My Deadly Valentine

Nancy Drew Files #92

by Carolyn Keene

nancy is headed to emerson college for a week of relaxlation during sweetheart week, an emerson tradition. Nancy is in for a surprise when rosie lopez, whose is the queen of the week, gets a nasty knock on the head, but theres more to follow

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Childrens, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

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 In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.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

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forget the joke of a show on the CW; this is how a Nancy Drew story should be done. More intense and convoluted than the original novels, yet still clean-cut, it's easy to see why I've devoured countless books in this series since I first discovered it at a garage sale in my area. Thank goodness for yard sales...and for eBooks, as locating physical copies of some of these books can be a doozy.

[Paula Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started watching the new "Nancy Drew" TV show and was somewhat appalled to find that it had been turned into a supernatural soap opera! Why even call it Nancy Drew when it strays so far from the source material? I remembered that I downloaded a few of the 80s/90s Nancy Drew books onto my Kindle, as I never actually read any when they first came out. I know, shocking! I thought I was more hardcore, reading Point thrillers and Fear Street!

And, as anybody who voraciously read Point thrillers and Fear Street knows, a great deal of them were mild teen mysteries anyway, many without even a body count! This Nancy Drew book, which attracted me with that terrific title, is not that much different to the YA thrillers of the day. Nancy, her boyfriend Ned and friend Bess go to Emerson College for Sweetheart Week, only for the girl who was selected to be Queen of the ceremony, Rosie Lopez, to get viciously attacked and left for dead. It seems someone has a grudge against the sorority, and is dubbing themselves Cupid!

I have nothing to complain about here! The plotting is confident and pacy, with appropriate cliffhanger chapter endings. Sure, you have to go along with the idea that the university and police will let a teenager carry on an investigation in practically an official capacity without actually having authority to do so, but it's a small price to pay. And yes, the identity of Cupid was highly obvious and their motive a bit dumb. I thought it would have made more sense that Mike was pissed because Jessie was his girlfriend, dropped out of college and married someone else, rather than being his stepsister, and he was angry that she dropped out of college. It was a bit 'huh'?

I really enjoyed this. It was a fun, quick, clean mystery read. Despite its predictability, I appreciated the way the red herrings were developed, and there were plenty of little plot twists along the way. What I pity I overlooked these books on the shelf back in the day!

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really solid read. Flowed well.

Tons of Valentine’s themed activities. Seriously the college kids were so into it. Movie night. A dance. Tons of heart shaped food. Snowball fight. Ice skating.

Also some of the names in the book. Zip. Tiger. What is this college in the 1940s??

Buddy read with Mystery Maven.

[Katherine Kapellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love reading mysteries so this book was just right for me.

[V. Arrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. It's another story where Nancy solves a mystery at Emerson; what do you want? It is what it is.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this one!

[Eric Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Book was great! I really enjoyed it! The mystery was very intriguing and very suspenseful, that i couldn't stop reading it! The only thing that really bothered me was the very obvious culprit! I almost wanted to scream at Nancy cause the culprit was that obvious! But besides that, his was an very enjoyable read and it deserves five stars!