Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio — Mildred Wirt Benson, the author who created Nancy Drew, girl sleuth, and inspired generations of young women with the teen-age heroine’s spunk, independence and resourcefulness, has died at 96.
Benson fell ill Tuesday at The Blade newspaper, where she wrote a weekly column about daily life and the elderly. She died later at a hospital.
Using the pen name Carolyn Keene, Benson wrote 23 of the 30 original Nancy Drew mysteries about the stylishly dressed, golden-haired rich girl who tooled around in her own roadster and solved crimes.
Dozens of ghost writers followed Benson, and the Nancy Drew series is still in print. It has sold more than 200 million books in 17 languages.
Benson was paid $125 per book and never collected royalties from the books, movies and board games. She was bound by an agreement with the publisher not to reveal her identity as the series author, but it became known in 1980 when she testified in a court case involving Nancy Drew’s publisher.
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