Who is the author of the Hardy Boys?

Answer 1

The Hardy Boys series was created by Edward Stratemeyer, a publisher and creator of several popular children's book series in the early 20th century. The books were written under the pen name Franklin W. Dixon, which was used by a number of different ghostwriters.

Answer 2

Franklin W. Dixon (pseudonym) is listed as the author of all the Hardy Boys and Ted Scott series books. Both series were created by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate (c. 1904-early 1980s), a "book packager." Stratemeyer would create a series name, pseudonym, character set, and plot outlines for each story, sending the materials to "ghostwriters" who would flesh out these materials into a full series. He wrote the Bobsy Twins, Nancy Drew, and Hardy Boys' series. ND and HB are still published today by his granddaughters' team of authors.

The first ghostwriter of the Hardy Boys series was Leslie McFarlane, a Canadian writer who had worked with Stratemeyer before on the Dave Fearless series and other stories. He worked on volumes 1-16, 22-24, and either he or his first wife, Amy, contributed to volume 26.

After the Syndicate was sold to Simon & Schuster in the early 1980's, Mega Books was hired to take over contracting ghostwriters. Nowadays, Simon & Schuster contracts ghostwriters for the Tom Swift, Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew stories themselves. Because contractual obligations have always required that ghostwriters not disclose their identities, a complete list of authors post-Syndicate are not available. Records for the Syndicate ghostwriters came from the New York Public Library's Stratemeyer Syndicate Archives.

A list of ghostwriters, taken (with permission) from http://www.hardy-boys.com including original text (unrevised old stories) and revised text (new, updated stories) for volumes 1-38:

Original Texts

• 1 - 16 Leslie McFarlane
• 17 - 21 John Button
• 22 - 24 Leslie McFarlane
• 25 Harriet Adams
• 26 Amy McFarlane (Leslie's wife; see note 1)
• 27 George Waller
• 28 - 30 Andrew Svenson
• 31 William Doughtery
• 32 Richard Cohen
• 33 William Doughtery
• 34 Charles Strong
• 35 - 36 John Almquist
• 37 - 38 James Lawrence [multi text-versions of books ends here]

Revised Texts

• 1 - 2 Harriet Adams
• 3 Alistair Hunter
• 4 James Buechler
• 5 Alistair Hunter
• 6 David Grambs
• 7 Andrew Svenson
• 8 Anne Shultes (Harriet Adams and Andrew Svenson rewrote the manuscript)
• 9 - 10 Tom Mulvey
• 11 James Buechler
• 12 David Grambs
• 13 Tom Mulvey
• 14 James Buechler
• 15 Tom Mulvey
• 16 - 17 James Lawrence
• 18 Tom Mulvey
• 19 James Lawrence
• 20 Vincent Buranelli
• 21 Richard Deming
• 22 Vincent Buranelli
• 23 Andrew Svenson
• 24 - 26 Priscilla Baker-Carr
• 27 David Grambs
• 28 Priscilla Baker-Carr
• 29 David Grambs, June Dunn, & Priscilla Baker-Carr
• 30 - 38 Priscilla Baker-Carr
• 39 James Lawrence
• 40 - 41 James Buechler
• 42 Alistair Hunter
• 43 Harriet Adams
• 44 David Grambs
• 45 Andrew Svenson
• 46 Tom Mulvey
• 47 Jerrold Mundis
• 48 Andrew Svenson
• 49 Vincent Buranelli
• 50 Andrew Svenson
• 51 Vincent Buranelli
• 52 - 54 Andrew Svenson
• 55 - 57 Vincent Buranelli
• 58 Andrew Svenson

Digests

• 59 - 60 James Duncan Lawrence
• 61 Vincent Buranelli
• 62 James Duncan Lawrence
• 63 - 65 Vincent Buranelli
• 66 Richard Deming
• 67 James Duncan Lawrence
• 68 Conrad Fuchs (see note 2)
• 69 Laurence Swinburne
• 70 Karl Harr III (see note 3)
• 71 Vincent Buranelli
• 72 Karl Harr III
• 73 Laurence Swinburne
• 74 James Duncan Lawrence
• 75 Vincent Buranelli
• 76 Laurence Swinburne
• 77 Vincent Buranelli
• 78 - 79 Karl Harr III
• 80 Vincent Buranelli
• 81 Karl Harr III
• 82 James Duncan Lawrence
• 83 Neal Barrett, Jr.
• 85 Neal Barrett, Jr.
• 95 Chris Lampton [see note nine]
• 99 Chris Lampton
• 100 Chris Lampton
• 102 Chris Lampton
• 106 Chris Lampton
• 109 Chris Lampton
• 110 Chris Lampton
• 116 Chris Lampton
• 120 Chris Lampton
• 124 Francess Lantz
• 160 Stephen D. Sullivan
• 163 Stephen D. Sullivan
• 165 Stephen D. Sullivan
• 172 Stephen D. Sullivan [see note eight]
• 173 Stephen D. Sullivan
• 175 Stephen D. Sullivan
• 176 Stephen D. Sullivan
• 177 George Edward Stanley
• 178 George Edward Stanley
• 180 Stephen D. Sullivan
• 182 George Edward Stanley
• 183 Stephen D. Sullivan
• 185 Stephen D. Sullivan
• 188 Stephen D. Sullivan
• 189 George Edward Stanley
• 190 Stephen D. Sullivan

