I'm torn between giving this compilation a 3 and a 4 star. I've read all of the individual books multiple times, thought not for some years and the series holds a lot of nostalgia for me.  Just so you know I'm 30 and read these between 2003---2013ish.  There are some spoilers below but I do mention when they'll pop up. I thought reading the compilation would be fun, and I wanted to see if they would update them since the originals (in this volume) were first published in the mid 80s. Some of the newer versions of other Nancy Drew  series have been updated slightly for modern times. This volume does update the language slightly, such as swapping VCR for DVD player, battery pack to charging cables, and minor things like that. While I still love the books, overall the changes aren't enough to modernize the series, despite the modern cover. The way the characters speak is fairly outdated, in the general language and the attitudes of the characters plus the events happening. It still overall feels very 80s, and as it's a series geared towards teens and published by Simon and Schuster's modern teen imprint I think a little more could have been done. Sure, some of the mysteries would definitely have to be retooled, but other things like the inclusion of cellphones and other modern tech would be fairly simple.  There are several scenes were having Nancy pick up a cellphone instead of a landline would have been as easy as swapping a few words. They managed to remove a scene from one of the mysteries where Nancy uses a payphone, but instead of using a cellphone she just...somehow uses a phone and it's never explained. There are other minor issues that were never fixed in the 80s and then not fixed for this compilation, like they can't decide if Nancy did Judo, Karate, or gymnastics, and Ned plays football until he never did play football but plays baseball instead. 

The mysteries themselves are just okay for me, and that's fine. I had fun reading them, but my real issue is some of the lessons, (some of which are very outdated) that the series imparts. Minor spoilers ahead: Nancy's Dad is a rich lawyer, which he is in every series. But Nancy is absolutely spoiled and maybe not in a good way. In one mystery her car gets wrecked and  it's glossed over but her dad gets her an identical brand new one the very next day.  Nancy is also very reckless and doesn't seem to have much respect for when people ask her not to do dangerous things, which gets her and her friends hurt. Major spoiler ahead.  Another issue that I had, which I feel is a big one: In Secrets Can Kill, the first in the series, they establish the back story. In the first couple of pages it's explained that in this series, Nancy and Ned, her boyfriend, knew each other since childhood and have been dating since young teens. No one could break them apart. The mystery in this one involves a high school, and Bess and George joke that Nancy definitely doesn't need high school boys following her around like "underage puppies", a cringey line that definitely should have been removed in this version. After all of that exposition about Nancy and Ned's unbreakable relationship she goes off on her mystery and on the way has a car race with a random handsome guy and she absolutely throws every bit of that to the wind. Turns out he's a 17 year old student (Nancy is 18) named Darryl and she cheats on Ned throughout the mystery. She imagines Darryl holding her in his arms, lots of comments on his beautiful blue eyes, and she never tells him she has a boyfriend when they're kissing or holding hands or talking romantically. Ned does find out, and doesn't want to discuss it but seems hurt. and at the beginning of mystery #2 Nancy wonders if Ned will ever forgive her, but no one addresses what she did as something that is not okay. No one calls it cheating. It's not dealt with very sensitively and honestly just should have been removed entirely for modern teen audiences unless they were going to better address it. They don't have to remove relationship drama entirely but at least try to be a bit more careful with how they address things when modern kids are the readers.

For me the rating is less because the stories are bad, and more because Simon and Schuster missed the mark on their editing and modernizing of the series. I'm going to read the next compilation, and I do hope they continue with the others in the series, I just wish they would do a little better on them.