HeR Interactive Nancy Drew: Secrets Can Kill (1998) In 2019, the franchise was put on an unofficial hiatus, leaving fans to wonder when-or if-a new installment would finally surface. Although advertised as fun and educational games for young girls, the series bordered on horror with each installment having its own creepy, almost too-quiet score and the spectre of death looming over the player as any sudden wrong move could result in a “fatal error.” After the first installment was released in 1998, the award-winning series spawned over 30 games and amassed a dedicated fanbase. However, there’s a chance you’ve never heard of the point-and-click adventure game CD-ROM series that put the player in Nancy’s shoes, or the mid-2000s made-for-mobile and Nintendo Wii installments. As of 2021, the ongoing series, authored by a collective of ghostwriters under the name Carolyn Keene, has sold over 80 million copies, in addition to spawning six films and three television shows, cementing Nancy Drew as a cultural icon. The strawberry blonde sleuth made her fiction debut in 1930, initially invented as a female counterpart to the crime-solving Hardy Boys.
Even if you’ve never read the books or seen any of the screen adaptations, chances are you’ve heard the name Nancy Drew.
