University of Iowa Marks "Hills" Debut with Digital Archive: The University of Iowa Libraries is marking the June 15 opening of "Nancy Drew: The Mystery in Hollywood Hills" by gathering the scrapbooks, correspondence, rare photographs and early writings of Mildred Wirt Benson in a super digitized collection. Benson, a UI Distinguished Alumna seen at left in the 1926 UI Hawkeye as the hot young Mildred Augustine, donated her personal papers to the Iowa Women's Archives in 1992 and subsequent years until her death in 2002. These materials, along with artifacts from the Special Collections Department and the University Archives, form the bulk of the online collection, created by the Digital Library Services department for the Iowa Digital Library web site. View the collection now ...

Now We Know

Now We Know: Carolyn Keene was actually Nancy Drew's roommate at Bryn Mawr ... Nancy was "involved" with Frank Hardy ... the details of Nancy's marriage to Ned Nickerson ... the fates of George Fayne and Bess Marvin ... and more if we believe what Chelsea Cain tells us in Confessions of a Teen Sleuth :

I first met Frank Hardy in the summer of 1925. He and his younger brother, Joe, had come to town from Bayport, New Jersey, on the trail of a missing waitress. I was walking out of Jackson's Drug Store when I saw them pull up on their red Indian Scout motorcycles. Even soiled from their five-day journey, they were both striking. Frank was wearing khaki pants, a collared shirt, and a maroon sweater.

Read more about Confessions ... from Nancy Pearl about halfway down the page in her recent Books not to Miss piece at NPR ... and take a look at the book for yourself at Amazon ...

Movie Photos: /Film has posted some extremely dull photos from Drew the movie. Take a look ...

The White Wolf and the Crystal Skull: Two new Drew PC games have been announced by Her Interactive. The White Wolf of Icicle Creek finds Nancy undercover at the Icicle Creek Lodge in the Canadian Rockies to investigate strange accidents and a mysterious wolf which appears before each incident. Legend of the Crystal Skull has Nancy and Bess flying to New Orleans for spring break. Hmmmmm. Read more at Gamezone ... and at Her Interactive ....

Drew Two: First movie with Emma Roberts isn't even here yet but a sequel is already planned by Jerry Weintraub. AfterEllen, which has its own particular take on Nancy that you may or may not agree with, tells all ...

Missing Cover Art Misunderstanding: Dorsey & Whitney LLP reports that the case of the missing cover art which the ND Enthusiast mentioned in December last year has been solved. Apparently former Penguin employee Carl J. Ferrero thought that the Rudy Nappi paintings he had were a departure gift ... oops ... and now they are being returned. Read more ... Hire a lawyer ...

Emma Who: What about Bonita Granville? DVDTimes reports that "Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of 'The Original Nancy Drew Movie Mystery Collection' for 12th June 2007. Four classic mysteries never before on Region 1 DVD and featuring the escapades of the feisty teenage detective include Nancy Drew, Detective; Nancy Drew, Reporter; Nancy Drew,Troubleshooter; and Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase. The Collection will be presented on 2-Discs and will sell for $24.98 ." Read more at DVDTimes ...

The Girl Detective on Stage: Now this sounds like fun. The Ateh Theater Group in NYC is doing The Girl Detective, an adaptation of author Kelly Links best selling novel. This all takes place in a dreamy underworld of tap-dancing bank robbers and missing mothers to explore everyday emotional mysteries of identity. No ... I'm not making this up ... believe me:

"The Girl Detective is a master of disguise. She finds missing things, chases tap dancing back robbers and eats our dreams. But in her life of intrigue and adventure one mystery remains: the whereabouts of her long lost mother. Join her on a wild journey to the underworld in this surreal, darkly funny story of loss and reunion."

The show, which is at The Connelly Theater 220 E 4th Street Between A and B, New York, NY opens Friday, February 23rd, and performs Thursday's through Sundays at 8:00 until March 17th, with an additional Monday night performance on Monday, February 26th. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Ateh Theater Group website .

Deadly Secret of Olde World Park: Our favorite teen sleuth unravels an interactive mystery in Nancy Drew and The Deadly Secret of Olde World Park, a new game announced for the Nintendo DS from Majesco Entertainment Company. The game will use the touch screen to search for clues, undertake tasks, talk to other characters, and play minigames. Learn more at Gamespot ...

Top Mystery Books: Nancy Drew "a plucky amateur detective, tackles her own cases,and helps her father, an attorney, with his. Using her curiosity, intelligence, and bravery, Nancy gets to the bottom of the most perplexing mysteries" or so says Fact Monster when they include the the Nancy Drew series in their list of top mystery books. Also included are: the Bernie Magruder series, The Boys of San Joaquin, Chasing Vermeer, the Chet Gecko series, the Encyclopedia Brown series, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Egypt Game, the Herculeah Jones series, the Lady Grace Mysteries, the Lewis Barnavelt series, The Name of the Game Was Murder, the Sammy Keyes series and The Westing Game. Hmmmm ... the Bernie Magruder Enthusiast ... maybe. Read more ...