The "Lost" Outlines of Carolyn Keene are revealed by Cleolinda Jones - self proclaimed "writer, grad student, webmistress (whp-chaaaa!), editor, ersatz entertainment journalist, erstwhile translator, feminist, dragonslayer, heroine addict, space cadet, and former CIA operative to Cuba" with the web product to back these claims - at her Occupation Girl Livejournal site. Good stuff with heavy comments from Cleolinda's peeps. Read the outline ...

Hollywood Update: Filming is apparently underway for The Mystery in Hollywood Hills which I stumbled across and mentioned some time early last month. Cinematical seems to have the most comprehensive scoop on this and as of 17 Feb is reporting:

It's on. Starring Eric Roberts-spawn (and Aquamarine's girl-who-finds-the-mermaid) Emma Roberts, the Nancy Drew movie has had a lot of people (many of whom totally won't admit it) in a nostalgic frenzy since news of its existence was announced way too long ago. Now, finally, there's some good news: production has begun. Woo hoo! Not only that, but we've got a plot (the news of which is possibly slightly less good).In order to get her somewhere with lots of pretty people and parties ...

Hey, I'm not gonna cut and paste the whole piece. If you really need to know more (some will, some won't ) you can read all about ND MHH and more directly at Cinematical. Do it now ...

So Dire, So Dangerous, and then Poof: The 2006 Buffalo News Short Story contest, which this year focused on mystery/suspense writing, attracted over 130 writers and Nancy makes an appearance in the First Place winner's story:

The roar of the water was a reminder of childhood, summer days flirting with summer flings, and the bittersweet promise of freedom implicit in every Senior Skip Day.

"The Bills make me want to SHOUT -" Angela hunted for the source of the song, clambering up the statue of Nikolai Tesla like so many Goat Island tourists before her, the bronze of the statue polished by their passing.

The cell phone in Tesla's lap was Michael's, of course. And as she reached for it, she remembered mocking his fanboy devotion when he played her the ring tone, that song.

"I see you were smart enough to listen, and come alone," the caller hissed, in a French accent as fake as Groucho glasses. "Now we shall see whether you are smart enough to save your brother's life."

You will want to read the rest of this story ...

Pardeeville Science Fair: Eh? What does a Science Fair have to do with Nancy Drew? And Pardeeville? Well ... a series of clues ... boot prints, tool marks, finger prints ... apperently were left by the person behind the theft of "The Secret of the Old Clock" ... a first edition printed in 1930, which was stolen from the library on the eve of the fictitious "Nancy Drew First Edition Library Tour" and students have to solve the case. Hmmmm ... wonder if it had a dust jacket? Read more about this strange case ... and, since I know you want to, you may as well learn more about Pardeeville too ...

Being the Detective: Admit it ... you always wanted to be just like Nancy ... without getting your shoes muddy of course ... and now you can by reading reports from Steve Huff on Huff's Crime Blog, doing some research then sending Huff your findings and tips. This recent piece on Neil Entwistle by Huff is a great place to start regarding some techniques for doing internet research. Do it now ...

Watching the Detectives: What would Nancy have done here? A state police detective said Tuesday that a dominatrix told investigators she spent two hours trying to decide what to do with the body of a client who authorities believe died of a heart attack during a bondage session. Barbara Asher, who is on trial for manslaughter in the death of former North Hampton resident Michael Lord, told police that she and her boyfriend settled on a plan to chop up the body and dump it because it was too big to carry out of Asher's condominium, said the detective, Sgt. Dermot Moriarty. Read more ...

Discussion Groups: There are quite a few groups at Yahoo for ND fans to meet and discuss ND with others. Among these, more or less in order of size and activity, the top 10 currently are NancyDrewSleuths, TheNancyDrewGroup, nancydrew2, DetectivesClub, nancydrewmysteryclub, NancyDrewDiscussionGroup, nancydrewfanklub, Nancy_Drew_Trailblazers, Nancydrew, and SleuthsCHAT. I've added a link to Yahoo Directory entry for Nancy Drew to the menu at the right. You can use that link to do some investigating and decide which of these groups best meets your needs.

Nancy Boy: OK ... so there was a lot more to the Nancy Drew (and Hardy Boys) stories than I realized when I first read them ... or when I reread them years later. Might be time to revisit them again with ideas presented by Michael Bronski in mind. He writes that "teen-sleuth novels taught me that I could have a mysterious, adventuresome, erotic imagination on my own" and the examples of "explosive element" in the original stories that he presents certainly seem to support his argument ... at the very least they could make for an interesting conversational gambit when you are next in need of such. Read more ...

Secrets of the Stratemeyer Syndicate: This program on Sunday, January 22 in Guilford CT by two of Syndicate founder Edward Stratemeyer's great granddaughters, former Nancy Drew ghostwriter Cynthia Adams Lum, and her sister, Guilford resident and past Syndicate researcher Dr. Kimberley Stratemeyer Adams looks like it could be very interesting. Learn more ...

The Delight of Used Books: A former ND reader who's taste has since "recovered" confesses to becoming "shamelessly giddy" after stumbling across the complete set of Nancy Drew in a used book store. Learn more ...