Bess (Elizabeth) Marvin is one of Nancy Drew's best friends. Her cousin is George Fayne, is Nancy's other best friend. Often in the games, Nancy can call her and George to get tips and help in her mysteries.
Fictional Biography[]
Secret of the Scarlet Hand[]
George and Bess were playing "Go Fish" while it rained outside. They are later visited by the Hardy Boys.
Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake[]
Bess is constantly bragging about her new Caller ID to anyone who calls her. She uses it primarily so she can see if the boys who call her are cute enough to warrant answering the phone. She also has a mild long-distance crush on Jeff Akers.
The Haunted Carousel[]
After being forced to get rid of her Caller ID because she wouldn't answer any of the boys who called her, Bess is desperately waiting for a phone call from Matt, a cute boy who works at the movie theater. By the end of the game, they get a date.
Danger on Deception Island[]
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The Secret of Shadow Ranch[]
Bess and her cousin George were supposed to go on a vacation with Nancy to Shadow Ranch, a place in Arizona that their Uncle Ed and Aunt Bet owned. Unfortunately, their plane got delayed to Omaha because of technical problems, then their next plane had to stop in St. Louis because of bad weather. When they finally make it to the ranch, Nancy has already solved the case without them. But she couldn't have done it without George's help with a book about nineteenth century clothing. In The Shattered Medallion, it is revealed Bess briefly dated Dave Gregory while visiting.
The Curse of Blackmoor Manor[]
Bess and George go to a camp that doesn't allow cell phones.
Secret of the Old Clock[]
Bess has to battle with her neighbor, Mrs. Farthingham, to use the phone.
Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon[]
Bess has roped George into helping her repaint her room because she'll be grounded if it isn't finished soon. She isn't focusing very hard on her work and often accidentally gets "adobe beige" paint on George. A week earlier, George had told Bess she had a crush on a guy in a candy shop and was furious when Bess told him. George reveals that Bess prefers Joe over Frank.
Danger by Design[]
Bess reluctantly goes on a jog with George and is not happy whenever George lets slip the word "run".
Legend of the Crystal Skull[]
Bess's and Nancy's fathers give them tickets to New Orleans for the weekend, but when Nancy stumbles upon a case, she needs Bess's help to investigate the French Quarter. Bess explores a curio shop, interviews a suspect, and even infiltrates a secret society called the Jolly Roger Krewe. When her phone goes off during one of the Krewe's meetings, she gets thrown into a sack and shoved into another room to be interviewed by the Krewe's leader. Unfortunately for him, an angry Bess isn't afraid to talk her way into getting information from him. For the first time in the series, Bess is a playable character.
The Haunting of Castle Malloy[]
Bess is attending a party with George back in River Heights.
Ransom of the Seven Ships[]
Bess wins an online sweepstakes for a five-day vacation in the Bahamas. She decides to bring George and Nancy along, but Nancy arrives a day late due to a father-daughter banquet she had to attend. When Nancy arrives, a frantic George informs her that Bess had been kidnapped. The whole contest was a hoax to get Nancy on the island and find a long-lost treasure for the kidnappers. Players get to see Bess for the first time at the end of the game.
Resorting to Danger![]
Bess and George appear in the opening cut scene when George gives Nancy a device for detecting bombs and Bess points out it can fit into Nancy's purse.
Warnings at Waverly Academy[]
Bess and George are visiting relatives in Wisconsin. Nancy can reach Bess by voice mail.
Trail of the Twister[]
Bess is spelunking with George and Ned at the Carlsbad Caverns.
Shadow at the Water's Edge[]
Bess and George travel to Kyoto, Japan to attend the Technology of Tomorrow Today expo. Nancy is also in Japan for a vacation offered by P.G. Krolmeister, whom she assisted in Trail of the Twister. Bess helps Nancy gather information from Savannah Woodham, a paranormal investigator, by distracting Savannah's assistant, Logan Mitchell, by asking him out on a date. It must have gone well because Bess and Logan develop a mutual crush on each other. She and George also meet Yumi Shimizu, the local Bento booth owner. They become good friends and have a lot of fun together. Nancy can receive many purikura phone pictures of the three.
