February 2014 Update

No new releases this month :(   ☼ Spotlite Book ☼

“The Secret Of The Caves”
Original Text Edition For Sale - Revised Text Edition For Sale
Comments and reviews are welcome.

Original: 1929 Leslie McFarlane (210 pages)
Revised: 1964 Andrew Svenson (175 pages)
Revised Outline: Andrew Svenson
Revision: Completely Different
Art: 1929 W.S. Rogers Art: 1944 A.O. Scott Art: 1960 Rudy Nappi
The Hardy Boys locate the missing Todham Todd, an amnesiac living a bizarre existence in the caves by Barmet Bay.
Revision: The Hardy Boys locate a missing college professor and solve the sabotage of a local radar station.

  HardyBoys Yahoo Group   Facebook Hardy Boys Fan Club Twitter HardyBoysHome     My web sites have new domains: Unofficial Nancy Drew Home Page - http://nancydrew.info The Tom Swift Unofficial Home Page - http://tomswift.net  Series Book Central - http://seriesbooks.info  And a new web page: The Films of Charlie Chan   You can access all my pages from http://bobfinnan.com 

January 2014 Update

 Happy New Year!

Paul Mular reported a new box set of 10 Hardy Boys books is available from Costco.

Paul also discovered a printing error on the cover of "The Shattered Helmet".

15: Ship of Secrets - 08/14 For Sale
Frank and Joe solve a mystery on the high seas in this Hardy Brothers Secret Files adventure.
It’s finally summer vacation, and the Hardy family is headed on a cruise to the Caribbean. As they board the ship with their parents, Frank and Joe can’t believe all the fun that’s in store for them. There are three-story slides, playgrounds, ball pits, four pools, and an arcade. There are concerts and magic shows at night, while jugglers and clowns wander the deck during the day.
In addition to all of the fun, the Hardys discover that former pop idol and lead singer of the Lightening Bolts, Izzy, is now performing on the ship. That night, as the family eats dinner, they hear a commotion at the other end of the massive dining room. Someone has stolen a very valuable and sentimental pocket watch from Izzy. Can Joe and Frank solve the case before the ship docks in the first harbor? Or will time run out on this case?

6: The Battle of Bayport - 06/14
For Sale: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle A reenactment battle marches into Bayport in this Hardy Boys adventure—a fresh approach to a classic series.
Bayport goes back in time when a Revolutionary War-era battleship is discovered, along with a treasure trove of historic artifacts. To celebrate, the town stages a reenactment of the historic Battle of Bayport, complete with antique artillery, canons, and tricorn hats. Even Frank and Joe Hardy are decked out in full Colonial costume, fighting over freedom and taxes on opposite sides of the battle line.
But things get a little too real when a stray shot leaves Bayport’s biggest benefactor, Don Sterling, without a pulse. Wait a minute—weren’t those muskets supposed to be unloaded? And even though the Hardy Boys have technically retired from solving mysteries, they can’t help but get involved, especially when a favorite teacher turns out to be a prime suspect. Is someone trying to frame Mr. Lazin? And who would want Don Sterling dead? Murder by reenactment is one the Hardys haven’t seen before, but don’t think they’re not up for the challenge! 

☼ Spotlite Book ☼

“The Shore Road Mystery”
Original Text Edition For Sale - Revised Text Edition For Sale  

The Hardy Boys - Lucky Fellows by Phillip M. Pollock

The following is my review on Amazon.com in which I gave it 3 Stars of a possible 5:

The Hardy Boys - Lucky Fellows is a short, illustrated reminiscence of the Hardy Boys mystery series books.
There are pictures of 40 dust-jacket covers in full color, 2 to a page, accompanied by the aforementioned reminiscence.
The author got some of his facts wrong and some of the dust-jackets have seen better days.
If you are a die-hard fan of the Hardy Boys, you will probably enjoy this book.

