Oddities and Humor

The writer and publisher, Edward Stratemeyer, hired ghost writers to take all of his detective-fiction ideas for the Nancy Drew series and turn them into full books. The first ghost writer was named Mildred Wirt Benson and she is the real author of "The Secret of the Old Clock," along with the next two books. She was only 24 at the time. As all writers had to sign confidentiality agreements about the fact that Carolyn Keene wasn't a real person, Benson's name has been largely lost in popular history.

mark

I suppose The Hardy Boys were also ghost-written. Frank Dixon?
I wuz robbed!

Wikipedia:
The characters were created by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging firm, and the books have been written by many different ghostwriters over the years. The books are published under the collective pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.

What's lysdexic?

Aha! So now I know Benson's books were a kick start to my reading mania.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Police-Woman-put-fecal-matter-in-husband-s-IV-5193577.php

A clip from the article -
CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona woman has been accused of trying to kill her hospitalized husband by injecting fecal matter into his IV line, police in suburban Phoenix said Friday.

Rose Mary Vogel of Sun Lakes was arrested Thursday on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder after a nurse found the 65-year-old handling her husband's IV line, which was found to contain a brown substance, police said. Police don't have a possible motive.

A hospital lab test identified the brown substance in the IV line as fecal matter, and a trace amount of a brown substance also was found in the needle of an otherwise empty syringe found in Vogel's purse, police said.

I read at least twenty of the Hardy Boys series when I ten or so years old. I wonder, if I went back now, if I could spot a difference in style from one book to another.

Hmm. The Missing Chums doesn't have the same biting wit as Hunting for Hidden Gold.

Joe(maybe Mr. Dixon is getting soft)Nation

When I was very young, I read scads of Max Band westerns, He was so prolific, he also wrote as Evan Evans and did the Dr Kildare stories under his real name, Frederick Faust. He turned out a new book in two weeks time. As I grew older, I noticed that with the exception of Destry Rides Again, I could no longer find the titles of my youth. And that they churned out "newly discovered" books by him all the time. No way he wrote them all. He disappeared during WWII.

My older sister had a bunch of Nancy Drew books, so at one point I started reading them.

Npt my cup of tea, as I really don't like mysteries, and I also found the dialogue boring and childish.

What I really remember is the female character George, and was I the only one to realize she was a lesbian.

When I was a small child, I read a lot of Enid Blyton's books - she wrote a series of children's adventure novels featuring a group of children - including Georgina (George) and their dog, Timmy. Nothing pleased George better than to be mistaken for a boy!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26010553

Show me the way to go home.

Joe(shell encrusted boat)Nation

Why isn't he sunburned at all?

That's what? A 10 HP/one cylinder beast? Or is it pedal powered?

I had seen what kind it is, but forgot, now.

This?
http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z1808/BMW-Isetta-300.aspx