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*Secrets Can Kill*, the first book in the *Nancy Drew Files* series

The Nancy Drew Files, or the Nancy Drew Case Files, is a detective fiction series started in 1986 and released by Simon & Schuster,^[1] New York. It is a spin-off of the original series of novels featuring Nancy Drew, with a greater emphasis on adventure, malice and romance. All the books have been written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. This series has been targeted at readers who are age eleven and up. With a new book released almost every month, 124 titles were released in 11 years. More than 17 million copies are in print and the books have appeared on the bestseller lists of Publishers Weekly, B. Dalton, and Waldenbooks. In 2014, Simon & Schuster started releasing this series in eBook format.

Series background

The Nancy Drew Files is a spin-off from the Nancy Drew series. The stories follow teenage detective Nancy Drew. Her father, Carson Drew, is a successful attorney and a widower. Their house is taken care of by their full-time housekeeper, Hannah Gruen. Nancy's companions are usually her friends Bess Marvin and George Fayne, no matter whether she is sleuthing or shopping. Her boyfriend, Ned Nickerson also helps her with investigations. Contrary to their stable relationship in the original Nancy Drew series, Nancy and Ned's relationship is given more depth, and the two are portrayed as a somewhat dysfunctional couple. They break-up and reconcile multiple times throughout the series. But in the last book of this series, it is shown that they kept dating each other.

Notable books

Secrets Can Kill (#1), Stay Tuned for Danger (#17), Death by Design (#30), and The Final Scene (#38) were all adapted into the popular Nancy Drew video game series by Her Interactive.
Two Points to Murder (#8) features the first break-up between Nancy and Ned.
Till Death Do Us Part (#24) sees Ned Nickerson proposing to Nancy, although she turns him down.
The Suspect Next Door (#39) launched a spin-off of The Nancy Drew Files series, titled River Heights. However, that series was a romance series, with occasional cameos by Nancy.
All books from #112 (For Love or Money) to #119 (Against the Rules) feature stills from the 1995 television adaption as the covers.

Development

The Nancy Drew Files is the first spin-off from the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories. The series was developed by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, in its final year. The series was first introduced in two books from the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, #77: The Bluebeard Room, and #78: The Phantom of Venice. These two books were much more modern and serious, while also featuring romance. These two books were the final books overseen by the Syndicate, prior to its sale to Simon & Schuster in 1986. The publishers soon launched The Nancy Drew Files concurrent to the original series, to aim for more mature readers.

The series is known as the most successful spin-off of the original book series, and also inspired a similar spin-off for The Hardy Boys. In 1995, the series reduced its release rate in half, by beginning to release a book every other month, instead of every month. Finally, the series was cancelled in 1997, in a mass cancellation of all mature-themed Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys spin-offs.

Television adaptation

The 1995 television adaption, Nancy Drew, was based on The Nancy Drew Files. The adaption had very little to do with The Nancy Drew Files series, other than its modern and trendy setting, more mature themes, and Nancy and Ned's relationship issues. The series featured a college-aged Nancy, who moved to New York City, to attend college and live with Bess (who was an advice columnist) and George (a mail carrier, and amateur filmmaker). The series was produced by Canadian production company Nelvana, and filmed in Toronto (with an arc in Paris).

The series' stars — Tracy Ryan, Jhene Erwin, and Joy Tanner — were featured on the covers of the books, which were promotional stills of the television series. The promotion began on the 112th book, For Love or Money, and continued until book 119, Against The Rules. Ironically, For Love or Money was released the month the last episode of the series aired. By the time the books stopped the promotion, the television series had been cancelled for over a year (and in another twist of irony, The Nancy Drew Files would also be cancelled that same year).

List of books in the series

The series featured 124 books (plus a promotional packet, distributed to promote the series ahead of its launch), all of which were edited by Anne Greenberg. Four additional titles of The Nancy Drew Files were planned, three of them rewritten as entries for the original series.^[2]

