Hey guys! Yes, I am back once again with yet another Hardy Boys post. Can you tell I'm excited for the new show to start in 15 days? Lol. Today I'm going to be focusing solely on the books and why I like them so much. Because I didn't read a whole lot of The Hardy Boys Casefiles and I haven't read any of the more recent series like The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers I'm mostly going to focus on the original series and the continuation paperback Digest series that ran from 1979 until 2005, with the focus on the earlier books from 1979 to 1988. There are five things that I'll be touching on: the main characters, the supporting characters, the locations, the stories, and the writing in general.
Frank and Joe Hardy are some of the greatest characters that I have ever read in a book. They're likable, fairly smart, and relatable, especially in the original text versions from the '20s to the '50s. Though I didn't really think about when I was a kid, the Hardys are pretty wealthy in the revised text versions of the first 38 books in the series and the remaining 20. At least wealthy enough to afford to travel as often as Frank and Joe do for their cases. Especially in the later books written in the '70s when their cases take them away from Bayport more often than they kept them in Bayport. They're also so positive. Yes they're characters who were created in 1927 and then updated in 1959 and then not really updated in the novels to this day, even though they've gotten an overhaul in the more recent comics from Dynamite and a slight overhaul in the Casefiles series in the late '80s. As a result it honestly made me feel like I was with friends, while I sat in my bedroom, or in the basement, reading these books. Despite the fact that I was reading them in the '90s and they were written in the '20s through the '70s. Which is actually the appeal of the series for me.
The supporting characters are the same to varying degrees. Fenton and Laura Hardy, Frank and Joe's parents, are so supportive of the boys's career as detectives. At least in the revised text from the '50s through to the '70s. In the original text versions from the '20s to the '50s they want Frank and Joe to be lawyers or doctors, but understand that the boys want to follow their father as detectives. Aunt Gertrude is probably my favourite of the boys's relatives. Especially in the original text versions of the late '20s and early '30s when she would be a visitor and wasn't actually living with the Hardys as she has since 1962 in the revised version of The Secret of the Old Mill, the third volume in the series. Even in the more recent series, like Undercover Brothers, Aunt Gertrude lives with the Hardys.
Frank and Joe's friends are pretty great too. Chet Morton and Biff Hooper seem to make the most appearances as they tend to accompany Frank and Joe when their cases take them out of Bayport. Tony Prito also helps them out because he has his own motorboat, though Tony's appearances start dwindling by the time the Hardy boys get their own motorboat, the Sleuth, in the third book. Phil Cohen is only memorable because he was a suspect in the Digest series in the last Hardy Boys book I got, The Serpent's Tooth Mystery. Jerry Gilroy and Perry Robinson sort of just fade into the background and then are gone altogether by Book #58 The Sting of the Scorpion. Same kind of goes for Joe's girlfriend, who also happens to be Chet's sister, Iola Morton. She's there, but even from the very first book of the series, The Tower Treasure, Frank's girlfriend, Callie Shaw has more of an appearance throughout the series. Though by the time Undercover Brothers started, the two girls were written out entirely, aside from a cameo and a mention. While we know that Frank and Joe are 15 and 16 in the original text version and 17 and 18 in the revised text version, we don't really know the age of Chet and the other teens. Which is interesting, but obviously not necessary for us to know as readers.
Chet is probably my favourite of the guys. I don't know why, probably because despite his aversion to danger, he's the most loyal of all of Frank and Joe's friends and always helps them out when they need him. Of course, he also tends to be the source of many of their mysteries because of the trouble he often gets himself into. None of my friends are like Chet, so unlike most fiction where I can pinpoint characters who remind me of a friend of mine, I don't have that with this series. Callie is my favourite of the two girls, mainly because she appears more often than Iola seems to, though the earlier books do have Iola making at least one appearance in every book.
The Bayport Police Department is kind of in and out as the franchise goes on, with Chief Collig appearing in pretty much every incarnation, including all of the TV show and comic book versions that have come out over the years. Depending on the era, Collig and the Bayport Police Department is either antagonistic towards the Hardys, Fenton included, or friendly towards them. Con Riley, the desk sergeant, is usually friendly with Frank and Joe. There was a detective in the first several novels, named Oscar Smuff, but he was written out of the series by the tenth or eleventh book.
The city of Bayport and it's surrounding area is probably one of the most real fictional locations for me. Probably because the detail that the authors of the series have put into it is astonishing. Though the early books did tend to contradict each other when it comes to the location of certain places. For example, the boathouse where the Sleuth is kept, is generally located on the Shore Road, which winds across Barmet Bay. However in one of the early books, the boathouse is located down the street from the Hardy home. The Morton farm is pretty much in the same place, as is the Shore Road, Willow River Drive and Downtown Bayport is pretty much the same throughout the franchise. And because of this detail, Bayport felt like a real city to me, as if I could take a drive there myself.
The stories themselves are pretty enjoyable. Some mysteries are better than others, but none of them feel formulaic, even though they do follow a formula. With variations of course. Sometimes the Hardys stumble onto the mystery, other times Fenton gives them their assignment, and sometimes they're hired by someone. But they always find themselves in a mystery by the end of the first chapter of a book. There are also moments of downtime too during a case, especially if the case keeps them in Bayport. There's usually a chapter, mostly in the early books, where the Hardys do something fun with their friends or they're at school or doing something with their family that isn't case related. Which is kind of nice, because it shows that the boys aren't completely obsessed with being detectives and can relax outside of that. Though it becomes less that way in more recent Hardy Boys series.
I feel that the writing of these books is handled pretty well. Unlike modern books for teens and young adults, there's no unnecessary drama in The Hardy Boys. The drama is created through the situations the Hardys find themselves in rather than through conflict with each other or their friends and family around them. In the revised text editions anyway. In the original text editions, the Hardys were constantly at odds with the police just because their detective skills make the police look bad. But this doesn't create as much drama as it would in the Casefiles series in the late '80s and early '90s. Even with the number of writers on this series, the characters always felt the same. They always felt like the Hardy Boys, their friends, and their family. Which is something comics have never quite been able to pull off with most of the long running characters, except for Archie and the gang from Riverdale. And the writing has stayed consistently good over 58 books despite the change in writers and updates to the characters and other elements that changed between the original text editions and the revised text editions.
And those are the five reasons why I like The Hardy Boys. Along with Animorphs and Bruno & Boots, The Hardy Boys was my favourite book series when I was a kid. In fact it actually tied with Animorphs for the series I had the most books from. Between the original text editions I had and the revised text editions I had, I was maybe missing nine of the 58 books in the entire original series of The Hardy Boys. I only had four books in the Digest series, and six in the Casefiles series as well, between two compilations.
That's gonna it for me for tonight folks. I'll be back on Sunday with the next movie review that I have in mind. That's pretty much going to be the new night for me watching movies since The Mandalorian is on Fridays for the next few weeks and The Hardy Boys (2020 TV series) will be starting in two weeks as well. I want to continue with the Disney reviews and the family friendly reviews, so those days are out too when it comes to other movie reviews. I also have shows on on Wednesday and Thursday nights as well. Alright guys, have a good one.
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