December 2013 Update

  The Hardy Boys - Lucky Fellows by Phillip M. Pollock 

The Hardy Boys - Lucky Fellows is the author's look back at the book series that intrigued him at the age of twelve. Through full-color photos of the books, quotes and a solid recall on the Hardy Boys' adventures over forty volumes, a genial and sensitive story is told about why juvenile readers fell in love with the boy detectives. The author confesses that the vivid colors and designs of the dust covers on the books were the original selling point in his desire to read every Hardy Boys book available to him as a young reader. The cover illustrations were stunning, and even today, they are a major reason why collectors look on used book store shelves for these fiction gems. The stories are almost secondary in the desire to own the books, but if you read them, you see just how outlandish and quirky the stories were. After all, two 15 and 16 year-old brothers were solving major crimes in a town called Bayport - crimes that the police and their father, famous private detective in his own right, could not solve. They frequently faced death-defying situations, only to be, almost comically, "lucky" to escape. The author has subjectively chosen the series' end as the fortieth volume, even though many more books were printed. The chosen number was not arbitrary. The fortieth book in the series signaled the end of the beautiful dust jackets, with later volumes printed less impressively by having the artwork applied directly to the linen hard-cover backing of the book. So, in addition to the author's story about these cool-as-a-cucumber young detectives, The Hardy Boys - Lucky Fellows serves as a beautiful, full-color reference to the artwork of those first forty books. If you are are Hardy Boys juvenile fiction fan, you'll need to own this. 

    ☼ Spotlite Book ☼

“Hunting For Hidden Gold”
Original Text Edition For Sale - Revised Text Edition For Sale
Comments and reviews are welcome.

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November 2013 Update

☼ Spotlite Book ☼ 

“The Missing Chums”
Original Text Edition For Sale - Revised Text Edition For Sale
Comments and reviews are welcome.     A Secret Files Box Set has been announced for an August 2014 release.  Contains Trouble at the Arcade; The Missing Mitt; Mystery Map; Hopping Mad; A Monster of a Mystery

October 2013 Update

 

Hardy Boys Adventures #6: "The Battle of Bayport" has been announced for a June 2014 release.
For Sale: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle

Secret Files #15: "Ship of Secrets" has been announced for an August 2014 release.
For Sale

  Amazon is releasing the old Clues Brothers series for their Kindle readers.

The Spotlite Book this month is volume 3, "The Secret of the Old Mill".

September 2013 Update

14: Fossil Frenzy - 4/14 For Sale  
A missing dinosaur tooth makes for a massive investigation in this Hardy Brothers Secret Files Mystery. Frank and Joe are excited for their field trip to the Bayport Museum of Natural History with their science club. Not only will they get to see some awesome dinosaur skeletons on display, but they also get to go on their very own fossil dig on the museum grounds. At the dig, fellow classmate Tico uncovers an old dinosaur tooth— even though Tico’'s biggest competition in the club, Aisha, claims she found it first. And when Tico realizes his tooth is missing—, a tooth that turns out to be immensely valuable, —all signs point to Aisha. But is she really the culprit? It’s up to Frank and Joe to dig deep for the answers in a case that is bigger than they ever imagined!

 The Spotlite Book this month is "The House On The Cliff".

James Keeline turned me on to a fairly new Hardy Boys-like series, The Brixton Brothers.
The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity
Danger Goes Berserk
The Ghostwriter Secret
It Happened on a Train

August 2013 Update

Cover art for Secret Files #14: Fossil Frenzy
For Sale from Amazon.com

The Spotlite Book for August is "The Tower Treasure".
Discuss it at the Hardy Boys Fan Forum
Original Text Edition For Sale - Revised Text Edition For Sale

For those of you who haven't picked up any of the new Adventures series yet, there will be a Hardy Boys Adventures Box Set due out this November.
Secret of the Red Arrow; Mystery of the Phantom Heist; The Vanishing Game; Into Thin Air
For Sale from Amazon.com

July 2013 Update

Hardy Boys Adventures #5: Peril At Granite Peak has been announced for a 02/14 release.
FOR SALE: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle
No story information available at this time.

Secret Files #14: Fossil Frenzy has been announced for a 4/14 release.

The Spotlite Book for July is #43: The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior.

June 2013 Update

Hardy Boys Adventures Box Set announced for November release.
For Sale from Amazon.com

The Spotlite Book for June is Volume 66 - "The Vanishing Thieves"
For Sale From Amazon.com

Flashlight editions volumes 59 thru 66 out of print.
It appears that G&D is no longer publishing these volumes.