Titles, authorship, and publication dates
#	Title	Pub.	Manuscript
1	Secrets Can Kill	June 1986
2	Deadly Intent	June 1986
3	Murder on Ice	September 1986
4	Smile and Say Murder	October 1986
5	Hit and Run Holiday	November 1986
6	White Water Terror	December 1986	Susan Wittig Albert^[3]
7	Deadly Doubles	January 1987
8	Two Points to Murder	February 1987
9	False Moves	March 1987
10	Buried Secrets	April 1987
11	Heart of Danger	May 1987	Susan Wittig Albert^[3]
12	Fatal Ransom	June 1987
13	Wings of Fear	July 1987
14	This Side of Evil	August 1987	Susan Wittig Albert & Bill Albert^[3]
15	Trial by Fire	September 1987
16	Never Say Die	October 1987
17	Stay Tuned for Danger	November 1987
18	Circle of Evil	December 1987
19	Sisters in Crime	January 1988
20	Very Deadly Yours	February 1988
21	Recipe for Murder	March 1988
22	Fatal Attraction	April 1988	Susan Wittig Albert & Bill Albert^[3]
23	Sinister Paradise	May 1988
24	Till Death Do Us Part	June 1988
25	Rich and Dangerous	July 1988
26	Playing with Fire	August 1988	Susan Wittig Albert & Bill Albert^[3]
27	Most Likely to Die	September 1988
28	The Black Widow	October 1988
29	Pure Poison	November 1988
30	Death by Design	December 1988
31	Trouble in Tahiti	January 1989
32	High Marks for Malice	February 1989
33	Danger in Disguise	March 1989
34	Vanishing Act	April 1989
35	Bad Medicine	May 1989
36	Over the Edge	June 1989
37	Last Dance	July 1989
38	The Final Scene	August 1989
39	The Suspect Next Door	September 1989
40	Shadow of a Doubt	October 1989	Deborah Gaines^[2]
41	Something to Hide	November 1989
42	The Wrong Chemistry	December 1989
43	False Impressions	January 1990
44	Scent of Danger	February 1990	Deborah Gaines^[2]
45	Out of Bounds	March 1990
46	Win, Place, or Die	April 1990
47	Flirting with Danger	May 1990
48	A Date with Deception^{[note 1]}	June 1990
49	Portrait in Crime^{[note 1]}	July 1990
50	Deep Secrets^{[note 1]}	August 1990
51	A Model Crime	September 1990
52	Danger for Hire	October 1990
53	Trail of Lies	November 1990
54	Cold as Ice	December 1990
55	Don't Look Twice	January 1991
56	Make No Mistake	February 1991
57	Into Thin Air	March 1991
58	Hot Pursuit	April 1991
59	High Risk	May 1991
60	Poison Pen	June 1991
61	Sweet Revenge	July 1991
62	Easy Marks	August 1991
63	Mixed Signals	September 1991
64	The Wrong Track	October 1991
65	Final Notes	November 1991
66	Tall, Dark, and Deadly	December 1991
67	Nobody's Business	January 1992
68	Crosscurrents	February 1992	Rosalind Noonan^[4]
69	Running Scared	March 1992
70	Cutting Edge	April 1992
71	Hot Tracks	May 1992
72	Swiss Secrets^{[note 2]}	June 1992
73	Rendezvous in Rome^{[note 2]}	July 1992
74	Greek Odyssey^{[note 2]}	August 1992
75	A Talent for Murder	September 1992
76	The Perfect Plot	October 1992
77	Danger on Parade	November 1992
78	Update on Crime	December 1992
79	No Laughing Matter	January 1993
80	Power of Suggestion	February 1993
81	Making Waves	March 1993
82	Dangerous Relations	April 1993
83	Diamond Deceit	May 1993
84	Choosing Sides	June 1993
85	Sea of Suspicion	July 1993
86	Let's Talk Terror	August 1993
87	Moving Target	September 1993
88	False Pretenses	October 1993
89	Designs in Crime	November 1993
90	Stage Fright	December 1993	Louise Ladd^[5]
91	If Looks Could Kill	January 1994
92	My Deadly Valentine	February 1994
93	Hotline to Danger	March 1994
94	Illusions of Evil	April 1994
95	An Instinct for Trouble	May 1994
96	The Runaway Bride	June 1994
97	Squeeze Play	July 1994
98	Island of Secrets	August 1994	Louise Ladd^[5]
99	The Cheating Heart	September 1994
100	Dance Till You Die	October 1994
101	The Picture of Guilt	November 1994
102	Counterfeit Christmas	December 1994
103	Heart of Ice	January 1995
104	Kiss and Tell	February 1995
105	Stolen Affections	March 1995
106	Flying Too High	April 1995
107	Anything for Love	May 1995
108	Captive Heart	June 1995
109	Love Notes	July 1995
110	Hidden Meanings	August 1995
111	The Stolen Kiss	October 1995
112	For Love or Money	December 1995
113	Wicked Ways	February 1996
114	Rehearsing for Romance	April 1996
115	Running into Trouble	June 1996
116	Under His Spell	August 1996
117	Skipping a Beat	October 1996
118	Betrayed by Love	December 1996
119	Against the Rules	February 1997
120	Dangerous Loves	April 1997
121	Natural Enemies	June 1997
122	Strange Memories	August 1997
123	Wicked for the Weekend	October 1997
124	Crime at the Chat Café	December 1997

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Part of the "A Summer of Love" Trilogy.
^ ^a ^b ^c Part of the "Passport To Romance" Trilogy.

References and sources

^ Rediscovering Nancy Drew. Dyer, Carolyn Stewart., Romalov, Nancy Tillman, 1946-. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. 1995. ISBN 9780877455011. OCLC 44960894.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c "Bigfootman's Review Blog: A Nancy Drew Files Mystery Solved?". 13 February 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Susan Wittig Albert". www.susanalbert.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
^ "Nancy Drew sleuths in Baltimore", Baltimore Sun, April 22, 1992. Retrieved 20 August 2021
^ ^a ^b Rochman, Joanne Greco (March 19, 2012). "Nancy Drew Is Alive And Well at 82: Interview With CT Writer Louise Ladd". CBS Connecticut. CBS Broadcasting Inc.