Where is River Heights?
River Heights has changed location throughout the series. Originally, it was located in Iowa, homeplace of Mildred Wirt Benson. This is shown by descriptions of farmlands and cornfields (see the original Red Gate Farm especially). In later early volumes, however, Carson Drew goes “west” to Chicago. Harriet Adams, when she revised the series, moved River Heights still further east, probably close to New Jersey, where the Stratemeyer Syndicate was located, because of speech patterns and the fact that New York was close by. “After a check of shuttle flight schedules and a hasty lunch with Hannah, she set off for the airport….” Two hours later, Nancy was walking down Madison Avenue….” (The Mysterious Image) Living in St. Louis, I know that it takes more than a shuttle flight from the Midwest to New York and takes longer than two hours to leave for the airport, fly there, leave the airport and walk down Madison Avenue. Betsy Caprio, in her book The Mystery of Nancy Drew, hypothesizes th
