Her Iteractive's Letter To The Fans

Here is Her Interactive's Letter To The Fans, or you can read it and all the others here.

JANUARY LETTER FROM HER INTERACTIVE

Dear Nancy Drew Fans,
As the New Year starts, we wanted to take a moment to thank you for being such great fans and loyal supporters of our Nancy Drew community.  We value your enthusiasm and comments, so we feel it’s important to keep you “clued in!”
In 2014, we had a busy year with two all-new PC/Mac mystery adventure games plus our expansion into mobile with the tablet version of Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall. We were thrilled to hear that many of you liked the experience on mobile and are hoping to see more games available for “on the go” Nancy Drew fans. We believe there’s a great future for adding a mobile Nancy Drew experience because the devices offer so many fun ways for players to further engage with Her Interactive games. We are currently working on developing the best game experiences possible for you. Although we will not be moving forward with Nancy Drew: The Silent Spy for tablets, please keep looking for news and updates as we continue our development work on this exciting platform.
We have a lot in store for 2015. At the top of the list, we are very excited about the upcoming release of Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness this spring.  Set in Iceland, it will truly be an epic game that we know you’ll love. After Nancy Drew: Sea of Darkness, we will have a new voice for our famous amateur detective. We didn’t take this decision lightly, and we’re hard at work on the casting process. Recasting an iconic character like Nancy is no small task, and we promise to bring you a voice we feel is equally as true to Nancy’s spirit and personality.
We hope you will grow to have the same emotional connection you have enjoyed with the previous Nancy Drew voice and all the other supporting characters. The feedback we have received from the community about the talented Lani Minella has been very heartwarming.  We know that for some fans, change is hard, but trust that our goal remains to continue the legacy of developing award-winning games for many years to come.  It bears repeating that Lani will always be part of the Her Interactive family.
In closing, thank you for being part of the Her Interactive family. It means the world to all of us to be the constant recipient of your insightful feedback and your wonderful enthusiasm for our games!
Cheers,
Team Her Interactive

- Samantha Quick

The Sea of Darkness

Nancy Drew #32, The Sea Of Darkness, I think will be a scary game. We have had 3 games since the last scary game, The Ghost of Thornton Hall, and by the looks of it, it will be a scary game! It takes place in Iceland, and we know that there is a phantom/ghost ship, and the color scheme so far is dark blues, blacks, greys etc. A.K.A Dark. I can't wait! Here is the teaser.
I really can't wait for this one, it looks like so much fun!

  On another note, I might go to the Her Interactive offices this spring!!!!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I am beyond happy, because since I found out about the games, I have wanted to go. AND I COULD MEET LITTLE JACKALOPE!!!

Also, Her has been re-tweeting me very often. multiple ties this week, and I even got a reply!
Me: Will you guys be writting a game guide for Treasure in the Royal Tower?
Her: We are on it!

............ Yay! So look out for that!

   I am going to try to keep up with the book reviews, but I can't make any promises. I really want to, but I have been busy and I have been reading other books too, trying to branch out. I'm also trying to play more of the games, so I am playing LIE with my little sister, SPY with my mom, MHM with my other sister and SHAW by myself.

Enjoy The Sea of Darkness! It comes out this spring!!

- Samantha Quick

New Year!!!

Hello! I'm so sorry I haven't been able to post. I have been very busy, Which Her Interactive has been busy. As some of you may know, Her is replacing the longtime voice actress Lani Minella as Nancy Drew. Here is what she has to say about some things on the Her Interactive message boards.

"Yes very good point. This is what I was trying to articulate earlier but didn't do so quite as effectively. The main reason I'm uneased with Lani's immediate taking to social media is because look at all of the backlash and speculation that it has caused. We are hearing one hurt person's side. I was specifically thinking of the "new things" tweet. Everyone has been up in arms over this the last several weeks and it could very well be nothing of great significance. I'm not trying to imply that she said anything outright negative either. I just don't personally think it's appropriate for someone who no longer works for a company to speak out about their termination -- amicable or otherwise. Just my opinion. Doesn't seem very professional to me. "

 

   "First let me say I'm being asked to change my user name but before I do, I want to respond to some common threads regarding me etc. The term "new direction" as to why I should be replaced, didn't entirely make sense to me. But I was amicable and understanding and hugged the people telling me, saying "I know it was not your fault and thanks for many years of great work."

