Tag Archives: Airplane

51: THE MASKED MONKEY

 

51

Who Wrote It?: Franklin W. Dixon

C’mon, Who Really Wrote it?: Vincent Buranelli in 1972.  Besides his revisions, he wrote several original Hardy Boys books in the 1970s.

Was It Revised?: No.

Cover: Rudy Nappi.  Two green covers in a row!  This is a symbolic cover that nicely captures the book.  The boys really do go into the jungle, there really is a menacing chimp, it’s a good cover thematically and esthetically.  Boy were we spoiled by Mr. Nappi’s great skill in book after book.

Setting: Bayport, nearby, Brazil, nearby, Bayport again.  Yes, I snuck Brazil in the middle there.  So did the author.

Where’s Fenton This Time?: Sets the boys on the case, then stays home while they jet off to Brazil, and finally shows up in Chapter XX as usual.

Which Chums Show Up?: Tony, Chet and Phil.  The gang is half here, but this time the gang stays home while Frank and Joe go to Brazil alone.

What’s Chet’s Hobby This Time?: Scavenging golf balls from golf course water traps.  Does part of the story take place in country clubs, you ask?  Sparky, you are too clever for this game!

Aunt Gertrude’s Dessert: No dessert here.  She merely clucks about danger and then clucks no more in this story.

Plot: A missing person, someone is creating false passports, a frenzied chimp taught to steal stuff and attack people, this is an odd little plot.

Review:  Not bad.  The Brazil section is nice as an introduction to the land, but out of date now.  But when you read the book and realize the significance of the Brazil section when you are done with it, you’ll have a laugh as to why it was included.  Hey, it’s an excuse to fly them off to Brazil, what more do we need?

The crooks are devious, ubiqitious and deadly.  The showdown is satisfying.  The explanation of the masked monkey makes sense.  The Brazilian voodoo display is put on by a faker, thus keep alive the Scooby Dooish aspect of the Hardy Boys, and check this quote out:

“Putting his fingers under the chin part of the last mask, he wrenched it off.  Everyone gasped in amazement!”

And he would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you kids!

Score: 8

49: THE BOMBAY BOOMERANG

49

 

Who Wrote It?: Franklin W. Dixon

C’mon, Who Really Wrote it?: Vincent Buranelli in 1970.  The same year he revised 20: MYSTERY OF THE FLYING EXPRESS, and one year before he would revise 22: THE FLICKERING TORCH MYSTERY.  He then writes several original Hardy Boys books in the 1970s.

Was It Revised?: No.

Cover: Rudy Nappi.  Red fans, this is your cover, the most red since 18: THE TWISTED CLAW.  Bit of yellow in the upper right.  A mix of symbolism (the boomerang) and realism (the dock scenes).  Note how much older Frank and Joe look here compared to, say, 4: THE MISSING CHUMS or 8: THE MYSTERY OF CABIN ISLAND.  Same artist, same rough era (4 was revised in 1962 and 8 in 1966), yet the boys look older.  I have to think as we hit the 1970s, the publishers thought they should look like modern teenagers, not a 1950s concept of teenagers that belong on the Mickey Mouse Club.  Anyway, this is a striking cover, but not a great favorite with me.

Setting: Bayport, Washington D.C. and Baltimore.

Where’s Fenton This Time?: Working with the boys, and in fact the boys help him out when he gets in trouble in Baltimore.  As with our last book, Fenton is working with the U.S. government, and this time the boys go right to the Pentagon and get instructions from an Admiral.  It helps that they dialed a wrong number and got the Pentagon.  Man, I hate when that happens.

Which Chums Show Up?: Biff, Tony, Chet, Phil, Callie and Iola.  The gang is all here, but this time it isn’t Chet who shows up to help.  It’s Tony and Phil who get the call, go help, and then return home.

What’s Chet’s Hobby This Time?: Boomerangs.  Yup, he’s so busy making and selling boomerangs, he doesn’t help Frank and Joe.  But yes, his hobby gets used in Chapter XX, and then never mentioned again in any other Hardy Boys book.

