Nancy Drew Investigates

This is a genuine fanboy blog but with an fm bondage twist!

[ndfan3]

This blog is a genuine tribute to Nancy Drew from a middle aged male who loves the stories by the various Carolyn Keenes. As a righter of wrongs, Nancy is also a credible fm bondage fantasy figure, so alongside commentary about her real adventures, I indulge myself with my own capture fantasies built around some of the multiple ND illustrations out there. I will credit the sources where I can.

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The Secret of the Fiery Chamber, The Nancy Drew Mysteries #159 (February 2001)

An Ancient Art Leads To A Modern Deception…

Nancy, George and Bess visit potter Theresa Kim, who lives in the art community of East River Junction. Theresa specialises in the ancient Japanese craft of Raku, a skilled craft involving red hot pottery being produced directly from a kiln, and allows the fascinated friends to watch her at work. Later however, Theresa tells the girls that excellent copies of her work are being produced and sold as genuine antiques at very high prices by counterfeiters. It seems Theresa is being blackmailed into co-operating with the scam or be reported as a forger herself. Nancy decides to investigate in order to to bring the unscrupulous criminals to justice, but in doing so puts herself and her friends in serious danger.

The cover to this Nancy Drew adventure is notable for using a photographic image of our heroine as opposed to a realistic illustration.

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The Midnight Visitor confesses all and surrenders to Judy Bolton. Judy then ties him up.

AI video created via Grok.

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Dream Of Medusa

“Dream of Medusa..” Nancy breathed, fascinated, as her flashlight beam revealed the last and most vital clue. She looked up at the aghast Captain Easterly. “This proves it!” the girl sleuth told the wide-eyed mariner confidently, a note of triumph in her voice. “Only you could have left this message. You are behind the hauntings and thefts, captain! Come on, George, let's tie him up!"

"You're making a mistake!". cried Easterly, his eyes desperately scanning the hold, looking for an escape…

Source: Illustration from The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories # 27: The Secret Of The Wooden Lady (1950).

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Girl Detective Being Pursued

AI image created via AIFantasy

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The Secret In The Stars, The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #156. (1st September 2000)

Nancy focuses on a missing astronomer - and collides with a galaxy of trouble!

Nancy, George and Bess are called upon to solve the mystery of a famous astronomer and radio personality , “Dr Stars” Steller, who appears to have gone missing when his vehicle is found (by Nancy of course) abandoned during the Perseid meteor shower in River Heights. Nancy soon encounters a hostile rival astronomer and a series of mind boggling clues as she attempts to get to the bottom of the disappearance. Midway through her investigation Steller apparently reappears but Nancy is not convinced that she has seen real Steller and widens her search to include interrogating a famous Hollywood heartthrob who happens to be in River Heights with his girlfriend. The plot pursues many false leads until Nancy and her friends are at last able to unravel a sinister tale of deception, stolen identity and vacuous celebrity culture.

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ND Dictionary ► Nancy Drew

created in 1930. plucky heroine of over 200 mystery books and 29 pc games. 18 year old amateur sleuth. has inspired girls and women all over the world such as sandra day o'connor, barbara walters, laura bush, and mary higgins clark. american literary icon.

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“Surrender, LaMotte!”

Having trailed her prime suspect throughout the streets of Paris, Nancy was dismayed to see him leap suddenly down a manhole and into the fabled Parisian sewers. The girl detective had no choice: she took a deep breath and then plunged underground too to continue her pursuit of her quarry, with only her trusty flashlight to illuminate the way through the gloom.

After nearly an hour, Nancy was close to giving up when her lamp’s beam picked up the disheveled and filthy LaMotte looking dismayed, his path blocked by a monstrous fatberg. He had obviously slipped and fallen into the mire of the sewers in his desperate attempt to escape, and he now he looked both defeated and disgusted. “Surrender, LaMotte!” the young sleuth called out to him. “You can see that there is no way you can get away now!” In truth Nancy was unsure how the fraudster would react - would he charge at her like a cornered rat, or would he meekly submit? To her relief, LaMotte chose the latter option, only too glad it seemed, to be led away from the stench of the fatberg and the increasing darkness of the tunnels. “Ok,” he mumbled and allowed Nancy to take his arm, tie his hands behind his back, then guide him back the way the pair had come to the clean brightness of the surface.

Source: Nancy Drew illustration, possibly from The Hidden Staircase; caption mine,

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The Legend of the Emerald Lady, The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #154 (May 2000)

On a Caribbean vacation, Nancy discovers the secret of a long-ago romance…

Nancy enjoys yet another of her exotic holidays when she travels to the Caribbean island of St Anne, with boyfriend Nick Nickerson and her best friend Bess Marvin for several weeks of sunbathing, sailing, snorkelling and exploring the fascinating history of this little-known West Indian paradise. Unfortunately, the vacation on a nineteenth century plantation called SugarMoon, owned by friends of Nancy, takes a terrifying turn when it is interrupted by a mysterious man dressed as a pirate, wielding a cutlass and threatening death and destruction to Nancy and her friends. Nancy is therefore plunged once again into an adventure of peril and sleuthing as she attempts to unmask this apparent menace who seems to more resemble a character out of Scooby Doo, than the villains the girl detective usually encounters.

Nancy soon discovers there are mysteries and grievances thought long buried in the past, but which have suddenly burst into life. The key to the mystery goings-on on the plantation appear to centre on a centuries-old love affair and a pirate’s gift of a precious emerald necklace that now seems to be the subject of attention from intruders, and the cutlass-wielding man. Nancy’s investigation soon gets her into trouble and she has to dodge several dangerous traps before she finally locates the necklace, only to find that this is only the beginning of her problems.

