Ellery Queen of the 1940s, that detective-hero was possibly the best known American fictional detective. Movies, radio shows, and television shows were based on Dannay and Lee's works. Frederic Dannay, without much involvement from Lee, was founding and directing editor of "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine", generally considered one of the most influential English-language crime fiction magazines of the last sixty-five years. They were also prominent historians in the field, editing numerous collections and anthologies of short stories such as "The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes". Their 994-page anthology for the Modern Library, "101 Years' Entertainment: The Great Detective Stories, 1841–1941", was a landmark
Pen name but subsequent books were written by ghost writers. For instance, many of the later books in "The Saint" adventure series were not written by Leslie Charteris, the series' originator. Similarly, "Nancy Drew" mystery books are published as though they were written by Carolyn Keene, "The Hardy Boys" books are published as the work of Franklin W. Dixon, and "The Bobbsey Twins" series are credited to Laura Lee Hope, although numerous authors have been involved in each series. Erin Hunter, author of the "Warriors" novel series, is actually a collective pen name used by authors Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Tui T.