Pure nostalgia: Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew

After Enid Blyton, my reading naturally shifted to American mystery series—The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I loved the mystery and suspense these books offered. It later manifested as a love for movies with suspense, mystery and twists.

Fascinating facts about The Hardy Boys

• First published in 1927, making them one of the longest-running series in children’s literature.
• Written under the house pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon** by multiple authors.
• Originally created to appeal specifically to boys, as a counterpart to Nancy Drew.
• Early editions were substantially revised in the 1950s–60s to modernise language, shorten stories, and remove racial stereotypes.
• Frank and Joe Hardy were deliberately written as complements: Frank logical and serious, Joe impulsive and intuitive.
• The series helped popularise the amateur detective genre for young readers.
• Over 600 titles have been published worldwide across spin-offs and reboots.

Fascinating facts about Nancy Drew

• Debuted in 1930, during a time when few fictional girls were portrayed as independent or adventurous.
• Created by publisher Edward Stratemeyer, and written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene.
• Early Nancy was notably bold, assertive, and fearless, even by modern standards.
• Like the Hardy Boys, many early books were rewritten mid-century to soften language and update social norms.
• Nancy Drew became an unexpected feminist icon, inspiring generations of girls to see themselves as capable and intelligent.
• The character influenced later pop-culture detectives, from TV to YA fiction.
• More than 500 million copies of Nancy Drew books have been sold globally.