Dave Porter and the Runaways, the ninth book in the series, tells of Dave's last year at Oak Hall academy and the exciting chase caused by some students who flee from the school to avoid being caught for a crime they committed.
Edward Stratemeyer wrote more than 1,300 books himself, selling over 500 million copies. In addition to 10 Dave Porter books, Stratemeyer wrote seven series with mostly a military nature. He also created Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, The Rover Boys, The Dana Boys, Bomba the Jungle Boy, and Tom Swift. He wrote under seven pen names and employed a number of ghost writers for whom he wrote plot outlines. The "Stratemeyer Syndicate" was a large organization and controlled a number of publishers.