Nancy Drew: Girl Detective

Nancy Drew is a (fictional) eighteen year-old detective living in the (fictional) city of River Heights - a small city only an hour from Chicago, Illinois. She is described as having shoulder length reddish blond hair and blue eyes.
Nancy has her pilot's license and is good at skiing, swimming and horseback riding. Solving mysteries is one of her favorite activities, too.
Nancy's appearance has changed throughout the books. In the older books, the Nancy Drew Mystery series, which were published from 1930 to 2003, she appears more old-fashioned; the clothes she wears are mainly dresses or skirts. In those books (as shown above) she is a titian blond with short, curly reddish blond hair and is often seen wearing a dress or sometimes a skirt. Personally I like her appearance more on the Nancy Drew Files books, which were published later, from 1986 to 1987. She looked more like the average teenage girl, with longer, blond hair and clothes ranging from jeans to skirts to jackets.

Nancy Drew (pictured left) on the cover of Let's Talk Terror in the Nancy Drew Files. She's the one wearing the blue outfit - just so you know.

Nancy's personality is bold but sensible. She is cautious when needed but doesn't hesitate to take action when the time is right. I like her personality, though I think she's a little too perfect, especially in the older books. She never seems to make mistakes.
Nancy owns a convertible and has been solving mysteries since she was young since her father, famous criminal lawyer Carson Drew, is frequently on cases. Her mother died when she was three, though it isn't known how. I'm guessing Mrs. Drew passed away from a sudden illness, but it's just a guess. Anyway she meets handsome Ned Nickerson in The Clue In the Diary - one of the books in the older series. Eventually the two end up going out; their relationship is commonly complicated in the Nancy Drew Files due to Nancy's frequent cases.
Characters:

Nancy's father hired Hannah Gruen as a housekeeper after her mother died, and Hannah is described as gray-haired and kind and treats Nancy like her own daughter. She is also the cook for the Drew family.
Bess Marvin is eighteen and has long blond hair and blue eyes and loves to shop and date. She falls in love constantly and tries to avoid physical activity whenever she can. She is constantly striving to lose weight, though she usually gives up her diet after a day or two. Like Nancy and George, she lives in River Heights.
 Nancy Drew (left) with Bess Marvin and George Fayne.

   George Fayne is tall with curly dark hair and an athletic build. She loves hiking, skiing and basically doing anything outdoors. She's Bess's cousin but exactly the opposite. She doesn't date nearly as much as Bess, though in the Files she has several different boyfriends throughout the books.

Ned and Nancy on the cover of High Risk (above).
  Ned Nickerson lives in a city near River Heights and goes to Emerson College. I think he's nineteen or twenty. He's tall - six feet - and has light brown hair and dark eyes. Though he and Nancy go out, their relationship is sometimes stressed by Nancy's cases and occasionally they date other people. Like Nancy, he has his pilot's license and enjoys hiking, swimming, and fishing. Sometimes he assists Nancy on her cases.
Carson Drew, who I definitely don't think is the best father in the world. Sure, he's nice and all, but he never knows where Nancy is or if she's in danger. She could be stabbed with a knife and he wouldn't find out until about a month later - or longer. And when she wants to work on a new - and dangerous - case he just tells her to go ahead. Hmm.....
He is handsome with dark hair and is a famous criminal lawyer in the city of River Heights. Nancy often assists him on his cases, though in the Nancy Drew Files she solves more of her own cases.
  Other Characters:
Chief McGinnis, a police officer, is often mentioned in the older books. In the Nancy Drew Files he is almost never mentioned. He is a middle aged chief police officer whom Nancy met on her first case, "The Secret of the Old Clock." He is friendly and helpful.
Ann Granger - a young reporter who I think is about Nancy's age. She's a friend of Nancy's and in the Files she frequently helps Nancy by checking the backgrounds of Nancy's different suspects and doing other research for her. In "Trial By Fire" in the Nancy Drew Files, she was one of the main characters.
Brenda Carlton - the hotshot reporter from the Files is about Nancy's age but exactly the opposite. She's rude and obnoxious, with long black hair and dark eyes. She frequently ruins Nancy's cases by blowing Nancy's cover. She writes for Today's Times, the newspaper owned by her father, Frazier Carlton. She appears in Squeeze Play, Fatal Attraction, Smile and Say Murder, and Kiss and Tell.