You Don't Look A Day Over 20, Nancy

On April 28 in 1930,the first Nancy Drew book, Secret of the Old Clock was published, making the series 80 years old tomorrow. Since then, 371 books written under the pen name Carolyn Keene (by various authors) have followed and been devoured by millions of young fans around the planet, not to mention the many TV shows and movies based on the character. Little did series creator Edward Stratemeyer (the same force behind the Hardy Boys and the Bobbsey Twins) know that his female creation would one day be an admitted influence on the three women who have served on the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor, as well as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and crime fiction writers Sara Paretsky and Nancy Pickard.

Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows...

After the nasty winter most of us have endured, we could all use some sunshine, and that's exactly what Janet Rudolph at Mystery Fanfare did by honoring In Reference to Murder with a Sunshine Award, given out to those whose "contagious positivity and creativity inspire others in the blogging universe." I am humbly honored.

Here are the rules:

1. Put the logo on the blog within your post.
2. Pass the award on to 12 bloggers.
3. Link to the nominees within your post.
4. Let the nominees know they have received the award by commenting on their blogs.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Some blogs I might ordinarily include in my dozen have already been mentioned on similar posts at the Rap Sheet and Bill Crider's Pop Culture, so be sure and check out those, as well as the other links on Janet's blog above. I don't want to duplicate any they've listed, so folks who are mentioned there and not here:  rest assured ALL OF YOU are already bookmarked and have a special place in my Blog Roll of Fame.

So without further ado, here are my additional 12 blogs, in sort-of alphabetical order (depending upon whose alphabet you're using):

1. CrimeSpree Cinema   
2. Criminal Brief    
3. Declan Burke's Crime Always Pays   
4. Elizabeth Foxwell's The Bunbuyist   
5. Ed Gorman's blog    
6. Hey, There's a Dead Guy in the Living Room  
7. Lee Lofland's The Graveyard Shift 
8. Murder, Mystery and Mayhem 
9. Mystery Books News  
10. Poe's Deadly Daughters
11. Sandra Seamans' My Little Corner 
12. Women of Mystery