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“What are you doing here?” Nancy demanded.

Nancy confronted the suspicious-looking gaunt man as he appeared to be running away from the scene of the fire. Cleverly gaining the advantage over her suspect by blinding him with her flashlight which she turns on his face, Nancy forces the man to answer her questions.

Source: The Clue in the Diary, The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #7 (1932); art by RH Tandy.

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The Clue of the Gold Doubloons, The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #149 (1999)

Nancy ships off for a baffling mystery!

Nancy and George get involved in the making of a low-budget movie, a pirate adventure featuring a famous female pirate who is to be played by George and being filmed in Baltimore. Nancy works closely on assistant director duties with the two film-makers, her friends the twin brothers Andrew and David Wagner. The movie is able to recreate the high seas of the seventeenth century thanks to access to a scale replica of a genuine pirate ship, The Swift Adventure, which provides the setting for much of the action.

What starts as something of a jape for the girls, takes a less fun turn when a series of robberies take place at the hotel at which the film crew and production team are staying. Bizarrely a single doubloon is left at the crime scenes and Nancy is faced with the possibility that the whole series of events is either a publicity stunt by the Wagner brothers to advertise the film or that the thefts could be an attempt to sabotage the production and put the Wagners out of business. Either way, Nancy is convinced the culprit is a member of the movie’s cast or production team and is determined to get to the bottom of this peculiar mystery.

It soon becomes clear that the motivation for the crimes is probably an attempt to locate a hoard of Spanish doubloons, buried somewhere on the Baltimore coast. Things get very close to home when George herself is accused of masterminding the robberies, meaning Nancy has to unmask the real thief to save her friend from prison.

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Nancy pointed out the stolen table. “That’s it!” she cried. “That’s the antique that has disappeared!” She stared accusingly at Mr Griswald, who, unable to meet the girl sleuth’s eyes, instead bowed his head and gazed at the floor of his shop. Turning to Bess and George, Nancy said to her friends with a note of satisfaction: “Tie him up, girls while I call the sheriff!”

Source: Illustration from The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #33 ,The Witch Tree Symbol (1955). My reimagining.

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Mystery At Moorsea Manor, The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #150 (July 1999)

Nancy takes a trip to England - and rides straight into danger!

Nancy and George head to England for yet another vacation, this time booking a stay in a plush moorland hotel, Moorsea Manor in Devon (presumably Exmoor where the moors do indeed adjoin the coast), for a horse-riding holiday. Before they even arrive at their destination, the girl sleuths finds themselves being misdirected by a tampered road sign, and once there encounter a struggling hotel which has become the victim of a campaign of incidents seemingly designed to drive it out of business. Nancy, after narrowly avoiding being crushed by a bronze statue apparently dropped on her from a second floor window, feels obliged to investigate and attempt to capture the culprit before the sabotage attempts turn truly deadly.

Nancy has a lot of ground to cover as the converted stately home sits on 400 acres of sheep farming estate, overlooking the Devon coast. Inevitably Nancy discovers Moorsea Manor contains hidden secrets and dangerous characters, including a sinister guest who mysteriously disappears. Leaning into English country house murder mystery tropes, the book plays up its pastoral and upper class setting while allowing Nancy to adopt an almost Agatha Christie heroine persona as she seeks to expose the villain.

The cover art should also get a mention for its realistic dynamism and its depiction of a distinctly sexy Nancy - unusual for a series aimed at a younger female readership.

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Betha stood at one end of the bench blocking Gerry’s means of escape while Claire sat next to the boy closely, preventing any sudden movement. Betha put a firm hand on Gerry’s shoulder. “We know you’re the thief, Gerry.” she told the unsuspecting lad. “We saw you stealing the necklace. You’re caught!” Gerry stood blinking up at the teen sleuth, completely bemused. “But- but you have no proof…” he stammered. “Yes we do.” replied Claire softly to his left. The young man looked from one girl to the other in confusion. Betha pulled out a length of cord from her skirt pocket. “Stand up, Gerry.” she ordered him and then looked at her friend. “Help me tie him up, Claire.” she said.

Source: vintagegirlsbooks.blogspot.com

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In Search of the Black Rose, The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #137 (1st June, 1997)

A pattern of deceit leads Nancy down a path of danger!

Nancy finds herself walking the cloistered halls of English academia when she visits Oxford University with her father, and a peculiar arrow attack at a dinner party unleashes a mystery, for which the main clue is a mysterious black rose. Nancy opens an investigation into the life and career of the deceased Dame Gwyneth Davies, a famous mystery writer and playwright. Nancy discovers a web of secrets and lies as she investigates Davies’ family history, revealing plots and intrigues that will explain the puzzle of the black rose but also spell danger for the girl detective.

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Sue looked nervously at her friend. “I agree, Jody, but how? We have no weapons, nothing to threaten him with.” she whispered. Jody looked grim but determined. “We waylay him and tell him we know he’s the thief and we’re here to make a citizen’s arrest, and that the police are on their way!” the dark-haired girl replied boldly. Sue looked dubious. “But that’s not true,” she faltered, “not about the police, I mean…”

Jody was becoming impatient. “If he doesn’t believe us, we’ll just have to try to overpower him and use our spare nylons and skirt belts to tie him up and then call them!” she retorted. “Hurry, Sue, we’re running out of time!” Sue relented and the two girl detectives ran towards the young man, just as he placed his hand on the door of the barn. “Hey, Harry!” Jody called out to him. “Wait up! We want a word with you!”

Source: vintagegirlsbooks.blogspot.com; caption and narrative mine.

[hrjafael]

Happy New Year, Clue Crew! Published in 1930, the first four Nancy Drew original text books are now in the public domain in the USA.