Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Nancy Drew Mystery Stories" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories is the long-running "main" series of the Nancy Drew franchise, which was published under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. There are 175 novels — plus 34 revised stories — that were published between 1930 and 2003 under the banner; Grosset & Dunlap published the first 56, and 34 revised stories, while Simon & Schuster published the series beginning with volume 57.

A spinoff, the Nancy Drew Files, ran concurrently from 1986 to 1997. In 2003, Simon & Schuster announced that Nancy Drew Mystery Stories would end and be replaced by a new, more contemporary series titled Nancy Drew: Girl Detective. Launched in 2004, the series ended in 2012.^[1] The Nancy Drew Diaries was launched in its place in 2013.

Mildred Wirt Benson is credited with writing 23 of the first 30 novels in the series. Other authors contributed as well, but in 1959, Edward Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Adams, began rewriting the earlier books in the series, sometimes substituting entirely new plots while retaining the same title.

In the Harriet Adams revisions, Nancy is depicted as a less impulsive, less headstrong girl of Stratemeyer and Mildred's vision, to a milder, more sedate and refined girl— "more sugar and less spice", with an extensive wardrobe and a more charitable outlook.^[2] Helen Corning[who?] appears older, perhaps in preparation for her "write-out" after volume 4 of the revised series (no explanation was made in the original series) and to introduce Bess and her cousin George. Perceived racial stereotypes — and, arguably, characters of color period — were omitted. Action increased significantly and became faster-paced. Greater developmental detail was given to Nancy and her home.

In 1979, after a court battle between the Stratemeyer Syndicate and Grosset & Dunlap, the original publishers (in hardback) of the first 56 Nancy Drew titles, publication rights to new stories were granted to Simon & Schuster. Titles from #57, The Triple Hoax (1979), were thereafter published primarily in paperback.^[3]

Books #57–78 were initially printed under Simon & Schuster's children's imprint Wanderer as digest sized paperbacks (although some were also later published in the regular mass market paperback format, which was also the format of choice for some foreign editions, such as the British releases by Armada). Limited numbers of hardback editions are also known to have been produced, mostly for libraries.^[4]

Beginning in 1979, the titles were presented in set cover format referred to as the "Arch" design, with sixteen covers drawn by Ruth Sanderson. Twenty-two titles were also reprinted under the Wanderer imprint in a new "checkerboard" design before the series moved, from #79 on, to the new Minstrel imprint, whereupon they received still newer covers in the "checkerboard" design. The series ultimately moved again to Simon & Schuster's Aladdin Paperbacks imprint beginning with #164, undergoing two further cover revamps, "White" and "Paint".

The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories were first published in the United States in 1930 by Grosset & Dunlap in a series of hardbacks. Revision of all titles through #34 began in 1959.

