Why The Real 'Nancy Drew' Author Remained An Unsolved Mystery For Decades

Dana Schwartz spotlighted International Women’s Day to kick off the latest installment of Very Special Episodes, a podcast she hosts alongside Zaron Burnett and Jason English. The co-hosting trio released their latest, female-focused episode in time for International Women’s Day on Friday (March 8), and iHeartRadio’s Women Take The Mic initiative.

Schwartz, a New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter, teamed up with Burnett and English — an investigative journalist and an iHeartPodcast producer, respectively — to debut Very Special Episodes earlier this year. The first episode premiered on January 31, titled Boat Trip: The Attempted Sinking of Titanic, unraveling a “Hollywood mystery” in connection with James Cameron’s beloved 90s film.

The newest episode, The Case of the Two Nancy Drews, examined the author of the iconic mystery novel series: “The biggest Nancy Drew mystery isn’t hidden in the plots of the books. It’s right there on the cover. If ‘Carolyn Keene’ is a pseudonym, who really wrote the series? For 50 years, two women laid claim to that title. And in 1980, with help from an amateur detective, the truth came out in court.”

Listen to the full episode here.

“On the Very Special Episodes podcast, we tell one incredible story each week. Stranger-than-fiction tales about normal people in extraordinary situations. Stories that make you say, ‘this should be a movie.’ Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday,” the podcast’s description reads. Find Very Special Episodes on iHeartRadio here.

iHeartRadio is spotlighting 10 podcasts as part of the Women Take The Mic initiative on International Women's Day. Other podcasts to listen to include Chiquis and Chill, Dear Chelsea, Angela Yee’s Lip Service, The Psychology of your 20’s, Reasonably Shady, Therapy for Black Girls, There Are No Girls on the Internet, Womanica and The Nikki Glaser Podcast.

iHeartRadio is also celebrating many of your favorite podcasts during the 2024 iHeartPodcast Awards presented by The Hartford. The iHeartPodcast Awards will take place live from SXSW on Monday (March 11). See the full list of nominees here. Fans can tune in to watch this year's iHeartPodcast Awards via a video stream in partnership with YouTube on iHeartRadio's YouTube channel at 9pmET/8pm CT The event will then be available on demand following the initial livestream. The ceremony will also be broadcast live on select iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide, and through the iHeartRadio app.