Carolyn Keene

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 Wirt Benson, to write the manuscripts for the Nancy Drew books. The writers initially 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. Harriet Adams (Stratemeyer's daughter) rewrote the original books and added new titles after the withdrawal of Benson.

Other ghostwriters who used this name to write Nancy Drew mysteries included Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Walter Karig, Nancy Axelrad, Priscilla Doll, Charles S. Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., Margaret Scherf, 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; the Syndicate's secretary, Harriet Otis Smith, who invented the characters of Nancy's friends Bess and George; and the editors at Grosset and Dunlap.

In 1979, the Stratemeyer Syndicate changed publishers to Simon & Schuster, a move that the former publishers, Grosset and 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.

Ghostwriters

Nancy Drew

1930-1957 (25 chapter text at Grosset & Dunlap/Stratemeyer Syndicate)

#	Person	Story	Year	Rev.	Revised by
1	Mildred Wirt Benson	The Secret of the Old Clock	1930	1959	Harriet Adams
2		The Hidden Staircase
3		The Bungalow Mystery		1960	Patricia Doll
4		The Mystery at Lilac Inn		1961
5		The Secret of Shadow Ranch	1931	1965	Grace Gote
6		The Secret of Red Gate Farm		1961	Lynn Ealer
7		The Clue in the Diary	1932	1962	Harriet Adams
8	Walter Karig	Nancy's Mysterious Letter		1968
9		The Sign of the Twisted Candles	1933		Patricia Doll
10		Password to Larkspur Lane		1966
15	Mildred Wirt Benson	The Clue of the Broken Locket	1934	1965	Grace Gote
12		The Message in the Hollow Oak	1935	1972
13		The Mystery of the Ivory Charm	1936	1974	Priscilla Baker-Carr
14		The Whispering Statue	1937	1970	Harriet Adams
15		The Haunted Bridge		1972	Priscilla Baker-Carr
16		The Clue of the Tapping Heels	1939	1969	Harriet Adams
17		Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk	1940	1976
18		Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion	1941	1971
19		The Quest of the Missing Map	1942	1969	Priscilla Baker-Carr
20		The Clue in the Jewel Box	1943	1972
21		The Secret in the Old Attic	1944	1970
22		The Clue in the Crumbling Wall	1945	1973
23		Mystery of the Tolling Bell	1946
24		The Clue in the Old Album	1947	1977
25		The Ghost of Blackwood Hall	1948	1967
26	George Waller, Jr.	The Clue of the Leaning Chimney	1949
27	Margaret Scherf	The Secret of the Wooden Lady	1950
28	Whilemina Rankin	The Clue of the Black Keys	1951	1968
29	Alma Sasse	Mystery at the Ski Jump	1952		Ann Shultes
30	Mildred Wirt Benson	The Clue of the Velvet Mask	1953	1969	Priscilla Baker-Carr
31	Harriet Adams	The Ringmaster's Secret		1974	June Dunn
32	Charles S. Strong	The Scarlet Slipper Mystery	1954		Ann Shultes
33	Harriet Adams	The Witch Tree Symbol	1955	1975
34	Patricia Doll	The Hidden Window Mystery	1956		Mary Fischer
35	Harriet Adams	The Haunted Showboat	1957

1959-1979 (20 chapter text at Grosset & Dunlap/Stratemeyer Syndicate)

#	Person	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

1979-1985 (20 chapter text at Simon & Schuster/Stratemeyer Syndicate)

#	Person	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

See also

• Franklin W. Dixon
• Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

External links

• Works by or about Carolyn Keene in libraries (WorldCat catalog)