Titles, authorship, and publication dates

No.	Title	Pub.	Outline	Manuscript	Editor	Rev.	Revised by
1	The Secret of the Old Clock	1930	Edward Stratemeyer	Mildred Wirt	Edward Stratemeyer	1959	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams
2	The Hidden Staircase	1930				1959
3	The Bungalow Mystery	1930				1960	Patricia Doll
4	The Mystery at Lilac Inn	1930			Harriet Otis Smith	1961
5	The Secret at Shadow Ranch[a]	1931	Harriet Otis Smith			1965	Grace Grote
6	The Secret of Red Gate Farm	1931	Edna Stratemeyer Squier		Edna Stratemeyer Squier and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams	1961	Lynn Ealer
7	The Clue in the Diary	1932				1962	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams
8	Nancy's Mysterious Letter	1932		Walter Karig		1968
9	The Sign of the Twisted Candles	1933	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams			1968	Patricia Doll
10	The Password to Larkspur Lane	1933				1966
11	The Clue of the Broken Locket	1934	Edna Stratemeyer Squier	Mildred Wirt		1965	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and Grace Grote
12	The Message in the Hollow Oak	1935				1972	Grace Grote
13	The Mystery of the Ivory Charm	1936				1974	Priscilla Baker-Carr
14	The Whispering Statue	1937				1970	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams
15	The Haunted Bridge	1937	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams			1972	Priscilla Baker-Carr
16	The Clue of the Tapping Heels	1939	Edna Stratemeyer Squier			1969	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams
17	The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk	1940	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams			1976
18	The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion[b]	1941	Edna Stratemeyer Squier			1971
19	The Quest of the Missing Map	1942	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams		Harriet Stratemeyer Adams	1969	Priscilla Baker-Carr
20	The Clue in the Jewel Box	1943				1972
21	The Secret in the Old Attic	1944				1970
22	The Clue in the Crumbling Wall	1945				1973
23	The Mystery of the Tolling Bell	1946				1973
24	The Clue in the Old Album	1947				1977
25	The Ghost of Blackwood Hall	1948				1967
26	The Clue of the Leaning Chimney	1949		George Waller, Jr. and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams		1967
27	The Secret of the Wooden Lady	1950		Margaret Scherf		1967
28	The Clue of the Black Keys	1951		Wilhelmina Rankin and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams		1968
29	The Mystery at the Ski Jump	1952		Alma Sasse		1968	Ann Shultes
30	The Clue of the Velvet Mask	1953	Andrew Svenson	Mildred Wirt		1969	Priscilla Baker-Carr
31	The Ringmaster's Secret	1953	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams		1974	June Dunn
32	The Scarlet Slipper Mystery	1954		Charles Strong		1974	Ann Shultes
33	The Witch Tree Symbol	1955		Harriet Stratemeyer Adams		1975
34	The Hidden Window Mystery	1956	Patricia Doll and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams			1975	Mary Fisher
35	The Haunted Showboat	1957	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams		June Dunn and J. Sanderson	n/a
36	The Secret of the Golden Pavilion	1959
37	The Clue in the Old Stagecoach	1960			Harriet Stratemeyer Adams
38	The Mystery of the Fire Dragon	1961
39	The Clue of the Dancing Puppet	1962
40	The Moonstone Castle Mystery	1963
41	The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes	1964
42	The Phantom of Pine Hill	1965
43	The Mystery of the 99 Steps	1966
44	The Clue in the Crossword Cipher	1967
45	The Spider Sapphire Mystery	1968
46	The Invisible Intruder	1969
47	The Mysterious Mannequin	1970
48	The Crooked Banister	1971
49	The Secret of Mirror Bay	1972
50	The Double Jinx Mystery	1973
51	Mystery of the Glowing Eye	1974
52	The Secret of the Forgotten City	1975
53	The Sky Phantom	1976
54	The Strange Message in the Parchment	1977
55	Mystery of Crocodile Island	1978
56	The Thirteenth Pearl	1979

In 1979, the Nancy Drew books began to be published by Wanderer Books Simon & Schuster in paperback format. Though formatted differently from the original 56-volume series which continued under Grosset & Dunlap's control, these new books were published under the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories banner. These books feature increasingly contemporary cover illustrations and some books have multiple versions of the cover art.

These books are sometimes referred to as "Digests", since Simon & Schuster published them as digest-size paperbacks, as opposed to Grosset & Dunlap's hardcover books. (One of the reasons why Adams switched to Simon & Schuster was that Grosset & Dunlap was opposed to such a change, while Simon & Schuster agreed to it.)^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, the first eight volumes from the Wanderer section (#57-64) were republished by Grosset & Dunlap, as a special promotion for the celebration of Nancy Drew's 75th anniversary. These republications went out of print in 2013.

The Triple Hoax was originally listed as the next book at the end of The Thirteenth Pearl. Grosset & Dunlap continued to list this until they lost a court case against the Syndicate and Simon & Schuster in May 1980. The book was later revised to eliminate The Triple Hoax. However, they later published this book — and the seven after that — in 2005, with the permission and collaboration of Simon & Schuster, in celebration of Nancy Drew's 75th anniversary.