When Nancy's voice sounded older, it was because I was told to sound that way. I'm can sound any age and maintain that character. I think perhaps they knew the audience age range had matured. We also tried to give her a little bit more attitude sometimes when confronting a suspect we knew might be the bad guy. Mixed reactions were the result of those attempts. Can't please everybody all the time, right? This brings me to the second point.

Secondly: When we tried to make Nancy sound more cool, modern, or sarcastic, we were stopped in our tracks. Told it wasn't true to her persona. I could not even say "Gonna" instead of "going to." She could not believe in anything supernatural, could not pronounce foreign words very well etc. I had to go along with the acceptable persona....always nice, straight-laced, a bit clueless on how to pronounce things, and no slang. The writer and I both hoped many of the adlibs and fun recorded moments would remain in the game, but they would get nixed before release.

Thirdly, I was asked to remain until they found their new Nancy voice and they wanted to write me in as some recurring character, like a mentor to Nancy. I felt that fans might not resonate well with this, and I asked permission to thank the fans (for my closure and to allow Her to be able to do an open search without disguising what voice they were looking for) I waited for permission, and Her approved what I was posting before I posted it. The first post I made on FB where I did not have a lot of ND fans. I did this Halloween afternoon so as few people as possible would notice. I could not sleep and needed closure PLUS I wanted to let fans know how much I appreciated them and that I did not walk out on them or make anyone at HER upset with me

Lastly, It was never anything about a money issue, a talent issue, my not being available issue.....none of these. I can't totally fathom the logic behind this change, but I want to give both the fans and HER the respect they deserve. So please stop calling HER and me rude and unprofessional. I did not want them to do a tribute to me as it would be like an obituary. I am humble, and just wanted peace and closure without a lot of ceremony. I hope you all can respect that, and know I wish everyone all the best.

I am so grateful and frankly, very surprised at how many fans Nancy Drew has, and it's not just me, it's the games of course. The creative team at HER has been very supportive and gone through quite a bit. I wish them continued success and hope this post answers some questions and calms some nerves.
Thank you again for everything"

It will be sad that Lani is leaving, but I think it's sufficiently explained here.

Her also has a new photo in the merch store for just about every occasion! It says
It's a Nancy Drew thing, you wouldn't understand

- Samantha Quick

Her Interactive

So, October brought one of the best games Her Interactive has made, The Labyrinth Of Lies. It was phenomenal. You can buy it here. Maybe Sammy Sleuth will do a review on it?

In 3 days brings Thanksgiving, which means Black Friday is directly after. It's ironic how we spend a day being thankful for everything we have and the day after we spend money on really cheap things in mobs. People get killed sometimes. I advise you to do your shopping online. Like say at Her Interactive. They are having a Black Friday sale, all games, digital and physical, 50% off. The code hasn't been released yet, But I'm willing to bet it will be something like BlackFriday14.

In other (sad) news, Nancy's longtime voice actor, Lani Minella, is no longer going to be working at Her after Sea of Darkness, the 32nd game. Her has not yet found a new person to voice Nancy.

Her has Christmas (if you celebrate it) shipping dates! Order by these dates and you will be good to go.

-Samantha Quick

• 

Book Review Lateness

So, for awhile I was doing book reviews on all of the Nancy Drew books, but I became busy and stopped on #11, The Clue of The Broken Locket. I am in the middle of book #12, The Message In The Hollow Oak. There are 2 of them, and both are quite different. There is not a single thing the same in the books except the title. Every moment I have free, I try reading a little of it so I can post a review soon. I have also been branching out to some new series, like The Hunger Games, The Heroes Of Olympus,The Morality Doctrine, etc. I also read some solitary books, like The Fault In Our Stars. I want to read Paper Towns and The Maze Runner series too. I That's also part of the reason I haven't been reading Nancy Drew as much. I've been reading other things. If you have any suggestions, leave a comment on one of my instagram posts.

Sorry about the book reviews though! I'll try to catch up. Should I put reviews on the other books I've read here too? Again, leave comments on my IG page because comments are disabled on my blog for privacy reasons.

