Hardy Boys Adventures #25 The Smuggler's Legacy

The Hardy Boys travel to New York City with the Bayport High History Club to visit museums and historical sites over a four-day weekend.  The club's first stop is the New York City Prohibition Museum, housed at the original site of the Gilded Top Hat speakeasy.  The speakeasy was run by two brothers, Sal and Gino Facchini, whose descendants still run the grocery store that hid the entrance to the speakeasy.

Frank stumbles upon some documents in a hidden compartment in the wall of a tunnel under the museum.  The boys learn that the Facchini brothers didn't own the speakeasy, and someone wants this information kept secret.  The boys and the museum are threatened, and the boys search for answers.

I read Nancy Drew Diaries #24 Captain Stone's Revenge back in January.  I decided to wait until after I had read the latest Hardy Boys Adventures book before publishing that review.  I wanted to see how the new titles compare.

After not enjoying Captain Stone's Revenge, I wondered if I was the problem.  A few other fans said that the book was good.  Was I the problem?  Have I been expecting too much of S&S?  It must be hard thinking up plot ideas that are not sabotage.  

I had forgotten about the new Hardy Boys book until this week, due to distractions mentioned in my recent posts.  On Monday evening, I realized that I hadn't read the new book, so I purchased it. 

If I was the problem, then I definitely would not enjoy this book since I had a bad attitude from the onset.  I began reading, certain that I was going to be bored out of my mind.

I found that the book was pleasant reading and better than the extreme boredom that I felt during every page of Captain Stone's Revenge.  Even though I liked the beginning of the book, I felt certain that it would go downhill.  The book continued to hold my interest, and I found that I cared about the plot.  Huh.  Perhaps I'm not the problem.

This is an excellent book, and I loved it!  This is what I want when I read Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books.  My goodness, why can't more of the books be like this?  S&S has an entire year to create each new book.  It shouldn't be this hard to get a good one.

Is the story completely original?  Of course not.  It's standard Hardy Boys fare, but that is exactly what we want.  Best of all, this book is not sabotage.  The story never mentions sabotage.  Splendid!

I like how the story blends fact and fiction.  Some historical figures are mentioned during the boys' research, but their stories are blended with fictional content.  This is a large part of why the story is so engaging; it feels real.  I was intrigued by the story of the speakeasy and the different people who might have been involved in running it.

The humor is great in the better Hardy Boys Adventure books.  Early in this book, Joe goes to the vending machine and gets a lot of stuff.  It is referred to as the "leaning tower of snackage."  I love that statement.  The Nancy Drew books can't manage anything like that.  The humor in them tends to be poking fun at Nancy or having her go to the restroom.

This story contains multiple warning notes, including one affixed to a brick that was thrown through a window.  This is an example of standard Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys fare.  We need more warning notes and bricks.  We demand them!

The first-person narrative is a downside to these books.  I've been okay with it, but after I finished Captain Stone's Revenge, I decided that I don't like the first-person narration.  It weakens Nancy Drew's character.  With the Hardy Boys, it doesn't weaken them, since we see one of the two names constantly no matter which brother is narrating.

The first-person narrative is still problematic in the Hardy Boys series because the books have two narrators who constantly switch.  I continually forget which brother is narrating, so it is confusing.  The Hardy Boys series needs third-person narration.

Now I will mention a few quibbles I have with the book.  The curator's office is said to have fluorescent lighting.  Fluorescent lights have nearly as much radiation as direct sunlight, so this is a terrible choice for a museum and would be illogical.

On page 61, Charlene says that she's going to ask the librarian for "microfiche of newspapers from the twenties about the raid."  For older readers, we know that the writer is referring to the 1920s as the twenties.  That's what the twenties has always meant.

Let's not forget that we are in the twenties, approaching halfway through in fact.  Young readers, who are the target audience, could very well be confused by the reference.

I dislike the tendency of these books to bring in references to politics.  A political candidate's message includes the phrase "pulled themselves up by the bootstraps."  That phrase is used often in modern politics, sometimes as a statement by candidates and sometimes while poking fun at the opposing party.  My problem is that this pulls me out of the story.  I don't want that.

This is the best entry in the Hardy Boys Adventure series since #16 Stolen Identity.  Try this book if you want to sample a modern Hardy Boys book.

Hardy Boys Adventures #22 Trouble Island, #23 Mayhem Express, and #24 As the Falcon Flies

Early in the run of the Hardy Boys Adventures and Nancy Drew Diaries series, I found the Hardy Boys books to be vastly superior to the Nancy Drew books.  I no longer feel that way.  The Hardy Boys books now tend to bore me.  Part of the problem is the first-person narrative.  I have trouble telling which brother is the narrator.  I get confused, but even more importantly, I don't care which one is narrating.  I find the text to be uninteresting.

Hardy Boys Adventures #22 Trouble Island annoyed me.  All I could think about the entire time I was reading it was that I didn't know which race a certain boy was.  It bothered me a lot, all because the ghostwriter chose to be vague.  I shared the following in my post about the books I read in 2021.

I did not like the Hardy Boys Adventures book at all.  Since I couldn't be bothered to write a review, I'll say it here.  The ghostwriter tried to telegraph a certain boy's race to the reader by being as vague as possible.  This is what I wrote while I was reading the book:  "I am really annoyed that the son has medium brown skin but I don't know which race.  His hair can be tucked behind his ear.  What am I supposed to visualize?  It's an epic fail when I have no idea.  I decided just to picture a white kid who is really tanned."

I know how bad that sounds, which is why I included it here.  I actually have grown to enjoy diversity in books and media, and I enjoy learning about people who are different from me.  I love the diversity of the Nancy Drew television series on The CW.  I shouldn't have to do mental gymnastics while reading a book to figure out the characteristics of diverse characters.  Attempting to picture the kid as white was what enabled me to cope.  Even so, I was bothered the entire time I was reading, because I knew that he wasn't white.  Also, (SPOILER ALERT) the kid with the medium brown skin is the culprit.  

 

The kid being the culprit was also irritating.  The ghostwriter chose to be vague about the one and only potentially diverse character, and then made that person the culprit.  I was highly annoyed when I finished the book.  I felt like the vagueness drew more attention to the character than if the character's race had been explicitly stated.  Making that same character the culprit drew even more attention to it.

I also didn't enjoy Hardy Boys Adventures #23 Mystery on the Mayhem Express that much.  As I look at the notes I made, I realize that the Hardy Boys Adventures are now more like the Nancy Drew Diaries books were.  Hmm.  On page 35 of this title, the book has a bathroom joke.  How very earlier-title Nancy Drew Diaries-ish. 

Mayhem Express does have some Easter eggs referring to the older Hardy Boys books plus a reference to the Nancy Drew game Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon.

Earlier this month I read Hardy Boys Adventures #24 As the Falcon Flies.  I enjoyed it marginally more than the previous two Hardy Boys Adventures books, but still not that much.  I find that something is missing from these books that the earlier titles had. 

I do have to consider that a large part of this is just me.  I'm having trouble reading most all books at this time, so I may not be in the right frame of mind to enjoy these books.  On the other hand, I feel like something has changed.

Hardy Boys Adventures #21 A Treacherous Tide

I never reviewed Hardy Boys Adventures #20, Return to Black Bear Mountain.  The book bored me, and it wasn't worth trying to write up any kind of summary.  I guessed the culprits very early in the books, because it was that obvious.  I'm not sure how early I guessed, but it had to have been in the first two to three chapters.  The entire book bored me, and I never cared.  I recall skimming some of the book.

In Hardy Boys Adventures #21, A Treacherous Tide, Frank and Joe have volunteered to work on a research vessel in the Florida Keys.  Dr. E. Ella Edwards studies sharks, and the boys are eager to work with her.  Their plans take a sudden turn when Dr. Edwards disappears.  She was on her surfboard, which washes ashore damaged by a shark's bite.  The plot thickens when the boys learn that Dr. Edwards was to be the deciding vote on whether a resort can be built on Lookout Key.

Mayor Boothby is an interesting politician.  He is described as follows on page 101.

I was starting to suspect that Boothby was on the level with us about being a pawn in the blackmailer's schemes.  One thing I'd noticed about Mayor Boothby:  he wasn't so much a convincing liar as an enthusiastic one.  Some people are so great at deception, you never notice anything amiss.  Boothby wasn't one of them.  He sold his lies with bombastic stories and a knack for reading a crowd and knowing what they wanted to hear.  It's a lot easier for people to believe a lie if it confirms something they're already worried about—like sharks making them unsafe.  The guy was a showman.  Subtle wasn't his style.

That made me laugh.

This is a very good book that has humor and is paced well.  Humor is very important and tends to be done right in the new Hardy Boys and Tom Swift books.  It is in the Nancy Drew Diaries series that Nancy is used as the butt of a joke to order to create humor.  The way the humor is done in a story makes all the difference.

This is a very good book.

Hardy Boys Adventures #18 The Disappearance and #19 Dungeons and Detectives

In Hardy Boys Adventures #18, The Disappearance, Frank and Joe attend a comic book convention with Jones and her friend, Harper.  After the convention, the young people enjoy pizza in Harper's apartment.  After the Hardys and Jones leave, Jones realizes that she has Harper's phone instead of her own.  When the boys return to Harper's apartment, they find it ransacked and Harper missing.

I kept confusing the characters as I read this story.  The characters might have been introduced too quickly, which often causes confusion.  Additionally, online chat names are given, which is more information than I needed.

I forgot to write a review of this book early this year, so I cannot remember exactly what I thought of it.  I do recall that I enjoyed it but not as much as other Hardy Boys Adventures books.

In Hardy Boys Adventures #19, Dungeons and Detectives, Sir Robert's Comic Kingdom has become a popular hangout for RPG fans, who especially love playing Sabers and Serpents, which is similar to Dungeons and Dragons.  Sir Robert plans to have a massive Halloween party to unveil the contents of a rare comic book that he owns, but the comic book is stolen!  The boys must find the culprit and locate the comic book.

On page 105, Charm from the Story Thieves series is mentioned.  It's rather odd for an actual name to be mentioned from another series, since names are usually changed or just not mentioned.  In this case, mentioning the name promoted another Simon and Schuster series, so of course they would be okay with it.

Nancy Drew is mentioned on pages 106 and 107.  This is a cross-promotion tied to A Nancy Drew Christmas.

A "missing map" is mentioned several times.

The book is a bit slow for the first 40 to 45 pages, then it gets pretty interesting once the boys arrive at the old castle.  After that point, I feel that the book continues to drag at times.  I was partially not interested and wished that the plot would speed up.  My problem might have been that the focus of this story is on activities that are not of interest to me, like role-playing games. 

Too much of the last part of the story is taken up with a lengthy explanatory session about what happened with the comic book.  The lengthy explanatory session is much like the lengthy sessions from the later titles of the original Grosset and Dunlap Hardy Boys series.  The rest of the story also contains great detail, and quite frankly, it was too much for me.

Interestingly, a review on Amazon highly praises the book for being like the old Hardy Boys books.  That was exactly my problem.  I actually do not particularly care for a large number of the original 58 Hardy Boys books.  After reading that review, I decided that this book is much like those which is part of what turned me off.

If you are a big fan of the original Hardy Boys books and have never read a Hardy Boys Adventures book, then this is probably the one to try.  I found it partially boring, but the people who have reviewed it on Amazon really enjoyed it.  My opinion of Hardy Boys books tends to be the opposite of many Hardy Boys fans, so there you go.  I am not in the target audience, which makes it not surprising that my opinion differs.

While I was not thrilled with this book, I suspect that is a very good book for Hardy Boys fans.

Nancy Drew Diaries and Hardy Boys Adventures Double Editions

In March, special editions of Nancy Drew Diaries and Hardy Boys Adventures books showed up at Costco priced at $10.79 each.  The books are softcover with semi-rigid covers that are designed to resemble leather.  The books have excellent quality paper.  Each book contains two stories.  The books are very nice.  Just two books from each series were available.

Hardy Boys Adventures #17 The Gray Hunter's Revenge

In Hardy Boys Adventures #17, The Gray Hunter's Revenge, Joe's favorite writer, Nathan Foxwood, has died in a car accident.  Foxwood's house is said to be haunted by the Gray Hunter.  The boys are asked to investigate.

This story is not sabotage.  As I have mentioned before, most of the Hardy Boys Adventures books do not use sabotage while the Nancy Drew Diaries are stuck in an endless world of sabotage.

The boys attend Nathan Foxwood's estate sale at the start of the book.  One of the people running the sale explains in great detail how the sale will work, including the statement, "If you are interested in purchasing an item, simply pick it up and bring it down to this room to complete the sale."  Um, why would people need to be told that?  At estate sales, people get inside, quickly move around and find the good stuff, then they go to the person sitting at a table with a cash box.  What is there to explain?

I also found it amazing that all the customers obediently stand and listen to the speech instead of quickly grabbing the good stuff.  The author obviously doesn't go to estate sales.

Unlike the Nancy Drew Diaries series, the Hardy Boys Adventures series is steady and consistent.  The boys' personalities in this book match their personalities from previous books.  I really like the way they are portrayed.  The Hardys are not perfect, but the personality quirks do not take away from their ability or desire to solve mysteries. 

The ending did not surprise me at all, since I guessed it from early on.  However, that did not take away from my enjoyment of the book.  The book is suspenseful and very good.

Hardy Boys Adventures #16 Stolen Identity

In Hardy Boys Adventures #16, Stolen Identity, an original Sherlock Holmes manuscript is on display at the Bayport Museum.  Frank and Joe's friend, Hector, works at the museum.  Hector invites the Hardys to come see the manuscript after hours at the museum the night before the opening of the manuscript exhibit.  Frank discovers that some pages are loose, then he realizes that the pages are copies.  Someone has stolen pages from the manuscript!

Even worse, in the coming days, the actual stolen pages begin to reappear—planted among the brothers' personal possessions.  And someone is tipping off the police that the boys might have the pages.  Someone is trying to frame the brothers!  Frank and Joe are certain that the culprit is someone from a past case, but who?

After the disaster of Nancy Drew Diaries #16, The Haunting on Heliotrope Lane, I was a bit leery about reading this latest Hardy Boys Adventures book.  I read the first chapter.  Wow.  The boys are not scared, but they do realize that the acting police chief is out to get them.  The boys act like they are supposed to act, meaning normal, while Nancy Drew acts like she has been taken over by an alien in Heliotrope Lane.

Since at least 50 pages of The Haunting on Heliotrope Lane portray Nancy Drew in a negative fashion, I read carefully for anything that would portray Frank and Joe in a negative fashion.  There really isn't anything.  The acting police chief is not respectful to the boys, but she has a valid reason, which is a newspaper article that makes it sound like the boys solve mysteries that the police can't solve.  That certainly doesn't make the Hardys look bad; rather, it makes the police look bad and the Hardys look good.  I can see why the acting police chief doesn't like the brothers.

Frank and Joe don't jump around in fear, shake, panic, or feel their hearts flutter like Nancy Drew does in Heliotrope Lane.

Pee is seldom mentioned in the Hardy Boys Adventures, but it is a hallmark of the Nancy Drew Diaries series.  The book does mention pee on page 39, so the pee is beginning to seep out of the Nancy Drew Diaries series and into this one.

On page 76, Frank gets in a smirk at Joe.  "Smirk" is another word I track in the Nancy Drew Diaries series, simply because it annoys me.

In The Haunting on Heliotrope Lane, the book contains the following quote:  "That sounds funny.  It's like one of those old mystery stories—do you remember that series with the yellow covers, Geo—."  I commented that the remark pulled me out of the story, due to the oddness of it.  A Nancy Drew book should not be mentioning the old yellow Nancy Drew books.  In Nancy Drew's world, Nancy Drew is real.  The books about her would not exist in her world.  I could not appreciate the reference due to how bizarre it sounds.

I mention the quote from Heliotrope Lane because of the especially sly reference to Nancy Drew that appears in this latest Hardy Boys Adventures book.  The reference is so sly and clever that I missed it at first, then when I realized it, I made an exclamation of pleasure.  It thrilled me.  Everything that is executed poorly in the Nancy Drew Diaries series is done right in the Hardy Boys Adventures series.

I'm going to tell you what the sly reference is, so skip the next paragraph if you would rather have the pleasure of reading the book for yourself and discovering it on your own.

Frank and Joe ask some younger skateboarding boys to help them out on the case.  On page 63, the reader is introduced to Drew, who "flipped his auburn bangs away from his eyes."  That went right over my head until pages later when I realized that the name Drew is not just a first name but a surname known all too well to me.  I went back to page 63 and noticed the auburn hair.  I was delighted.

This Hardy Boys Adventures book is excellent and has the same tone of the early books in the series, which I love.  It also should be noted that the story is not sabotage, unless one wants to argue that the story is about sabotaging the Hardy Boys.  I consider the story to be creative revenge, not sabotage.

Now I have to get in my obligatory rant about the Nancy Drew Diaries series.

I knew as I read and enjoyed this latest Hardy Boys Adventures book that I would be very angry by the time I finished.  And so I am.  I am angry that Nancy Drew is being treated like an idiot and like an obnoxious child who is scared 100% of the time.  In contrast, the Hardy Boys are treated about the same as always.  They solve mysteries better than the police and don't get scared.  What else could we want?

On November 20, 2016, I wrote about gender inequality in the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series, particularly in the Nancy Drew Diaries as compared to the Hardy Boys Adventures.

Oddly, Simon and Schuster is giving all the creative plots to the Hardy Boys, and I can't figure out why, unless they want to destroy Nancy Drew.  Surely they don't, because that wouldn't make sense.

For whatever reason, Simon and Schuster is treating the two series in a sexist fashion and is slighting Nancy Drew as a result.

Volume 16 in each series shows how sexist the treatment of Nancy Drew is.  The Hardy Boys act just like always in volume 16 of their series, as in not scared to death, yet Nancy Drew is scared for most of volume 16 of her series.  So, Nancy Drew is being portrayed as a scared little girl who doesn't like solving mysteries, while the Hardy Boys truly are "hardy boys," who bravely solve dangerous mysteries.

In the quote I included from my previous blog, I stated that I did not understand why Nancy Drew is being treated so badly, "unless they want to destroy Nancy Drew."  With each Nancy Drew Diaries book I read, I more strongly believe just that.  I am now close to convincing myself that the person in charge of Nancy Drew at Simon and Schuster is seeking to destroy her out of some sort of vendetta.  If not that, then perhaps the person in charge of both series hates women and wants to destroy Nancy Drew for that reason.  I know I sound like a wingnut, but I fail to understand any logical reason why, in 2018 when females are supposed to be portrayed as strong, that Simon and Schuster is doing the exact opposite with the Nancy Drew franchise.

I plan to keep purchasing and reading the Hardy Boys Adventures.  Most of the books have been very good to excellent.  I greatly enjoy them.  I have given up all hope for the Nancy Drew Diaries series.  However, I will keep purchasing the Nancy Drew Diaries books, but only because I enjoy tearing each one apart here in this blog.

Hardy Boys Adventures #15 A Con Artist in Paris

In Hardy Boys Adventures #15, A Con Artist in Paris, Frank and Joe stay in Paris while Fenton Hardy attends the International Professional Association of Detectives (IPAD) convention.  The world's most expensive pen is stolen from the boys' hotel, and famous graffiti artist Le Stylo is suspected of being the culprit.  Frank and Joe aren't so sure, and they begin an investigation.

IPAD?  Seriously?  I knew as soon as I saw the abbreviation for the detective organization that I would not like this book very much.  It did not bode well, and my assumption about the story was correct.

This book is chock full of gimmicks just like the Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers series.  I strongly suspect that this story came from an unused manuscript for the Undercover Brothers series.

I did not like this book.  This book definitely ranks in the bottom two or three Hardy Boys Adventures books.  It's an okay story, but it reads like the Undercover Brothers series.

I now have reservations about the Hardy Boys Adventures series.  Previously, I stated that it is much better than the Nancy Drew Diaries series.  I now fear that the Hardy Boys Adventures series is going down in quality and will soon be a lost cause.  If Simon and Schuster can stay away from unused Undercover Brothers stories, there might be hope.  If not, then the series is doomed.

Hardy Boys Adventures #14 Attack of the Bayport Beast

In Hardy Boys Adventures #14, Attack of the Bayport Beast, Frank and Joe attend a cryptozoology convention in Bayport.  Comic shop owner Benny Williams is obsessed with the legendary Bayport Beast, which supposedly lives in the nearby forest.  He takes Frank, Joe, and their friend, Hector, on an expedition in the forest in search of the beast.  Frank is a skeptic and is shocked when he actually sees something.  The boys return on their own in search of the legendary creature.

I have mixed feelings about this book.  The book is pretty good overall, but it is weaker than some of the Hardy Boys Adventures books.  The book reminds me somewhat of the Nancy Drew Diaries series, which is not good.  I have this suspicion that a certain Nancy Drew Diaries author wrote this book.

This is because Frank and Joe finally start going to the restroom in this book.  They had managed to avoid that up to this point.  As I have previously written, at least one Nancy Drew Diaries author is obsessed about restroom needs.  In this book, either the Hardy Boys or someone else has to answer the "call of nature" on pages 17 and 72. Fortunately, this book is not stupid like some of the Nancy Drew Diaries books.

A strength in this series is how well Frank and Joe are depicted as having completely different personalities.  Frank is such a skeptic of the Bayport Beast while Joe is ready to believe in it.  The difference in personalities has been consistent through the entire set, and I love how distinctive the two boys are.

The culprit is pretty obvious in this story just like in the most recent Nancy Drew Diaries book.  I also guessed the truth about the Bayport Beast partway through the story.

While I like some of the earlier books in the series better, this is still a pretty strong story.  I enjoyed it.

Gender Inequality in the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Books

While reading the Hardy Boys Digest series, I realized that the modern Nancy Drew is constrained by her gender.  The Hardy Boys are allowed much more interesting adventures, since they are boys.  The Hardy Boys get to be truck drivers, volunteer firefighters, and tightrope walkers.  In one book, they even get to use machine guns and drive a tank.

Nancy Drew gets to investigate museum sabotage, fundraiser sabotage, zucchini smashing, any other lame sabotage that Simon and Schuster can create, and the occasional disappearance.  The Hardy Boys get lots of sabotage as well, but they also get all the more interesting types of sabotage stories.

This means that the modern Hardy Boys books have more varied adventures than the modern Nancy Drew books.  This is baffling, considering the trend in society towards gender equality.  For some inexplicable reason, Simon and Schuster is taking Nancy Drew in the opposite direction, choosing to keep Nancy Drew in a strict gender-defined role that limits her ability to sleuth while allowing the Hardy Boys to have exciting adventures.

In the early 1930s, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys received equal treatment.  In the early books, both series have the same kind of adventures.  The young people explore spooky places, are abducted, help those less fortunate than themselves, and bring criminals to justice.  The adventures are of the type that could be experienced by either gender.  The only difference is that the Hardy Boys' adventures are more physical, with them playing a few pranks and getting into some fights.  Otherwise, the early Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series are the same.

It's been said that Mildred Wirt Benson, author of the early Nancy Drew books, believed that the girls' series books published before the time of Nancy Drew were "namby-pamby." She wanted Nancy Drew to be better than that.  This resulted in Nancy Drew's adventures being almost just like the boys' series adventures of the time, which had previously not been the case with many girls' series books.  Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys had gender equality, or pretty close to it, during the 1930s.

