Nancy Drew Clutch Handbags FS

Just added the new style of clutch handbag to the shop:

http://www.nancydrewsleuth.com/accessories.html

http://www.ndsleuths.com/nancydrewshop5.html

It's got a shoulder strap that you can wear with it or take the strap off to use as a hand clutch. All leather - black - featuring images of Nancy and a quote. Cute!

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew - Witch Tree Symbol Cover Art Painting

Recently, #33 Nancy Drew, The Witch Tree Symbol, was auctioned off at a gallery in Portland, OR on consignment from an area collector. I decided to bid on the painting since this cover/book/title was a favorite of mine as a child. Still is among my favorites. In fact our Nancy Drew Sleuths held a Witch Tree theme convention for our 2008 - 8th annual convention in Amish Country in PA.

The painting is 18" x 13.25" . Only about 11 1/2" x 16" is showing in the framed piece. I will likely have it re-framed at some point to show more of the cover and also get a frame that is evocative of the spooky witch tree. Due to the glass, it was hard to get a photo of the painting without a lot of glare or reflection and it turned out darker than the actual painting--which is a bit lighter than the cover of the book in areas.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Books: Scary Things Kids (& Adults) Do #3

Check out what this little Picasso did to the cover of The Mystery at Lilac Inn! Not finding that an improvement...But see below--at least they were nearly genius enough to cover those dreaded double oval endpapers that most collectors abhor!


Jenn:)

365 Days of Nancy Drew Blog Preview 5

I'm adding a preview of what's going on at my 365 Days of Nancy Drew Blog Party below.

Join the Nancy Drew Blog Party that celebrates 80 years of Nancy Drew all year long : So far discussed in just 162 days are books 1-23, we've had 5 trivia contests for prizes, 3 book discussions on Girl Sleuth, Rediscovering Nancy Drew, Not a Girl Detective, and Confessions of a Teen Sleuth, we've done a jewelry craft project, posts about crafty stuff and scrapbooking, a Nancy Drew Cookbook recipe testing project. Other topics include: 80 Little Known Things About Nancy, Things We've Learned From Nancy, Walter Karig, Harriet Adams, Behind the Scenes of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, Sleuthing, Mardi Gras Mysteries, Winter Nancy Drew books, my Today Show appearance, Togo, Bess Marvin, George Fayne, Helen Corning, Ned Nickerson, How the Crossword Cipher cover came to be, Nancy Drew villains, Nancy Drew rewards, Nancy Drew cakes, Nancy Drew vs. Hardy Boys, Nancy's Crook Lists, 1930s ND movies, 2007 ND movie, Nancy Drew computer games, Nancy Drew collecting and tips, Nancy Drew collectibles, 70s TV show, Edward Stratemeyer, Advice from Carson Drew, Aliases, and much more!So hop in your roadsters and enjoy this nostalgia ride back to River Heights along with me!

Click here to join the Blog!

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A tolling bell, a strange cosmetic line, and Tolling Bell Tuna Roll Elves...Let's discuss!

A Few Fast Facts:

Original Ghostwriter: Mildred A. Wirt Benson

2 Illustrators: Russell H. Tandy and Rudy Nappi

Synopsis From My Website:

Nancy, Bess, and George travel to a picturesque seaside town at the invitation of one of Carson Drew's clients. Mr. Drew fails to join the girls, leading to a mystery involving his disappearance and a nearby cliffside cave inhabited by a ghost and his tolling bell.

This is an interesting Nancy Drew book set in a fictional town in Maine, Candleton. It involves a scheming gang involved in various rackets including selling crappy costmetics--which Bess gets duped into purchasing. It also involves an old cave reportedly haunted by a ghost and a tolling bell. Turns out it's just a short villain named Grumper - one of the elves Nancy dreams of after being knocked out. Incidentally in the Nancy Drew Cookbook there's a recipe for "Tolling Bell Tuna Rolls" that might knock your socks of as well--but in a bad way! ;)

The original, though written by Mildred, is a choppier/wordier text which I'll discuss in a future Blog entry.

Original vs. Revised - 5 Interesting Clues:

1. In the original version Bess doesn't like seafood--but she does by the revision.

2. George is skeptical of Nancy's ideas in the original version but it is Bess who is the skeptic in the revision.

3. In the original version Ned is staying up near Candleton, but in the revision, he's selling insurance.

4. Name change - Madame in the original is Mary Smith, in the revision it's Martha Stott.

5. At the end, Ned questions why Nancy changes the subject when he wants to talk about things (romance) other than mysteries, and she just smiles sweetly in the original. In the revised, she gives him the "someday..." line.

3 Mysterious Things About Nancy:

1. Nancy always carries a flashlight in her purse.

2. She's waited tables before.

3. She doesn't like Ned to buy presents for her.

An Important Lesson We Learned From Nancy:

It's a good idea to heed the warnings in notes announcing impending danger!

Sleuthworthy Rating on a Scale of 1-10:

8 - nice mystery with an interesting location and historical bell references.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Hidden Staircase Painting & Book Stand

Last year I purchased The Hidden Staircase painting from Rudy Nappi. It was so iconic and one of my favorite stories in the series. I still have my Hidden Staircase book I had as a child too featuring this cover and had Rudy sign it at our 80th Nancy Drew convention this year.

For the 80th anniversary, classic Nancy Drew publisher Penguin decided to create a really neat stand-up cutout of Nancy and wanted to use the painting to get a really detailed high resolution scan in order to be able to blow it up with lots of clarity.

They hired a company in Scottsdale to do the scanning and so in order to do a full scan, we had to remove the mat shown above. I was a bit nervous about doing that but it came apart fairly easily revealing the whole painting below:

As you can see in the painting, there is a lot of detail surrounding Nancy and the staircase--cobwebs come across very clearly and it's a really neat scene!

I still need to have it framed, now that I'm done with the high res scanning. My only issue is whether to keep the mat that came with it that is signed by Rudy Nappi or do something different so that when it's framed more of the artwork shows. I like the idea of showing more of the artwork. What do you all think?

Here's the neat stand-up that Penguin created for their "Drewtique" displays that hit Books A Million Bookstores and other independent book stores in April:

We raffled one off at our 80th Nancy Drew convention this year.

Jenn:)

Nancy Drew Charm Product Testing!

We're doing a charm product test. I'm showing several rough product examples here of charms and rings which will be silver plated and really nice quality from Classic Hardware. We are going to get 2 styles going to begin with in limited editions and then will change designs from time to time.

What I want feedback on are two key items which you can vote in the two polls along the right side of this Blog at top - if you're reading this at Facebook, just post your comments there:

A: Which which 2 designs do we start with? Select 2 in the poll. We have:

1.Blue background/orange silhouette like the vintage books
2. Hidden Staircase (3rd Nappi art)
3. Old Clock (1st Tandy art)
4. Old Attic (1st Tandy art)


B: Do we feature the full book cover with titles or at least the title of the book showing or just the image of Nancy Drew the cover, no lettering?

Jenn:)