Hi James,
My daughter collects girls mystery series books and has a great overview volume called "All About Collecting Girls' Series Books" by John Axe. In this book you get the details about how the Nancy Drew books were created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and that Carolyn Keene never existed. The outlines for books 1-3 were by Edward Stratemeyer and 4-56 by his daughters Harriet & Edna.
The actual stories were then written out by Mildred Wirt Benson #1-7, 11-25, & 30; Walter Karig #8-10; Harriet Stratemeyer Adams #31, 33-56. Other in house authors did #26-29 & 32. The book does not cover #57 - onward, but only the "classic" titles from the 1930s - 1960s. I don't know if any signed volumes exist since the Stratemeyer Syndicate guarded this information quite closely and it didn't come out until the late 1960s I believe. Hope this info helps,
Jeff Alcorn
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