Here's a graphic-novel spoof that shouldn't work but does: Nancy Drew, the iconic girl detective born in the syndicate age and still alive and adolescent 80 years on, seemingly dumps boyfriend Ned for the new kid in River Heights, Gregor the vampire. Friends and gofers to the girl detective, George and Bess engage Ned to help them sleuth on the sleuth. Text and dramatically colored images are nicely bound into a codependent stream, while the characters are drawn to appear as flat and stereotypical as Stratemeyer could ever imagine. There are plenty of cultural references at play here, but even the vampire-shy will find the silliness diverting. The cliff-hanger ending will leave readers dying for the next volume of the Nancy Drew: The New Case Files graphic-novel series, or maybe have them hopping into their roadsters to go save Nancy maybe Gregor? emselves.

Gr 5 Up-Nancy Drew and her best friends, Bess and George, are caught up in the Dielite mania sweeping River Heights. Reluctantly, Nancy joins them at the theater to watch the movie (again) only to get drawn into yet another mystery. Much to Ned's dismay, Gregor, the tall, dark and handsome stranger in town, seems to be the center of it. The muted pastels of the manga-style people are a little too flat, and the unimaginative panel layout is too boring for an action-packed mystery. The mood is slightly improved with dark and murky backgrounds, more appropriate for a vampire tale. The text tends to be slightly goofy and bland at times; overall, this is a mediocre tale. Still, Nancy Drew fans as well as vampire fanatics might be drawn to it, and those who stick around for the cliff-hanger ending will most likely be impatient to get their hands on part two. Carol Hirsche, Provo City Library, UT