Copper Canyon Conspiracy

Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys: Super Mystery #21

by Carolyn Keene, Anne Greenberg (Editor)

When Tasio Humada receives death threats while running the Cactus Marathon with some of their friends, Nancy and the Hardys investigate his people's dispute with lumber mills in Mexico and expose a maze of greed, bribery, and corruption. Original.

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Mystery Thriller, Childrens, Suspense, Fiction, Adventure

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1994

About the 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 In a few cases, outdated plots were completely rewritten.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.

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't think I had read this one before, but it made me renew my wish for these books to just not involve Mexico in any way. There's indigenous people featured prominently in this book and while I don't think the rep was necessarily awful (I suppose it is more correct to say I don't KNOW if it was necessarily awful), I was wildly uncomfortable while reading it nonetheless.

Really looking forward to the next one though, Mick Devlin is my favorite of the random Nancy love interests who are not Frank from the Case Files series. God, I hope he's as good as I remember.

[Lauri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prefer the mysteries where the detectives spend more time together

[Meredith Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book to read while I'm isolating. There were some aspects that made me raise an eyebrow (if I could raise only one eyebrow). I have a difficult time believing ND would throw up her hands and scream in frustration. Um, that goes against her character.
2.5/5 stars

[Lisa]

I finished The Color Purple when I was at my mother-in-law's house on Saturday, which meant I didn't have anything to read on Sunday. I saw this book and decided to see if I'd still enjoy a good Hardy Boys mystery (I read as many as I could get my hand on when I was a kid). I ended up bringing it home with me to finish!

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanted fast easy read--got it!

[Hilary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dated by no need to use passport to cross international borders.

[Vincent DeGruy]

Good stuff.