Hannah Gruen is a character in the popular *Nancy Drew Mystery Stories * series.

Hannah works for the Drew family as a housekeeper/cook, ^[1] as she's also known to cook delicious meals. She's been working for the Drew family in River Heights since the death of Nancy's mom when Nancy was only three years old. Nancy and her dad, Carson, see Hannah more of as a member of the family than as hired help, as Nancy and Hannah have a very close and loving mother/daughter type of relationship—especially considering Nancy never really knew her actual mom and Hannah, presumably, never had children of her own. ^[2] In most of the original Nancy Drew books, Hannah is introduced as Mrs. Hannah Gruen, but her husband is never seen or mentioned, so it can be assumed that Hannah's a widow.

Hannah attends church regularly and is very protective of Nancy, as she often worries about her safety, even though she knows that Nancy can take care of herself and is very intelligent and clever.

And Nancy, ever appreciative of Hannah's concern for her, takes Hannah's opinions into consideration, usually following her housekeeper's wise advice.

Hannah's a very clever and brave woman in her own right, though---she's made homemade burglar alarms, and courageously stands up to intruders and other miscreants when Mr. Drew isn't present. Hannah has proved herself invaluable to Nancy in many of her cases. Hannah's portrayed by Monica Parker in the 2007 film *Nancy Drew *, which starred Emma Roberts as the title role. In a 2016 CBS Nancy Drew pilot based loosely on the original characters, Hannah is scheduled to be played by Debra Monk. ^[3]