Casefiles

• 3 Steven Grant
• 6 Steven Grant
• 9 Peter Lerangis
• 13 Peter Lerangis
• 14 Steven Grant
• 17 Bruce Whitehill
• 18 Peter Lerangis
• 19 Steven Grant
• 20 Barbara Steiner
• 21 Susan & Bill Albert
• 23 Ron Goulart [see note nine]
• 27 Larry Mike Garmon
• 29 Steven Grant
• 30 Ron Goulart
• 31 Susan & Bill Albert
• 33 Rick Oliver
• 36 Larry Mike Garmon
• 37 Peter Lerangis
• 39 Larry Mike Garmon
• 40 Rick Oliver
• 43 Larry Mike Garmon
• 44 Ron Goulart
• 45 Rick Oliver
• 46 Larry Mike Garmon
• 50 Rick Oliver
• 57 David Robbins
• 59 Rick Oliver
• 62 Steven Grant
• 65 Chris Lampton
• 69 Rick Oliver
• 76 Rick Oliver (rewrite only, see note five)
• 77 Rick Oliver
• 79 Francess Lantz
• 85 Rick Oliver
• 88 Rick Oliver (rewrite only, see note five)
• 93 Rick Oliver
• 98 Rick Oliver (rewrite only, see note five)
• 100 Rick Oliver
• 124 Stephen D. Sullivan
• 126 Larry Mike Garmon (see note four)
• 128 Jerry Novick (not published; see note seven)

Supermysteries

• Peter Lerangis: Crime for Christmas, Shock Waves, Buried in Time (see note six)
• Larry Mike Garmon: Buried in Time (see note six)
• Tracey West: Spies and Lies
• Jack Hagee: Process of Elimination

Notes

Note 1: Correspondence between Stratemeyer and Amy McFarlane shows that Leslie was supposedly fishing when the outline for Freighter came in, so Amy took the job of writing it. This information has been disputed by the McFarlane family, and the answer is currently unknown.

Note 2: Conrad Fuchs wrote this book in German and Syndicate editor Lilo Wuenn translated the manuscript into English.

Note 3: Karl Harr III is Harriet Adams's grandson.

Note 4: Larry Mike Garmon fell ill during the writing of this book and an unknown Ghostwriter finished it.

Note 5: In the words of Mr. Oliver: "Well, if you had seen the original manuscripts, you?d know why the editors wanted someone to rewrite them. I think Mega-Books had a pretty tight budget. They couldn?t exactly throw big money at established writers; so sometimes they took a chance on a new writer -- and sometimes that didn?t work out."

Note 6: Larry-Mike Garmon created the plot and outlined the Nancy Drew-Hardy Boys Supermystery Buried in Time. The book was then written by Peter Lerangis.

Note 7: Casefile 128, Explosive Force, was written but not released.

Note 8: According to the author, this volume (172) was originally planned as the end of the series.

Note 9: Thanks to Hardy & Hardy Investigations (www.synsine.com) for Chris Lampton and Ron Goulart.

Answer 3

The printed author of the Hardy Boys books is Franklin W. Dixon. However, this is just a pseudonym (a fake name of an author). In fact, the Hardy Boys books were written by various authors. Edward Stratemeyer actually created the characters (using the pseudonym so as not to embarass his family if the books bombed). Since his death, the series and team of authors was carried on by his daughter. By the way, the same goes for the Nancy Drew books which were also created by Edward Stratemeyer under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene.

Answer 4

The Hardy Boys is a creation of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, the creators of dozens of successful book series such as the Rover Boys, the Bobbsey Twins and Tom Swift, and later, Nancy Drew. They were written by various people over the years.

Answer 5

The Tower Treasure, the first book in the original Hardy Boys series, was originally published on June 1, 1927.

Answer 6

The printed author of the Hardy Boys books is Franklin W. Dixon.

Answer 7

Simon & Schuster are publishers of the book (The Hardy Boys)

Answer 8

There is no one author of The Hardy Boys. Many authors have contributed to the series under a common pen name Franklin W. Dixon.

Answer 9

Franklin. W. Dixon

Answer 10

Franklin W. Dixon