Carolyn Keene Books in Order: All 647 books (1930

Carolyn Keene is a Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name, the credit on the Nancy Drew mysteries. Mildred Wirt Benson, one of the writers behind the name, used it from 1929 to 1953 and contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew books. The catalogue lists 647 Carolyn Keene books, beginning with The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase and The Bungalow Mystery (all 1930) and reaching Vans & Villains (2026). Series include Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, Nancy Drew Files, Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, Nancy Drew Diaries, Nancy Drew: Girl Detective and Dana Girls Mystery Stories.

The Clue Crew books feature a younger version of the detective, solving cases alongside her friends Bess and George.

Carolyn Keene series and characters in order

Each link below opens a reading-order page with every book in publication order.

Nancy Drew Diaries books in order 28 books
Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew books in order 40 books
Nancy Drew books in order 591 books
Dana Girls books in order 34 books

Carolyn Keene books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories in order

118 books

1. The Secret of the Old Clock
2. The Hidden Staircase
3. The Bungalow Mystery
4. The Mystery at Lilac Inn
5. The Secret of Shadow Ranch
6. The Secret of Red Gate Farm
7. The Clue in the Diary
8. Nancy's Mysterious Letter
9. The Sign of the Twisted Candles
10. Password to Larkspur Lane
11. The Clue of the Broken Locket
12. The Message in the Hollow Oak
and 106 more in the table above

Nancy Drew Files in order

102 books

1. Secrets Can Kill
2. Deadly Intent
3. Murder On Ice
4. Smile and Say Murder
5. Hit and Run Holiday
6. White Water Terror
7. Deadly Doubles
8. Two Points To Murder
9. False Moves
10. Buried Secrets
11. Heart of Danger
12. Fatal Ransom
and 90 more in the table above

Nancy Drew: Notebooks in order

3 books

1. The Slumber Party Secret
2. The Lost Locket
3. The Secret Santa

Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys: Super Mystery in order

22 books

1. Double Crossing
2. A Crime for Christmas
3. Dangerous Games
4. Shock Waves
5. The Last Resort
6. The Paris Connection
7. Buried in Time
8. Mystery Train
9. Best of Enemies
10. High Survival
11. New Year's Evil
12. Tour of Danger
and 10 more in the table above

Dana Girls Mystery Stories in order

34 books

1. By the Light of the Study Lamp
2. The Secret at Lone Tree Cottage
3. In the Shadow of the Tower
4. A Three-Cornered Mystery
5. The Secret at the Hermitage
6. The Circle of Footprints
7. The Mystery of the Locked Room
8. The Clue in the Cobweb
9. The Secret at the Gatehouse
10. The Mysterious Fireplace
11. The Clue of the Rusty Key
12. The Portrait in the Sand
and 22 more in the table above

River Heights in order

17 books

1. Love Times Three
2. Guilty Secrets
3. Going Too Far
4. Stolen Kisses
5. Between the Lines
6. Lessons in Love
7. Cheating Hearts
8. The Trouble with Love
9. Lies and Whispers
10. Mixed Emotions
11. Broken Hearts
12. Hard to Handle
and 5 more in the table above

Nancy Drew Companion in order

2 books

1. The Nancy Drew Cookbook: Clues to Good Cooking
2. The Nancy Drew Sleuth Book

Nancy Drew Picture in order

2 books

1. Mystery of the Lost Dogs
2. The Secret of the Twin Puppets

Do you have to read Carolyn Keene books in order?

You only need to read Carolyn Keene books in order within each series: the books listed here span 8 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.

Where to start with Carolyn Keene

Start with the first book of the Carolyn Keene series you want to read: Nancy Drew Diaries starts with Curse of the Arctic Star (2013), Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew starts with Sleepover Sleuths (2006) and Nancy Drew starts with The Secret of the Old Clock (1930). The earliest catalogued title overall is The Secret of the Old Clock (1930).

What is the newest Carolyn Keene book?

Vans & Villains (2026) is the newest Carolyn Keene book released so far.

Is there a new Carolyn Keene book coming?

No next Carolyn Keene book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Carolyn Keene at a glance

Still publishing: Carolyn Keene published a book as recently as 2026.
Release pace: Carolyn Keene books have appeared more than one a year on average.
Length: 65,941 pages across the 450 of 647 books with a recorded length, a median of 151 pages each.
Busiest decade: Most Carolyn Keene books, 244 of 647, were published in the 1990s.

What the Carolyn Keene books are about

598 of the 647 Carolyn Keene books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: mystery & detective is tagged on 450 of 598. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.

Mystery & detective 450 of 598 books
Children's fiction 394 of 598 books
Drew, nancy (fictitious character) 348 of 598 books
Nancy Drew (Fictitious character) 226 of 598 books
CollectionID:NDF 103 of 598 books
CollectionID:NDMS 97 of 598 books
CollectionID:NDN 55 of 598 books
Adventure stories 33 of 598 books
Mystery & detective, women sleuths 32 of 598 books

Carolyn Keene Books in Order

How many Carolyn Keene books are there?

Carolyn Keene Books in Publication Order