Hardy Boys #131 Flaming Sword, #132 Maximum Challenge, and #133 Crime in the Kennel

In Hardy Boys #131, Crusade of the Flaming Sword, Frank and Joe work undercover at a local medieval fair.  Someone is sabotaging the event.

I was strongly reminded of the Nancy Drew book, Crime in the Queen's Court, as I read this book, and that is not good.

The book bored me at first.  The text has way too much information about medieval times, medieval armor, and other historical aspects.  The story is blatant sabotage with no clear reason at first as to why.  Towards the end of the book when the motive becomes clear, the book finally becomes interesting.  I overall enjoyed the last part of the book.

In Hardy Boys #132, Maximum Challenge, Frank and Joe are on the Bayport team that is participating in a hit television competition show.  Frank and Joe notice a string of burglaries began right after the production arrived in town, and they soon have reason to believe that someone connected with the show is responsible for the robberies.

I enjoyed the early part of the book.  The middle part of the story is less interesting.  After the boys learn the identity of the cat burglar, the book gets very interesting.  I was not expecting the plot to play out the way it does.

I overall greatly enjoyed this story.

In Hardy Boys #133, Crime in the Kennel, Iola has been fired from her job at the Doghouse Pet Motel.  A collie has disappeared from the kennel, and the owner believes that Iola is responsible.  Frank and Joe take the case to prove that Iola is innocent.

Other dogs also disappear from around Bayport, so I already knew that this book would tie the thefts in with the possibility that the dogs are being stolen for research purposes.  This does turn out to be the motive.

Frank and Joe once again own their boat, The Sleuth, in this book.

The first half of the book is very good, and the second half is excellent.