Wednesday, January 09, 2019

31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #9 Nancy Drew Wanderer Era Special Editions


31 Days of Nancy Drew Topic #9

Nancy Drew Wanderer Era Spinoffs & Special Editions - A Brief Overview

During the 1980s we had some special editions and spin-offs during the Wanderer era. There are some collectibles associated with the early Simon & Schuster/Syndicate collaboration days (box sets, diary/puzzle books/book & record sets/etc.) but those will be the focus of another 31 days posting.

At my Nancy Drew Sleuth website I have a section in the Nancy Drew Books area on these special editions -  and one on a spinoff series

 

Special editions included Nancy Drew Ghost Stories 1 and 2, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Sleuths 1 and 2 and Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Camp Fire Stories. Ghost Stories and Super Sleuths were not numbered 1 for the first volume, but to keep it simple here I'm referring to them as 1. For the first time in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories book series, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were teamed up. Technically they were together previously - in Family Circle magazine there was a Christmas story by Harriet Adams and of course the 1970s TV shows/Meet Dracula TV show book, but in the book series, this was the first time the boys and Nancy collaborated. The Family Circle story went on to be used in Super Sleuths (The Secret of Mountaintop Inn). There are hardcovers with dust jackets of these Wanderer special books - except for Camp Fire Stories which never was released in that format. You can also find library bound versions and foreign editions of these.

 

As for art, there are four different cover art and various imprints for the first Nancy Drew Ghost Stories. - I have included all the various covers to this, even though they were not all produced during the Wanderer era. The first art even comes in a smaller Nancy Drew-Files size paperback. And The Ghost Dogs of Whispering Oaks story in the first Ghost Stories book partly inspired the Her Interactive game, Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake.

 
 
 

A spin-off series banking on the popularity of the Choose Your Own Adventure series, came out with only 6 books - the Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Be A Detective Series. Books 7 and 8 were advertised but never published.
 

In the comments, let me know, if you own any of these special editions? How did you like Nancy Drew teaming up with the Hardy Boys? Do you read the Ghost Stories books in the fall around Halloween? Were you a fan of the Be A Detective series and getting drive the plot by choosing their fate as the mystery went along? Own any of the cover art?

No comments: