Part of Series
Sabotage could result in a final curtain call for a ballerina’s career in this eleventh book of the Nancy Drew Diaries, a fresh approach to a classic mystery series. Nancy and Bess are excited when they run into their old friend Maggie Rogers in River Heights. As little girls, Bess and Nancy were in dance classes with Maggie, until she moved away to attend a prestigious ballet academy. Now Maggie is part of a ballet company made up of the most promising young dancers in the state, and the company is in town to perform Sleeping Beauty . This performance is especially important because the famous dance critic Oscar LaVigne will be in the audience. A good review could catapult Maggie’s career…but a bad one could ruin everything. In the days leading up to the big show, strange things start happening. First someone tampers with Maggie’s phone, making her late to rehearsal. Then Maggie’s face is violently scratched out of all the official show posters, and she finds her dressing room completely destroyed. All signs point to sabotage, and Nancy is determined to find out who’s behind it. Will she crack the case in time—or is Sleeping Beauty destined to be Maggie’s last dance?
Author
Carolyn Keene is a writer pen name that was used by many different people- both men and women- over the years. The company that was the creator of the Nancy Drew series, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, hired a variety of writers. For Nancy Drew, the writers used the pseudonym Carolyn Keene to assure anonymity of the creator. Edna and Harriet Stratemeyer inherited the company from their father Edward Stratemeyer. Edna contributed 10 plot outlines before passing the reins to her sister Harriet. It was Mildred Benson (aka: Mildred A. Wirt), who breathed such a feisty spirit into Nancy's character. Mildred wrote 23 of the original 30 Nancy Drew Mystery Stories®, including the first three. It was her characterization that helped make Nancy an instant hit. The Stratemeyer Syndicate's devotion to the series over the years under the reins of Harriet Stratemeyer Adams helped to keep the series alive and on store shelves for each succeeding generation of girls and boys. In 1959, Harriet, along with several writers, began a 25-year project to revise the earlier Carolyn Keene novels. The Nancy Drew books were condensed, racial stereotypes were removed, and the language was updated. In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten. Other writers of Nancy Drew volumes include Harriet herself, she wrote most of the series after Mildred quit writing for the Syndicate and in 1959 began a revision of the first 34 texts. The role of the writer of "Carolyn Keene" passed temporarily to Walter Karig who wrote three novels during the Great Depression. Also contributing to Nancy Drew's prolific existence were Leslie McFarlane, James Duncan Lawrence, Nancy Axelrod, Priscilla Doll, Charles Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., and Margaret Scherf.