Alibi in Ashes[]
Nancy gets arrested for an act of arson that she did not commit. Bess, George, and Ned all have to work together to get her out of jail for most of the game. One of the suspects, Toni Scalari, has a soft spot for Bess. The ice cream shop that Toni owns, Scoop, is a favorite hangout of Bess's. She used to love eating lots of ice cream there, but after eating bowlful after bowlful as a cover to spy on another suspect, Deirdre Shannon, Bess never wants to see another ice cream cone again.
Tomb of the Lost Queen[]
With George at a new job, Bess watches many Egyptian movies and actually plays an Egyptologist on a tv show, although she has no idea what her character is saying. She naturally becomes worried about Nancy after hearing that the water supply is gone, thinking it may be due to a curse.
Possibly foreshadowing The Silent Spy, Bess mentions Nancy's mother (and the way that she died) is why she thought Nancy solved mysteries.
The Ghost of Thornton Hall[]
Bess has become very bored with both George and Nancy gone, so she has "broken into" Ned's house and has "kidnapped" him. They are watching otter videos.
The Silent Spy[]
When Ned asks why he has to break into Nancy's house, she mentions Bess and George are out of town.
A younger Bess is seen in a flashback. Through walkie-talkies, she states that she got grounded. Overhearing Kate and Carson Drew arguing, she asks Nancy what
The Shattered Medallion[]
Bess successfully enters George and Nancy in George's favorite show, Pacific Run. Bess comes along with them to New Zealand, where the show is taking place that year. When George falls off a bridge and gets injured, Bess reluctantly steps in as Nancy's teammate even though she is terrified of being hurt herself.
She develops such a deep infatuation with Sonny Joon, she almost has an existential crisis. All her usual natural ease with boys vanishes as soon as she sees Sonny.
Personality[]
Bess is a very girly-girl. She is into anything concerning fashion, makeup, or boys. In earlier games, Bess constantly asks if a suspect is cute. She is also a source of comic relief and is very silly and fun on the phone. Bess is very flirty, often considered pretty by other characters, and can use this to her advantage. She is very sweet and fun, often upbeat, but is quick to ask Nancy to come home when things get scary. In many ways, she is very similar to Joe Hardy. She has a face made for smiling, even when she has been kidnapped and thrown in a dark cave, she
Appearance[]
Bess is always said to be blonde, pretty, and plump. She has rosy cheeks, blue eyes, and pale skin.
In Bess's first appearance, Ransom of the Seven Ships, she wears a long, lime-green sleeveless sundress, two thin bracelets on her right wrist, and a white butterfly hair ornament. She has rosy cheeks and pink lips.
She looks different in Alibi in Ashes, with a thinner face and a rounded nose. Her blonde hair is styled into a distinctive crossover part. She wears a light blue scoopneck top and a dusted pink skirt. Around her neck is a simple beaded necklace and on her ears are small blue earrings.
In the Shattered Medallion, Bess has a rounder, freckled face. She wears her hair in two simple, short pigtails held by small pink scrunchies. She wears a black jacket with pink camo accents and brown pants.
Quotes[]
The Final Scene[]
- "If there's one thing your detective work proves every time, it's that old buildings are the keepers of secrets."
- "All in favor of men who slay dragons, say aye!"
Secret of the Scarlet Hand[]
- "George and I are in the middle of a heated game of 'Go Fish' and I'm winning."
- "No peeking at my cards, George."
Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake[]
- "He sounds like my Uncle Zak. He's into birds. Only he doesn't watch them, he hunts them, then shoots them. I never really liked my Uncle Zak."
- "Somebody's trying to poison you with arsenic?!"
- "Sometimes I think they follow you around."
The Haunted Carousel[]
- "Not all those calls were from losers. Sometimes, I was just playing hard to get."
- "Ugly people have chips on their shoulders and are more likely to commit crimes, George. I read that somewhere. Either read it or saw it on Oprah."
- "What is with all this 'we' stuff?"
Danger on Deception Island[]
- "Oh, no, my roux! It's ruined!"
- "Whale be in touch!"
Secret of Shadow Ranch[]
- "Of all the times to get stranded in some stupid airport. Look, you just better keep up posted, Nancy Drew. That's all I gotta say."
- "That does it, George. We're suing the airline!"
- "That does it, George. We're suing the airline and the airport!"
