Koffee & Kpop

In my attempt to find Nancy Drew books translated into Korean, I stumbled upon the “Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew” series.

I managed to find a set of the first ten books for roughly $10 USD on a secondhand app and they arrived today. I thought it’d be fun to blog about these books similarly to how I’m reviewing “Nancy Drew Mysteries.”

Background

“Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew” is a Nancy Drew series for young readers started in 2006. It compromises 40 books, with the last one published in 2014. The main illustrator for the series was Macky Pamintuan, but the last two books (“Museum Mayhem” and “Butterfly Blues”) were illustrated by Peter Francis.

“Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew: Sleepover Sleuths” is the first installment of the “Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew” series.

The Clue Crew, of course, includes cousins George and Bess, who are strikingly similar to their older counterparts.

George is portrayed as tomboyish with brown hair and a penchant for technology and computer games, whereas her cousin Bess is portrayed as having blond hair and a love of food and gadgets, which includes building and fixing them.

Nancy, of course, has traded in her “titian” hair for a more simple “reddish-blond” and her favorite color is purple. She lives with her lawyer dad, housekeeper Hannah who’s taken care of Nancy since her mother died when she was three years old, and Chocolate Chip, a little brown puppy.

(Nancy’s beau Ned also makes an appearance in the first book, as a fourth-grader playing basketball with a friend of Nancy’s. It’s said that they went to the same pediatrician.)

Synopsis

The three girls are in the third grade at River Heights Elementary and from the get-go, we are shown that Nancy is a master of deduction–she can figure out what the school is serving for lunch based on smells, things she’s noticed (boxes of macaroni and cheese behind a counter) and patterns she’s noticed (“Mrs. Nicholson the lunch lady makes potato salad every three weeks”).

Nancy and her friends are invited to a special birthday slumber party by Deidre, one of the “nice… a bit spoiled” girls in their class. They were asked to bring their City Dolls, which are a set of dolls based on different cities around the US, such as Chicago Cheryl and Honolulu Haley.

The reason for the sleepover is the unveiling of Deidre’s birthday present–a rare Hollywood Heather doll. Everything goes as planned during the slumber party until the next morning, when Hollywood Heather is discovered missing from the windowsill were she was laid the night before.

Nancy and the Clue Crew have to find out what happened to the doll, and fast, because Deidre can’t tell her parents that the expensive doll went missing the day she received it.

Thoughts Post-Reading

As far as the actual mystery goes, it was a pretty good set-up for a young readers book–there were ample clues given, including some false clues. I liked the emphasis on the friendship between Nancy and George and Bess, because they can often take a backseat in the original “Nancy Drew Mysteries.”

Some of the methods Nancy uses to solve the mystery are a bit questionable, such as going through people’s bags or straight-up accusing people of being guilty. However, I think this can be a good discussion starter about how it’s not nice to snoop or accuse your friends of taking things.

Nancy uses a lot of technology in the book to help her solve the mystery–from using Deidre’s blog to an instant messaging program on the computer. In 2006, this would have been culturally on-the-nose but it’s incredibly dated 20 years later. Nowadays, Nancy would be using a mobile phone and watching reels on TikTok for clues.

Conclusion

Maybe because I’ve essentially trained myself to seek out references to food and clothing, but I was surprised to find so many in this book. It felt like a true Nancy Drew book in this respect. The foods are, of course, very 2000s white-bread America, and the outfits are on-brand for a third grader of the time.

I’m excited to finish reading the first ten books. It’s a nice little brain break from the other Nancy Drew books.

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Phrase of the Book

“Oh, don’t have kittens!”

(“don’t be upset about it”)

Foods Mentioned

• “fish sticks… potato salad… macaroni and cheese” (school lunch)
• “three kinds of pies: pepperoni, mushroom, and extra cheese”
• “birthday cake”
• “she puts pickles on all her sandwiches”
• “scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast… strawberry jam”
• “containers of coleslaw and potato salad”
• “[pepperoni and cheese] slices and drank water”
• “whipped cream and strawberry filling”
• “Hannah’s yummy fruit salad”
• “sandwiches and little cakes and minty tea”

Outfits

• “purple coat and matching hat… purple jacket and sneakers”
• “flannel pj’s with cupcake design”
• “all denim, just like Oklahoma City Olivia”
• “a little red silk flower in her hair like Honolulu Haley”
• “poncho… made out of real cashmere… real leather boots… sterling silver earrings” (Hollywood Heather)
• “apple green poncho, a white leather skirt, and matching white boots… silver hoop earrings” (Hollywood Heather)
• “footsie pajamas”
• “pink pj’s”
• “red and white striped pajamas”
• “orange [pj’s]… slippers with the unicorn heads”
• “a pink dress and black patent leather shoes”