Aunt Gertrude’s Dessert: A “piece of [her] fresh-baked apple pie.”  I can feel the warmth from here.

Plot: Shipments of mercury from overseas are being stolen, someone in the Pentagon gets attacked, there’s talk about a missile, clues are found on freighters from India, and what is the Bombay Boomerang anyway?

Review:  This is a mature Hardy Boys mystery.  The stakes a high (threats to the country, the military on the trail, the crooks professional and deadly), the boys are competent, the clues are realistic.  It’s good.

This is another Indian adventure, so once again I greet my readers from India.  In particular from Mumbai (how Bombay is now known).  This book talks about how Bombay came into being and tells us about the worship of Krishna. As a youngster reading Hardy Boys books, you learn an amazing amount of information about the world.  That’s a good thing.

This is, of course, the first Hardy Boys book I ever read, and clearly it hooked me.  So on the whole I give it a:

Score: 7

48: THE ARCTIC PATROL MYSTERY

 

48

Who Wrote It?: Franklin W. Dixon

C’mon, Who Really Wrote it?: Andrew E. Svenson in 1969.  One of many he wrote, including my favorite.

Was It Revised?: No.

Cover: Rudy Nappi.  Yellow with the plane, red with the gloves and hats, white for the snow and bear; it’s a good-looking cover.  Not purely literal, and polar bears (who don’t live in Iceland, but it’s explained) don’t grow that big, so there’s symbolism there.  But Frank and Joe really do have a scene like this.

Setting: Bayport and Iceland.  Mostly Iceland.  As I write this post in mid-2014, people from 43 different countries have read this site, but Iceland is not among those 43 countries.  Let’s see if we can fix this with this review!

Where’s Fenton This Time?: On the big part of the case.  This being 1969, the space program was on everyone’s minds, so Fenton is working for the U.S. government to stop saboteurs from wrecking the space program.  Meanwhile Frank and Joe work on finding a guy in Iceland who is due to inherit some money.  Will both cases collide?  Heh, see you in Chapter XIX, dude.

Which Chums Show Up?: Biff, Tony, Chet, Callie and Iola.  Biff and Chet actually go to Iceland with the boys.  It pays to be friends with Frank and Joe for you get all-expense-paid trips all over the world.  Unless you are Callie and Iola, of course, who are almost always left behind pining for their boyfriends.

What’s Chet’s Hobby This Time?: Kiai!  He’s learning karate.  Yes, it gets used.  Once.  Now in other books he knows judo.  And football scrimmage moves.  But here’s it’s a chop with his hands.

Aunt Gertrude’s Dessert: A “large wedge” of rhubarb pie.  Couldn’t you just go for that right about now?

Plot: As mentioned, off to Iceland to find someone they just know by name.  If it weren’t for those pesky bad guys continually trying to harm the boys, the plot would consist of them sightseeing around Iceland looking for a guy who could be anywhere.

Review:  You know, this is a great one.  It was amazingly topical in 1969 with the moon landing that year, but it holds up.  In fact, this feels like a wholly modern spy mystery that involves spies trying to stop a space program.  Astronauts are part of the story, the bad guys have realistic motives, and they play for keeps.

The Icelandic scenes are terrific.  This is a great introduction to Iceland for kids.  Guarantee they will want to visit someday.  Having been to that beautiful and fascinating island myself, I can say it is well worth a visit.  I look forward to returning.

So, good writing (I like my Svenson Hardy Boys), good plot, good local characters, good suspense, very modern feel, but classic Hardy Boys cast of characters and ways of acting, all combine to make this a fun book to read.

Score: 9

47: MYSTERY OF THE WHALE TATTOO

47

 

Who Wrote It?: Franklin W. Dixon

C’mon, Who Really Wrote it?: Jerrold Mundis in 1968.  This is the only Hardy Boys book that Mr. Mundis wrote, so this is all we have to judge him by.

Was It Revised?: No.

Cover: Rudy Nappi.  Very muted colors (and isn’t it amazing how Mr. Nappi can do all these different styles?), though Frank and Joe get the yellow and red into the cover in a subtle way.  Frank and Joe are being threatened by a tattooed man.  Well, it’s sort of in the book that way.  This is more symbolic than realistic.

Setting: Bayport, New York City, and Mystic, Connecticut.

Where’s Fenton This Time?: He is working on a separate case, but hey, waddya wanna bet it’s actually the same case the boys are working on?  He shows up halfway through, works with his sons for a bit, then goes off on his own again.  But he shows up at the end.

Which Chums Show Up?: Biff, Tony, Chet, Callie and Iola.  Biff and Tony run their own business that intersects with what the Hardys are working on.  Chet, of course, is the key chum and does a lot.

What’s Chet’s Hobby This Time?: Scrimshaw.  You know the drill by now – never did this before, will never mention it again.

Aunt Gertrude’s Dessert: Apple pie, and fresh baked cookies.  Now we’re talkin’.

Plot: Traveling circus comes to Bayport, pickpockets are working the crowds, so the circus owner hires Frank, Joe and Chet to work undercover on the fairgrounds.  Meanwhile, Fenton is trying to track down a jeweled idol sculpture, and the crooks are trying to find it too, and soon so are Frank and Joe.  What’s with the whale tattoo?  The gang are identified by having a whale tattoo on their fingers.  Not so smart, guys.

Review:  Not bad.  The mystery of who is in the gang is a good one with several red herrings.  The discovery of the stuffed whale is fun, and what Biff and Tony do with it is interesting.  So the story moves along well.

There is a great scene where Chet discovers the best soda jerk in the business and draws a crowd by drinking ice cream soda after ice cream soda in ways that presage today’s competitive eaters.  I love it when a Hardy Boys book takes the time for just fun.  Chet is very much Chet in this book.

There is another scene where Chet fills in as the clown in the circus.  He is a renaissance man, our Chet.

Mr. Mundis created a typical Hardy Boys book, and for a one-off author in the series, that’s all we can ask.

Score: 8 (7 for the book, plus a point for the ice cream scene)

46: THE SECRET AGENT ON FLIGHT 101

 

46

Who Wrote It?: Franklin W. Dixon

C’mon, Who Really Wrote it?: Tom Mulvey in 1967.  That same year he also revised 10: WHAT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT, as well as 13: THE MARK ON THE DOOR.  Two years earlier, in 1965, he revised 9: THE GREAT AIRPORT MYSTERY.  Then in 1968 he would revise 15: THE SINISTER SIGNPOST, and in 1969 he revised 18: THE TWISTED CLAW.  This Secret Agent on Flight 101 book is his only original.

His previous five books, coincidentally, got scores (not in order) of 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.  Can he get a 10?  A 4?

Was It Revised?: No.

Cover: Rudy Nappi.  Blue and green action scene, Frank and Joe chasing a bad guy.  Good look, nice action, a bit monochromatic, but not bad.

Setting: Bayport, off the coast of New England, London England and finally Scotland.  Yes, that does describe a journey and a direction, doesn’t it?  This is Frank and Joe do the UK.

Where’s Fenton This Time?: They found a unique way to get Fenton off the stage: put him on a stage in a magic show, make him disappear, then make sure he stays disappeared.  Ah, but who is the secret agent on Flight 101?  Heh heh.

Which Chums Show Up?: Biff and Chet.  Mostly Chet.  When even higher ups in major spy organizations are suggesting the boys bring Chet along, you know you are in Chet Morton fantasy land.

What’s Chet’s Hobby This Time?: Magic.  Does it apply to the bad guy?  Of course.  Does Chet’s hobby save their lives at the end?  Of course.  Will Chet ever use this hobby ever again?  Of course not.

Aunt Gertrude’s Dessert: “Dessert.”  Just “dessert.”  Bad form, Mr. Mulvey.  You described her pies and cakes before, you know.

Plot: Magician offers to make Fenton disappear.  He does.  Now the boys have to find him.  Then they get involved with a spy organization (SKOOL) to fight the bad guys who are involved in a bad guy organization (UGLI).  The chase takes them to Scotland.

Review:  SKOOL and UGLI?  Really?  I realize it’s 1967, and James Bond and SPECTRE are a very big deal in the world, but this is just dated and bad.  I realize the Hardy Boys books are written for kids, and so as adults we see the holes in the plot or the simplistic writing.  But I’m telling you that some of these books stand up to adult scrutiny to some extent.  But when you do juvenile writing about spy organizations called SKOOL and UGLI, it’s embarrassing.

And really, the professional spies suggest they go to Scotland, and then they wait around for the Hardys to suggest the next plan of action, and then say, ‘good idea!’  I’m sorry, that’s just not realistic.  The professionals would be calling the shots, would not suggest they bring their chum, Chet, along.

No, they never refer to those spy organizations after this book, and that’s good.  Frank and Joe are supposed to be amateurs doing independent work.  I realize some of the later Hardy Boys books do involve Frank and Joe in a spy organization, but I’m talking about the original 58 books only.

And I must point this out from the fourth paragraph of the book:

“It was Friday evening.  Bayport High had closed for summer vacation the day before.”

Got that?  The boys have been solving mystery after mystery, this being #46 in the sequence, almost all of which take place during the summer between their junior and senior years of high school.  Yet #46 takes place the day after school ended for the summer.  I guess most of the other 45 adventures took place the day before…

Now if this sounds as if I don’t like this book, don’t get that impression.  I’m picking on aspects of it, but the mystery is good, the bad guys are rotten, the scenery is fun.  Frank actually climbs outside of a moving airplane to get something, so we truly are in James Bond territory, but I enjoyed it.  But it’s not the best of the bunch.

Score: 7

43: THE MYSTERY OF THE AZTEC WARRIOR

43

 

Who Wrote It?: Franklin W. Dixon

C’mon, Who Really Wrote it?: Harriet S. Adams in 1964.  In 1946 Ms. Adams wrote 25: THE SECRET PANEL, which got revised in 1969.  Then in 1959 she revised the first two Hardy Boys books.  Five years later she wrote this one.  I thought The Secret Panel was a great book.  What do I think of this one?

Was It Revised?: No.

Cover: Rudy Nappi.  Reddish-brown as the dominant color, and Frank and Joe doing some investigating.  True to the book, not my favorite color selection.

Setting: Bayport and then Mexico.  In the early days it was all Bayport, all the time, that bastion of criminal nefariousness.  But in recent books it seems to be Frank and Joe Do [Insert colorful location].  We had Alaska, and the Northwest Territories in Canada, and the desert southwest, and now Mexico.  Man, Bayport must be crawling with pickpockets by this time.    

Where’s Fenton This Time?: On the phone getting updates from the boys down Mexico way.

Which Chums Show Up?: Chet.  Señor Morton does a good job.

What’s Chet’s Hobby This Time?: Nothing.  Seems to be in a bit of a hobby slump.

Aunt Gertrude’s Dessert: “Famous strawberry shortcake topped with a sea of whipped cream.”  She had me at “famous.”

Plot: This is a humdinger of a plot.  A wealthy man dies but names the Hardys in his will, stating they must solve a mystery before any relatives get paid.  The mystery is to find “the Aztec Warrior.”  That’s it.  Go ahead, you figure out how you’re going to solve that one.

Review:  The boys soon head down to Mexico to find that Aztec culture with nothing more than the idea that a ceremonial weapon is involved in the mystery and a couple of names of people.  Imagine showing up in Times Square in New York City and asking people if they know a “Tom Smith.”  Think you’d get far?  Nope.  But the Hardys are nothing if not persistent, and eventually they get some leads.

Plus kids are introduced to a somewhat out-of-date look at Mexico tourism. You do get a flavor of life south of the border that would make the Mexican Culture Minister proud.  If nothing else, you’ll want some enchiladas by the time this book is done.  Fortunately Aunt Gertrude has some strawberry shortcake to finish the meal.

Look, this is not a typical mystery.  This one is about finding a man, whoever he might be.  And yes, you’ll never guess who or what the “Aztec warrior” turns out to be.  It’s a fun ride.

Score: 8

40: MYSTERY OF THE DESERT GIANT

40

 

Who Wrote It?: Franklin W. Dixon

C’mon, Who Really Wrote it?: James Beuchler in 1961.  One of two originals in a row he would write, but we’ve seen Mr. Beuchler’s work before in 11: WHILE THE CLOCK TICKED and in 14: THE HIDDEN HARBOR MYSTERY, both of which he revised in the same years as he was writing his two originals.  I gave #11 a rating of 8 and #14 a rating of 6.  Hmm..do I smell a 7 coming on here?

Was It Revised?: No.

Cover: Rudy Nappi.  Couldn’t be more classic.  Frank is wearing red, Joe is wearing yellow, they are staring at a bad guy caught in the act, this scene comes right out of the book in the way the covers often give the ending away, and it’s at night.  My only quibble?  The giant depicted is far too small.  In the book it’s geographically accurate, but I guess Mr. Nappi had to compromise or else we’d have no idea what we’re looking at.

Setting: Bayport, the California desert and Mexico.  

Where’s Fenton This Time?: He shows up, and is one of the gang this time.

Which Chums Show Up?: Chet.

What’s Chet’s Hobby This Time?: Infrared photography.  Yes, it gets used in the book.  No, he never knows anything about it ever again.  Chet is really all over the place in the series.  For example, at one point in this book Chet says, “You know I can’t cook worth anything.  Eating is what I’m good at.”  Ahem, in several earlier books Chet is noted as being a great cook.  In fact, he gets jobs doing that as part of their cases.    Sloppy work there, Mr.  Beuchler…

Aunt Gertrude’s Dessert: None.  At one point the boys revive a conked Chet by telling him Aunt Gertrude made a chocolate cake.  But she didn’t.  Now that’s just cruel!

Plot: This is a missing person’s story.  Someone goes missing, the boys go out west to find him.  There is a gang doing some criminal stuff that the missing person got caught up in.  That’s about it.

Review:  This is another Hardy Boys Go West story, but I give Mr. Beuchler credit for adding more realism to the characters.  When they finally find the missing person, he doesn’t want to be found, and he has valid psychological reasons for thinking this.

I pointed out how intense 11: WHILE THE CLOCK TICKED is, with perhaps the most dire ending situation of any Hardy Boys book.  Well, he likes writing interesting psychological personalities, and I give him credit.

I also like that the crime in this story is not the usual jewel thieves or the like, but a more realistic type of crime.  We are getting into modern behavior now.

And I have to quote the final words of this book (no major spoilers) simply because it perfectly encapsulates why these books are loved:

“Living with you for these past few days has taught me that there are still plenty of wonderful people in the world.  I promise you, if I ever get sour on life again, all I’ll need to keep up my spirits will be to remind myself of Frank and Joe Hardy and Chet Morton — three swell fellows.”

I think we can all say Amen to that.

Score: 7

38: MYSTERY AT DEVIL’S PAW

38

 

Who Wrote It?: Franklin W. Dixon

C’mon, Who Really Wrote it?: James D. Lawrence in 1959.  His second of three in a row.

Was It Revised?: Yes, in 1973 by Pricilla Baker-Carr.  And with that we bid a fond farewell to Ms. Baker-Carr for this was the last book she ever revised.  Thank you for your fine work over the years!  That means from now on we are dealing with original writing only.  No more revisions.

Cover: Rudy Nappi.  A symbolic cover awash in white and tan, with only Joe’s red upholding the tradition.  I like this cover.  It has the classic Hollywood movie poster look: one character looks left, one character looks right, the totem pole looks ahead.  It’s striking and it’s unique in its subject matter.

Setting: Bayport and Alaska with a brief dip into British Columbia.  In 1959 Alaska became a state.  Mr. Lawrence immediately welcomed the newest state into the crime-ridden world of the Hardys.  

May I once again point out the absurdity of the criminal networks working all over the world, but always having a henchman stationed in Bayport so that the moment the Hardy Boys get a case the henchman can try to kill them to prevent them from traveling to where the crime is occurring.  Amazing how all these gangs can always spare someone for Bayport duty, and how that someone can be so attuned to everything that happens to the Hardy Boys that the moment someone gets a phone call or a telegram or even a conversation, that henchman is on the case!

Where’s Fenton This Time?: Bayport.  The entire stinking time.  The Boys are on their own this adventure.  Well, not exactly alone.  See my review below.

Which Chums Show Up?: Chet, Tony, Callie, Iola.  Did Mr. Lawrence not like Biff?

What’s Chet’s Hobby This Time?: Nothing.  

Aunt Gertrude’s Dessert: Who?  She barely shows up.  I think Mr. Lawrence was more into Boys Own Adventure Tales than cooking up goodies from Gertrude.

Plot: This is an odd one.  Not too much mystery other than ‘why are the crooks acting this way.’  This is really Frank and Joe Travel to Alaska and meet bears, salmon spawning, locals, indiginous people, totem poles (see cover) and glaciers.  The actually mystery of the totem pole is not much.  The mystery at Devil’s Paw is not much.  The crooks here are not so much crooks, and more folks engaging in foreign espionage.  I won’t give it away, but the objective of the bad guys has nothing to do with crime.  No, this is less a mystery and more a guide to the Alaskan wilderness.

Review:  This is not a typical Hardy Boys book, so I’m not as fond of it.  In all long-running books or TV series, after a while the writers think, hey, let’s put our characters in Hawaii this week, or something.  I’m not fond of these “special” episodes, and that’s what this one felt like.

A couple of amusing notes:

1. At one point the boys are enjoying a feast in an Indian village and this happens:

“The first course consisted of slabs of pink salmon,  “Good night!  It’s raw!” Joe whispered.

Welcome to sushi, Joe.  Guess that wasn’t much of a thing back in 1959.

2. Maybe Fenton doesn’t show up in Chapter XX, but check out who does:

“As if by magic, the darkness suddenly turned to daylight.  Powerful magnesium flares attached to parachutes illuminated the entire area.  This was followed by more billowing chutes — paratroops!”

Holy cow, they finally called in the infantry!  That’s some serious firepower at the Boy’s beck and call!

Oh well, it’s an OK read.  if your child is interested in Alaska or the wilderness, this is his or her book.  But as a Hardy Boy mystery, eh..

Score: 5

37: THE GHOST AT SKELETON ROCK

 

37

Who Wrote It?: Franklin W. Dixon

C’mon, Who Really Wrote it?: James D. Lawrence in 1957.  His first of three in a row, plus one other one he wrote years later that will conclude this series.  But Mr. Lawrence also revised three of the earlier books (16: A FIGURE IN HIDING, 17: THE SECRET WARNING, 19: THE DISAPPEARING FLOOR).  I gave those three earlier books scores of 7, 6 and 8.  But just to keep things odd, Mr. Lawrence revised those books in the mid-1960s.  Yes, he wrote his original books first, and then revised earlier entries.  Got it?  Good, quiz at the end.

Was It Revised?: Yes, in 1966 by Pricilla Baker-Carr.  Which was the same year Mr. Lawrence was revising Hardy Boys books.  So as he did that, she revised his. Somehow there is a metaphor for life in there.

Cover: Rudy Nappi.  A classic cover.  Night scene, ocean in the background giving us our dominant blue color, the plane being shot at from crooks on the beach below.  This is a realism cover from Mr. Nappi, and it’s a solid entry.

Setting: Bayport and Puerto Rico.  Welcome, readers from that lovely island that I’ve visited three times so far.  I enjoyed it as much as Frank and Joe did.  More actually since no one was trying to kill me at the time.  

But once again we get the absurd notion that crooks, needing money in Puerto Rico, decide to raise some by swindling the good folks of . . . oh, let’s say Bayport.  Riiiiiight.  That’s the first place I would think of if I were in the Caribbean.  Nobody to swindle in Florida?

Where’s Fenton This Time?: Washington D.C., as usual.  But then the boys get to play Deus Ex Fenton in Chapter XX and rescue him for a change.

Which Chums Show Up?: Chet, Tony, Callie, Iola.  What, Biff was busy?  But Tony gets to play a larger part then usual and does a great job.  Fans of Tony Prito, this is your book.

What’s Chet’s Hobby This Time?: Ventriloquism.  Who’s the dummy now, eh?

Aunt Gertrude’s Dessert: I’m so hungry I could nibble on the corner of this book.  Aunt Gertrude evidently didn’t bake pies in the 1950s or something.  But good stuff is going to show up before we’re through.

Plot: Lots of Hitchcock MacGuffins in this story. It’s about crooked fortune tellers.  Nope.  It’s about smuggling diamonds in ventriloquist dummies.  Nope.  This plot ultimately gets into the political (the bad guys are playing a very big game) in a way that would have resonated in the 1950s (mostly because this is just the sort of nonsense that was happening back then).  In any case, the boys have to fly to Puerto Rico, figure out who to trust, and oh yeah, solve the Scooby Doo mystery of the “ghost,” if you catch my drift.

Review:  Speaking of Scooby Doo (and I do this a lot here since so much of Scooby Doo derives from the Hardy Boys), check this quote out:

“We might have pulled it off if that important [MacGuffin] hadn’t been sent to the very town where the Hardys lived.  Those nosy detectives and their pals upset our plans.”

Yup, Scooby Doo.

On the whole, this is a very good adventure.  It has the usual cast of crook types, plus a bonus one who looks just like one of the boys (and when you find out why he does look like one of the boys, you’ll shake your head at the stupidity of doing what he did which would GUARANTEE Frank and Joe would never, ever stop until they got their man).

The ghost sub-thread is predictable, contains a bit of Carib racism that was probably typical of the time, and has a very Scooby Doo ending.  But if it sounds like I am scoffing at this book, the bottom line is I enjoyed it very much.  It moves, it’s fun, it’s a good entry.

Score: 8

32: THE CRISSCROSS SHADOW

 

32

Who Wrote It?: Franklin W. Dixon

C’mon, Who Really Wrote it?: Richard Cohen in 1953.  His one and only Hardy Boys book.

Was It Revised?: Yes, in 1969 by Pricilla Baker-Carr.

Cover: Rudy Nappi.   We continue in the green period, but there is plenty of yellow and some red too. This is more of an abstract cover as the scene is a thematically accurate depiction of something that doesn’t occur like that in the book.  That is, the crisscross shadow does NOT go across Frank and Joe’s bodies.  And unlike other covers that give away the plot, this one only sort of does that (as you will see when you read the book)  A decent cover.

Setting: Bayport and somewhere else.  Not explained exactly where, just a plane ride somewhere.  But true to the 1950s, this one involves Native Americans, or as they might have said back then, injuns.  I’ll explain later, but is it significant that my spellchecker wanted to change that to “indians”?  Hmmm…

Where’s Fenton This Time?: Here, there and everywhere.  It’s odd, he keeps sending messages from all over, but isn’t there.

Which Chums Show Up?: Chet, Biff, Tony, Callie, Iola.

What’s Chet’s Hobby This Time?: None.  At this point he’s merely the third Hardy Boy.  Well, maybe football is the hobby in this book.

Aunt Gertrude’s Dessert: Chocolate walnut cake, and you can just taste it, can’t you?

Plot: Swindlers try to cheat a Native American tribe out of their land, Frank and Joe save the day.

Review:  This is an odd book in that when it was written in the 1950s, it probably felt very progressive in its views on Native Americans.  They even make fun of stereotypical speech while having the tribe talk quite normally, act quite normally, etc.  Well done, right?  Wellll….no, there is still racism.  Frank and Joe solve the mystery by using basic common sense.  So why couldn’t the tribe figure this one out?  Why does it always take the white folks to be the saviors?  See what I mean?  A deeper level of racism.  Oh well, it tried.  The mystery itself is so-so, football comes in at the end, there are some moments of good suspense.  It’s OK.

Score: 6