An attractive, blue-eyed, blonde-haired, 18-year-old girl, Nancy Drew is a recent high school graduate who lives with her widowed father and the family housekeeper in the town of River Heights. In the first mystery in her eponymous series, Nancy is presented as a courageous girl who goes out of her way to help people in need. She often takes risks in the service of justice, even when prudence might dictate less dangerous alternatives. Nancy is sometimes impatient to see the results of her efforts, which draws warnings about her personal safety from both her father and their housekeeper.

On a personal level, Nancy is described as popular with her peers and interested in athletics. She’s also intellectually curious and spends hours discussing her father’s legal cases with him. She comes from the upper-middle class but seems equally at ease with people from more humble walks of life. Always eager to help out, she even tends to a sick, elderly woman and donates money for her care.

Because she isn’t in college, Nancy has the financial means and time to devote to her amateur detective work. She’s independent and uses her convertible to pursue leads and apprehend villains. As the novel ends, Nancy wonders if she’ll ever have the chance to pursue another mystery.