Karig's Nancy Drew books were Nancy's Mysterious Letter, The Sign of the Twisted Candles, and Password to Larkspur Lane. During the Depression, they asked Benson to take a pay cut and she refused, which is when Karig wrote the books.

His daughters, Harriet and Edna, inherited his company and maintained Nancy Drew having Mildred Wirt Benson, the original Carolyn Keene, as the principal ghostwriter. He also had other series, that included the Hardy Boys, but he died in 1930 before the Nancy Drew series became famous. The idea of Nancy Drew came from Edward Stratemeyer in 1929. Now, Nancy Drew has several ghostwriters and artists that have contributed to her more recent incarnations.Carolyn Keene was the pseudonym that Mildred Wirt Benson and Walter Karig used to write Nancy Drew books. The Stratemeyer Syndicate had begun to make its writers sign contracts that prohibited them from claiming any credit for their works, but Benson never denied her writing books for the series.Īfter Harriet's death in 1982, Simon and Schuster became the owners of the Stratemeyer Syndicate properties and in 1994, publicly recognized Benson for her work at a Nancy Drew conference at her alma mater, the University of Iowa. Edna wrote plot outlines for several of the early books and Harriet, who claimed to be the sole author, had actually outlined and edited nearly all the volumes written by Benson. Harriet and Edna Stratemeyer also contributed to the Nancy Drew series. Afterwards, they rehired Benson and she wrote until her last Nancy Drew book (#30) was written in 1953, Clue of the Velvet Mask. He allowed the Library of Congress to learn of his authorship and his name appeared on their catalog cards. He was fired from writing more books because of his refusal to honor the request that he keep his work as Carolyn Keene a secret.

Aunt Estelle, Bess, George, and Nancy travel to Italy and find a mystery to solve, while Joe and Frank also go to Rome and get involved in a mystery concerning the ancient ruins.Ĭarolyn Keene was the pseudonym that Mildred Wirt Benson and Walter Karig used to write Nancy Drew books.

Danger Overseas by Carolyn Keene