Description

In 1926 twentythreeyearold cub newspaper reporter Leslie McFarlane responded to an ad Experienced Fiction Writer Wanted The ad was signed by Edward Stratemeyer whose syndicate effectively invented massmarket childrens book publishing in America McFarlane who had a few published adventure stories to his name was hired and his first job was to write Dave Fearless Under the Ocean as Roy Rockwoodfor a flat fee of 100 no royalties His pay increased to 125 when Stratemeyer proposed a new series of detective stories for kids involving two high school aged brothers who would solve mysteries The title of the series was The Hardy Boys McFarlanes pseudonym would be Franklin W Dixon

McFarlane went on to write twentyone Hardy Boys adventures McFarlane kept his ghostwriting gig secret until late in life when his son urged him to share the story of being the real Franklin W Dixon By the time McFarlane died in 1977 unofficial sales estimates of The Hardy Boys series already topped fifty million copies

Ghost of the Hardy Boys is a fascinating funny and always charming look back at a vanished era of journalism writing and book publishing It is for anyone whos curious about solving the mystery of the fascinating man behind one of the most widely read and enduring childrens book series in history