-Samantha Quick

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello! I am SO sorry about not posting in 2 months! I have been very busy and haven't had time to post. I have been posting more on my Instagram, nancydrew_old_fashioned, but not very often, due to the busy factor. Tonight I will probably be making quite a few posts; so stay tuned!(For Danger ;) I'm sorry, I had too.)

-Samantha Quick

Nancy Drew #11: The Clue of The Broken Locket

Here is my review for Nancy Drew mystery #11, The Clue of The Broken Locket.

  The book starts out like this: Nancy comes down to the breakfast table and sees a key next to her plate. She asks Carson Drew, Her Criminal Lawyer father, tells her it is the key to a cottage which she is to open up for a girl named Cecily Curtis, in place of a Mr. Winch because he was scared of something. Nancy is accompanied by Bess Marvin and George Fayne. It is a two day trip,in which they run into a strange, red haired girl at a resturant who is having trouble with her apparent fiancé, over a iron bird and a lawsuit. When they finish their food, Bess says she lost her earring and knows exactly where it is. Before their food came, they took a walk through the forrest where they overheard the young couple, they had walked over a rickety old bridge where Bess tripped. The go there and Nancy sees it at the bottom of the bank. Because te bridge doesn't look sturdy enough, Bess stays on ground. George holds Nancy's feet while Nancy hangs over the edge. Just as she grabs the earring, the red haired girl dashes across and the bridge collapses. They rescue her and themselves and continue on. When they get there, all the townsfolk insist on the being careful, or better yet, not going because it's no place for 3 teenage girls to go with all the scary stuff going on. Nancy promises they will be careful, and they head down to the cottage to wait for the renter.  When the Cecily finally gets there, it's the red headed girl from earlier that day!

Sorry that was so long. Anyway, I would give this book a 8/10 because it just isn't one of Nancy's better mysteries. There are too many coincidences, A police chief embarrasses Nancy and just really doesn't listen to what she says because she is a girl, and at the time the book was written, boys were superior to girls. The rest was good though. Ned, Burt and Dave show up, and a singer they get to know well, and quite a mystery! I would probably not suggest this to you off the top of my head, but if you like mysteries by the lake, like The Secret of mirror Bay, then you will like this one.

- Samantha Quick

My Koko Kringle Bar!

A while back, I found a link to print your own Koko Kringle bar wrapper ( http://herinteractive-amateursleuth.blogspot.com/2009/11/koko-kringles.html)

I shrunk it down, and here is my Koko Kringle bar!

Also, I went to Goodwill a couple weeks ago, and keep meaning to post about my find! I bought 14 Nancy Drew books for 69 cents a piece! Here is a list of the books I got. The one's with a ! in front of them are the older ones.

#7 The Clue In The Diary
#10 Password To Larkspur Lane
#16 The Clue of The Tapping Heels
#19 The Quest of The Missing Map
!#20 The Clue In The Jewel Box
!#23 Mystery of The Tolling Bell
#30 Clue of The Velvet Mask
!#31 *** The Ringmaster's Secret
!#33 The Witch Tree Symbol
#35 The Haunted Showboat
#36 The Secret of The Golden Pavilion
#38 The Mystery of The Fire Dragon
#45 The Spider Sapphire Mystery

*** I got two copies of The Ringmaster's Secret, one old, one new.

Here are the links to the pictures.
The Mystery of The Tolling Bell
The Clue In The Jewel Box
The Witch Tree Symbol
The Ringmaster's Secret

  Next, I will be writing my review on The Clue of The Broken Locket, so stay tuned ( for danger ) =)
- Samantha Quick

Reviews

Hello! So sorry I haven't been on lately. I was sick. Anyway, I will be making a couple of posts today  and tomorrow so Yay!

For my Hardy Boys reviews, I was given the ok; so when I finish the Nancy Drew series, that's what I will do. While I'm on the topic of reviews, I have a small problem. Book number 12, The Message In The Hollow Oak has two different versions that I own! I will be doing the edited version first, then the older one from when my grandma was a kid.
 Also on the topic of reviews, Sammy Sleuth will be doing Nancy Drew game reviews when she has time, because she is in school. They won't be as often as my reviews.

