The first Nancy Drew books were action-packed adventure stories ghostwritten by the first woman ever to receive a masters of journalism from "How does one go about crippling an airplane motor?" Maybe it helps to think of the books as antique children's pulp fiction. "'Oh dear, this is something I don't know much about," the girl said in vexation. "The Man with the Whip." ("You saved me from a very unpleasant experience back there, Effie.") But the real moral of this story is that even in 1933, Nancy Drew kicked bad-guy ass. Still, I want to believe that even the most prudish reader would be curious about a chapter titled Though I've also had sexy lesbian bondage fantasies involving another Nancy. The Mystery at Lilac Inn? (See the picture above.) Even twenty years later, when the books were updated, Nancy Drew was still tied up at the hands ofĪnd then there's this 1939 scene from The Clue of the Tapping Heels. Or am I the only one who sees sexy lesbian bondage overtones in the 1930 frontispiece illustration for Sorry, my mind wandered off there for a second. She threw back the covers of the bed and began dressing rapidly. And the next morning, when she tells Helen she has "an adventure" in mind - Helen can't wait. Nancy even spends the night sleeping with Helen. I swear I'm not making this up! ("Helen kissed her chum," it says on page 173.) That's how mind-bogglingly innocent
Helen was in ecstasies overĪnd when Nancy finally sneaks into the bad guy's house, Helen actually kisses Nancy Drew. Lingerie, choosing the stockings which would best match slippers andįrocks, and so for a time forgot the mystery. The girls accordingly enjoyed themselves by admiring each other's dainty But before Nancy even hooked up with her butch friend Bess Marvin, she'd enjoyed this strange adventure with a young femme named Helen Corning.Īfter Helen and Nancy Drew encounter a suspect, Helen gushes "I just hated the looks of that man. The language was updated in later decades, and most readers have never seen the original texts.
That's an actual quote from the 1933 edition of Password to Larkspur Lane. "What!" the men ejaculated in astonishment.
"Will you tell us why you came here, and promise never to divulge to a (Believe me, I still remember the pushback on our 2007 article, How Gay Were the Hardy Boys.) But the original Nancy Drew stories were written in 1930, and sometimes their outdated language creates a problem.