This ménage lives in the fictional midwestern city of River Heights. Hannah Gruen, a servant in the early original texts, became a mother figure to Nancy in the later stories and revisions. Nancy's mother died when Nancy was only 3 (10 in the early original texts). Nancy is 18 years old (16 in the early original texts) and is the daughter of famous attorney, Carson Drew. Nancy has been featured in several films, three television shows, a number of popular computer Nancy Drew games and a Nancy Drew board game and has spawned a variety of merchandise and collectibles. First printings of the early titles are highly prized and sought by collectors. Nancy is just as popular as ever and sales show no sign of slowing down. Under Simon & Schuster, Nancy has appeared in hundreds of titles in more than a dozen series/sub-series. However, G&D retained the right to continue publishing the canonical stories. G&D sued but lost and since that time the stories have been issued under various imprints of Simon & Schuster.

Initially published by Grosset & Dunlap from 1930 to 1979 (the 'canon'), the rights to publish were sold by Harriet Stratemeyer to Simon & Schuster. Harriet Stratemeyer Adams wrote many of the later canonical tales. Walter Karig authored several of the popular early tales.

Wirt authored dozens of girls series books including Penny Parker, of whom Wirt stated 'I always thought Penny Parker was a better Nancy Drew than Nancy is.' Mildred Wirt Benson was the author of many early titles and brought Nancy to life. The pseudonym Carolyn Keene was also used for the Dana Girls Mystery series and for the River Heights spin-off series. The Nancy Drew books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Nancy Drew is the intrepid mystery solving heroine in this juvenile fiction series created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1930.

Nancy drew video game series