The main plot, formula, and continuity of the books remained similar to the original Grosset & Dunlap books still being published at the time. Harriet Adams was still involved in the Syndicate, even after she stopped writing the books in 1980. Simon & Schuster rejected her original manuscript for The Secret in the Old Lace, with the story being rewritten by Nancy Axelrad. After she died in 1982, the Syndicate continued with five of its partners (Adams' remaining three children, plus authors Axelrad and Lilo Wuenn), until its sale to Simon & Schuster in 1987.

During this period, the Syndicate began to hire new, younger writers, including Sharon Wagner, Richard Ballad, and James Duncan Lawrence. Ballad's two books, Captive Witness and The Sinister Omen, as well as The Emerald-Eyed Cat Mystery, were originally written for The Hardy Boys, but were rewritten for unknown reasons.

The final two books (#77 and #78) were "backdoor pilots" for the spin-off The Nancy Drew Files, which began in 1986. Due to this, and the sale of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, the series went on a two-year hiatus to retool the series.

Titles, authorship, and publication dates (1979–1985)

No.	Title	Pub.	Outline	Manuscript	Editor
57	The Triple Hoax	1979	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams		Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and Lilo Wuenn
58	The Flying Saucer Mystery	1980	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams		Lilo Wuenn
59	The Secret in the Old Lace	1980	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams	Nancy Axelrad
60	The Greek Symbol Mystery	1981	Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and Nancy Axelrad	Nancy Axelrad
61	The Swami's Ring	1981
62	The Kachina Doll Mystery	1981	Sharon Wagner		Nancy Axelrad
63	The Twin Dilemma	1981	Nancy Axelrad		Lilo Wuenn
64	Captive Witness	1981	Richard Ballad		Nancy Axelrad
65	Mystery of the Winged Lion	1982	Nancy Axelrad
66	Race Against Time	1982	James Duncan Lawrence
67	The Sinister Omen	1982	Richard Ballad
68	The Elusive Heiress	1982	Sharon Wagner
69	Clue in the Ancient Disguise	1982	James Duncan Lawrence
70	The Broken Anchor	1983	Sharon Wagner
71	The Silver Cobweb	1983	James Duncan Lawrence
72	The Haunted Carousel	1983	James Duncan Lawrence
73	Enemy Match	1984	Donetta Bowers
74	The Mysterious Image	1984	James Duncan Lawrence
75	The Emerald-Eyed Cat Mystery	1984	Sharon Wagner
76	The Eskimo's Secret	1985	Sharon Wagner
77	The Bluebeard Room	1985	James Duncan Lawrence
78	The Phantom of Venice	1985	James Duncan Lawrence

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

After volume 78, the series took a 2+1⁄2-year hiatus due to the sale of the Stratemeyer Syndicate to Simon & Schuster, and to begin The Nancy Drew Files spin-off. At this point, book packager Mega-Books took over the series, and hired different ghostwriters for the job (many of whom are still unknown). The ghostwriters who are known are ones who have either been discovered through other resources or have publicly revealed themselves as a ghostwriter for the series.

The series also gained Anne Greenberg as the new editor; Greenberg would oversee the series for the next 16 years and become one of the most influential Nancy Drew editors that helped the books continue until the 21st century.

Due to the cancellation of The Nancy Drew Files in 1997, Simon & Schuster rewrote several unpublished manuscripts into books for the original series. These include The Wild Cat Crime (#141), The E-mail Mystery (#144), and The Case of the Captured Queen (#148).

The writing style of these books took a different direction than the books of the Syndicate; modern technology is mentioned (making the books seem somewhat dated very quickly), continuity errors are common, and the books become shorter (reducing the books from a 20-chapter/180-page format to a 16-chapter/150-page format). Characters Burt Eddleton and Dave Evans are eliminated entirely ( because of this, some fans were disappointed) and Nancy mostly has a habit of rotating between George, Bess, and Ned. This setup creates a more realistic layout, rather than having all six drop everything to join Nancy. In the late 1990s, continuity errors and text errors became more common.

