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Wednesday, January 31, 2018

An Interview and Giveaway with Debra Marvin!









I’m so excited to welcome my friend Debra E. Marvin to the blog! Deb has graciously offered to give away an ebook of her newest title.....The Clobbered Cad! Welcome Debra!

The Girl Detective

While many of us automatically think of Nancy Drew, there were plenty of sleuthing heroines in the early part of the 20thcentury. Horatio Alger provided a model of stories providing young readers with a protagonist they could relate to. In his case, young boys learned through experience and lots of adverbs! But those tales became the catalyst for a number of youthful heroes and heroines written for youth.

Nancy Drew was the most famous of the girl heroines but there was also Vicki Barr, Trixie Belden, Ginny Gordon, Kay Tracey and Cherry Ames. Do you remember them?

Many of us fondly recall reading one book after another in these series. Why? Our heroines used their wits, had an interesting lifestyle full of adventure and—oh my—a touch of danger. They found a way to live by the rules yet outsmart the villain and they often did it on their own without having to hand over the decisions to their male counterparts, or getting a run in their hosiery. These mostly teenager heroines rarely dealt with murders and were kept busy by 'misadventure': stolen goods, missing persons, low-life villains. Thankfully there were charts, maps, old diaries and letters to help them along the way!

Have any of you gone back to read these stories? I did. While working on the plot and characters of The Case of the Clobbered Cad, I listened to a series of audiobooks read by the actress Laura Linney.  My warm memories of Nancy Drew books were altered as I (now a grandmother) traveled along with Nancy!

Nancy had unlimited funds, very little in the way of rules, far too much good luck, and a father who might now be considered quite lax.  Nancy wouldn’t have had much luck finding adventure if she wasn’t able to hop in her sports car and drive off to remote, touristy areas. She didn’t have to take time off of work, or check her debit card balance before paying for gas, or forget to charge her cell phone. Other than worrying her housekeeper, she only had to occasionally check in with a busy father who kindly admonished her to be careful!

The writing was predictable, full of clichés, and over the top. Just like Banana Splits, we ate it up! Nancy went from danger to danger with hardly a concern of being injured(again) or facing the villain alone (again). And she had Ned Nickerson, her friend George, and those really cute skirt and sweater sets!

My publisher Jennifer Farey, author Lisa Richardson, and I talked quite a bit about how we could incorporate that world of girl detectives into stories for a modern audience. I hope you find The Nosy Parker Mysteries an entertaining read!


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21 comments:

  1. Thank you for hosting me Dana! I look forward to chatting with the Suspense Sisters readers!

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  2. I loved Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden when I was little!!

    wfnren at aol dot com

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  3. This sounds like a book my granddaughter and I could read together. Thanks for the chance.
    tumcsec(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. Hi Gail! Thanks for commenting. The heroine has to face some embarrassment for being taken in by 'the Cad' but it was no more than a short crush. I don't think there's anything unsuitable for a teen or pre-teen. But I didn't really keep age in mind when I wrote it. A light, chaste romance thread and some references to what made this victim a cad. Some characters drink and smoke in a 1950s sort of normal, but not the heroine.

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  4. I have been trying to figure out why I never read many Nancy Drew mysteries. Thanks to you, now I know! lol THE CASE OF THE CLOBBERED CAD sounds fun!

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    1. I read them all. I loved how they took up an entire library shelf or two with their yellow spines! But I only owned a handful. Funny how different they were now that I'm not ten years old anymore! Thanks Pat!

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  5. I loved reading all the Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew books and am still a fan of a good mystery.
    lhanberry1(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. Hi Linda! I somehow missed out on Trixie Belden but I've been chatting with an expert (self titled!) because I'm referencing the Trixie books in my next mystery! I found out they are set in upstate NY (and I'm an upstate girl). Thanks for commenting, Linda!

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  6. I enjoyed the Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames books -- I read all that were in the school library. Still enjoy mysteries and suspense.
    betsylu2@msn.com

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    1. Hi Beth. I don't remember much about Cherry Ames. I'll have to ask my BFF if she remembers them in the school library. (She read many more books than I did!) They certainly put me on the path of loving mystery and suspense, too. Thank you Beth!

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  7. Sounds fascinating. Will love to check out some of your books. :)

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    1. Thank you for commenting, Mary, and for your kind words! I'm working on the second mystery with this protagonist right now. The Nosy Parkers are more classic mystery/amateur sleuth like Nancy Drew than the romantic suspense and cozy mysteries we enjoy now.

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  8. I grew up with the Nancy Drew mysteries and am always looking for a new series. Debra Marvin's book sounds great! glindathegood@bellsouth.net

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    1. Thanks Trish! There are two out in this series now, and there will be two more before the end of the year!

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  9. I grew up with Trixie books. Also remember Donna Parker, cousin read, and we would share books with each other.

    vera wilson
    snoopysnop1 at yahoo dot com

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    1. Donna Parker is new to me! I had to go and look it up. I found the complete set on Amazon... for $159! I hope they find a good home!

      thanks for commenting!

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  10. I loved Nancy Drew but I preferred the case files. Thanks for the giveaway!

    astheworldfallsdown2011(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. I think Nancy Drew won out by volume and tenacity. With multiple authors the books continued to come out for decades!

      Thanks for stopping in Amy!

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  11. That sounds so good--I'd love to read it! legallyblonde1961@yahoo.com

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  12. Hi Kara! Thank you for commenting! I appreciate it. I'll be gathering the names and doing a random draw on Sunday the 4th.

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  13. CONGRATULATIONS! BETH NAGY is the winner of The Case of the Clobbered Cad ebook! Thanks so much for your comments, everyone! And Thank you to the Suspense Sisters for hosting!

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