Synopses & Reviews
"If you are reading this, then I am gone and this manuscript, per my instruction, has been delivered to the writer Chelsea Cain for publication as she sees fit..."
In this delicious and affectionate parody, narrated by literature's most beloved teen sleuth, a certain titian-haired girl detective speaks out to set the record straight. According to our heroine, she was not in fact a fictional character. And the famous series of books she starred in were not by a hard-working team of writers, but a nosy college roommate who shamelessly plagiarized her tales from real-life exploits and, in the process, got a whole lot wrong.
Here are the daring escapes, brilliant hunches, and dependable stock characters, including interlopers from numerous other beloved series, that have delighted generations of fans. And here, also, are the details of teen-sleuth life that you never saw: the secret romances, reckless driving, minor drinking problems, political action, and domestic drama that have, up till now, remained hidden from these brave detectives' adoring public.
Review
"Chelsea Cain's gleeful parody...affectionately hits all the formulaic high points of a Nancy Drew mystery, sending up and yet saluting America's favorite girl detective." Melanie Rehak, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"A stocking-stuffer tell-all....Fans of the teen detective genre will like the clever but tame co-mingling by Cain of series heroes from Drew up to Encyclopedia Brown (but no sign of Harriet the Spy)." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"This fast-paced, fun-to-read parody feels a lot like the original Nancy Drew books and even includes ten illustrations modeled after the series. It may entice old fans to revisit the original books. Recommended." Library Journal
Synopsis
"If you are reading this, then I am gone and this manuscript, per my instruction, has been delivered to the writer Chelsea Cain for publication as she sees fit..." America's favorite girl detective is back to set the record straight. According to our titian-haired heroine, she was not a fictional character, but an intrepid real-life sleuth who investigated some of the twentieth century's biggest mysteries. And the famous series she starred in was not cooked up by a team of writers, but plagiarized from her exploits by a nosy college roommate-who, not surprisingly, got a whole lot wrong.
Here are the daring escapes, brilliant hunches, and dependable stock characters, including interlopers from numerous other beloved series, that have delighted generations of fans. And here, also, are the details of teen-sleuth life that you never saw: the secret romances, reckless driving, minor drinking problems, political action, and domestic drama that have, up till now, remained hidden from these brave detectives' adoring public.
About the Author
Chelsea Cain is the author of The Hippie Handbook (2004) and the memoir Dharma Girl (1996). She edited the anthology Wild Child (2000), about children of the counterculture. She has written for a wide variety of publications and is currently a humor columnist for the Oregonian.