Titles, authorship, and publication dates (1987–2001)

No.	Title	Pub.	Outline	Manuscript
79	The Double Horror of Fenley Place	1987	Un­known
80	The Case of the Disappearing Diamonds	1987
81	The Mardi Gras Mystery	1988
82	The Clue in the Camera	1988
83	The Case of the Vanishing Veil	1988
84	The Joker's Revenge	1988	Carin Greenberg Baker	Eileen Hehl
85	The Secret of Shady Glen	1988	Un­known
86	The Mystery of Misty Canyon	1988
87	The Case of the Rising Stars	1989	unknown	Carin Greenberg Baker
88	The Search for Cindy Austin	1988	Nancy Bush
89	The Case of the Disappearing Deejay	1989	Carol Gorman
90	The Puzzle at Pineview School	1989	Un­known
91	The Girl Who Couldn't Remember	1989
92	The Ghost of Craven Cove	1989
93	The Case of the Safecracker's Secret	1990	Carin Greenberg Baker
94	The Picture-Perfect Mystery	1990	Carol Gorman
95	The Silent Suspect	1990	Un­known
96	The Case of the Photo Finish	1990
97	The Mystery at Magnolia Mansion	1990	Alison Hart
98	The Haunting of Horse Island	1990	Carol Gorman
99	The Secret at Seven Rocks	1991	Ellen Steiber
100	A Secret in Time	1991	Carin Greenberg Baker
101	The Mystery of the Missing Millionairess	1991	Un­known
102	The Secret in the Dark	1991
103	The Stranger in the Shadows	1991	Alison Hart
104	The Mystery of the Jade Tiger	1991	Ellen Steiber
105	The Clue in the Antique Trunk	1992	Un­known
106	The Case of the Artful Crime	1992
107	The Legend of Miner's Creek	1992
108	The Secret of the Tibetan Treasure	1992
109	The Mystery of the Masked Rider	1992	Alison Hart
110	The Nutcracker Ballet Mystery	1992	Un­known
111	The Secret at Solaire	1993
112	Crime in the Queen's Court	1993
113	The Secret Lost at Sea	1993
114	The Search for the Silver Persian	1993
115	The Suspect in the Smoke	1993
116	The Case of the Twin Teddy Bears	1993	Alison Hart
117	Mystery on the Menu	1994	Un­known
118	Trouble at Lake Tahoe	1994
119	The Mystery of the Missing Mascot	1994
120	The Case of the Floating Crime	1994
121	The Fortune Teller's Secret	1994
122	The Message in the Haunted Mansion	1994
123	The Clue on the Silver Screen	1995
124	The Secret of the Scarlet Hand	1995
125	The Teen Model Mystery	1995
126	The Riddle in the Rare Book	1995
127	The Case of the Dangerous Solution	1995
128	The Treasure in the Royal Tower	1995
129	The Baby-Sitter Burglaries	1996	Pamela Willis
130	The Sign of the Falcon	1996	Un­known
131	The Hidden Inheritance	1996
132	The Fox Hunt Mystery	1996
133	The Mystery at the Crystal Palace	1996
134	The Secret of the Forgotten Cave	1996
135	The Riddle of the Ruby Gazelle	1997
136	The Wedding Day Mystery	1997
137	In Search of the Black Rose	1997
138	The Legend of the Lost Gold	1997
139	The Secret of Candlelight Inn	1997
140	The Door-to-Door Deception	1997
141	The Wild Cat Crime	1998
142	The Case of Capital Intrigue	1998	Elizabeth Nugent
143	Mystery on Maui	1998
144	The E-mail Mystery	1998	Denise Hidalgo
145	The Missing Horse Mystery	1998	Alison Hart
146	The Ghost of the Lantern Lady	1998	Un­known
147	The Case of the Captured Queen	1999
148	On the Trail of Trouble	1999
149	The Clue of the Gold Doubloons	1999	Alison Hart
150	Mystery at Moorsea Manor	1999	Un­known
151	The Chocolate-Covered Contest	1999
152	The Key in the Satin Pocket	2000
153	Whispers In the Fog	2000
154	The Legend of the Emerald Lady	2000
155	The Mystery in Tornado Alley	2000	George Edward Stanley
156	The Secret in the Stars	2000	Un­known
157	The Music Festival Mystery	2000
158	The Curse of the Black Cat	2001
159	The Secret of the Fiery Chamber	2001

With the new millennium, the series changed publishers to the Aladdin subdivision of Simon & Schuster. With declining sales, and the departure of longtime editor Anne Greenberg, Simon & Schuster ended the original series in November 2003.