- "Okay, George, we're suing the airline, both airports, and the weather service!"
Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon[]
- "Cute and pathetic. Just my type."
- "George, I kid you not. You should seriously think about doing some major highlights with that color."
- The conversation about crushing on The Hardy Boys:
- BM: I knew it. You're just as big a sucker for those boyish good looks as I am.
- ND: You're not going to say anything to him, are you?
- BM: Me? My lips are sealed.
- GF: The way they were when I told you that I liked that boy who works at the snack shop?
- BM: That was different.
- GF: How was it different?
- BM: I... was younger then and had less self-control.
- GF: It was last week, Bess.
- BM: Right.
- GF: Don't worry, Nance. If she starts to say anything to Joe, I'll just stomp on her foot.
- BM: Ow! Hey, what'd you do that for?
- GF: Just practicing.
Danger by Design[]
- "Wait a minute, I'm all those things. How come I'm not a famous model?"
- "Maybe he wears a mask too, only he wears his on the inside."
Legend of the Crystal Skull[]
- "Great, I'm going to be chatting up Jack the Ripper."
- "I'm not good at that sneaking around stuff, Nancy! I get nervous, my tongue gets all knotted up, my palms sweat -to say nothing of my armpits-"
- "A gumbo to go please!"
Alibi in Ashes[]
- "Chic Boutique's Chic Week door buster was kicking off at ten and I was late. Nancy, it was a travesty."
- "I've already had all the flavors on the menu. If this investigation doesn't stop soon, forget the sun dress I got. I won't be able to fit into my house."
- "All I want to do is snoop through her stuff and she's making that impossible!"
- "I don't think she's on to me. On a related note, I have no idea what she's doing."
- "Well, she solves crimes so there be some hard feelings from the people she's gotten into trouble."
- "If I don't make it, tell my parents I died of ice cream poisoning."
Tomb of the Lost Queen[]
- "That's bad. How bad is that? Hang on. How long before you die in a desert with no water, question mark."
- "I know it's unlikely, but if aliens ever did really come to earth, I think they'd like me. ((Nancy: What? Why?)) Dogs love me. Kids love me. I just think we'd be pretty sympatico is all."
Ghost of Thornton Hall[]
- "I, on the other hand, have been watching videos of otters. So good at stacking things. Additionally, I have kidnapped Ned."
- "All I want is to see the screen, and to not deal with jerks, to have a movie style romance, and for no one to get hurt, ever."
- "Put that on a billboard."
- "Ned, say something to uncrazy your girlfriend!"
- "I have trained you well. Now go, Nancy, tattle like the wind!"
- "Ned, do I have permission to do a spit-take in your living room?"
- "I've never been a mom, but I have owned my fair share of fish."
- "Where does he fall on the cute to guilty spectrum?"
- "You're just going to have to find a way to tell me that balances the public's need to know with Ned's presumably fragile ego."
- "Nancy, describe Colton's looks using the International Ned Cuteness Unit. We talkin' half a Ned? Two Neds?"
The Shattered Medallion[]
- "Let's hear it for Nancy and Greg! And also me because I'm coming along too. Hooray for Bess." -trailer
- "I am going to die here."
- "Don't bother telling me what happened because I was stalking you both. *mopes forever and then dies*"
- "He asked 'Can I help you?' And I just repeated it back. Only louder."
- "Shouldn't I have some big life plan? Everyone else does."
- "I can't make friends. I get tongue tied around Sonny. I don't even know how to hold a conversation for a minute. What if this is my new life? ((Nancy: Everyone has off days.)) Nancy, you don't get it. This is all I have to offer. I'm not smart, like you. I'm not sporty, like George. I'm fun. That's it. And if that goes away, then what?"
- "Don't use your logic voice on me if you're not going to use your logic... logic."
- "It was a fair, you know, so animals, scam artists, flirting with food poisoning. But then I found myself looking at a cow. And she was looking at me. We had a really long cow/human moment. We got into... not a staring contest, more of a staring cooperation. I think I was there for hours."
- "I'll bust out my feminine wiles!"
- "I can almost picture him with a puppy and it's perfect."
- "I will try again. The Marvin Mojo is legendary."
- "He's like one of those tall, beautiful things they have in Italy. ((Nancy: Not sure... a sculpture?)) A barista."