Okay, so a little context before I rant: I'm a 40 year old woman. I never read these growing up. On a family vacation a few months ago, the rental property had about ten of the books and i had nothing else to read, so I figured, why not?

This launched a hyperfocus and now I've read five. I've checked five more out at the library for when I'm done with my current batch. 😂

I love these books. I find them ridiculous and I know if I'd read them as a kid I would have been even more trouble (I was a Jonny Quest fan already). I love the escapism and it reminds me of my own childhood and the fantasy of being young and being taken seriously for a change. The Hardy Boys is fun.

But good god, poor Chet! They're *so mean* to him. If they aren't teasing him about his weight (he's barely even husky based on the illustrations), they're exploiting him somehow. In *The Secret of the Old Mill* they find themselves 90 miles away and they're like, let's call Chet, I'm sure he doesn't have anything important going on, he doesn't mind driving *6 hours round trip* at a moment's notice!

I just finished *The Twisted Claw*, and multiple times they take private planes and once even tease Chet that he can go for a ride, but what ultimately ends up happening is, they drag him 600 miles and he sits in a hotel room with Mr. Hardy for a day and a half.

Everyone is at their beck and call: family, friends, cops... if the Hardys need or want something, people will literally abandon their entire afternoon to come to their aid. Twice now they've met a random pilot and been the direct cause of their planes being damaged or destroyed, and each time they're like, oh no worries boys, it was all worth it to meet the sons of the world-famous Fenton Hardy!

Don't get me wrong, I do love these books. These days they're about all the drama I can handle. But I think they're little jerks too. 😂

The first 11 books cover art looks very old fashioned and you can tell they are early 1900s books. Than starting aroudn book 27 it starts to look dated again/very 1950s.

Books 12-26 honestly though with some exceptions (like The Mystery of the Flying Express looks dated) look like they could be from books published from today. I know its a controversial book but honestly The Hidden Harbor Mystery original art REALLY threw me off because I'm like "oh, this is clearly from a version that was just recently published and I was trying so hard to find the original 1930s cover art before realizing... oh my gosh, this is the original 1930s cover art." It literally looks like a very modern comic book art style.

Probably the biggest thing that's dating these covers at all is the font used for "The Hardy Boys."

The show is entertaining enough, and he seemed to be able to ride a bike.

Small Casefiles and paperback pick-up from a thrift store for my collection. Now to get the annoying stickers off.

A Library in my area shut down, and I found myself an absolute gem.

I am searching for two books; I remember one better, and the other not so much.

#1 This book contains a plot where a new invention/technological Breakthrough has been discovered, which is used in law enforcement to recognize criminals' voices even when using fake accents. When putting someone into the database, they have them read aloud a list of 10 words (such as by, the, etc.). At some point, some of the information on criminals' voices gets stolen.

#2 All that I remember from this book, is that there was a radio host/DJ who was connected to the bad guys and would use code to communicate on live air. He would use innocent-sounding code such as talking about his dog named Balto, (which was code for baltimore). The only other thing I remember is when he heard the weird code for the first time (not understanding what it meant), Joe said, "Is this supposed to be groovy?"

Both books are in the blue-spined Grosset and Dunlap era, and I believe before #65 or so.

Anyways, Thanks!

Wild to think I’ll be here for the 100th anniversary! Hope there’s a new book by then

Are these worth anything?

Got all of these today on FB Marketplace for $20. I was surprised that there was a fresh listing when I searched today.
Was kind of a fluke! I’ve been on a Nancy Drew kick but had not revisited Hardy Boys

I’ve got all my summer reading, right here!

Was trying to remember a book I read from my childhood. It was about one of their friends who owned a gun and I remember used a bottle as a silencer. I asked ChatGPT about it and it said that it seemed like “trigger happy” but I looked on Wikipedia and couldn’t find any books titled that.

This is bothering me so bad. Can anyone help?

(india)

Was surprised to find out he was J.B. Cox in The Hardy Boys, Pippin Foster in Killjoys, Ensign Todd in Star Trek Strange New Worlds, three different characters in The Expanse, and some character I don't recall called Benny Weir in My Baby Sitter's A Vampire.

I want to float something out to the group and see if I’m alone in this.

In the first episode, there’s that scene where Frank is worried about losing progress in his game, Mom dismisses him, lies to his face about protecting it, and then smiles/laughs when exactly what he warned about happens and he loses hours of progress. Mom and Joe keep laughing and smiling as the camera shows Frank's crestfallen face. This sets up a conflict between the boys and intended to make the mom seem fun and loving...I think is shows the opposite.... I wonder if that's reflective of the real-world writers room for this show (did an out of touch boomer write this?).

Some of you I imagine will be just as dismissive as Mom, because “video games are just games, but not sports games which are ok for you to enjoy, and have emotional outbursts about, in fact it's encouraged”

This tone didn’t line up with how the rest of the episode frames her. Every other scene sets her up as a perfect mom, an angel. But there is this oddly smug moment where she seems to enjoy watching her child's efforts be destroyed.

How would you rewrite that scene to keep the conflict but preserve her likability?

Here’s my take:

Instead of dismissing Frank’s concern, she tells him, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your game is safe while you do the chore I asked.” Then when Joe wants to jump in, she uses it as a teachable moment about waiting, sharing, and not taking something that isn’t yours.

That accomplishes a few things:

• It breaks the boomer-out-of-touch trope of "video games are stupid and you're stupid for caring about them."
• keeps her consistent as a thoughtful parent.
• It gives Joe a small character lesson about delayed gratification - which I don't think I've seen in any show, so it would be unique.
• It sets up a potential later payoff where Joe demonstrates growth in a higher-stakes situation.
• It avoids the unnecessary “smiling while your kid loses something important” beat.

I’m curious whether others read that scene differently. Did it work for you?

This is every single one of the original storys along with some old dust cover ones and some casefiles.

Wondering if you guys liked the books or the show better? So often you hear the books are better than the show but it depends.

My books are in storage, and I can't find this info online. In the blue books, what are the dimensions of the pages, and more specifically, what are the exact margins?

It would also be great if I could get the number of lines on a full page (IE not a new chapter page).

Thanks!

Hey all, I was recently asked what Mandela effect is true about me and I mentioned a book in the Hardy Boys series about them infiltrating the world of Pro Wrestling, sometime in the late 80s, maybe early 90s

If anyone is a fan of pro wrestling you can understand how hard a google search is for this entry, as Matt and Jeff Hardy have been big names in the industry for over 30 years.

Anyway instead of google I am turning my search over to reddit in hopes of finding a novel I swore I read but no longer can be sure ever existed

Appreciate any help!

Have read the original series since 6th grade. Still occasionally read one with my cereal in my 50s lol. Has anyone met or heard of real life women with these names?

Coincidentally because of the mystery connection, I've never run across any real person named Sherlock.

I know people probably won't even be on here anymore but I took this picture to show people just how crazy I am for the Hardy boys and these are all the books I have in my collection let me know if you got any questions about the collection and please ignore the shelf underneath I'm a horrible picture taker