The Secret of the Old Clock

Mischievously, Nancy reached over and tweaked his ear. "You weren't paying a bit of attention," she accused him sternly. "I was saying I think it's mean if those snobbish Tophams fall heir to all of Josiah Crowley's fortune. Can't something be done about it?"
Everyone knows of Nancy Drew. But have you met her original version? Written by Mildred Wirt Benson under the famed pseudonym Carolyn Keene, the original Nancy Drew is sixteen, self-confident, and occasional sassy. She, her lawyer father, her housekeeper Hannah, and her friends face danger and mystery in her debut. Will she find out the secret of the old clock?

Mildred Wirt Benson (1905-2002) writing as Carolyn Keene was an American writer and reporter whose contributions to early twentieth-century popular literature, most notably Nancy Drew Mysteries, helped redefine the image of the young female protagonist in American fiction. A graduate of the University of Iowa, where she became one of the first women in the nation to earn a master's degree in journalism, Benson authored dozens of juvenile novels and later enjoyed a long career as a newspaper journalist. Working anonymously for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, she completed the initial manuscripts that introduced a now-iconic girl detective, Nancy Drew, to readers worldwide. Today, her work is recognized for its role in expanding opportunities for young female characters in literature and inspiring new generations of writers and readers.