Continuity errors are common throughout these books: in No Strings Attached and Danger on the Great Lakes (both written by George Edward Stanley), Nancy and her friends are 17 rather than 18; Ned works at a company; and George has chestnut hair (rather than brown). In Werewolf in a Winter Wonderland, Ned is blond, and it is suggested that Nancy might be in college. Numerous typographic errors and mistakes are also found throughout these books.

Titles, authorship, and publication dates (2001–2003)

No.	Title	Pub.	Outline	Manuscript	Editor
160	The Clue on the Crystal Dove	2001	Un­known		Anne Greenberg
161	Lost in the Everglades	2001
162	The Case of the Lost Song	2001
163	The Clues Challenge	2001
164	The Mystery of the Mother Wolf	2002
165	The Crime Lab Case	2002
166	The Case of the Creative Crime	2002
167	Mystery by Moonlight	2002
168	The Bike Tour Mystery	2002
169	The Mistletoe Mystery	2002
170	No Strings Attached	2003	George Edward Stanley		Un­known
171	Intrigue at the Grand Opera	2003	Un­known
172	The Riding Club Crime	2003
173	Danger on the Great Lakes	2003	George Edward Stanley
174	A Taste of Danger	2003	Un­known
175	Werewolf in a Winter Wonderland	2003

Nancy Drew Diaries (Feb. 2013 to Present)^[1]

No.	Title	Pub.	Author.	Cover Design.	Cover Illustration.
176	Curse of the Arctic Star	Feb. 2013	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
177	Strangers on a Train	Feb. 2013	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
178	Mystery of the Midnight Rider	May 2013	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
179	Once Upon a Thriller	Sep. 2013	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
180	Sabotage at Willow Woods	Jan. 2014	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
181	Secret at Mystic Lake	May 2014	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
182	The Phantom of Nantucket	Sep. 2014	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
183	The Magician's Secret	Jan. 2015	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
184	The Clue at Black Creek Farm	May 2015.	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
185	A Script for Danger	Sep. 2015	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
186	The Red Slippers	Dec. 2015	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
187	The Sign in the Smoke	May 2016	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
188	The Ghost of Grey Fox Inn	Oct. 2016	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
189	Riverboat Roulette	Jan. 2017	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
190	The Professor and the Puzzle	Aug. 2017	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
191	The Haunting on Heliotrope Lane	Jan. 2018	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
192	A Nancy Drew Christmas	Sep. 2018	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
193	Famous Mistakes	Jan. 2019	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
194	The Stolen Show	Sep. 2019	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
195	Hidden Pictures	Jan. 2020	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
196	The Vanishing Statue	Jun. 2020	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
197	Danger at the Iron Dragon	Jan. 2021	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
198	A Capitol Crime	May 2021	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
199	The Blue Lady of Coffin Hall	Jan. 2022	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
200	Captain Stone's Revenge	Jan. 2023	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
201	What Disappears in Vegas...	Jan. 2024	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire
202	Superstitions of 'The Scottish Play'	Jan. 2025	Karin Paprocki	Alicia Mikles	Erin Mc'Guire

The Nancy Drew Mystery Series was published in a series of hardbacks and paperbacks in the United Kingdom, starting in 1971 and 1973. The British publisher was Collins, and its paperback imprint Armada Books (which also published the Hardy Boys and Three Investigators, among other series). When the Nancy Drew series was published in England, the order was changed significantly and the titles' numbering was revised from the American standard, as Armada was "obliged to publish No. 51 onwards before publishing Nos. 41-50".^[5][6]

Thus, the original fifty-six American Grosset & Dunlap-published titles become the first fifty UK titles, with #57-78 being published as #51-72. Collins, therefore, had a deal in place with both American publishers and, indeed, were obliged "for contractual reasons" to publish some of the later Simon & Schuster titles before some of the Grosset & Dunlap ones. Collins/Armada published the twenty-two Simon & Schuster/Wanderer titles in sequence, albeit off by six, and then finished publishing the six "missing" Grosset & Dunlap titles (including the first, The Secret of the Old Clock).

