Nobody recognises her name, but she wrote some of the most popular children's books ever read. Books that are as popular today, as they were in the early 1930s.

In fact, Benson wrote the first 26 Nancy Drew mysteries - Carolyn Keene, the supposed author, did not, and has never existed.

She was the invention of a rather clever and farsighted man called Edward Stratemeyer. He was the genius behind such fictional characters as the Bobbsey Twins, and the Hardy Boys.

The evil truth is that the Stratemeyer Syndicate employed a string of writers to churn out novels.

Like romance publishers today, writers were given basic plot outlines and guidelines for their characters' behaviour, and locked in an office to produce the goods.

Luckily, Benson had definite ideas about girls in society, and set out to maker her Nancy Drew character a lot more than the cardboard character Edward Stratemeyer had in mind.

Not only was Nancy smart, good-looking and fearless, she had her own car, and a wad of credit cards for the local department stores. Armed with the latter, Nancy could dress appropriately for every occasion.

Over the next 60 years of her existence Nancy Drew learnt to sew, play the piano like a concert pianist, repair damaged paintings so well an expert could barely detect it, fly a plane, become a competent auto mechanic and of course, excel in all sports.

Nancy was the complete female - while she could fix a car with a hairpin and escape from any tricky situation by herself, she also enjoyed a nice cup of tea with cucumber sandwiches.

No wonder Nancy Drew became the most popular series character for girls.

In fact, not only was Nancy a veritable Renaissance woman with her many and diverse talents, she was also extremely hard-wearing!

Since her first appearance in The Secret of the Old Clock, according to Carole Kismaric, author of The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew has been bound, gagged, choked, gassed, poisoned, abducted, trapped underground, and left to drown among other things.

In addition, she has been bludgeoned into unconsciousness more than thirty times over her long and eventful life.

After Benson stopped writing the Nancy Drew mysteries, Stratemeyer's daughter took over the Carolyn Keene pseudonym, and made conscious effort to keep Nancy up to date with each generation.

The books were revised frequently - earlier criticisms of racial overtones in the books led to many being completely rewritten - and careful attention was paid to trends in fashion and society.

The contemporary Nancy Drew attends college, wears designer jeans and worries about world peace. The action has moved from smalltown America to luxury yachts and expensive resorts, but young readers can still rely on Nancy to save the day. She still solves crime - but with her laptop not her notebook.

And for those diehard fans who will always prefer Nancy Drew wearing white gloves and driving her blue roadster, the good news is that facsimile editions of the first 23 books, penned by Benson, the author nobody knows, are still being published.

Bundaberg Library recently bought some of these early editions, so for a nostalgic read, look for Carolyn Keene in the junior fiction - even though she doesn't exist.