"The Mystery at Lilac Inn. Nancy Drew Mystery Stories", by Carolyn Keene, published by Grosset & Dunlap, New York:, 1930. 1944 printing with "Secret in the Old Attic" the last title on the front flap.

Original dust jacket [some soiling, creases at the upper edge: see photos]; hard boards, blue cloth with red lettering on spine and front board; 5" x 7.3/4"; red illustrated endpapers [some soiling]; frontispiece; 200 pages, darkened paper, good / very good condition.

"The Mystery at Lilac Inn" is the fourth volume in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series. It was first published in 1930 under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Mildred Wirt Benson was the ghostwriter of the 1930s editions.

In 1961, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams extensively revised the novel, creating a completely different story. The original omitted the lead characters from much of the action, the titular inn was only a place where a crime was committed with minor investigatory follow-up, and a domestic help sub-plot was out-of-place in 1961. Ethnic slurs and opinions were removed.

Nancy Drew is a fictional character who appears in several mystery book series as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Created by publisher Edward Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series, the character first appeared in 1930 in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, which lasted until 2003 and consists of 175 novels. (1940A-32 per Farrah)

US: Priority (c 2-4 days) ------------- $12.50
Canada: 1st Class (c.2-6 weeks) ------- $27.50
World: 1st Class (c.2-8 weeks) -------- $35.50