The Hardy Boys series, like most of the books produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, is a joint effort of in-house editors and ghost writers.

Behind the Hardy Boys, though, stood the figure of Edward Stratemeyer, who created the characters and devised an ingenious way to mass-produce and mass-distribute these inexpensive books for early adolescents. As ghost writer Leslie McFarlane said, Stratemeyer was "a Henry Ford of fiction for boys and girls." The series Stratemeyer originated has achieved an enduring place in the hearts and minds of millions of readers.

Edward Stratemeyer was born on October 4, 1862, in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

He received a high school education that was rounded out by private tutoring, and began writing stories in 1886 simply to pass the time while working in his brother's local tobacco store. One slow afternoon when few customers had come around, Stratemeyer started scrawling out a...