Here is last weeks weekend puzzle answer:
"As for the weekend puzzle, this one was a semaphore (flag) code. Decoded it says “Phlegethon River” which refers to… well… I’ll let you research that. " - Little Jackalope ( Highlight the blank space to see the answer)

Here is this weekend's puzzle:

"Here’s your weekend puzzle! Hope you like codes and ciphers….! The key is Labyrinth of Lies.

"LItm, Z'u vgac mlbw Isetc uill" -Little Jackalope

Tomorrow, I will be posting my review for The Clue of The Broken Locket, and two little things I found/created. It would've been today, but I started a Monopoly Marathon with the neighbors and got sidetracked. Sorry. =)

- Samantha Quick

Book Reviews

Hello! I have been thinking, and I have to ask Sammy Sleuth first before I confirm this, but when I finish reading the Nancy Drew series, I would like to read the Hardy Boys series and do reviews on them. I just don't know yet because 1. I have to ask Sam, 2. This is a Nancy Drew blog, not book blog,( Which would be AWESOME because I would love to do reviews on so many books!!) 3. I may not have time to do reviews as often because of everything else going on; but that would probably be best seeing as this is a Nancy Drew blog. Anyway, it was just an idea.

-Samantha Quick

Nancy Drew #10: Password To Larkspur Lane

Here is my review for Nancy Drew mystery #10, Password To Larkspur Lane.

 The book starts off like this: Nancy and Hannah Gruen, the Drew's housekeeper, are in the garden looking at flowers for Nancy to submit to the flower show when a plane flies over head and stalls, and a pigeon drops from it! Just as the plane looks like it's about to crash, it noses upwards and leaves. Nancy examines the bird that landed into the flower bush and takes it inside to care for it. while doing so, she notices it is a carrier pigeon and reads the message, hoping to find a clue to the owner. It has a strange message: "Trouble here. After five o'clock blue bells will be singing horses. Come tonight." Nancy and Hannah pick some lovely Larkspurs and as Nancy arranges them in an old English vase, and then drives it to the flower show, she ponders over it.

   I would give this book a 8/10. It has a good mystery,  but it was kind of hard to follow and it was jam packed full of action. I liked it, but it was a little too action packed. I would recommend it, and I realized it is one of the only mysteries Nancy solves where the title doesn't start with " The Mystery" or "The". This and Nancy's Mysterious Letter. Well, time to go read #11, The Clue of The Broken Locket!

-Samantha Quick

Nancy Drew #9: The Sign of The Twisted Candles

Here is my review for Nancy Drew mystery #9, The Sign of The Twisted Candles.

The book starts off like this: Nancy, Bess and George decided they were to go on a drive to escape the heat of River Heights, their hometown. They are driving on a backroad in the country when the notice the sky is really dark. A roll of thunder a minute later, and the rain comes down in sheets. They see a light up ahead and are just about to turn in when the car stalls in the entry way! They dash for the house and enter. A women tells them it is a tearoom and hotel and none of the rooms are occupied, so the trio may help themselves to any room to freshen up. While doing so, A young waitress gets stopped on the stairway going up with food to wish a man happy 100th birthday. she gets told she is wasting food, and she runs downstairs. Nancy says she thinks it was mysterious, and Bess and George agree, but tease her because Nancy will think anything is mysterious. They then go downstairs and eat something warm.

I would give this a 6/10 because this book has somethings which I do not like. This time, it was not the characters that were bad, but their actions. Bess and George turn "cold" on Nancy and Sadie, someone dies, someone gets abused, thievery, and much more. I would always recommend a Nancy Drew book, but this just wasn't one that would be high on my list of books to recommend. Stay tuned for Nancy Drew, Password to Larkspur Lane!

-Samantha Quick

LIE Greek Prize Pack!

So, as you may know, Her Interactive is running low on Pre Order phisical copies of LIE! Pre order by clicking on the link!

Also, everyone enters will be doing 2 things.
1: Helping reach our goal of 10,000 pre orders for a free soundtrack to LIE
2: getting automatically entered in to The Greek Prize Pack! You will get the following if you enter only 1 will win. Good Luck!
- Samantha Quick

Weekend Puzzle (9.19.14)

Here is the weekend puzzle. I believe I involves ship flags, for signalling other ships if you need help. I happen to own a Nancy Drew book that has the alaphabet in flags, so I will atempt to solve it.
 Good Luck!
- Samantha Quick

Nancy Drew #8: Nancy's Mysterious Letter

Here is my review for Nancy Drew Book #8, Nancy's Mysterious Letter.

