Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of both the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories (and a spin-off called River Heights) and The Dana Girls Mystery Stories, both produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate.
Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Syndicate, hired writers, beginning with Mildred Wirt (later Mildred Benson), to write the manuscripts for the Nancy Drew books. Benson is credited as the primary writer of Nancy Drew books under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Harriet Adams (Stratemeyer's daughter) rewrote the original books and added new titles after the withdrawal of Benson.
Other ghostwriters who used this name to write Nancy Drew mysteries included Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Walter Karig, Nancy Axelrad, Patricia Doll, Charles S. Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., Margaret Scherf, and Susan Wittig Albert.
Source: Wikipedia
