The Winking Ruby Mystery
by Carolyn Keene
Dana Girls - Second Series (12), Dana Girls - First Series (19)
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Description
Jean and Louise Dana encounter danger when they travel to Europe to solve a frightening mystery.Tags
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Member Reviews
I enjoy reading this series...find the stories charming albeit terribly predictable with all the convenient coincidences cropping up at just the right moment. This particular story was set abroad which was an added bit of fun for us.
The Winking Ruby Mystery was my first Dana Girls book, given to me when I was 11. My parents didn't have much money, so new mystery books were for birthdays, Easter, and Christmas. This time I was allowed to go to the store with them and choose the title I wanted. I'd been reading Nancy Drew for two or three years, but it was the cover that made me choose this book. I haven't read it in decades, but I just checked and I had still remembered the final secret.
It was the illustration from chapter xviii (18) of this book that the publisher used as the illustration on the back cover of the 1962-1968 printings of the series.
It was the illustration from chapter xviii (18) of this book that the publisher used as the illustration on the back cover of the 1962-1968 printings of the series.
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3,299 works; 126 members
Author Information
929+ Works 202,010 Members
Carolyn Keene was the pseudonym that Mildred Wirt Benson and Walter Karig used to write Nancy Drew books. The idea of Nancy Drew came from Edward Stratemeyer in 1929. He also had other series, that included the Hardy Boys, but he died in 1930 before the Nancy Drew series became famous. His daughters, Harriet and Edna, inherited his company and show more maintained Nancy Drew having Mildred Wirt Benson, the original Carolyn Keene, as the principal ghostwriter. During the Depression, they asked Benson to take a pay cut and she refused, which is when Karig wrote the books. Karig's Nancy Drew books were Nancy's Mysterious Letter, The Sign of the Twisted Candles, and Password to Larkspur Lane. He was fired from writing more books because of his refusal to honor the request that he keep his work as Carolyn Keene a secret. He allowed the Library of Congress to learn of his authorship and his name appeared on their catalog cards. Afterwards, they rehired Benson and she wrote until her last Nancy Drew book (#30) was written in 1953, Clue of the Velvet Mask. Harriet and Edna Stratemeyer also contributed to the Nancy Drew series. Edna wrote plot outlines for several of the early books and Harriet, who claimed to be the sole author, had actually outlined and edited nearly all the volumes written by Benson. The Stratemeyer Syndicate had begun to make its writers sign contracts that prohibited them from claiming any credit for their works, but Benson never denied her writing books for the series. After Harriet's death in 1982, Simon and Schuster became the owners of the Stratemeyer Syndicate properties and in 1994, publicly recognized Benson for her work at a Nancy Drew conference at her alma mater, the University of Iowa. Now, Nancy Drew has several ghostwriters and artists that have contributed to her more recent incarnations. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Winking Ruby Mystery
- Original publication date
- 1957
- People/Characters
- Louise Dana; Jean Dana
- First words
- "How would you girls like to solve a mystery while you're in Europe?"
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Here's winking at you, Ruby.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 136
- Popularity
- 240,363
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.39)
- Languages
- 5 — English, Finnish, French, German, Swedish
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 9