  The book starts off like this. Nancy, Bess and George are driving to Nancy's house when they pass he mail carrier, Ira Nixon, cold and weather beaten delivering mail. They offer to give him a ride, but he declines saying he has to stop at every house, and there is something particularly interesting for Nancy at the bottom, from London! Nancy promises him some hot coco when he gets to their house, and they go home and make it for him when he arrives. While they are in the living room, his mail bag in the foyer, someone comes and steals all the mail from the bag! Ira slumps into faint, and they call a doctor.

Now, I don't enjoy this book as some others, but I like it ok. Ned makes a big appearance, and so do Bess and George's dates, Dave Evans and Burt Eddleton. This mystery involves thievery, attempted harm, heiresses, and so much more. I give it a 7/10 because I just don't like some of the characters, and some parts are so sudden ans some parts are just unnecessary. I recommend it, but if I was giving a list of my top 20 favorites, it would not be this one. It is a quick read, as I read it in a day, but that goes the same for most of them. Actually, all of them. Now, to write the review on The Sign of The Twisted Candles!

-Samantha Quick

Nancy Drew #7: The Clue in The Diary

This is the review for Nancy Drew book #7, The Clue in The Diary.

   The book starts out like this: Nancy, Bess and George are having a picnic outside of Mapelton (remember that town, it will get mentioned quite a few times during the series) on their way home from Red Gate Farm. The sun starts to set, so they decide to start heading home. As they are driving through the countryside, they notice a pristine white house on the hill. Just as Nancy says it looks like a dream, it explodes! they race up to the house and turn into the driveway, and Nancy tells the cousins to alert the nearby neighbors and fire department. She goes up to the house to try to rescue anyone that might be inside, but Nancy knows she won't be able to get in, and chances for anyone inside would be slim. While Nancy is doing that, Bess and George came back and with them the fire department. The firemen know they won't be able to save the house, but the try to keep it from spreading to the outbuildings. All the attention attracted passerbyers and neighbors, who parked in the driveway. As Nancy goes to move her car, she finds a young man of about 19 getting into her car! She runs alongside the car as he backs it skillfully down the driveway and says he is moving it out of the danger zone. He gets out and walks away.

   A helpful note: That man of about 19 is Ned Nickerson, Nancy's boyfriend, who lives in Mapelton (I told you to remember that!) Since Nancy meets her boyfriend of 58 books;who rescues her, helps her, gives her clues, gets into danger himself, gets kidnapped countless times (actually it's about 2) and so much more. Really, he is the ultimate boyfriend. He even gets Bess and George special friends! Overall, I would give this book a 10/10 because It's sweet, it is a big event in the series because that is where she meets Ned, and because the mystery is good, an so is the plot and characters. Go read it, and get ready for review #8, Nancy's Mysterious Letter!

- Samantha Quick

Weekend Puzzle Answer

Okay, so the answer to the weekend puzzle is this:

  It was a series of anagrams (mixed up words, names, and phrases). The solutions are to the right:

• RCNAOH = 2 [Charon]
  
• OSNLMERAII = 4 [Melina Rosi]
  
• USNEKAXIDOA = 6 [Xenia Doukas]
  
• EHESDUTEHERTGJ = 11 [The Three Judges]
  
• SRUECREB = 5 [Cerberus]
  
• REHNESPOEP = 9 [Persephone]
  
• YEHSTRYDHOAB = 7 [The Hardy Boys]
  
• KDIENIPBOAPAA = 3 [Niobe Papadaki]
  
• AHGTSONANSA = 5 [Thanos Ganas]
  
• KORAIRGOAKNSIGR = 6 [Grigor Karakinos]
  

  The numbers reference the letter in the corrected spelling. For example, the second letter of Charon is H. Find all the letters and you get [Hidden Door].
 ( highlight the blank spaces to revel the answer )

  Also, Little Jackalope from the Ametuer Sleuth Blog proposed a marathon, with international gmes that give history and lessons about the subject/country.

