Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her

by Melanie Rehak

The plucky teen sleuth of the thirties was, as most already know, the creation of Edward Stratemeyer and his amazing syndicate. This is the story of how Nancy Drew came to be, through Edward and the first ghostwriter, Mildred Wirt, as well as what happened after Edward died. And how Nancy lived on.

While the story of Nancy's origins is interesting (the syndicate is fascinating), the author pads her story with a lot of social history that is, well, just plain boring. But read past that, dear reader, because the cattiness between Edward's daughters, Harriet and Edna, is fabulous. The cattiness between Mildred and Harriet (who was the second Carolyn Keene) is crazy delicious.

My recommendation? Skip the history and read the juicy parts. And get sleuthing, all of you slim, attractive, titian-haired teen detectives!

5/20/06