The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

So trite - Nancy Drew. I loved those books and wanted to be Nancy - Roadster and all!

I know of Biggles, yep

Skye wrote: "Feliks, they were good, and for the time frame, they presented women as strong, able bodied, and smart/"

Very well said, Skye!

Kait wrote: "So trite - Nancy Drew. I loved those books and wanted to be Nancy - Roadster and all!"

Ah yes -- the roadster. It was probably hip at the time.

Alexander wrote: "Probably more of a tangential sidestep, but maybe the pilot-adventurer James Bigglesworth, "Biggles"?"

Never came across that one, I must say.

Not just Biggles but Dave Dashaway, (air adventures were popular) the Rover Boys, Frank Merriwell, Tom Swift..

I actually don't remember 'who' came first ... Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple, but they were probably my earliest 'favorites'.

My first favorite police/detective series was the LAPD books by Dell Shannon.

I still go back and re-read all three at times.

Dave Dashaway - what a great name!

My first? Sherlock Holmes, I think. (Still pretty fond of Mr. Holmes, nearly 40 years later.)

Rover Boys! Thank you for the memory. I devoured my brother's. Then moved on to the Hardy Boys too. Anyone ever read Motor Girls? They were from the 1920s. My aunt gave me copies that her aunt had given her. I loved them. Thinking back, they probably set me up to like the original Nancy Drew books.

Sherlock Holmes...never outgrew that first literary "crush" :)

I never read the Motor Girls, but I certainly enjoyed Judy Bolton (first published in the 1930s). (But Sherlock Holmes was there first.)

Nancy Drew was first, then Sherlock Holmes.

Nobody's mentioned Tintin! Philistines, the lot of you! :)

Yeah, I know he was a reporter, but he did solve crimes.

Sherlock Holmes.

R.M.F wrote: "Nobody's mentioned Tintin! Philistines, the lot of you! :)

Yeah, I know he was a reporter, but he did solve crimes."

I STILL love Tintin! I have all of my books from when I was a kid and go through them every so often.

There was another series I remember reading as a youngster as well; along with Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. They were the Dana Girls; was the first book in the series. I readily admit that I preferred girl detectives.. :)

Bill wrote: "There was another series I remember reading as a youngster as well; along with Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. They were the Dana Girls; was the fi..."

I read the Dana Girls right along with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys - they weren't as cool as Nancy Drew.

Not sure he qualifies as "sleuth," but I worshipped Doc Savage in 5th grade. My first experience at collecting a series. He was probably more action hero than sleuth, but the Doc and his crew did spend a fair amount of time plotting how to foil villains. A good bit of matching wits as well as brawn.

Nancy Drew was also my first favorite. So much so that when my parents allowed me to suggest names for my new baby sister, she was named Nancy.

I just gave away my Dana Girls when we moved to Maine (1950's edition) I still have the early Nancy Drew, complete with the covers by R.H. Tandy. This was my genesis as an English major and a lifelong Mystery fan

I see that I'm a little late on this bandwagon but thought I'd throw in my two cents' worth: Enid Blyton's Secret Seven, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, Donna Parker...

There was also another series of books that I read as a kid where some young boys solved mysteries from a junkyard - I can't remember the name of the books. Does anyone know?

Marta wrote: "I see that I'm a little late on this bandwagon but thought I'd throw in my two cents' worth: Enid Blyton's Secret Seven, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, Donna Parker...

There ..."

The boys from the junkyard - The Three Investigators! I loved those books. And I actually have an old Donna Parker book in my collection. All right all of you fellow admirers of early mysteries -- I have a set of books where the kid was a genius named Brains Benton. Now how obscure is that!

Nancy wrote: "Marta wrote: "I see that I'm a little late on this bandwagon but thought I'd throw in my two cents' worth: Enid Blyton's Secret Seven, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, Donna Par..."

Way to go, Nancy! Your memory totally rocks!! I vaguely remembered that the books had something to do with Alfred Hitchcock and now when I googled it (because enquiring minds want to know), I see that the series was originally called Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators".

I love anything to do with mysteries and detectives and I did a series of blog posts on Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes and Jessica Fletcher a little while back, if anyone's interested in reading them. They can be found at:

http://martatandori.com/fictional-det...

http://martatandori.com/fictional-det...

http://martatandori.com/fictional-det...

I used to have a copy of "Bunst And The Secret Six" about 50 years ago and it was moth eaten even then! I guess that is the first mystery or adventure or whatever that I read.

I dont think these counts but remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books. So I am saying my favorite fictional sleuth was Me!!

Prakash wrote: "I used to have a copy of "Bunst And The Secret Six" about 50 years ago and it was moth eaten even then! I guess that is the first mystery or adventure or whatever that I read."

I looked that up - you should have held on to them. $60 on the low end!

Tom wrote: "I dont think these counts but remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books. So I am saying my favorite fictional sleuth was Me!!"

Very good!

Most of us love Nancy Drew and then graduated to Sherlock of course. Now for bringing Sherlock into a different realm, have YOU read any of Laurie R.King's books. Start with the The Beekeeper's Apprentice.

Love Cherry ames---wow what a trip down memory lane. Laurie King is so worth reading

Tom wrote: "Not sure he qualifies as "sleuth," but I worshipped Doc Savage in 5th grade. My first experience at collecting a series. He was probably more action hero than sleuth, but the Doc and his crew did..."

I read a lot of the Doc Savage books too. They were definitely thrillers.

Hardy boys, Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, and above all Sherlock. Read then growing up and read everything on Sherlock I can get now.

Nancy wrote: "Kait wrote: "So trite - Nancy Drew. I loved those books and wanted to be Nancy - Roadster and all!"

Ah yes -- the roadster. It was probably hip at the time."

I'm guessing it was, and probably another way to set Nancy's place in society. I don't remember what it was replaced with in the revamps.

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "I never read the Motor Girls, but I certainly enjoyed Judy Bolton (first published in the 1930s). (But Sherlock Holmes was there first.)"

Yep, Judy Bolton. I remember those too. My family never met a book they didn't like and the books were handed down from generation to generation. Someone mentioned the Dana Girls. I have been trying to remember the name of that series for ages. Now, off to see if there are any available. I'd love to re-read at least one.

I'd forgotten all about the Hardy boys, bloody good books. Brings a tear to my eye. Somebody get me a violin :)

Kait wrote: "the books were handed down from generation to generation....."

Bravo. That is a wonderful thing.

p.s. Roadsters? What specific kind was it?

Roadsters were hip no matter what the era.

Something that looked like this, in principle? Always cool.
http://tinyurl.com/pn8sp3a
http://tinyurl.com/odzy5dg


Hopefully with Pamela Sue Martin behind the wheel...whew!

Feliks wrote: "p.s. Roadsters? What specific kind was it?

Roadsters were hip no matter what the era.

Something that looked like this, in principle? Always cool.
http://tinyurl.com/pn8sp3a
http://tinyurl.com/od..."

No idea - just Roadster, but these were from the 1930s. The few illustrations I remember looked like Model Ts (As?) with flip up backseats where the trunk would be. I looked in my copy of the Nancy Drew scrapbook, but didn't see a mention.

Ah! I see. That's called a rumble-seat. Probably a Ford Model B, something like this:
http://tinyurl.com/ozasuft

Bit of trivia: in the Gilded Age, (1870 - 1910) if a young ingenue had a promising date (unchaperoned) with an eager suitor it was called 'going for a buggy ride'.

If a your daughter comes home unexpectedly early from a 'buggy ride' you can assume the young gentleman turned into a 'masher'. He tried to 'get fresh'.

Feliks wrote: "Kait wrote: "the books were handed down from generation to generation....."

Bravo. That is a wonderful thing."

Yes, my family has that tendency - I read a lot of children's books of my parent's or grandparent's generation. Like the Judy Boltons. (Which I always liked better than Nancy Drew.)

Feliks wrote: "Ah! I see. That's called a rumble-seat. Probably a Ford Model B, something like this:
http://tinyurl.com/ozasuft

Bit of trivia: in the Gilded Age, (1870 - 1910) if a young ingenue had a promising ..."

Yep, that's it. Interesting about the buggy rides. Do you write historicals?

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "Feliks wrote: "Kait wrote: "the books were handed down from generation to generation....."

Bravo. That is a wonderful thing."

Yes, my family has that tendency - I read a lot of children's books o..."

Isn't it great. Gives such a sense of continuity. I read tons of handed down books. Gave me quite the leg up on history.

Kait wrote: "Yep, that's it. Interesting about the buggy rides. Do you write historicals? ..."

No..I'm just a dork. Billy Pilgrim became unstuck in time.

Kait wrote: "Isn't it great. Gives such a sense of continuity. I read tons of handed down books. Gave me quite the leg up on history. ..."

If only our country could keep just this one thing going, we would be in pretty good shape. Literacy. The generations who enjoyed this sensibility before us, built our society.

As well, for the Brits. All those decades of English schoolkids learning latin! The result? Bridges, skyscrapers, airports, dams, harbors.

anyone seen Bonita Granville's Nancy Drew movies from the 1940s?

They (fairly) often show them on TCM - usually in their Saturday morning serial period; although right now they are showing Dr. Gillespie.

I have seen those movies. Or maybe just one, I'm not sure. I read Nancy Drew books as a child and was so inspired I wrote a little mystery and sent it to my grandfather.

Amber wrote: "I have seen those movies. Or maybe just one, I'm not sure. I read Nancy Drew books as a child and was so inspired I wrote a little mystery and sent it to my grandfather."

That's so cool, that you were inspired to write by the ND books. I've never managed to see the movies. I wonder if they are on Netflix.

I read the entire Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series when I was a kid.

Definitely Hardy Boys, had all of the books in the series, wish I had kept them.