Who are you Nancy Drew?

The Nancy Drew series is a popular series of books based on a girl detective and has been published since 1930. The real mystery is the author. Who is Carolyn Keene?

Carolyn Keene is a pseudonym for a several authors hired by Edward Stratemeyer, a publisher of children's books. He formed the Stratemeyer Syndicate - a secret organization of ghostwriters. Writers were hired to ghostwrite for several books series including the Hardy Boys. The writers received between $150-$250 for each story and a fraction of the royalties. The authors, in turn, promised not to reveal their connection to the stories and many of them kept their promise. Many of the book series published under the Syndicate are now owned by Simon & Schuster and they have maintained the secrecy of their writers. Let's just hope they pay their writers better.

Over time, it was revealed that one of the writers of the Nancy Drew series was Mildred Wirt Benson. She is credited with writing the first 3 volumes of the series, including 20 later editions. Benson was a prolific writer of many credited and uncredited books. She worked as a journalist for many years while raising her family and writing young adult novels. In her later life, she took up flying lessons and studied archaeology. Benson passed away in 2002.

The Soda Springs Library has several books from the Nancy Drew series, including editions written by Mildred Wirt Benson. One mystery remains - Who is writing the series today?