I Learned it from Nancy Drew! Back to Blog
Hi, everyone! Today, I’d like to introduce you to my lovely friend, Manda Collins. Manda recently signed a contract to release three books with St. Martin’s! Congratulations, Manda! Manda’s first book, HOW TO DANCE WITH A DUKE, has a tentative publication date of February 2012.
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***I have consulted the Randomizer, and 13 turned out to be lucky for Michele! Michele, email me here with your snail mail addy and I’ll send out your books ASAP! -Manda***
In which Nancy meets Ned...
First of all, thank you so much, Cynthia for giving me the chance to do my first ever guest blog as a soon-to-be published author!
Though I didn’t always call it that, I’ve been a fan of romantic suspense for pretty much my entire reading life. Like many young readers I started out with that most addictive of RS gateway drugs, the Nancy Drew mysteries by Carolyn Keene. I didn’t care that Carolyn Keene wasn’t even a real person. I had no idea that the versions I read were the watered down 1970’s version of the originals written in the 1930s. All I cared about was that Nancy, and her BFFs Bess (the plump one) and George (the tomboyish one) were having yet another adventure. And when in book 7, The Clue in the Diary, Nancy met the young college student who would be her boyfriend for…oh, the next century or so? My schoolgirl heart was about as full as a schoolgirl’s heart can be.
Now that I’m an adult, and I read more widely, I still find myself gravitating to Nancy Drew-esque romantic suspense novels—albeit with significantly hotter love scenes! But what is it about these modern-day romantic suspense novels that link them with their predecessors?
1) Hero and Heroine working together to solve the mystery. It might just be me, but there is something utterly thrilling about seeing a hero and heroine forced into close circumstances to hunt for the super evil bad guy. Or to find the missing treasure. Or to find out who killed their Mom/Dad/Sister/Brother/Best Friend. There is almost always more to the mystery than they ever imagined, and all those long nights spent “working” together on the case can lead to some delicious sexual tension.
2) The Hero (or Heroine) Always Has Friends. Just as Nancy had Bess and George, Ned had his own pals Dave Evans and Burt Eddleston who (conveniently!) dated Bess and George. In our modern-day romantic suspense novel the set up might not be quite as convenient as it is for Nancy and her friends—I mean it IS pretty unlikely that their respective BFFs are dating one another—but almost as soon as you begin reading Book 1 of a new series you can tell who is in the queue for his or her own book down the line. Some readers find this annoying and call it sequel-baiting, but I like getting to know future heroes and heroines early on. And, hey, unlike in the Nancy Drew books it’s good to know that the friends will get to play the starring role at some point. Poor Bess/Dave and George/Burt must have gotten tired of always playing second fiddle to Nancy and Ned.
3) There is always a Happily Ever After. One of the rules of the unspoken pact between mystery author and mystery reader is that by the end of the novel the author will disclose to the reader who actually committed the crime. This is similar to the rule of the romance novel, which decrees that every romance novel must have a happy ending. One thing I love about romantic suspense, and I learned this early on from Nancy Drew, is that the two can be blended together. Not only does a good romantic suspense novel reveal who the bad guy/girl is before the end, it also guarantees a happily ever after for our hero and heroine. While the romance in Nancy Drew never really led to the kind of HEA we expect from a romance novel, there was always a hopeful ending, with the promise of more good times to come. And always, always Nancy Drew books ended with the bad guys safe behind bars. In a world where happily ever after is sometimes hard to come by, and where the bad guys sometimes get away without punishment, there is a certain measure of comfort to be drawn from a temporary visit to a world where justice is always served.
In my own writing, for better or worse, I’ve found that I too prefer my hero and heroine to work together to solve a mystery. I also make sure that my heroes and heroines have plenty of friends. Though they might not always match up as neatly as Nancy’s friends and Ned’s friends did. And always, always I make sure that my bad guys are, if not safe behind bars, at least vanquished and sent somewhere far far away. What can I say? I learned it from the Nancy Drew! You can judge for yourself how well or badly I did in when my first novel, a Regency Historical called How to Dance with a Duke releases from St. Martin’s Press in February 2012. To learn more, or just to say hello, you can find me on Twitter, Facebook or at http://www.mandacollins.com
So, what about you, dear reader? Have you stumbled across some similarities between your childhood reading and the books of your adulthood? Can you trace a path from what you loved as a child to what you love as an adult? One lucky commenter will win a copy of Cynthia Eden’s Deadly Heat and a copy of Karen Rose’s You Can’t Hide both of which feature excellent examples of heroes and heroines solving the mystery together!
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Even as a kid I have always loved the magic of Happily ever after stories. As a child it was more fairy tale magic and as an adult it is more magic that a true love weaves.
When I was very little I loved Encyclopedia Brown mysteries. Later I read Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys. I still enjoy reading mysteries – the more suspenseful the better. I also read scary stories as a child and I still like to be scared.
I love when the hero & heroine help each other solve the mystery. So many interesting situations can occur from working together!
