“Even though author and character names were different, everything else seemed quite familiar: not just plot lines and situations, but colorful descriptions of country roads, dark passageways, and the like all had a pleasant, readable flow. There were even roadsters and touring cars. I truly had found a gold mine—Nancy Drew was having adventures in the guise of other characters.” -- Geoffrey Lapin, “The Ghost of Nancy Drew”

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The word most often used in connection with Benson's career as a novelist is "prolific." In addition to almost 100 published short stories, she authored a total of 135 books -- "enough to stagger any librarian" -- including 13 written in one year alone.

As Benson learned from the Stratemeyer Syndicate, such productivity required the use of a number of pen names to avoid glutting the market. After her initial success writing under "Carolyn Keene" and other names owned by the Syndicate, she also published under her own pseudonyms, both male and female, as well as under different forms of her real name: Mildred Benson, Mildred A. Wirt, and Ann Wirt (the "Ann" was arbitrarily assigned by a publisher who felt "Mildred" was too long to fit on a book spine).

Benson had plenty of incentive to write as herself. For titles in her Mildred A. Wirt Mystery Stories and her Penny Parker series, she had much greater creative control over the novels' plots and characters. In contrast, the Nancy Drew assignments became increasingly frustrating, as story outlines grew more detailed and requests for rewrites more extensive. Benson was particularly unhappy with orders to use simpler grammar and vocabulary, and to make the heroine more ladylike. The Syndicate's decision in 1959 to rewrite all the early novels to incorporate such changes was a final straw that influenced Benson’s decision to end her career as a novelist.

And financially, of course, Benson was much better off working outside the Stratemeyer contract. For each Nancy Drew book, she was paid a flat fee of around $125, and received no royalties from the millions of copies sold or from the numerous film and television adaptations. However, according to a 1993 New York Times article, she remained philosophical about the arrangement: "'You couldn't get any work in those days unless you signed a release... It never bothered me'" [4].

For a complete bibliography of Benson's novels, see Geoffrey Lapin's Books at Iowa article "The Ghost of Nancy Drew," p. 23-27. For information on facsimile reprints of Benson's Nancy Drew novels (pre-1959 revisions), see the Applewood Press web site.