The Case of the Rising Stars

Front Cover
Pocket Books, 1989 - Actors - 152 pages
/Carolyn Keene In the TV ratings war someone is about to make a killing. Nancy, Bess, and George arrive in Chicago for the Mystery Lovers convention when the two stars scheduled to appear are kidnapped. Some think it's just a ratings ploy, but Nancy uncovers a b

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Contents

Kidnapped
1
An Important Clue
13
The Plot Thickens
23
Copyright

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About the author (1989)

Carolyn Keene was the pseudonym that Mildred Wirt Benson and Walter Karig used to write Nancy Drew books. The idea of Nancy Drew came from Edward Stratemeyer in 1929. He also had other series, that included the Hardy Boys, but he died in 1930 before the Nancy Drew series became famous. His daughters, Harriet and Edna, inherited his company and maintained Nancy Drew having Mildred Wirt Benson, the original Carolyn Keene, as the principal ghostwriter. During the Depression, they asked Benson to take a pay cut and she refused, which is when Karig wrote the books. Karig's Nancy Drew books were Nancy's Mysterious Letter, The Sign of the Twisted Candles, and Password to Larkspur Lane. 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. He allowed the Library of Congress to learn of his authorship and his name appeared on their catalog cards. Afterwards, they rehired Benson and she wrote until her last Nancy Drew book (#30) was written in 1953, Clue of the Velvet Mask. Harriet and Edna Stratemeyer also contributed to the Nancy Drew series. 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. 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. After 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. Now, Nancy Drew has several ghostwriters and artists that have contributed to her more recent incarnations.

Anne Greenberg was an in-house editor of children's books for 16 years at Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, specializing in fiction for readers aged 5 through 8. She has edited more than 550 books (including all-new Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys titles) and worked with more than 40 writers, including first-time authors. Honors for her list include The Queen of Everything by Deb Caletti, a teen novel that earned two starred reviews and the cover of the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. She says her specialty includes developmental/substantive editing, manuscript evaluation, and copyediting. Now she is a full-time freelance editor.

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