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Nancy Drew Files #52
Danger For Hire
Nancy speaks at a career fair for river heights high where she meets her next client. Nancy Drew and investigative reporter Brenda Carlton compete to solve a case involving a string of local robberies, but Nancy must forget their rivalry when Brenda falls into a trap Nancy set for the thieves.
149 pages
First published October 1, 1990
6 people are currently reading
316 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Keene
1,072 books3,928 followersCarolyn 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 In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 28, 2017
A decent story...but not this series as I've come to expect it. Too much filler and wasted space, and a dragging ending.
EDIT: I had forgotten I'd read this before...but I enjoyed it more the second time around.
EDIT: I had forgotten I'd read this before...but I enjoyed it more the second time around.
April 5, 2023
4.5 stars, rounded up.
Not as good as a lot of the other Nancy Drew books. I guess the culprits in the first few chapters so it was a relatively easy mystery. Nancy was kinda reckless in this mystery.
Not as good as a lot of the other Nancy Drew books. I guess the culprits in the first few chapters so it was a relatively easy mystery. Nancy was kinda reckless in this mystery.
May 31, 2024
Car chase, a bomb, gunplay...who knew Nancy Drew was this adventurous!?!
A fine afternoon read.
A fine afternoon read.
November 27, 2019
Brenda is a nuisance again - love it! Nancy investigates some weird break ins and thefts at the security company belonging to another one of River Heights' millionaires. Didnt see the plot twist coming until at least halfway, bit didnt overly enjoy this one
October 15, 2024
We have a Little Library on our street. I'm not sure why my husband bought three The Nancy Drew Files books home, we have no young children in our home, but I've read all three in the past few days.
I will return them for someone else to read.
I was a young reader in the 1970's and I was into Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys books. I kept the few I owned. They sit in my bookcases. I wasn't too sure what The Nancy Drew Files meant until I googled it.
Danger For Hire is the second of the three books. It was much better than False Impressions which I gave a 1 because I didn't like everyone accusing Nancy Drew of stealing money with all the men and women she has put behind bars in the past.
I felt Nancy was quite reckless in Danger For Hire. I felt there was no need to put (write) a 18 year old into that sort of careless as, quite seriously, she wouldn't be experienced enough, as in example, her driving techniques. Enough said on that.
Nancy is a guest speaker on the topic of law enforcement at a high school career fair. Tom Hayward is also a guest speaker. He was once behind bars, but has turned his life around and now owns a fast-growing security company. While speaking, his own warehouse has just been robbed, but it's an interesting rob as only some items are stolen and not all. Over the course of the next few days, more warehouse robberies take place. At an alarming rate, stockholders are selling their stock and Tom Hayward will lose everything if Nancy isn't able to solve who is behind the robberies.
It seems Nancy has a huge fan. Her name is Cindy Larson and she has all the newspaper clippings with all the mysteries Nancy has solved. Cindy asks Nancy if she can help her. Nancy agrees. Unfortunately for Cindy, Cindy is given all the boring tasks to do. Poor Cindy.
I had to roll my eyes when things just worked out perfectly for Nancy in gathering clues, like finding two pieces of mail that happened to come on the same day.
Being 58 years old when these mysteries are geared for 11 year olds, it wasn't too difficult to solve who the thief was.
I will return them for someone else to read.
I was a young reader in the 1970's and I was into Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys books. I kept the few I owned. They sit in my bookcases. I wasn't too sure what The Nancy Drew Files meant until I googled it.
Danger For Hire is the second of the three books. It was much better than False Impressions which I gave a 1 because I didn't like everyone accusing Nancy Drew of stealing money with all the men and women she has put behind bars in the past.
I felt Nancy was quite reckless in Danger For Hire. I felt there was no need to put (write) a 18 year old into that sort of careless as, quite seriously, she wouldn't be experienced enough, as in example, her driving techniques. Enough said on that.
Nancy is a guest speaker on the topic of law enforcement at a high school career fair. Tom Hayward is also a guest speaker. He was once behind bars, but has turned his life around and now owns a fast-growing security company. While speaking, his own warehouse has just been robbed, but it's an interesting rob as only some items are stolen and not all. Over the course of the next few days, more warehouse robberies take place. At an alarming rate, stockholders are selling their stock and Tom Hayward will lose everything if Nancy isn't able to solve who is behind the robberies.
It seems Nancy has a huge fan. Her name is Cindy Larson and she has all the newspaper clippings with all the mysteries Nancy has solved. Cindy asks Nancy if she can help her. Nancy agrees. Unfortunately for Cindy, Cindy is given all the boring tasks to do. Poor Cindy.
I had to roll my eyes when things just worked out perfectly for Nancy in gathering clues, like finding two pieces of mail that happened to come on the same day.
Being 58 years old when these mysteries are geared for 11 year olds, it wasn't too difficult to solve who the thief was.
December 27, 2019
I thought I'd take a walk down memory lane with my favourite book series when I was in my early teens.
I'm a little disappointed they changed the way they described her hair colour and how many times "just then" was used. Overall the story wasn't too bad written.
I'm a little disappointed they changed the way they described her hair colour and how many times "just then" was used. Overall the story wasn't too bad written.
May 21, 2023
I love that Nancy uses a student to do all the grunt work in this one, resulting in the student deciding that being a detective is not for her!
February 1, 2024
3 stars. I liked the first half of this book but the ending flopped for me. The mystery wasn’t my favorite but this wasn’t terrible or anything but it was just okay.
July 16, 2024
This was a GLACIALLY slow read. Felt like it was three times longer than it actually was. Also, ugh, Brenda is so poorly written.
July 11, 2009
Not one of the most interesting cases.
January 9, 2024
Solvable. 92/100
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews