Hardy Boys Revised Text #19 Disappearing Floor and #20 Flying Express

In the revised text of Hardy Boys #19, The Disappearing Floor, Frank and Joe are on the search for jewel thieves.  Soon, their search leads them to an old mansion in the woods that is said to be haunted.  The boys suspect that the criminals are hiding out in the mansion.  Later, they learn that an old professor is also staying at the mansion while perfecting his invention.

The science fiction aspects of the original text were mostly removed in this version and what remains is more believable. 

Clams Dagget is mentioned on page 105.  He originally appeared in The Mystery of the Chinese Junk, which was published four years before this revised text.  Both stories were written by James Lawrence.

The chase scene through the mansion was not annoying to me like the one in the original text.

The question and answer session at the end bored me, so I skimmed that part.  Otherwise, I enjoyed this story.  Since I did not like the second half of the original text, I probably enjoyed this version overall more.

In the revised text of Hardy Boys #20, Mystery of the Flying Express, the Hardys are asked to investigate who is trying to sabotage the Flying Express, a hydrofoil that will carry passengers in the waters near Bayport.  Meanwhile, Chet's new hobby is the zodiac, and he predicts the future of everyone he meets.  Coincidentally, the primary villain is also obsessed with the zodiac and uses it to decide how to proceed.

The book continually refers to the villains as "aqualantes."  Is this a real word? 

I greatly enjoyed most of this story, but I felt it got stupid towards the end.  One minor event in the book has to do with license plates found in a boathouse.  The plates have nothing to do with the mystery, but it is revealed at the end that the plates once belonged to Aunt Gertrude and somehow ended up in a boathouse to which the boys were taken as prisoners.  This is a ridiculously stupid and improbable coincidence.

I do not know which version of the text I enjoyed more.  I like both versions.