The Secret of the Hardy Boys

Wisconsin Bookwatch, Sept, 2004

The Secret Of The Hardy Boys

Marilyn S. Greenwald

Ohio University Press

Scott Quadrangle, Athens, OH 45702

0821415476 $32.95 www.ohio.edu.oupress

Most readers of mysteries know the author of the 'Hardy Boys' teen mystery series was the elusive Franklin W. Dixon--but he was a man who never existed. The real founder of Hardy Boys was one Edward Stratemeyer, founder of a children's book empire who began as a mere newspaper reporter with dreams of becoming a famous novelist. Between 1927 and 1947 one Leslie McFarlane wrote the first twenty-four Hardy Boys mysteries for $100.00 per book, agreeing to the anonymity demanded by Stratemeyer's syndicate and starting a trend which was to continue in later books. The Secret Of The Hardy Boys exposes the true grit: a syndicate which built a virtual children's book empire, promoting and development of children's literature in North America.