I was a huge Nancy Drew fan, too. In my book Dead People, there’s a secret room, and I might have gotten that from Nancy’s books. My heroine even tells the hero that she’s not Nancy Drew. lol
Congratulations on your sale! I’ll look forward to seeing your book on the shelves.
Great post, Manda! I, too, was a devotee of Nancy Drew as a youngster, and your post encapsulates everything I loved about her. She seemed the ultimate combo of glamorous, sensible, and independent. She even drove a hip roadster, as I recall. And I loved that her lawyer dad let her go off and do just about anything she wanted. Talk about a pre-teen fantasy!
I think I started on my love of mysteries and suspense even earlier than Nancy Drew with The Happy Hollisters, a crime-fighting family with (I think) five kids. Anybody remember them?
CONGRATS yet again Manda on the book deal!! So happy for you. I also loved (still do) Nancy Drew and her beau. Funny how the books we love keep changing their name- who knew what romantic suspense was even 10 years ago? LOL!
Hey Manda and Cynthia! I read some Nancy Drew, but I became a Judy Bolton girl because my father brought home the series. He bought a bunch of old smelly books from the Salvation Army, and I spent a lot of early elementary school with Judy(same era as Nancy, I think. Now I want to Google).Can’t remember much about any of the stories except except when she grew up she had a rainbow wedding with her bridesmaids in different colors. I loaned this book to my real friend Judy, and guess what she did when she grew up? I was the bridesmaid in yellow, LOL.
Before I shifted to romance, I read mysteries almost exclusively. Deanna Raybourn & C.S. Harris write wonderful ones now that combine the historical romances I love with mystery. I’ll add you to the list!
Great blurb!
I read Nancy Drew as a child and when I had a daughter of my own I went and bought all the Nancy Drew books I could find. Horror! She didn’t like them at all, tried a couple and then said: Can you give these to someone who ill enjoy them? And I did.
I’ve mostly though always read romance, even when very young and still am a romance reader!
Congratulations on your new contract!
I started with Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. Then progressed to Agatha Christie by 9 since my mom read her. I still continue to read mysteries and romantic suspense. My first romances were probably basic Harlequins which just had a chaste kissing scene back then and Barbara Cartland which now make me want to gag, but I LOVED her when I was 11-13. I then started reading bodice rippers when I babysat (What an eye opener!!).
I love Nancy Drew! I used to want to be her. 🙂 Thanks for blogging with me!
There are a lot of books that remind me of my childhood now. Especially in the YA genre. Those books bring some tears to my eyes as of late since a lot of hard issues are talked about that happened to a lot of us in teens.
I love finding parallels in my reading to my childhood. A lot of the new fairy series remind me of my imaginative times. And of course the sleuthing from Nancy Drew holds a candle in my heart.
I too loved Nancy Drew, Manda, although I remember the character and her friends much more clearly than I remember the mysteries. I was fascinated to learn several years ago, when I read Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak, that Nancy was the idea of a man, the same man who created the Bobbsey Twins and that Nancy might have been named Stella Strong, Diana Dare, or Helen Hale. I wonder if a different name would have meant less success for the series.
Hi Manda,
Congratulations on your contract 😀
I too read Nancy Drew. If my mom was ever looking for me she could find me in my room with my nose in a Nancy Drew book. As I got older I progressed into Harlequin and regency novels. I love happy endings and the books I read today run along those same lines. I have read authors who’s stories are to real to life and main characters die. I just like to live in a happily ever after kind of world when I read, reality already gives me to much 🙂
Look forward to seeing your books come out next year 🙂
Congratulations Manda!!!!
I would say what I read when I was a pre-teen and what I read today would be very similiar. Love the happy ending stories, where the hero is victorious in the end.
Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone! So glad to see other Nancy Drew fans out here among the romance readers.
Chris–I’m with you on the happily ever afters. I’ve got to have them! Especially when there is so much uncertainty out there in the world right now.
Stacie–I read Encyclopedia Brown too! I was pretty much a mystery nut. And isn’t it awesome when the hero and heroine work together? There’s just something sexy to me about a couple bantering back and forth as they work out the nuts and bolts of the mystery.
Thank you, Edie! And I like your DEAD PEOPLE heroine already. Any girl who identifies with Nancy Drew is okay by me!
Yes, Vanessa! I loved the glamorous aspects of Nancy Drew too. Her car, with it’s freshly pressed change of clothes stored in the trunk just in case. And you’re right about her Dad. He did give her a lot of freedom didn’t he. Nowadays he’d just track her via the GPS in her cell phone!
Thank you, Jillian! It’s still pretty surreal to me to know I’ll be published next year. And good point about the change in what these books we read are called. I guess about ten years ago they were just called contemporary romance? And before that, who knows. I may not always know what it’s called but I know what I like!