The twenty-two (US) Wanderer imprint titles were produced between 1979 and 1985, after which the main Nancy Drew Mystery Stories went on a short hiatus. During this time, Simon & Schuster began publishing The Nancy Drew Files series for older teenagers, and subsequently re-aligned the main series, moving it to a new imprint in 1987, with The Double Horror of Fenley Place, the first Nancy Drew title published under the American Minstrel imprint. Accordingly, after publishing twenty-two Wanderer (and seventy-eight overall) titles in the main Nancy Drew series, the Collins/Armada licence terminated in June 1992. The following month, Simon & Schuster itself began publishing the more recent Minstrel imprint titles under their Pocket Books UK imprint, starting with the now numerically-aligned #79.

Nancy Drew was issued as a book club feature, the Nancy Drew Reader's Club, from 1959 to early 1961. In all, twelve volumes were issued, six in 1959 and six in 1960.^[7] These volumes were issued with new illustrations by artist Polly Bolian. The volumes matched Grosset & Dunlap's other Doubleday Book Club publication, Young Library. A full color jacket illustration was repeated as the frontispiece, and double-page pen and ink drawings highlighted the texts. References or notices for other volumes, and volume numbering, was removed from the text and the jackets.

Plans for additional titles were abandoned after two years and the series ceased publication in early 1961. The volumes are highly desired by today's collectors due to their original artwork and the scarcity of their dust jackets, made on inferior, lightweight matte paper instead of heavier-gauge glossy paper used on other editions. The books with jackets are considered scarce, those with a 1960 date being much more difficult to find by collectors.^[7]

Nancy Drew was issued in the yellow-spine picture format, as a book club, in 1962.^[8] The back covers were solid yellow, and spines feature no volume numbers. "Book Club Edition" appears on the title page. Only Volumes 1–32 were issued. In the 1970s, a book club offer was available directly from the publisher, but these volumes were exactly the same as regularly purchased volumes; they were simply mailed on schedule to the subscriber.

Several Nancy Drew books were published as two-volumes-in-one in the 1970s.^[9] Covers featured geometric clover designs on lilac grey, with a vignette from one of the two volumes' original cover art. All of the volumes are sequential, i.e., 1–2, 3–4, except for the final two issued. Volumes 17 and 24 appear together as one, as they were not revised until the mid-1970s.

Applewood Books began reprinting facsimile editions of the early Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys in 1991. The books feature the original dust jacket art, original illustrations (although not scattered through the text), original texts, and duplication binding of the early Nancy Drew format. Many of the volumes contain forewords from adult author fans of the series, such as Sara Paretsky. Applewood issued original series titles up to #21, The Secret in the Old Attic. Although Volumes 22 and 23, The Clue in the Crumbling Wall and The Mystery of the Tolling Bell, respectively, were featured in the 2006–2007 catalogue, these additional titles were not ultimately published as company representatives stated that sales of later volumes had tapered and plans to extend the line were discontinued in 2007.^{[citation needed]}

In late 2006, Literarture, licensed by Simon & Schuster, began releasing prints of classic Nancy Drew dust jacket artwork by Russell Tandy, Bill Gillies and Rudy Nappi derived from pristine vintage art elements and, in some cases, following extensive research, the original paintings themselves.^[10] The jackets were issued as limited-edition offset lithographs.

In early 2007, Grosset and Dunlap began retailing special volumes of Nancy Drew mysteries with original artwork but revised content in different product assortments and packaging.^{[citation needed]}