  "I propose a marathon! Now there are different kinds of marathons you can take part in, like the ones on the message board run by our ever-knowledgeable fan community. Or there is also the classic type of marathon where you play every single game in order, but with 30 games in your collection, that’s quite a challenge!
This marathon I’m going to take part in is this: Play ALL the games that can fit into the Cultural/International category! And maybe throw in a few extras to the mix… if there is time. Here is my lineup:

• #6 Secret of the Scarlet Hand
• #14 Danger by Design
• #18 The Phantom of Venice
• #19 The Haunting of Castle Malloy
• #23 Shadow at the Water’s Edge
• #24 The Captive Curse
• #26 Tomb of the Lost Queen

  Now if time allows, I would add Curse of Blackmoor Manor, Ransom of the Seven Ships, The Silent Spy, and The Shattered Medallion since these all take place internationally… but they have less emphasis on the cultural aspect.
  The marathon will end the weekend before October 7th (which is the date you can start downloading Labyrinth of Lies)! I’ll be playing these in order above, and as often as I can find time to. Anyone wanna try a marathon? "

  Now, since I don't own all of these and don't personally have the time to play them, I can't paricipate in this. But you can! -Samantha Quick

Nancy Drew #6: The Secret at Red Gate Farm

This is a review for Nancy Drew book #6, The Secret at Red Gate Farm.

The book starts off like this: Nancy, Bess and George are on the train from shopping, and Bess bought a perfume called 'Blue Jade' at a ridicules price- 20 dollars an ounce! Back when the books were written, you could buy a weeks worth of groceries for $7; so that was a lot! Across the isle, a girl about 18 was deathly pale and asleep. Bess decides she wants to try on her perfume, and when she does, the train lurches and she spills perfume everywhere. When Nancy looks over, the mysterious girl has fainted!

Actually, to be honest, I relly don't like this book. Towards the end, I just skipped pages from what I guess you would call "secondhand embarrassment" . I would give this book a 4/10. I don't really like the characters or the scenes. I didn't like the idea of a 'cult' and the boarders were rude. I know other people will have different opinions, but those are mine.

Now, to go read one of my favorite Nancy Drew books ever, The Clue in The Diary!

-Samantha Quick

Nancy Drew #5: The Secret of Shadow Ranch

This is my review for Nancy Drew book #5, The Secret of Shadow Ranch.

 The book starts like this: Nancy gets off the plane in Arizona to meet her two best friends, Bess Marvin and George Fayne. Now, before I go on, I want to explain something. Helen Corning will eventually make another appearance, but not until almost the end of the series; and for about 1 book. Apparently Nancy has "moved on".

Her "chums" seem upset as they greet her, and Nancy soon finds out why. They order food at the airport cafe, and talk about the mystery. Nancy sets her knitting bag between her and a stranger and they continue talking. Nancy soon realizes that the man is listing intently. She nudges their feet and Bess and George instantly get the message. Right then, their food comes. They talk lightly of other subjects and when the check comes Nancy finds her bag missing. George notices the man is missing and runs out of the cafe to try to find him. Nancy searches the area and finds her bag, still intact, but everything in a different place. She and Bess rush out to the parking lot and find George. They start walking to the car. When they get there, They the man putting something into the seat!

This book is good, and it's a good introduction to Bess and George. You learn quite a bit about horses, and "Valentine", an old time outlaw. I would give this book a 10/10 because it is a classic, it teaches and it is just awesome in general. Go check it out!

- Samantha Quick

Late Weekend Puzzle

Sorry I didn't post the weekend puzzle yesterday! I forgot to check their website! Did you know that Her Interactive is working on new LIE merchandise for their store? Here is a list!

• LIE Cover Art
• LIE Box Art (has all the colored bars and text like the box)
• Melina’s phone avatar
• The Hardy Boys phone avatar
• “Persephone in Winter” play poster
•  
• And here is the weekend puzzle!
•  
• RCNAOH = 2
• OSNLMERAII = 4
• USNEKAXIDOA = 6
• EHESDUTEHERTGJ = 11
• SRUECREB = 5
• REHNESPOEP = 9
• YEHSTRYDHOAB = 7
• KDIENIPBOAPAA = 3
• AHGTSONANSA = 5
• KORAIRGOAKNSIGR = 6                                                                                                          - Samantha Quick