Maggie, I never read the Judy Bolton books, though I’ve heard of them since. Funny that you read them because your dad brought them home for you. My mom bought me my first Nancy Drew. I forget sometimes how what we were exposed to as children was dictated by what other people brought to us. It’s not like I could hop in my car at age 7 and nip out to the bookstore! And I’m so glad you mentioned Deanna Raybourn! I adore her. I think I have you and Janga to thank for turning me on to her:)
Oh Diane, horror indeed! That happened with my little sister. She just was not interested in Nancy at all. Or Anne of Green Gables. Sigh. She has other good qualities though;)
Anne, I read my first Agatha Christie around age 9 too! I thought that it was a mystery so surely I’d like it. I was a little taken aback by the actual murder part, I remember. Nancy never really had anything more than assault or attempted murder. No one actually died! My poor childish heart was traumatized. I got over it later though and read all the Christie I could get my hands on.
Thank you, Cindy for the invite! You’ve got a lovely crowd here!
Teri, there are so many great YA authors writing now. And they really delve into some very serious subject matter. That age is so hard. I’m glad there are books there that help them get through the ordeal with some grace.
Kaya, you’re so right about fairy tales! Eloisa James has some lovely re-tellings of fairy tales out right now. The first A KISS AT MIDNIGHT retells Cinderella, and the newest one WHEN BEAUTY TAMED THE BEAST is a new spin on Beauty and the Beast. They’re lovely.
Janga, that is fascinating! Those names are so corny! Helen Hale and Stella Strong, indeed! Thank goodness they went with Nancy Drew.
Thank you so much, Michele! I am in total agreement with you when it comes to happy endings. You summed it up beautifully. Reality is quite real enough, thanks! I’ll take my guaranteed happy ending any day!
Thanks, Angela! Definitely must have the hero win at the end. That’s what heroes are for!
This is really embarrassing – I refused to read as a kid. Every person in my family was a bookworm except me. I didn’t really read for pleasure until I was around 17. So I can’t compare. Enjoyed your post – those who did read I see the relationship.
Don’t be embarrassed, Viki. I know you’re not alone. I just hate that you missed out on all those childhood books. On the other hand, I’m sure you did lots of stuff as a kid that I didn’t. It’s all a trade off.
Major congrats on the news of your debut novel! 😀
As a kid, I did not enjoy reading. Felt like it was something I had to do for reports in class, so did not truly enjoy it. About high school I finally found enjoyment in books from reading romance novels, mainly Historicals… from that point on you never see without books.
Thanks, Colleen! Your childhood attitude toward reading sounds like me now when it comes to housework. Even though I’m a grown up I still have that leftover resentment when it comes to chores. I’m glad you were able to get past it and come to enjoy reading.
I always enjoyed reading happy endings and paranormal themed books. I was really big into Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine. I always loved that there was a twist you might not have been expecting. As an adult I can say I still love reading paranormals. I just read more with a romantic spin on them.
Ah, Danielle, my sister was a big R.L. Stein and Christopher Pike fan. I enjoyed spooky stories too. And paranormals. I like them now too! Especially the ones by Cynthia:)
I’ve always loved fantasy and the unknown. Since my first book when I was ten, The Gauntlet, about a boy finding and old Gauntlet which took him back in time when he put it on…to The Narnian Chronicles….The Hobbit…The Lord of the Rings…
I love a variety of genres, but will hardly ever pass up a paranormal, urban fantasy, high fantasy, sci-fi or steampunk story.
Valerie
in Germany
valb0302@yahoo.com
There is something exciting about the unknown, isn’t there, Valerie? Especially when it’s paired with the paranormal. So many possibilities!
Congrats on the book deal, Manda. I love Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and though I didn’t read them as a kid I think my love for mysteries has definitely turned me into a romantic suspense fan.
Thank you, Jane! Glad to hear from another fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. If you want some light romance featuring Holmes, you might try the Mary Russell series by Laurie R. King. They’re very fun!
I’m another big fan of Nancy Drew! However, I grew up reading straight contemporary romances. It wasn’t until college I discovered that mystery/suspense angle in romance and I’ve been hooked ever since 🙂 Congrats on your awesome deal!
Thank you, Katie! Congrats to you too! Love that you’re another Nancy Drew fan! I knew I liked you for good reason:)
I loved the Nancy Drew series as a child but feel like I have gravitated away from mystery books as an adult. There are still a few romatic suspense books that I will read, but I still love the friendships and relationships that are built around solving a mystery.
Stephanie, I don’t read mysteries a much as I used to either. I think the friendships and relationships–the world that the characters inhabit–are so important! Glad you agree!
I’ve always loved stories that ended in Happily Ever After– and that hasn’t changed 🙂
Amen, Chelsea!
As a child I was a very compassionate person and I still am today. I love stories that have a strong emotional pull and that have a lot of passion in them.
I love an emotional story, too, Leagh!
It’s an interesting question.
I am not sure there’s a similarity in the novels themselves, but there’s definitely a similarity in how they make me feel as I read: they transport me to the world the characters live in.
Some times it’s the world itself, some times the characters, and yet other times it’s the author’s voice. Occasionally, a combination of all three. Whichever it is, that’s what calls me to a book.
Reminds me of the old “I don’t know art but I know what I like” line, Azteclady. I agree about being transported to the world of the story, though. That is definitely something all the books I love have in common.
Some of my favorite series were Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie which might be why I enjoy series of books.
I adored the Anne books, Maureen! I never tried the Little House books, though I have friends who were superfans.