May 2013 Update

Cover art for "Into Thin Air" released
FOR SALE: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle
When the daughter of an amusement-park owner goes missing, it’s anything but fun and games in this Hardy Boys adventure—a new take on the classic series.
Daisy Rodriguez is missing. Just like that, gone without a trace. Her father, Hector Rodriguez—owner of Funspot, Bayport’s local amusement park—is frantic. He feels he’s to blame, since Funspot was recently the location of another disappearance. Could Daisy’s vanishing be somehow connected? Joe and Frank Hardy figured out the first Funspot mystery and are up to their necks in this one, too. Daisy doesn’t seem to have an enemy in the world; no one has a bad word to say about her. So who in Bayport wants this girl gone? Plot summary for "Balloon Blow-Up" announced. For Sale
The Green Crawler is one of the coolest superheroes around, and Frank and Joe are some of his biggest fans. And thanks to a contest, the Hardy boys get to be two of the handlers for the new Green Crawler balloon in the annual Fall Festival parade in Bayport!
But the day before the parade, disaster strikes: someone has ripped the Green Crawler balloon! The people in charge think Joe did it—and the Hardys need to clear his name fast. Was it Bayport bully Adam Ackerman, who was green with envy that the Hardys won the contest? Or could the culprits be loyal fans of Nutty the Squirrel, the cartoon character whom the Green Crawler replaced? And Mo Mantis, the Green Crawler’s archenemy, has a few tricks of his own…
Can the brothers figure out who tried to ground the Green Crawler? Or will Joe and Frank be watching the parade from the sidelines this year? The Spotlite Book this month is Volume 42, “The Viking Symbol Mystery”.

April 2013 Update

The Spotlite Book this month is Volume 39, "The Mystery of the Chinese Junk".

Amazon.com is now offering many of the Digests for their Kindle reader.

The Paperbacks section of the Hardy Boys Unofficial Home Page has been newly updated with scans and plot summaries.

March 2013 Update

Cover art for Hardy Boys Adventures #3 "The Vanishing Game" released.
FOR SALE: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle The Spotlite Book this month is Volume 59 “Night Of The Werewolf”.

February 2013 Update

The Spotlite Book this month is volume 38 The Mystery at Devil's Paw.

The new Hardy Boys Adventures series kicks off this month!

1: Secret of the Red Arrow
FOR SALE: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle

2: Mystery of the Phantom Heist
FOR SALE: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle

A new Hardy Boys Adventure has been announced for an October 2013 release:
4: Into Thin Air
FOR SALE: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle

A new Secret Files has been announced for a December 2013 release: Balloon Blow-Up (#13)

January 2013 Update

The Spotlite Book for January is 53: "The Clue Of The Hissing Serpent"
 

Details released for Hardy Boys Adventures #3 The Vanishing Game
FOR SALE: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle
A thrilling amusement park ride turns diabolically deadly in this Hardy Brothers adventure—a fresh approach to a classic series.
Joe and Frank Hardy are attending the season’s opening night at Funspot, a local amusement park that’s been declining for years, but that recently got new owners and a facelift. Their friend Daisy’s family has everything riding on Funspot’s success: If the revamped park is a failure, her family will be broke! At first, an exhilarating new attraction is a huge hit—but when one of the riders disappears into thin air, fun and games turns into spine-tingling danger. Will the Hardy Brothers find the missing rider and restore Funspot’s reputation, or is the amusement park doomed for disaster?

