The original text versions of the first four Nancy Drew books enter the public domain today.
1. The Secret of the Old Clock, 1930
2. The Hidden Staircase, 1930
3. The Bungalow Mystery, 1930
4. The Mystery at Lilac Inn, 1930
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| The first four Nancy Drew books in first printing copies from 1930 |
Certainly, some rogue publishers will reprint Nancy Drew books not already in the public domain or will create new stories that use components of Nancy Drew that remain under copyright. There is no way of preventing this from happening. All we can hope is that Simon & Schuster remains vigilant. I am certain that they are interested in protecting their trademark of Nancy Drew. I don't know how aggressive they are about searching for infringing content, but I believe they do issue takedown orders when they are made aware of infringing items.
Last year, I saw these AI-produced "Nancy Drew" books on Amazon.
The books were very short, barely enough to be considered books. I could tell from the Kindle previews that the books had been created by AI. The listings have since been removed, but I took a screen capture of the first page of one of the books. Here it is. (Click on the image in order to see it better.)
It reads well enough, but it is generic AI content that is not worthy of purchase. Even though these books have been removed, others will show up in the future. It will never end.
This is why Nancy Drew books entering the public domain is not of great concern, in my opinion. With AI, people have already been infringing. The only change is that many people will now reprint the first four books, but buyers must decide whether the books are worth purchasing.
In my case, I will not purchase any modern reprints of the first four books, unless they are very special. I understand that leather-bound editions are to be released later this year. I will almost certainly purchase those, but I will ignore nearly all other reprints.
Low-effort reprints of series books have been available for many years. The Mystery of the Fire Dragon has been in the public domain for years due to a failure to renew the copyright. That's why this low-effort reprint exists:
Whenever it pops up on eBay, I ignore it, just like I ignore all the flashlight editions. I plan to ignore all the new reprints as well.
Another twist is that slasher or adult movies based on Nancy Drew could be made.
From Public Domain Day 2026 Is Coming: Here's What to Know:
[I]t's an especially strong year for female detectives—both young and old. The earliest Nancy Drew mysteries from 1930 hit the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2026, as does the first outing of the genteel Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's The Murder at the Vicarage. Maybe they can team up to solve the mystery of why Hollywood is only interested in using public domain characters to make schlocky horror films.
Indeed. In 2023, the horror film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey was released. Something similar could happen to Nancy Drew, although there are restrictions since the derivative works must be based solely upon the first four original text Nancy Drew books.
Also from Public Domain Day 2026 Is Coming: Here's What to Know:
In a case involving the now-public domain Sherlock Holmes, the court in Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. clarified that a copyrighted character begins to fall into the public domain when the first published story featuring that character enters the public domain. Once that happens, "story elements—including characters covered by the expired copyright—become fair game for follow-on authors." But copyrightable aspects of a character's evolution that appear in later, still-protected works may remain off-limits until those later works themselves expire.
It's fitting that Helen Corning is the first of Nancy's friends to be tossed into the public domain. Now, don't misunderstand. I have always liked Helen Corning and have always wished she were in more books. But...
Helen Corning was abruptly cast aside and forgotten after Edward Stratemeyer passed away. The Nancy Drew series changed its trajectory beginning with The Secret at Shadow Ranch when Bess and George replaced Helen. Since Helen was cast aside in 1931, it is somehow fitting that she is the first of Nancy's friends to be flung into the public domain. Perhaps some new derivative stories will give Helen the attention that she deserves.
Just hopefully they won't be horror stories with Helen turned into an axe murderer.
In closing, I must state that I am strongly in favor of past works entering the public domain. We want the works to be available to future generations. Many of the old series books are so scarce that they are about impossible to find. Those books need to be in the public domain so that they can be made available in digital format.
We are now exactly five years out from the entry of the book Beverly Gray at the World's Fair into the public domain. That will occur on January 1, 2031. That day can't come soon enough, because fans of World's Fair are rapidly aging out. It's a shame that the book is so hard to find and pricey, since it's an important book in the Beverly Gray series.
For more information from Jennifer Fisher and James Keeline, please read these posts. Both posts contain information about some exciting 2026 new releases.
Nancy Drew & The Case of the Missing Copyrights
Happy Public Domain Day, 2026
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