Melanie Rehak

Yes, I was one of the slightly vintage women who let out a shriek when we saw it at Costco: The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, a complete boxed set, fifty-six familiar yellow spines, shrink-wrapped. I can't remember now if it was $100 or $200 or $500, but I immediately paid it, with shaking hands. Surely my six-year-old niece or my preschool-aged daughters would eventually enjoy—indeed, would require—this treasure trove

Melanie Rehak's amiable and thorough new book begins and ends with appeals to the reader. Her first sentence is direct: "Grab your magnifying glass, because this is a mystery story." Her last line is more of an entreaty. "There are fighting days still ahead of us," she writes, "and we're going to need her." The "her" is Nancy Drew, the fictional teenage detective whose authorship and enduring popularity are the subjects of "Girl Sleuth." The "us" in the sentence is women.

 Since 1930 Nancy Drew has installed herself in the wayward hearts of young girls, heedless of the Depression, four wars (not counting the present one), civil rights, feminism, Gerald Ford and drugs, sex and rock and roll. 

'Is it possible that there breathes somewhere a female between the ages of nine and 49 who doesn't know Nancy Drew?" asked one of the girl detective's adult fans.Probably not. The titian-haired sleuth has left her mark on American womanhood for generations now. Bette Davis, Barbara Walters, Mary Tyler Moore, Joan Mondale, Fran Lebowitz, Beverly Sills, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are just a few of her avowed fans.