Review of the OT Cabin Island

The Mystery Of Cabin Island
#8 in the series - 1929 - Written by Leslie McFarlane
It's Christmas time in Bayport and the Boys and their chums are enjoying themselves iceboating out on Barmet Bay. They decide to explore lonely Cabin Island but are chased away by a surly stranger (Hanliegh). On the way back, they nearly come to ruin in an accident with another iceboat manned by Tad Carson and Ike Nash, a pair of obnoxious bullies.
Heading home from this near disaster, they find a message from Elroy Jefferson (who's car they recovered in The Shore Road Mystery). They head over to Jefferson's posh digs to collect a reward and obtain permission to camp out on Jefferson's Cabin Island retreat over the Christmas school holiday.
The Boys along with Chet and Biff head out to the island on their iceboats and have an unpleasant encounter with Ike and Tad, who are in cahoots with Hanliegh. They chase Hanliegh off the island and settle in for some rousing winter adventures.
Soon, they find their supplies stolen and head to the nearest town to get more from elderly storekeeper, Amos Grice, and, incidentally, discover from him that Jefferson had a valuable stamp collection stolen many years ago.
Back at the island, they have more adventures, discover a notebook dropped by Hanliegh indicating that the stolen stamps are hidden in the chimney of the cabin. They make a search and, surprise, find nothing.
Later, during a howling blizzard, they are forced to rescue Hanliegh who has come to grief in an iceboat accident. The storm increases in intensity, finally blowing down the chimney of the old cabin. Searching through the rubble, the Boys discover the stamp collection which miraculously has escaped any damage whatsoever despite being walled into a chimney over a huge fireplace for more than twenty years. They return the stamps to Jefferson and pick up yet another reward and Jefferson's offer to let them use his Cabin Island retreat any time they want.
Comments: This tale appears on almost everyone's list of favorite Hardy Boys stories and with good reason. The story is well written and paced and the prose is charmingly evocative and descriptive. One can almost picture oneself ice-boating and camping along with the Boys and their chums.
The mystery is, as usual, solved pretty much by dumb luck (aided by the infamous foul weather that seems to plague Bayport) but this doesn't take away from the excitement and mystery presented here.
The action is not too far removed from that which a teenage detective could accomplish. The villians are bad but not too bad and the mystery not too difficult to solve.
As in a few other of the earlier stories, the Boys arm themselves in this book (this time with rifles) and, although they threaten to use them, no shootings take place (except for a hapless fox who meets his demise in a totally extraneous sequence.)
Apparently the accident with the iceboat shook up Frank more than he cared to admit because the suggestion to go camping had to be made twice to him! When the suggestion was made the second time, Frank acts like he never heard of such a thing before - oh well!
I'm glad to note that, for once, the Boys' chums got a share of the reward but sadly there was no lip-smacking feast to cap off the Boys triumph in this case!
The revised version of this story by Andrew Svenson sticks close to the plot of the original and although the charm of McFarlane's prose is completely lost, it still ranks among the best of the revisions.
Rating: A+

December 2012 Update

The Spotlite Book this month is the revised text of "The Mystery of Cabin Island"

Hardy Boys TV Show Season 3

Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries Season 3
The final season made to to DVD!
This title will be released on February 12, 2013

November 2012 Update

The November Spotlite Book is "The Secret of Pirate's Hill".

Secret Files #12 has been announced for an August 2013 release: Lights, Camera . . . Zombies!

Hardy Boys Adventures #3: The Vanishing Game has been announced for a June 2013 release.
FOR SALE: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle
No details yet.

October 2012 Update

The Spotlite Book this month is Vol. 55, "The Witchmaster's Key".

No new Hardy Boys releases were announced.

September 2011 Update

The Spotlite Book this month is Vol. 28, "The Sign of the Crooked Arrow"

August 2012 Update

The Spotlite book for August is The Masked Monkey.

July 2012 Update

The Spotlite Book for July is volume 57, "The Firebird Rocket".

FS: Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers books
I'm getting rid of my own Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers books.
I have the first 28 volumes, most, if not all, of them are first printings.
I also have the first 11 graphic novels in hardcover and the first 18 graphic novels in paperback.
All are in excellent, like-new condition.
Prices:
UB Novels and graphic novel PBs are $4.75 each
Hardcover Graphic novels are $10.75 each
I also have 2 Gift Sets (vols 1-4 $15, vols 1-8 $30)
Postage: $3.50 for the 1st 3 books, 35¢ for each additional book.
Contact me if interested: fwdixon@yahoo.com
I'll sell the whole shebang for $375 with free postage!

June 2012 Update

THE HARDY BOYS ADVENTURES
A new series of books replacing the Undercover Brothers Series starting in 2013.
1: Secret of the Red Arrow - 2/13
FOR SALE: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle
2: Masked Mayhem - 2/13
FOR SALE: Paperback - Hardcover - Kindle

SECRET FILES
10: A Rockin' Mystery - 10/12 For Sale
Frank and Joe are thrilled to learn that the popular band, Crush, is scheduled to perform in Bayport’s huge Battle of the Bands—and even more excited when they find out that their friend’s brother, Dylan, is the bass guitarist. But on the day of the performance, Dylan’s prized guitar has gone missing!
Could someone from a rival band have taken it in hopes of gaining an advantage? Or could the culprit be someone closer to home? It’s up to Frank and Joe to investigate this rocking mystery—or else Crush might be crushed in the competition!
11: Robot Rumble - 02/13 For Sale
No information yet.

The Spotlite Book for June is Volume 26 "The Phantom Freighter".

Paul Mular reports that the graphic novels are going out of print.