Once the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series were sold to Simon and Schuster during the 1980s, the premise of Nancy Drew began to shift, gradually becoming more tame. In the Nancy Drew Digest series, Nancy is no longer allowed to have as interesting of adventures as the Hardy Boys.  That trend has continued all the way into 2016, and it has worsened.

The trend with Nancy Drew has been the exact reverse of society.  The modern Nancy Drew is no Katniss Everdeen or Tris Prior.  In 2016, Nancy Drew is instead "namby-pamby," which is exactly what Mildred Wirt Benson said of the girls' books from before the creation of Nancy Drew.

In the Nancy Drew Diaries books, Nancy and her friends speak of Nancy's interest in solving cases like it's a joke.  Nancy is forgetful and doesn't understand the Internet. Her friends think she needs a chaperone to keep her out of trouble.  Most importantly, Nancy spends her time waiting for things to happen and remarking about how she needs to get serious about solving the case.  The old Nancy Drew was never like that.

Why has Simon and Schuster done this to Nancy Drew?

Many Nancy Drew fans were quite upset about the premise of Nancy Drew Girl Detective.  Simon and Schuster must have received a large number of complaints. Collectors of the baby boomer generation have extremely strong opinions about what Nancy Drew should be.  Those people strongly denounced the Girl Detective series. They couldn't believe how Nancy Drew had been made forgetful and how her first case involved smashed zucchini.  They insisted that Nancy Drew needed to be exactly like the original Nancy Drew of 1930.

I wonder if Simon and Schuster misunderstood.  Is it possible that the folks at Simon and Schuster have never read an original text Nancy Drew book and have no idea what the stories are like?  Could they possibly think that Nancy Drew of the 1930s has lame adventures like the lame early series books that Mildred Wirt Benson hated?  Did they think that Nancy Drew was held back by her gender in the 1930s?

Simon and Schuster might have tried to make Nancy Drew more like old times, not realizing what a strong character she has always been.  They have turned Nancy Drew into an insipid character with boring, unimaginative stories that have an undercurrent of silliness that was never present in the original series or in the Nancy Drew Digest series.

As I previously wrote, the Hardy Boys Adventures contain imaginative stories, and strangely, the Hardy Boys Adventures have little physical action, which means that a few name changes could have easily turned any of the stories into excellent Nancy Drew books.  Oddly, Simon and Schuster is giving all the creative plots to the Hardy Boys, and I can't figure out why, unless they want to destroy Nancy Drew.  Surely they don't, because that wouldn't make sense.

For whatever reason, Simon and Schuster is treating the two series in a sexist fashion and is slighting Nancy Drew as a result.  One striking example came to me as I began reading the latest Hardy Boys Adventures book that features hazing.  The Hardy Boys had already investigated at least two previous hazing cases in the Digest and Undercover Brothers series, and I wondered why Nancy Drew has never investigated hazing.  I thought sarcastically, girls never haze each other.  Or at least, the people at Simon and Schuster must not think girls ever haze each other or must think it would be wrong to depict girls hazing each other.

I then had a hunch as I continued reading the Hardy Boys book, since the text was scattered with clues.  I was gleeful about the irony of my previous thoughts about girls and hazing when one of the hazing culprits turns out to be a girl.  Oh!  So then why does Nancy Drew not investigate hazing when girls are capable of hazing in the Hardy Boys series?

None of this makes sense to me.  Why is Simon and Schuster doing this to Nancy Drew?

While I have many complaints about the Nancy Drew Diaries series, only two truly matter.  First, the stories are bland, and almost all of them feature boring sabotage plots.  Second, Nancy Drew herself is bland, and she struggles to find a way to motivate herself into solving each mystery.  Correct these two problems, and the series will improve greatly.

Nancy Drew has lost her way.  Can she be saved?  I am losing hope.

Hardy Boys Adventures #13 Bound for Danger

In Hardy Boys Adventures #13, Bound for Danger, Principal Gerther tells Frank and Joe that they must join the basketball team because they need more extracurricular activities.  Both boys are puzzled, because they are terrible at basketball.  The players on the basketball team are quite unhappy, since Frank and Joe are not good enough to be on a team that hopes to play for the championship.  Later, Frank and Joe realize that they are supposed to be investigating hazing by team players.

The beginning of this story is much more interesting than the beginning of Nancy Drew Diaries #13, The Ghost of Grey Fox Inn.  I was intrigued from the first page.

This book has lots of great humor.  I laughed out loud a number of times throughout the book.  I did not laugh at all during the Nancy Drew Diaries book.  I was just bored and annoyed during that book.

One chapter is titled "Hack Attack."  This caught my attention, since one Hardy Boys Digest book features a game titled "Hack Attack."  Furthermore, this story reminds me a lot of several Hardy Boys Digest books which have plots centered at Bayport High School.  I tend to like those books.  For these reasons, I suspect that this book was written by one of the Hardy Boys Digest authors.

On page 89, Joe compares the situation to a "totally dystopian society."  Some parts of this series are like a dystopian society.

The following passage is narrated by Frank on page 97.

"And the people who made it through the hazing," I added, "have convinced themselves it was worth the struggle.  It's a psychological phenomenon called 'cognitive dissonance.'"

A brief shadow passed across Principal Gerther's face, like he had just remembered I was annoying.

That's how Frank is in this series, and I find it very funny.

The boys use Facebook to contact another boy in an attempt to gain information. Technology is used well in this series, and Frank and Joe often use the Internet to help them solve cases.  That's how it should be in a modern book set in 2016.

The promotional material for the Nancy Drew Diaries series indicates that Nancy Drew solves her cases without technology.  That sounds okay, except that Nancy doesn't understand the Internet in the second book, and... never mind.  I'll control myself. Nothing is wrong with using technology in modern books so long as it is used correctly and not in a fashion that makes the primary character look inept.  The Hardy Boys Adventures series uses modern technology effectively in a suspenseful setting.

This is an excellent book from beginning to end.

Comparing the Nancy Drew Diaries to the Hardy Boys Adventures

I have not been thrilled with the Nancy Drew Diaries series.  I purchased a set of remaindered Hardy Boys Adventures books in December.  I wanted to read them to see whether Simon and Schuster is treating the Hardy Boys as badly as Nancy Drew.  I had already commenced reading the original Hardy Boys series, #1-58, at that time.  I decided to read all of the Hardy Boys Digest series and Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers books so that I would know the entire history of the Hardy Boys and would be able to judge the Hardy Boys Adventures books accurately. Indeed, I read approximately 175 books solely to prepare for writing this post.

Let's start with the observations I made before reading any of the Hardy Boys Adventures books.

The target age printed on the books for both series is ages 8 through 12.  Since the books are aimed at the same age range, they should be presented in a similar fashion.

Nancy Drew is pictured very young on the Nancy Drew Diaries covers.  She is shown with so much detail that one cannot ignore how young she looks. The Hardy Boys are also young on the covers but are not shown close.  Since we cannot see the Hardy Boys well, their youth is not as striking.

The text size is different in the Nancy Drew Diaries and the Hardy Boys Adventures. Simon and Schuster has never made the text different sizes in the two series.  Then why do it now?  Perhaps the text is larger in the Nancy Drew books to make them seem more like diaries.  In fact, the text is in a fancy font, which makes one think of a diary.  It's also possible that the text is smaller in the Hardy Boys books so that the books require fewer pages and are less expensive to print.  This could be right if it is true that the Hardy Boys series has lower sales than Nancy Drew.  The text may also be smaller in the Hardy Boys books to make them appeal to older readers.

The difference in text size may be due to a combination of all reasons listed. Regardless, I feel that the larger print and younger-looking depiction on the covers result in Nancy Drew appearing to be aimed at a younger audience than the Hardy Boys.

Based on those observations and my distaste for the quality and tone of most of the Nancy Drew Diaries stories, my suspicion was that Nancy Drew is currently being treated worse than the Hardy Boys.

I read Nancy Drew Diaries #11 and #12 right after the Hardy Boys Undercover Brothers series and right before the Hardy Boys Adventures series.  I was favorably impressed with both books, feeling that both are an improvement over earlier books.  I was feeling good about the Nancy Drew Diaries series again.  My opinion about the Nancy Drew Diaries once again became negative after I read the Hardy Boys Adventures.

So what did I learn?

I noticed that all of the Hardy Boys Adventures books would work as Nancy Drew Diaries stories.  Most of them have very little action.  Almost every Nancy Drew Diaries book is sabotage, and several stories feature very boring sabotage plots.  Not as many Hardy Boys Adventures books are sabotage, and most of the sabotage books are creative sabotage that is engaging and interesting.  As a result, most of the Hardy Boys Adventures stories are better quality than the Nancy Drew Diaries stories.  Several Hardy Boys stories are extremely creative and suspenseful.  The better story ideas are being used for the Hardy Boys Adventures series.

Several of the Hardy Boys Adventures books read in a similar fashion to young adult dystopian fiction.  Perhaps the publisher thought that the content is too dark for Nancy Drew and more suitable for boys.  If true, that's a shame, since dystopian novels are quite popular today and are read by both boys and girls.  Those kinds of stories should not be limited to the Hardy Boys, when lots of girls read dystopian novels.

When I reviewed the Hardy Boys Digest series, I commented that Nancy Drew was held back by her gender in the Nancy Drew Digest series.  In the Nancy Drew Diaries series, Nancy Drew is once again held back by her gender since she is not allowed the same thrilling adventures as the Hardy Boys.  Exactly why is it that one of the two series gets less interesting stories in every new relaunch?  Why can't both series be given equally interesting stories?

Nancy Drew is portrayed in a juvenile fashion.  In Secret at Mystic Lake, Nancy thinks about the case, realizes that someone is talking to her, and tells herself, Oops.  I'd wandered off into sleuthyville there.  I guess it's kind of cute, but I don't want "cute" when I'm reading a Nancy Drew book.  Nancy is supposed to be focused, flawless, curious, and insightful when working on cases.  She does not visit "sleuthyville"!

Also juvenile is the fixation during two books on Nancy's restroom needs, letting the reader know every single time Nancy or another character needs to go to the restroom, and sometimes even devoting multiple pages to the experience.  Say what?

It seems to me that boys would be more likely to want to chuckle about restroom needs.  So the Hardy Boys must go to the restroom all the time in the Hardy Boys Adventures series, right?  Wrong.  The Hardy Boys don't go a single time.  Only three times in the Hardy Boys Adventures does some other character use the restroom, but each mention is brief rather than lengthy like in the Nancy Drew books.  Why are restroom needs mentioned excessively in two books of the Nancy Drew Diaries series?

Nancy Drew is also portrayed in a negative fashion.  Nancy forgets to charge her phone.  She leaves her wallet in a store.  She leaves the lunch basket at home.  She doesn't know how the Internet works.  Her friends smirk at her because she likes to solve mysteries.  When these imperfections are mentioned, they come across as unnecessary and as cheap jabs.

Chet smirks at Frank and Joe exactly one time in the Hardy Boys Adventures series. Bess and George either smirk at Nancy or make fun of her interest in solving cases on multiple occasions.  In one book, Bess and George suggest that Nancy needs a chaperone.  Frank and Joe don't receive this kind of disrespect from their friends.

Frank and Joe do not suffer from forgetfulness or a lack of knowledge about the Internet.  Frank is depicted as a nerd who spouts off information constantly.  While Frank's behavior is amusing, he doesn't look inept or stupid.  It is Nancy Drew who seems stupid at times, like when she doesn't know how the Internet works.

Frank and Joe annoy Chief Olaf because they solve cases before the police can, showing that Frank and Joe are astute detectives.  This is interesting, since this is the premise of the original Hardy Boys books from the late 1920s.  Why did Simon and Schuster return to the original Hardy Boys premise, yet keep Nancy Drew in the world of Girl Detective, which is a modern interpretation?  Fans want to see Nancy Drew return to the original premise where she is not forgetful.

The Hardy Boys Adventure books have well-developed recurring characters in Bayport, and some of them are enemies of the boys.  Bayport's history is explored, and we learn about an underworld culture.  The Hardy Boys Adventures books feature a city with a wonderfully interesting background.

In contrast, the Nancy Drew Diaries series has explored nothing about River Heights, and Nancy doesn't have any enemies.  The best part of the Nancy Drew Girl Detective series is how River Heights comes alive, and the series explores the history of River Heights.  Inexplicably, that best part of the premise of Girl Detective was abandoned, keeping the negative parts instead.  What were they thinking?  I'd like to see Mr. Safer, Charlie Adams, and Mrs. Mahoney again but this time paired with a Nancy Drew who isn't portrayed in a negative and juvenile fashion.  Is that asking too much?

The Hardy Boys Adventures series begins with two excellent stories that set up the series.  The best Simon and Schuster could do for Nancy Drew was turn what likely would have been an awful Girl Detective trilogy into the first two books, which are also not very good.

Let's go back to the target age of 8 through 12 for both series.  The Nancy Drew Diaries appear to be aimed at the low end of that range, probably at around ages 8 to 9.  The Hardy Boys Adventures appear to be aimed more at the high end of that range, around ages 11 through 12.  How very strange.

Now that I have read both series, I am once again dissatisfied with the Nancy Drew Diaries series.  I will continue purchasing the Diaries books, but I can't say that I am looking forward to reading the next one.  I will read it, but I have no anticipation of anything special or of even liking the story.

On the other hand, I eagerly await the next Hardy Boys Adventures book, because it is set in Bayport and may have more information about the underworld characters in Bayport.  That I am eager for the next Hardy Boys book and am indifferent about the next Nancy Drew book says it all, especially considering that Nancy Drew is my very favorite series while the Hardy Boys series is not in my top five.

Hardy Boys Adventures #11 Showdown at Widow Creek and #12 Madman of Black Bear Mountain

In Hardy Boys Adventures #11, Showdown at Widow Creek, Frank and Joe get to go on a cattle drive.  During the cattle drive, it becomes apparent that someone is trying to cause injury to the ranch hands.  Too late, Frank and Joe realize that the true purpose of the sabotage is to delay the cattle drive.

On page 17, Frank and Joe learn that they cannot use their cell phones on the cattle drive.  I love it when modern books take away the cell phones.

This is a very good book.

In Hardy Boys Adventures #12, The Madman of Black Bear Mountain, Frank, Joe, one of their teachers, and several students travel to Black Bear Mountain to work with a scientist who lives on the mountain.

Soon after their arrival, the scientist tells them to leave and warns them about the insane hermit who lives on the mountain.  This sets off a chain of events that places everyone in grave danger.

The culprit and the mystery are too obvious.

The hermit is a man from Russia who has lived in the woods for 30 years.  He has been in contact with one other person, the scientist. I find it strange when the hermit calls someone a "party-pooper lady" on page 95.  I very much doubt that a Russian living outside modern society in the woods and in communication exclusively with a scientist would use that expression.

This book could have been an excellent book if the mystery and solution had not been so obvious.  The book is overall good, but it could have been much better.

Hardy Boys Adventures #9 Curse of the Ancient Emerald and #10 Tunnel of Secrets

In Hardy Boys Adventures #9, The Curse of the Ancient Emerald, the Phantom, a man once brought to justice by Fenton Hardy, is back to his old tricks.  The Phantom is believed to be responsible for a string of robberies.  He sends clues to Frank and Joe, daring them to try to stop him.

This is a very good mystery.   There is more than one suspect, and it's not apparent who is guilty.  Frank and Joe suspect several different people at various points in the story. I couldn't decide for sure who was guilty.  The book even has a few twists.

This is an excellent book, and I greatly enjoyed it.



In Hardy Boys Adventures #10, Tunnel of Secrets, a sinkhole opens up in the center of Bayport, swallowing up an large statue of Admiral James T. Bryant, one of the founders of Bayport.  Frank and Joe learn of a hidden treasure, and their search takes them into the tunnels underneath Bayport, where they make an astonishing discovery.

Parts of this book read like a young adult dystopian novel.

This is an excellent story.  It has the same tone as the first four books in the series.  I like the undercurrent of tension that runs through those books and this one, like evil is lurking somewhere near and could strike at any time.

Hardy Boys Adventures #7 Shadows at Predator Reef and #8 Deception on the Set

In Hardy Boys Adventures #7, Shadows at Predator Reef, Bayport Aquarium unveils its new exhibit, Predator Reef.  The crowd is shocked to discover that the star inhabitant, Captain Hook, is missing!  Captain Hook is a five-hundred pound sea turtle.  Frank and Joe search for the turtle.

The reader learns some interesting information about Bayport that I won't reveal since it spoils how the turtle was stolen.  This information is important in a later book.

Near the ending is a scene that is lacking information.  Without getting into specifics that spoil the plot, Frank and Joe are swimming after having not been in the water.  It's not clear whether they have scuba gear or whether they are wearing their regular clothing.

I enjoyed this book.

In Hardy Boys Adventures #8, Deception on the Set, a zombie film is being made in Bayport.  Frank and Joe have signed up to be extras so that they can investigate who is sabotaging the film.

On page 6, we learn that Frank and Joe have been working on cases since the ages of 8 and 9.

The story has way too much boring detail about zombie makeup.

Why are the other zombies random kids from Bayport High that have not appeared in this series?  The story would have been more meaningful if Neanderthal or Chet had been present.

Since this book lacks the recurring characters from the previous books, the story was likely an unused plot from the Undercover Brothers series, which would explain the excessive detail about zombie makeup.  A mainstay of the Undercover Brothers series is excessive detail about a bunch of nothing, always imparted in the most boring fashion possible.

