Girl's Sleuth by Melanie Rehak

I really enjoyed this book. It discusses the syndicate/creator and writers of the Nancy Drew series from the 1920s through the 1980s. It had an old fashioned feel to it that took me back to reading when I was a kid. Nancy Drew was a great role model for girls- she was smart, drove a cool car, and did not go off to marry her boyfriend. While the stories are incredibly formulaic and goody two shoes, they were welcome to the tom boys who for years could only read boys on adventures. (Okay I confess I still mostly preferred the boy adventure stories)

Harriet Stratemeyer is the main person at the syndicate who nurtures Nancy Drew over the many years (her father actually started the series along with Uncle Wiggley and others).  Her own life was atypical in its time as she went to work despite the fact she had four children and a husband who was successful financially. It was interesting to read about all the writers who ghosted for the Carolyn Keene name, especially Mildred Wirt Benson. These writers were not allowed to claim they wrote the series. Harriet Stratemeyer has to work with evolving the stories to meet the changing times-- world war II, the civil rights era, etc. She also had the challenge of dealing with her difficult sister, Edna, who was a partner in the syndicate but who relocated to Florida midway through her life.