Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers #31-33: The Killer Mystery Trilogy

The Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers Killer Mystery Trilogy consists of the following titles.

#31 Killer Mission
#32 Private Killer
#33 Killer Connections

In #31 Killer Mission, Frank and Joe go undercover at a private school.  Frank is posing as a student, and Joe is the new dog handler.  Several staff members and students have met with accidents, and influential parents want answers.  Frank and Joe must discover the truth behind the accidents.

I was happy as I began this book, since the plot does not have the gimmicks of the previous trilogy.  The book is very good at first, but the story quickly becomes boring as it devolves into nonstop discussion of the sabotage and possible saboteurs.

The book ends as usual with the discovery of a culprit who is not the only culprit.

In #32 Killer Mission, Frank and Joe have concluded that the sabotage centers around members of the Gamma Theta Theta fraternity.

On page 90, Frank considers that they "might be after multiple suspects."  No kidding!  Of course there are multiple suspects!  Every trilogy has at least three culprits.

In #33 Killer Connections, Frank and Joe investigate more sabotage at the school.

On page 141, a certain character knows something about a crime that Frank and Joe have kept secret from everybody.

The boys do not immediately realize that this person is responsible.  Once again a trilogy author insults readers by making Frank and Joe ignore the obvious.

I guessed the culprit in the first book.  In every trilogy so far, I have guessed the final culprit during the first story.  The culprit becomes fairly obvious during the later part of this book, especially after page 141, but the boys never suspect this person.  The culprit is revealed just a few pages before the end of the story.

This book is very good, while the other two books in the trilogy are just good.  This book would have made an excellent stand-alone book.