At age 10, I remember reading The Secret of the Old Clock and The Hidden Staircase and eagerly searching for the latest book with the dark blue cover by Carolyn Keene at the library.

I didn’t know then that Carolyn Keene was not a real person, it was a pen name for not one, but a group of authors.

During our Oct. 20 program, “The Mystery of Nancy Drew: Celebrating 90 Years,” presenter Jenn Fisher mentioned that the first 56 Nancy Drew books – from 1930 to 1979, also known as the classic series – were written by eight different people.

The first “Carolyn Keene” was Mildred Wirt Benson. She wrote volumes 1 through 7 as well as volumes 11 through 25, and volume 30. A man, Walter Karig, wrote volumes 8 to 10.

Watch the video of this program in our See Us Video Gallery.

What’s in a name?

*Edward Stratemeyer, c. 1894, Image courtesy of* *Wikipedia*

Before choosing the teen sleuth’s name, Edward Stratemeyer, children’s fiction writer and head of a syndicate that had already created “The Hardy Boys,” considered other possibilities. Her name could have been Nan, but Stella Strong and Della Dare also were potential names.

If Nancy Drew were not the chosen name, I doubt that it would have mattered to those of us who enjoyed reading about the latest adventures of our heroine. What mattered was her character. Stratemeyer described Nancy as “an up-to-date American girl at her best, bright, clever, resourceful and full of energy.”

For generations, Nancy Drew has inspired and motivated many girls and women, including Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg as well as Laura Bush, Nancy Pelosi, and countless librarians, lawyers, teachers, law enforcement personnel, and authors.

In an article in Sisters in Crime's inSincC magazine Dr. Alexia Gordon, our moderator for “The Mystery of Nancy Drew” program, reminisced about reading Nancy Drew books as a girl and how it inspired her to become an author. She wrote:

"Nancy was my hero. Here was a girl who relied on her brains and bravery. None of that helpless female, damsel-in-distress stuff for me. I wanted to be like Nancy. It didn’t hit me, at first, that I wasn’t “just” like Nancy. I wasn’t just like any of the main series characters. None of them were Black.

“I still enjoyed the books but couldn’t help wondering, where were the mysteries with Black amateur sleuths? Black girls could solve mysteries, too. I wanted an intrepid girl hero—brave smart, dogged, capable—who looked like me. Eventually, I would create one, Gethsemane Brown."

You can read the entire article, "In Search of the Black Nancy Drew," beginning on page 31.

Like Alexia, Nancy Drew represents someone who is smart and self-assertive, resourceful and resilient. It doesn’t take detecting skills to understand why girls find those characteristics so appealing – and while they still do. I credit reading Nancy Drew books with my long-time interest in reading biographies and historical fiction about women who use their tenacity and ingenuity, as well as reading mysteries with strong female detective characters. You’ve found me out!

Clues to other resources: