Carolyn Keene | |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Mystery |
| Subject | Writing books |
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, River Heights, and the Nancy Drew Notebooks .
Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Syndicate, hired writers, beginning with Mildred Wirt (later Mildred Benson), to write the manuscripts for the Nancy Drew books. [1] The writers were paid $125 for each book and were required by their contract to give up all rights to the work and to maintain confidentiality.
Benson is credited as the primary writer of Nancy Drew books under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. [2] Harriet Adams (Stratemeyer's daughter) rewrote the original books and added new titles after the withdrawal of Benson. [1]
Other ghostwriters who used this name to write Nancy Drew mysteries included Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Walter Karig, Nancy Axelrad, Patricia Doll, Charles S. Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., Margaret Fischer, and Susan Wittig Albert. Also involved in the Nancy Drew writing process were Harriet Stratemeyer Adams's daughters, who gave input on the series and sometimes helped to choose book titles; [2] : 158 the Syndicate's secretary, Harriet Otis Smith, who invented the characters of Nancy's friends Bess and George; [2] : 140 and the editors at Grosset & Dunlap. [2] : 228
In 1979, the Stratemeyer Syndicate changed publishers to Simon & Schuster, a move that the former publishers, Grosset & Dunlap, went to court to prevent, claiming a breach of contract. The decision was made in favor of the Syndicate, stating that they could choose which publisher they would like to use for subsequent entries in the series.
In 1985, the Syndicate was bought by publishers Simon & Schuster; the Drew books are now handled by Mega-Books, a New York book packager. [3]
| # | Writer | Story | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | Harriet Adams | The Secret of the Golden Pavilion | 1959 |
| 37 | The Clue in the Old Stagecoach | 1960 | |
| 38 | The Mystery of the Fire Dragon | 1961 | |
| 39 | The Clue of the Dancing Puppet | 1962 | |
| 40 | The Moonstone Castle Mystery | 1963 | |
| 41 | The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes | 1964 | |
| 42 | The Phantom of Pine Hill | 1965 | |
| 43 | The Mystery of the 99 Steps | 1966 | |
| 44 | The Clue in the Crossword Cipher | 1967 | |
| 45 | The Spider Sapphire Mystery | 1968 | |
| 46 | The Invisible Intruder | 1969 | |
| 47 | The Mysterious Mannequin | 1970 | |
| 48 | The Crooked Banister | 1971 | |
| 49 | The Secret of Mirror Bay | 1972 | |
| 50 | The Double Jinx Mystery | 1973 | |
| 51 | Mystery of the Glowing Eye | 1974 | |
| 52 | The Secret of the Forgotten City | 1975 | |
| 53 | The Sky Phantom | 1976 | |
| 54 | The Strange Message in the Parchment | 1977 | |
| 55 | Mystery of Crocodile Island | 1978 | |
| 56 | The Thirteenth Pearl | 1979 | |
| # | Writer | Story | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 57 | Harriet Adams | The Triple Hoax | 1979 |
| 58 | The Flying Saucer Mystery | 1980 | |
| 59 | Nancy Axelrad | The Secret in the Old Lace | |
| 60 | The Greek Symbol Mystery | ||
| 61 | The Swami's Ring | 1981 | |
| 62 | Sharon Wagner | The Kachina Doll Mystery | |
| 63 | Nancy Axelrad | The Twin Dilemma | |
| 64 | Richard Ballard | Captive Witness | |
| 65 | Nancy Axelrad | Mystery of the Winged Lion | 1982 |
| 66 | James Duncan Lawrence | Race Against Time | |
| 67 | Richard Ballard | The Sinister Omen | |
| 68 | Sharon Wagner | The Elusive Heiress | |
| 69 | James Duncan Lawrence | Clue of the Ancient Disguise | |
| 70 | Sharon Wagner | The Broken Anchor | 1983 |
| 71 | James Duncan Lawrence | The Silver Cobweb | |
| 72 | The Haunted Carousel | ||
| 73 | Enemy Match | 1984 | |
| 74 | The Mysterious Image | ||
| 75 | Sharon Wagner | The Emerald-Eyed Cat Mystery | |
| 76 | The Eskimo's Secret | 1985 | |
| 77 | James Duncan Lawrence | The Bluebeard Room | |
| 78 | The Phantom of Venice | ||
Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Created by the publisher Edward Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series, the character first appeared in 1930 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, which lasted until 2003 and consisted of 175 novels.
Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson was an American journalist and writer of children's books. She wrote some of the earliest Nancy Drew mysteries and created the detective's adventurous personality. Benson wrote under the Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name, Carolyn Keene, from 1929 to 1953 and contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew mysteries, which were bestsellers.
The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. It published and contracted the many pseudonymous authors who wrote the series from 1899 to 1987, when it was sold to Simon & Schuster.
The Dana Girls was a series of young adult mystery novels produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The title heroines, Jean and Louise Dana, are teenage sisters and amateur detectives who solve mysteries while at boarding school. The series was created in 1934 in an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of both the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories and the Hardy Boys series, but was less successful than either. The series was written by a number of ghostwriters and, despite going out-of-print twice, lasted from 1934 to 1979; the books have also been translated into a number of other languages. While subject to less critical attention than either Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, a number of critics have written about the series, most arguing that the Dana Girls' relative lack of success was due to the more dated nature of the series.
The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in a series of mystery novels for young readers. The series revolves around teenage amateur sleuths, solving cases that often stumped their adult counterparts. The characters were created by American writer Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of book packaging firm Stratemeyer Syndicate. The books were written by several ghostwriters, most notably Leslie McFarlane, under the collective pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.
The Secret of the Old Clock is the first volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. It was first published on April 28, 1930, and rewritten in 1959 by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.
Harriet Stratemeyer Adams was an American juvenile book packager, children's novelist, and publisher who was responsible for some 200 books over her literary career. She wrote the plot outlines for many books in the Nancy Drew series, using characters invented by her father, Edward Stratemeyer. Adams also oversaw other ghostwriters who wrote for these and many other series as a part of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, and rewrote many of the novels to update them starting in the late 1950s.
Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by a variety of different authors who were part of a team that wrote The Hardy Boys novels for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Dixon was also the writer attributed for the Ted Scott Flying Stories series, published by Grosset & Dunlap.
Edward L. Stratemeyer was an American publisher, writer of children's fiction and founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate. He was one of the most prolific writers in the world, penning over 1,300 books and selling more than 500 million copies.
The Mystery of the Ivory Charm is the thirteenth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1936 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson.
The Mystery of the Tolling Bell is the twenty-third volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1946 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Mildred Wirt Benson.
The Hidden Window Mystery is the thirty-fourth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1956 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.
The Thirteenth Pearl is the fifty-sixth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1979 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The actual author was ghostwriter Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. The Thirteenth Pearl is the end of the original 56-book series published by Grosset & Dunlap. Subsequent volumes were published by Simon & Schuster.
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 emphasis on adventure, malice and romance. All the books have been written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. This series has been targeted at readers who are age eleven and up. With a new book released almost every month, 124 titles were released in 11 years. More than 17 million copies are in print and the books have appeared on the bestseller lists of Publishers Weekly, B. Dalton, and Waldenbooks. In 2014, Simon & Schuster started releasing this series in eBook format.
The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories is the long-running "main" series of the Nancy Drew franchise, which was published under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. There are 175 novels — plus 34 revised stories — that were published between 1930 and 2003 under the banner; Grosset & Dunlap published the first 56, and 34 revised stories, while Simon & Schuster published the series beginning with volume 57.
Confessions of a Teen Sleuth: A Parody is a 2005 parody novel by American writer Chelsea Cain. The book is a parody of the Nancy Drew mystery series published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene and created by Edward Stratemeyer. The novel purports to be the true story of Nancy Drew, who claims that Keene was a former college roommate who plagiarized her life story while also misrepresenting Drew in the process. It incorporates characters from the mystery series while also including or mentioning characters from other series such as The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames, and Encyclopedia Brown.
