''River Heights'' was an American
paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...
spinoff series (1989-1992) from ''
The Nancy Drew Files
''The Nancy Drew Files'', or the ''Nancy Drew Case Files'', is a detective fiction series started in 1986 and released by Simon & Schuster, New York. It is a spin-off of the original series of novels featuring Nancy Drew, with a greater emphasi ...
'' series of mystery stories for preteen girl readers published by
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...
. Due to a scene in the epilogue to the first book, ''Love Times Three'', ''River Heights'' also connects the entire Files-Casefiles continuity (which includes ''The Nancy Drew Files'', ''The Hardy Boys Casefiles'', ''A Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys SuperMystery'88'', ''The Tom Swift Series (Archway)'', and ''A Hardy Boys and Tom Swift Ultra Thriller'') into the same continuity as the ''Nancy Drew Mystery Stories''. The connection is that Nikki spots the clock in Nancy's bedroom and remembers that Nancy had been given that clock for solving her first mystery, ''The Secret Of The Old Clock''. The pilot story for this series was ''The Nancy Drew Files'' #39, ''The Suspect Next Door''. This series (also credited to
Carolyn Keene
Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery stories and ''The Dana Girls'' mystery stories, both produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. In addition, the Keene pen name is credited with the Nancy Drew spin-off, ''Riv ...
) involved Nancy's neighbor, Nicki Masters, and revolved around Nicki's friends and rivals at River Heights High School.
Notable among the characters beside Nikki include her arch-rival, Brittany Tate, a popular newspaper reporter; her two friends, wealthy Kim Bishop and transplanted southerner, Samantha Daley (Samantha and Brittany later become rivals); Nikki's boyfriend, Tim Cooper, whom Brittany wants as well; Jeremy Pratt, a stuck-up rich boy who falls for Kim and softens her somewhat. Others include Ellen Ming, Madge Pouchard; Karen Jacobs and Nikki's best friend, Lacey Dupree among many others.
These books, unlike the originals, were mostly romance books. The series lasted for a short time, consisting of 16 volumes and a "Super Sizzler" special edition.
River Heights (Nancy Drew Spinoff Series)
Retrieved 2012-08-04. Nancy Drew makes cameos throughout the series.
Titles
''The Suspect Next Door'' ( Nancy Drew Files #39)
# ''Love Times Three''
# ''Guilty Secrets''
# ''Going too Far''
# ''Stolen Kisses''
# ''Between the Lines''
# ''Lessons in Love''
# ''Cheating Hearts''
# ''The Trouble with Love''
# ''Lies and Whispers''
# ''Mixed Emotions''
# ''Broken Hearts''
# ''Hard to Handle''
# ''A Mind of Her Own''
# ''Love and Games''
# ''Friends and Rivals''
# ''The Jealousy Trap''
*''Super Sizzler #1: Junior Class Trip''
References
{{Portal , Children's literature
Series of children's books