Dana Girls Mystery Stories Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Secret at the Hermitage | 1936 | Buy |
| The Circle of Footprints | 1937 | Buy |
| Mystery of the Locked Room | 1938 | Buy |
| The Clue in the Cobweb | 1939 | Buy |
| The Secret at the Gatehouse | 1940 | Buy |
| The Mysterious Fireplace | 1941 | Buy |
| The Clue of the Rusty Key | 1942 | Buy |
| The Portrait in the Sand | 1943 | Buy |
| The Secret in the Old Well | 1944 | Buy |
| The Clue in the Ivy | 1952 | Buy |
| The Secret of the Jade Ring | 1953 | Buy |
| Mystery at the Crossroads | 1954 | Buy |
| The Ghost in the Gallery | 1955 | Buy |
| The Clue of the Black flower | 1956 | Buy |
| The Winking Ruby Mystery | 1957 | Buy |
| The Secret of the Swiss Chalet | 1958 | Buy |
| The Haunted Lagoon | 1959 | Buy |
| Mystery of the Bamboo Bird | 1960 | Buy |
| The Sierra Gold Mystery | 1961 | Buy |
| The Secret of the Lost Lake | 1962 | Buy |
| Mystery of the Stone Tiger | 1963 | Buy |
| The Riddle of the Frozen Fountain | 1964 | Buy |
| The Secret of the Silver Dolphin | 1965 | Buy |
| Mystery of the Wax Queen | 1966 | Buy |
| The Secret of the Minstrel’s Guitar | 1967 | Buy |
| The Phantom Surfer | 1968 | Buy |
| The Curious Coronation | 1976 | Buy |
| The Hundred Year Mystery | 1977 | Buy |
| Mountain-Peak Mystery | 1978 | Buy |
| The Witch’s Omen | 1979 | Buy |
The Dana Girls Mystery Stories ran for 30 books between 1936 and 1979. Like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, the series was produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate using a house name. Various ghostwriters wrote the books, which followed sisters Jean and Louise Dana as they stumbled into mysteries at their boarding school and beyond.
The original run of books (1936-1944) established the formula: two smart, resourceful sisters encounter strange events and work together to crack the case. After a gap in the late 1940s, the series picked back up in 1952 and ran steadily through 1968. A brief revival in the late 1970s added four more titles before the series ended with The Witch’s Omen in 1979.
Fans of classic juvenile mystery fiction will find a lot to like here. The Dana Girls occupy a similar space to Nancy Drew but with the added dynamic of two siblings working as a team. The books are light, fast reads with a nostalgic charm that has kept them in circulation for decades.