Vans & Villains

Nancy Drew Diaries #27

by Carolyn Keene

Nancy, Bess, and George embark on an ill-fated cross-country road trip in the twenty-seventh Nancy Drew Diaries, a fresh approach to a classic series.

When George wins an exciting contest from her favorite van life influencers to transport their camper van from Chicago to Los Angeles, she naturally invites Nancy and Bess along to live out her van life fantasies for seven days.

But things quickly go sideways for the girls, from bad weather to mechanical problems, leading to personality clashes in a small, closed space. Worse yet, Nancy feels like someone is following them. Could someone be trying to sabotage the trip? Or is Nancy so used to solving mysteries that she’s starting to see villains where there are none?

Nancy had better figure it out quickly if their road trip—and their friendship—is going to survive the chaos.

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 2026

About the author

Carolyn Keene is a writer pen name that was used by many different people- both men and women- over the years. The company that was the creator of the Nancy Drew series, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, hired a variety of writers. For Nancy Drew, the writers used the pseudonym Carolyn Keene to assure anonymity of the creator.

Edna and Harriet Stratemeyer inherited the company from their father Edward Stratemeyer. Edna contributed 10 plot outlines before passing the reins to her sister Harriet. It was Mildred Benson (aka: Mildred A. Wirt), who breathed such a feisty spirit into Nancy's character. Mildred wrote 23 of the original 30 Nancy Drew Mystery Stories®, including the first three. It was her characterization that helped make Nancy an instant hit. The Stratemeyer Syndicate's devotion to the series over the years under the reins of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams helped to keep the series alive and on store shelves for each succeeding generation of girls and boys. In 1959, Harriet, along with several writers, began a 25-year project to revise the earlier Carolyn Keene novels. The Nancy Drew books were condensed, racial stereotypes were removed, and the language was updated. In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.

Other writers of Nancy Drew volumes include Harriet herself, she wrote most of the series after Mildred quit writing for the Syndicate and in 1959 began a revision of the first 34 texts. The role of the writer of "Carolyn Keene" passed temporarily to Walter Karig who wrote three novels during the Great Depression. Also contributing to Nancy Drew's prolific existence were Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Nancy Axelrod, Priscilla Doll, Charles Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., and Margaret Scherf.

Reviews

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not the intended age range for reading this series. I am old enough and experienced enough to have seen the con well before any of the three did. I felt for Nancy who ends up doubting her observational skills when George, completely sold on the dream, gas lights Nancy. I also felt horrible for Bess who suffered the destruction of expensive equipment at the behest of the road trip gods.

Although the places Nancy, Bess, and George end up staying at are fictional, they do stop at some actual road side attractions. I enjoyed looking up the places they stopped to get a sense of their route.

Despite knowing what was going on, I still loved the book. It was the distraction I needed at a point in the trip where I was basically stuck waiting for others to finish their things.

https://pussreboots.com/blog/2026/com...

[Melmo2610 · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up. Didn’t overly care for this story. The mystery was OK, but not my favorite and I did not like the way Bess and George treated Nancy. I came close to DNFing this one.

[Chawna · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this installment of the Nancy Drew Diaries, we follow Nancy, Bess and George in a van across part of the U.S.. The mystery was underwhelming and almost nonexistent. The last few Diary books have been similarly disappointing. The reader follows the van around as they encounter problem after problem and only Nancy seems to notice that there is a more serious connection with these problems. Good for Nancy, but Bess and George tell her she is paranoid and don’t believe her…hello? This is Nancy Drew here and as her best friends and constant companions, they should know better. The author seemed to be trying to create tension in the wrong places. The mystery was not enjoyable mainly because there was only a small number of suspects, other than the nebulous internet followers. The writer introduced one character way too late to even consider them as a suspect and the only real detecting was Nancy on her phone searching the internet. This might work for other mediums, but we as the reader can’t see these comments and so can’t logically form the leaps mentally to solve the case. It isn’t playing fair with the reader.

I was bored by chapter 4 and really only finished the book because I read everything in the various ND canons.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what Simon & Schuster is thinking, but this isn't Nancy Drew. There is the occasional resemblance to the teen detective and her friends, but they act, for the most part, so differently from years past. Nancy may not be outdoorsy, but she was always game for an adventure. That is just one of the flaws in this book. Then there's the revelation at the end of the book. It's something that happens in real life, but I'm not sure it's appropriate for the 8-to-12-year-old reader this series is supposed to be for. The publisher can do better.

[V. Arrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole concept of this book feels icky in a post-Gabby Petito world.

[Ravenclaw Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my favorite Nancy Drew. I didn’t like how the characters were written, especially Bess and George.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with the other reviews that say this doesn’t “feel” like Nancy Drew, but for some reason I absolutely loved this one.

[Sophia Aukerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the plot It's hard to guess who did it

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will update when I've finished reading, but from chapter 1, why is there at least one set of ellipsis on every page??
I feel the characters of Nancy and Bess were not well understood when writing this book. Even ignoring the original series, earlier in the Diaries series we've seen Nancy be adventurous and brave.
I'm actually so sad at the drastic reduction of continuity and quality in the latest few books of this series.