Hardy Boys #62 Apeman's Secret, #63 Mummy Case, and #64 Smugglers Cove

In Hardy Boys #62, The Apeman's Secret, Frank and Joe help their father search for a missing girl who has joined a local cult.  Meanwhile, someone disguised as the Apeman is terrorizing local gatherings.

Apeman is a comic book character made into a hit television series.  By the description, it's obvious that the Apeman is the fictional equivalent of the Incredible Hulk.  The television network name in this book is FBS, and Hulk ran on CBS.  I tend not to like books quite as much when they copy reality but change the names.

On page 66, Frank receives a fake phone call while investigating at a gym.  I couldn't believe he fell for it.  As soon as Frank was called to the phone, I knew it was fake.  Nobody knew they were there!  The phone call had to have been faked by someone who was at the gym!

Even worse, on page 85, Joe declares that the phone call was not fake.  Joe thinks the phone call was real because Frank answered a phone that had an active line.  Frank has to explain to Joe that the person who faked the call could have had a friend call the gym. 

Chet's new hobby is drawing comic books.  He very quickly gets his comic purchased for publication.  I was incredulous until I decided that this was probably part of the mystery and that Chet was being used.  It fit along with something that had happened during the story.  At the end of the story, I realized that Chet's comic really is being published (!) when Chet becomes crestfallen that they are making the comic funny and not the way he intended.  It's not logical for a beginner to get published immediately.

While I enjoyed this story, I would rather have read a book about a different topic.

In Hardy Boys #63, The Mummy Case, Frank and Joe are hired to guard a mummy during its journey to Egypt via ship.

I enjoyed this book at the start, but I lost interest more and more the further I read.  I liked the museum part.  I partially liked the part where the boys stop the revolution, even though that was kind of random in the middle of the story.  The ship part was okay at first but not after the revolution interlude.  I did not like the part in Egypt and was bored.  I began skimming towards the end.

This book is below average.

In Hardy Boys #64, Mystery of Smugglers Cove, the Hardys are accused of stealing a valuable painting.  They must find the culprits and the painting in order to prove their innocence.  The case takes them to Florida, where they go undercover to flush out some smugglers—and hopefully, the stolen painting.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery.  I was interested from the first page, and the book maintained my interest.  The book does not have too many characters.  It was easy to keep track of everyone.

I was kept in suspense wondering about the identity of the Chief.  I thought I knew, and I was eager to see if I was correct.  I was.

This is an excellent book.