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OUT OF THE BOOK The Nancy Drew movie is all grown up with Nancy investigating a murder

The first Nancy Drew mystery, “The Secret of the Old Clock”, written by the fictitious Carolyn Keene (now this must surely be in the realms of metafiction!) appeared in 1930.

Nancy was then 16, and lived in genteel affluence with her widowed lawyer father, Carson Drew, and motherly housekeeper Hannah Gruen in River Heights.

Nancy was very much the well-turned out young lady in those days favouring dresses, hats and gloves. In the following years Nancy was updated to adopting a more casual form of dress and speech and the politically incorrect stuff was all excised.

She was 18 years old and the Nancy family was broadened to include Aunt Heloise in New York, boyfriend Ned Nickerson and gal pals the plump blond Bess Marvin and the tomboyish George Fayne.

There were updates like the Nancy Drew-Hardy Boys collaborations and the campus series where Nancy goes to college. On film there were four movies starring Bonita Granville in the late 1930s. There was also a television series in the late 70s and now we have Nancy leaving her beloved River Heights for the big bad world of Hollywood in “Nancy Drew” directed by Andrew Fleming.

In the film, Nancy, played by Emma Roberts (Pretty Woman Julia Roberts’ niece), moves with her father Carson Drew (Tate Donovan) to Hollywood. Her father wants her to give up sleuthing and behave like a normal teenager — in Hollywood? But unfortunately, where Nancy goes, mysteries follow.

The house the Drews are staying in earlier belonged to the Sixties movie star Delia Draycott who disappeared at the height of her career. She reappeared only to throw a party and end up dead in a pool. And Nancy naturally wants to solve the whodunit.

Apart from her hunt for clues to solving the murder, Nancy also has to acclimatise to her new school where everyone is obsessing about boys and fashion while Nancy is worrying about a case — a revenge of the nerds in reverse. Nancy has a sidekick in Corky played by Josh Flitter and when boyfriend Ned Nickerson appears in Los Angeles to deliver Nancy’s car, there is a bit of tension as Corky has a crush on Nancy.

While in the books Nancy is usually on the hunt for some treasure or a missing relative, the movie is all grown up with Nancy investigating a murder. The fact that she is away from the relatively safe River Heights, where everyone knows everyone and in the big bad city adds to the narrative tension. Roberts describes the movie as “a mystery. There’s a little bit of drama; there’s some comedy. It’s just a movie that I think everyone can enjoy like parents, kids, teenagers, adults, grandparents, everyone.”

There are some reviews that have said the movie is too cute by half.

However, in these days of paucity of age-appropriate content, “Nancy Drew” with its wholesome titular character complete with sleuth kit (tape recorder, flashlight, ipod, camera, snack, fingerprint powder) haunted mansion and fish-out-of-water premise, we can look forward to a pleasant evening amidst winding staircases, torches and magnifying glasses.

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