A collection of essays that focuses its critical sights on the figure of the girl sleuth, made famous by Nancy Drew but also characterized by other famous detectives like Cherry Ames, Trixie Belden, Linda Carlton, and even in contemporary media by Veronica Mars and Hermione Granger of the ""Harry Potter"" series.

Table of Contents Acknowledgments     Introduction: The Mystery of the Moll Dick MICHAEL G. CORNELIUS      The Nancy Drew Mythtery Stories JAMES D. KEELINE      Originator, Writer, Editor, Hack: Carolyn Keene and Changing Definitions of Authorship LINDA K. KARELL      Alice Roy, Détective: Nancy Drew in French Translation MELANIE E. GREGG      Race and Xenophobia in the Nancy Drew Novels: “What kind of society...?” LEONA W. FISHER      “They blinded her with science”: Science Fiction and Technology in Nancy Drew MICHAEL G. CORNELIUS      Linda Carlton: Flying Sleuth/Sleuthing Flier FRED ERISMAN      The Girl Sleuths of Melody Lane H. ALAN PICKRELL      Measuring Up to the Task: Cherry Ames as Nurse and Sleuth ANITA G. GORMAN and LESLIE ROBERTSON MATEER      Puzzles, Paternity, and Privilege: The Mysterious Function(s) of the Family in Trixie Belden STEVEN J. ZANI      Not Nancy Drew but Not Clueless: Embodying the Teen Girl Sleuth in the Twenty-first Century MARLA HARRIS      Hermione Granger as Girl Sleuth GLENNA ANDRADE      Teen Sleuth Manifesto MELISSA FAVARA and ALLISON SCHUETTE-HOFFMAN      About the Contributors 199 Index203     

“an excellent addition...recommended”—Choice; “interesting...thought-provoking...a great choice”—School Library Journal; “an absorbing read”—Feminist Collections; “valuable collection...most of the essays are highly readable and cover fresh ground”—Mystery Scene; “a welcome addition”—Dime Novel Round-Up; “interesting, useful, and sometimes entertaining volume”—Children's Literature Association Quarterly.