Description

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This collection of essays focuses on the girl sleuth, made famous by Nancy Drew but also characterized by other famous detectives like Cherry Ames, Trixie Belden, Linda Carlton, and even in contemporary media by Veronica Mars and Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter series.

Topics include the disputed origins of Nancy Drew and the Stratemeyer Syndicate; the intertwined relationships between the Syndicate and Nancy Drew's many ghostwriters; the distinct and evolving textual identities of the Cherry Ames series; the adaptation of the traditional archetype by contemporary girl detectives like Veronica Mars, Lulu Dark, and Ingrid Levin-Hill; and the ways in which Harry Potter's Hermione Granger, while a central character in the series, is often at odds with the male-centric, fantasy-genre world of Harry Potter himself.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

About the Author

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Michael G. Cornelius is a professor of English and director of the Master's of Humanities program at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He is an award-winning novelist and the author or editor of numerous scholarly works. Melanie E. Gregg is an associate professor of French at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Her research is focused primarily on French women writers of the Early Modern period and the twentieth century.