Nancy Drew made her book debut in 1930. The Nancy Drew Mysteries were the brainchild of publisher Edward Stratemeyer who developed a pseudonym so that several authors could contribute to Nancy’s stories at once. When he died, just two weeks after the first book launched, his daughters took over the business, and Nancy Drew hasn’t stopped sleuthing since.
Children’s book series, young adult novels, middle-grade books, movies, television series, crossover adventures with the Hardy Boys, and computer games all featured the character over the last eight decades. Revisions of the classic stories have updated vocabulary and eliminated racist undertones in order to keep the stories relevant. With the 2019 series on the CW, Nancy Drew gets yet another update, but there are a lot of little details hidden in the series for long-time fans of the character.
River Heights
In the novels, Nancy Drew grew up in a small town called River Heights. Producers decided not to go with that name because it was too close to the CW’s existing property Riverdale. Just because Nancy lives in Horseshoe Bay doesn’t mean the original hometown didn’t get a shout out though.
Fans will notice Nancy’s college application in the first episode lists her address as on River Heights Drive. The street sign can later be seen in the show.
Nancy’s News Clippings
To catch all of the Easter eggs on Nancy’s bulletin board, fans will likely have to pause their watching of the show, but there are quite a few.
When Nancy recounted her teenage sleuthing days in a voiceover in the pilot, news clippings on her board got a quick pan from the camera. Every one of her “cases” is a nod to one of the original 1930s books. For example, the missing girl she found behind a staircase was a nod to The Hidden Staircase. There were also nods to The Secret Of Red Gate Farm, The Mystery Of The Ivory Charm, The Phantom Of Pine Hill, and more.
The Secret Of The Old Attic
One book, in particular, gets a more visual nod in the series. Instead of spotting the titular buzz words in a newspaper article, one sequence in Nancy’s attic will remind fans of an original book cover.
Nancy searched through her family’s attic to discover a bloody dress inside a trunk. That dress has become a sticking point for Nancy and her father in the series, but the visual of Nancy opening the trunk to find the dress looks strikingly similar to the cover of the 1944 novel The Secret Of The Old Attic. Maybe fans can look to it for clues about the season-long mystery.
Nancy’s Car
Longtime Nancy Drew fans will certainly remember that the teenage detective has a penchant for the color blue. It’s not only appropriate that her waitress uniform is blue... but so is the car she inherited from her mother.
In the older books, Nancy had a blue “roadster.” Also, in the 1980s book series, The Nancy Drew Case Files, she often drove a blue convertible. When Emma Roberts starred in the 2007 movie adaptation, Nancy also had a blue car. Her mother’s car for the 2019 update? Also a classic car, and also blue.
The Secret Of The Old Clock
In episode three, Nancy and Nick followed a scavenger hunt left for him by Tiffany. Fans of the original novels will find the design of the clock Tiffany hid in Nancy’s car familiar. It looks exactly like the one featured on the 1930 cover of the first Nancy Drew novel The Secret Of The Old Clock.
What’s more, the book’s story featured Nancy searching for the will of a wealthy man, much like Nancy and Nick looked for what Tiffany wanted him to have following his death.
The Lilac Inn
The inn Tiffany was renovating before her death is also a nod to one of the original books in the Nancy Drew series. The Mystery At Lilac Inn featured Nancy helping one of her friends discover who stole her jewelry.
Of course, when the novel was revised in the 1960s, it featured a few more things in common with the modern TV series. In the 1961 novel, Nancy’s friend’s jewelry was still stolen, but her friend also happened to own the inn, which she was going to run with her future husband. The inn, however, was being “haunted.” As it turned out, the crimes were committed by an actress who also spent some time impersonating Nancy. The Inn has also been featured in some of the Her Interactive Nancy Drew games.
Pamela Sue Martin
In the 1970s, actress Pamela Sue Martin brought Nancy Drew to life for a television series. In those days, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys teamed up for three seasons. Martin got to return to the world of Nancy Drew, but this time in a completely different role.
In the pilot episode, she appeared as Harriet Grosset. Harriet was a psychic Nancy, George, and Bess visited to learn more about recently killed socialite Tiffany Hudson. Martin’s passing of the torch also signifies a change in the storytelling as the 2019 series features a lot more supernatural elements than her 1970s series.
The Tandy Family
Fans might have missed in the first few episodes that Tiffany Hudson’s maiden name was Tiffany Tandy. When her sister Laura returned to Horseshoe Bay in episode four, the Tandy family got a few more mentions.
While the characters aren’t ones who appeared in the original Nancy Drew novels, their surname is an important piece of Nancy Drew history. 25 of the original Nancy Drew novels featured covers and illustrations by an artist named Russell H. Tandy. Most of the books already referenced in the television series (The Secret Of The Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, The Mystery At Lilac Inn, The Mystery Of The Ivory Charm, The Secret In The Old Attic, etc.) were novels he illustrated. He also worked on covers for some of The Hardy Boys books as well. This little detail might end up just being a happy coincidence, but if it is, the writers should go ahead and take credit for the connection.
The Claw Uniforms
It’s not just appropriate that Nancy’s uniform is bright blue; there’s a very purposeful color scheme going on at The Claw. While the diner’s decor is predominantly red, the uniforms for Nancy, George, and Bess, are blue, green, and yellow, respectively.
Those colors are actually a nod to the classic Nancy Drew board game. Released in the 1950s just as the original novels were getting updated and rereleased, three of the tokens of the Nancy Drew game were the same shades as The Claw’s waitress uniforms. The final token? Bright red, just like the rest of The Claw.
Keene High School
In the fourth episode of the debut season, Nancy Drew paid a visit to her old high school looking for clues about the death of Lucy Sable. Eagle-eyed fans will notice she attended Keene High School.
Riverdale fans might have thought it was a nod to upcoming spinoff Katy Keene since that character got a mention in the Riverdale episode that aired the same night. In reality, it was a nod to the pseudonym responsible for all of Nancy’s stories. The name used to publish all of Nancy’s mysteries over the years is Carolyn Keene, no matter who the writer is.