There are quite often mysteries and puzzles to solve in the world of the antique book collector, there are always questions of provenance, of publication, of authenticity of the work. However - there are never such deeper mysteries then when it comes to the subject of ghostwriters.

Ghostwriters - those who write for other authors or companies are in fact a common industry experience. Many non-fiction books, autobiographies and a wealth of other reference material are written not by the name on the cover, but by a talented young writer trying to make their way in the world. Several famous writers themselves worked either as copyists or ghostwriters, learning their 'chops' and earning money before they presented their own visions to the world.

Despite this, ghostwriters are often considered the bane of the collecting world - for the simple reason as we might think 'who are we really collecting?' Is this Tom Clancy book really Tom Clancy? The Queen of the ghostwriters is Carolyn Keene - or rather; the team of people behind Carolyn Keene, who wrote the Nancy Drew and the Dana Girls mystery books. Despite the ambiguity of their provenance, the Nancy Drew books were so popular, and important to so many people that they are still eminently collectible.

The very first Nancy Drew title, The Mystery of the Old Clock was important because it sought to marry elements of detective fiction with children's fiction - a technique that 'Carolyne Keene' used to great effect, and was latter appropriated by Enid Blyton for her Famous Five books. If you are lucky enough to find a first edition of The Mystery in good condition (Grosset and Dunlap 1930) then there is a clue as to whether the copy is merely a first edition, or is indeed a first printing. The first print-run of the books only had three other titles in the series printed on the copyright page which marks these books as worth over a thousand US dollars. If it also has a good dust jacket with its notable strong illustration on the front, then that price jumps upward considerably.

Otherwise, perhaps consider some of the slightly less-expensive Dana Girls books, published in the same range (1934-1979), with the earlier section (first series 1934-1968) being the more valuable. A first edition Dana Girls book, with a fine dust jacket would cost somewhere in the region of two to three hundred dollars - worth the price, and a joy to collect at over forty unique stories!