Not a Girl Detective

by Susan Kandel

Book Overview

"I spent my entire youth idolizing Nancy Drew. I'm pushing forty now, but some fantasies die hard." Besides her beloved collection of vintage designer clothing, there is nothing Cece Caruso cherishes more than her childhood memories of Nancy Drew. Her near obsession with the fictional teenage sleuth led her to become a professional biographer of classic mystery writers. And now that she's working on a book about Nancy's pseudonymous creator, "Carolyn...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060581085
• ISBN13: 9780060581084
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Nancy Drew fans can finally grow up!

Anyone who has been finding a hard time finding a good mystery book because of ghosts and spiritism or even just too much gore, this is a good book for you. I have to admit, there is cursing and a little questionable material(NOT referring to the act of sex), but that is an automatic element of adult books. I still give it five thumbs-up! Cece Caruso is an amazing, yet down-to-earth kind of person. She's strong, but realistic. Nancy Drew was a great model as a teenage detective, and Cece Caruso is a logical next step for mystery lovers who couldn't avoid growing up(and out of the Children's Section).

Fun Summer Read

This book was captivating from the first page. I wanted to know what Cece was up to in her latest adventure. It also brought back memories of my girlhood when I read Nancy Drew. I could not put the book down or go to sleep till I finished it.

Great Girl Detective

This book was wonderful!! It was a good mystery!! Im now reading i dreamed i married perry mason (her first book) and that is wonderful too. I went into this book not knowing much about nancy drew. Recently I have had some interest in the books and may go read them. Susan Kandel makes the material interesting. Also, Cece is a loveable character who is realistic and has realistic relationships. I suggest this to anyone. This book is a fun read for all ages.

Nancy Drew for Adults

This is just one of those fun books...the heroine has no training other than the obligatory cop boyfriend. The book is one of those great summer reads. You can sit down and curl up with Cece and the wacky friends, family and acquaintances. I read her first book ("I dreamed I married Perry Mason"...who could say no to that title?) and became thoroughly hooked.

mindful of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum

Cece Caruso has made a career writing biographies of dead mystery writers and while researching her last book (I DREAMED I MARRIED PERRY MASON) she solved a homicide. An obsessive Nancy Drew fan, she is now writing about the pseudonymous Carolyn Keane who was really a succession of ghost writers contracted to write under that name. Her focuses is the picture of Nancy Drew, the model Grace Horton. She meets fellow Nancy Drew collector Eagar Edwards who shows her a picture of a natural Grace Horton painted by Russell H. Tandy. The two hit it off so well that Edgar offers to let her and her friends stay at his Palm Springs home while she give a talk to the Nancy Drew Chums at their annual convention. Shortly after she arrives there, she finds his body with a bullet in his head. Somebody searches her home and her car looking for something making Cece determined to find out who that person is and why he killed Edgar even if it means placing her own life in danger. Readers will be reminded of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum when they read Susan Kandel's Cece Caruso capers as both are funny, plagued by romantic problems and once on the scent of a killer, keep tracking like obsessed bloodhounds. There are many suspects who could have killed Edgar but what really keeps the reader interested is the urge to know what the killer is looking for. This is a very special amateur sleuth tale that will be a hit with readers who love a good puzzle to solve. Harriet Klausner