Joan Clark

Joan Clark (1905–2002) was a pen name of the American writer Mildred Wirt Benson. Benson was an American children's author and one of the principal early ghostwriters for the Nancy Drew series. Under the name Joan Clark she wrote the Penny Nichols girl-detective series, including Penny Nichols Finds a Clue, Penny Nichols and the Black Imp, Penny Nichols and the Knob Hill Mystery, and Penny Nichols and the Mystery of the Lost Key, as well as the children's book Connie Carl at Rainbow Ranch. Five of her works are held in this collection. These books center on girl detectives solving mysteries, with tight plotting and clear suspense, continuing the popular model of early twentieth-century American girl-detective fiction and offering reference for the study of this genre and the background of the Nancy Drew series. Public information on her life is limited.