some sort of physical activity, George is eager to join in on Nancy's adventures. George is also an only child.
Ned Nickerson is Nancy's longtime boyfriend. He is a year or so older than Nancy, Bess, and George, and graduated from Mapleton High School, in the next town over from River Heights. His parents, James and Edith, are well-off and Ned is their only child. Ned is attending Emerson College, at some considerable distance from Mapleton and River Heights, and is a member of the Omega Chi Epsilon fraternity, where he lives. He is tall, square-jawed, brown-haired and brown-eyed, and plays all major sports at Emerson (football, basketball, and baseball; he is co-captain of the basketball team). He is one of the most popular students at Emerson, easygoing and charming, and is eager to join Nancy on her cases when he's not in class. Nancy has often been drawn into cases when visiting Ned at Emerson. He is supportive of her chosen profession but can be jealous of the time she devotes to it, and has made no secret of the fact that he intends to propose marriage to her one day. Nancy has no intention of being married young, and while she loves Ned, Ned does seem more devoted to her than she is to him.
Frank and Joe Hardy, the Hardy Boys, are friends with Nancy, and occasionally the three of them work together on cases as well. Frank Hardy, while somewhat similar in build to Ned, is also an investigator, though he and Joe are occasionally called in on somewhat covert government assignments, a rarity for Nancy herself. Frank is intelligent and capable, and while he has a longtime girlfriend named Callie Shaw, Frank and Nancy are mutually attracted to each other. Anytime they act on said attraction, they feel guilty and conflicted, and have not done much more than make out. Ned, at least, is aware of the attraction, and as such can be overtly jealous where Frank is concerned. Joe is Frank's younger brother, blond and more stockily built, and a bit of a flirt.
The canon:
The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories are the old hardback books, published from 1930 on. Nancy's cases are a bit milder and can sometimes resemble the kind of thing you'd see on Scooby Doo. Nancy and Ned's relationship is pointedly platonic, although Ned has stolen a kiss or two, and made his intentions toward Nancy clear. Nancy and Frank do not know each other in this canon.
The Nancy Drew Case Files were paperbacks published from the mid 1980s through the late 1990s. Nancy and Ned's relationship is more overtly romantic, although it is still limited to making out, but Nancy does investigate more serious crimes, including murder. In this series Nancy is more of a flirt, and though she is in most cases faithful to Ned, she has been known to make out with other guys she meets on cases. Nancy and Frank's relationship is established in the related Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys SuperMysteries series. The Files conclude with Nancy and Ned together.
The Nancy Drew On Campus series overlapped a bit with the end of the Files and was only published for a few years; officially the Files do not have anything to do with the On Campus series. In this series, Nancy, George, and Bess attend Wilder University, Nancy pursuing a journalism degree, and very early in the series Nancy breaks up with Ned, dating a series of fellow students. George has a serious intimate relationship with Will Blackfeather and Bess has a string of semi-serious relationships. Ned and Bess's relationship deepens a bit after Nancy breaks up with him, although the canon doesn't seem to imply that Ned and Bess actually went so far as to date. The series concludes with Nancy single and fondly remembering Ned, possibly implying some sort of reconciliation.