At least this story has fewer characters than other similar movie set sabotage stories.

This story is weakly good.  It could also be considered not good.  And that's exactly how I described much of the Undercover Brothers series.  I bet this was supposed to be one of them.

Hardy Boys Adventures #5 Peril at Granite Peak and #6 Battle of Bayport

In Hardy Boys Adventures #5, Peril at Granite Peak, Frank and Joe enjoy their winter break at Granite Peak Ski Lodge.  A series of accidents endangers several people at the resort.  Frank and Joe soon suspect that someone is sabotaging the resort.

This book has a different tone than the first four books.  The author uses a more colloquial approach, and it reminds me of some of the Nancy Drew Diaries books that I don't like as much. The plot is also blatant sabotage, which doesn't help.

On page 15, Chet smirks at Frank and Joe. Bess and George also smirk at Nancy in some of the Diaries books that aren't as good. I don't like it when the protagonists' friends smirk. It's a word that is better used to apply to an enemy, not a friend.

I wouldn't be surprised if the author of the subpar Nancy Drew Diaries books is also the author of this book.  This book is kind of annoying just like those books.  In fact, I refer to that Nancy Drew Diaries author as the "Obnoxious Author," because that person's writing is obnoxious.

On page 25, we learn that Chet has an old yellow roadster named Queen.  Good grief! How long has it been since we've seen Queen?  She last made an appearance in the era of the revised text Hardy Boys books from the original set, which is no later than the 1970s.

Bathroom needs are mentioned on page 66 and 97.  This is important since I plan to compare this series to the Nancy Drew Diaries series.  It is also important as further circumstantial evidence that this book might have been written by Obnoxious Author.

I enjoyed this book, but it's not as good as the first four books in the series.

In Hardy Boys Adventures #6, The Battle of Bayport, Bayport is conducting a Revolutionary War reenactment, with one group playing British redcoats and the other playing American rebels.  During the battle scene, Don Sterling is shot and killed. Someone's musket had a musket ball inside!

This book begins with an excessive amount of description about the reenactment, and it is all boring.  Even the killing of Don Sterling is not written in an interesting fashion.

I love the quote on page 54 about teachers.

You don't ever think much about your teacher's personal lives.  Or even that they have them.  They're supposed to be kind of like scholastic vampires, who just climb into big school lockers after the day ends and only come back out to teach when the bell rings the next morning.

Pretty much.

Bayport High School is a strange school.  A teacher doesn't show up for class, so the principal cancels it.  The students get to wander around the school or go home.

Except for one chapter, I was never very interested.  I was never compelled to keep reading.  The story is good, but something is missing.  I didn't feel much suspense. While the book is overall good, I did not enjoy it very much.

Hardy Boys Adventures #3 Vanishing Game and #4 Into Thin Air

In Hardy Boys Adventures #3, The Vanishing Game, Hector Rodriguez owns Funspot, an amusement park in Bayport.  Funspot is old and dilapidated, but Hector is hoping to increase business with G-Force, a new ride which is the park's premiere attraction.  But on the very first ride, a teenage girl vanishes without a trace, and later, another teenager vanishes on the ride.

The premise of this book is very interesting. Frank and Joe are on the ride when the girl vanishes without a trace.

Joe throws up after riding G-Force.  He even throws up after thinking about a certain situation connected with the ride.  I won't give details since it would spoil the plot.  I find the continual throwing up to be a bit hard to believe.

One of the culprits is extremely obvious.  In fact, this person's name is used in the back cover excerpt.  The nature of the back cover excerpt makes it apparent that the named person is the culprit, so the back cover excerpt basically reveals the culprit.  I don't get why publishers do that.

The story ends with a cliffhanger.  The mystery has been solved, but... now Daisy Rodriguez has disappeared!

This book is very good.

In Hardy Boys Adventures #4, Into Thin Air, Daisy Rodriguez is the latest teenager to vanish off of the G-Force ride.  The problem is that the culprits have already been arrested. Frank and Joe reluctantly conclude that someone else must be responsible.

The first book in the series, Secret of the Red Arrow, centered around a criminal gang headed by someone known as the Red Arrow. The culprit was arrested at the end of the book, but it was apparent that the true mastermind was still free.

I was puzzled when the Red Arrow wasn't mentioned again in the second and third books.  Finally, the Red Arrow is mentioned again briefly in this book, which tells me that we might learn more about the Red Arrow in a future book.  I like having an undercurrent of mystery run through the series.

This book is excellent.

Hardy Boys Adventures #1 Red Arrow and #2 Phantom Heist

In Hardy Boys Adventures #1, Secret of the Red Arrow, Frank and Joe are supposed to be retired from detective work.  Their detective work had begun to cause too many problems, so they had to agree to quit or be sent to reform school.  The boys find themselves pulled into another case after violent pranks occur around Bayport.  The boys soon learn that a criminal mastermind known as the Red Arrow is responsible.  The boys seek clues as they try not to let anyone know about their investigation.

This book reads in a similar fashion to a young adult novel.  The text is smaller than in the Nancy Drew Diaries series.  The smaller text also makes the book seem more like a young adult novel.  The target age for the stories is 8 through 12, the same as the Nancy Drew Diaries.

The story is very suspenseful and has none of the stupidity of the Undercover Brothers series.

This is an excellent book.

In Hardy Boys Adventures #2, Mystery of the Phantom Heist, a group known as the Scaredevils breaks windows and is responsible for other criminal acts around Bayport.  Soon, Frank and Joe suspect that Lindsay Peyton's Sweet Sixteen party may be the next target of the Scaredevils.

On page one, I was a bit worried after seeing the word "sick" used twice, as in calling something "totally sick."  I was afraid that the story was going to degenerate into another Undercover Brothers story.  Fortunately, that does not happen.

While the writing and story are not as good as in the first book, this story is still better than most all books in the Undercover Brothers series.

This is an overall very good book.