The Lance Todd Series by Budd Westreich

The Lance Todd series consists of two books written by Budd Westreich.  The first book is Lance Todd at Mystery House, and the second is Lance Todd at Mystery Island.  The books were published in 1959 by Lantern Press.  They have not been reprinted and are hard to find.  The first book is more scarce than the second book.

In Lance Todd at Mystery House, Lance's father has inherited a house in New Mexico from his old college roommate who didn't like him.  Lance is sent to New Mexico to attend to the inheritance.  Lance soon finds himself enmeshed in mysterious events.  Lance is followed as he leaves New York, and upon his arrival in New Mexico, he discovers prowlers near the house.

The atmosphere is tense and foreboding at the beginning of the story while Lance is followed by a mysterious stranger.  Even when Lance becomes friendly with the stranger and decides to trust him, the reader is left with a lingering unease that all is not as it seems.  The opening chapters of this story are outstanding.

A government base is located near the house, so this story has to do with government spies and foreign agents.  This is a typical boys' story, but it is handled so much better than in the typical Hardy Boys book.  The number of characters is kept to a bare minimum, which makes the story easy to follow and much more interesting.

This is an excellent book.

In Lance Todd at Mystery Island, Lance's friend Eric asks Lance to join him on Swallow Island, where a glowing serpent has been spotted in the ocean near the island.  Lance soon suspects several of the island's inhabitants of being involved as he tries to determine how and why someone is trying to scare others away from the island.

The point of view shifts between Lance and Eric, sometimes abruptly in the middle of scenes, which makes the reading experience rather odd at times.

I started to get a little bored with the story halfway through, although it did regain my interest later.

I was annoyed about how Lance keeps his theories from the other characters and from the reader.  I never like it when the author and main character keep information from me and not in a way that I find intriguing.  A story can still be suspenseful when I know what is going on.  When Lance finally reveals his suspicions, I found I had already guessed, in spite of having been given only meager clues.  It wasn't that hard to figure out, and less secrecy would have been better.

I found it strange that the boys are called men.  Normally, books for juveniles and children refer to the characters as girls and boys even when they are past the age of 18.

I greatly enjoyed most of this book, although I feel the story is not quite as good as the previous book.

Hardy Boys Revised Text #10 What Happened at Midnight and #12 Footprints Under the Window

In the revised text of Hardy Boys #10, What Happened at Midnight, Frank and Joe are tasked with keeping a secret invention safe.  The beginning of the story is quite different from the original text, but soon, the plot converges with the original text and parallels it closely through most of the story.

I feel like the revised text is too much like the original text.  Some parts are better, like the aftermath of Joe's abduction.  Other parts bored me.  Just like with the original text, I enjoyed the first half of the story much more than the second half, when I began to skim.

I enjoyed both texts about equally, which is not very much.


In the revised text of Hardy Boys #12, Footprints Under the Window, Frank and Joe seek clues to a plot involving the smuggling of refugees from an island near the coast of South America.

I dreaded beginning this revised text, because the original text version is my least favorite Hardy Boys book of all of the books I have read so far.  I cannot stand it.  

Parts of this book are similar to the original, which is not good at all.  Fortunately, the revised text has no "Chinamen," but it still deals with foreigners from South America.  They aren't swarming into Bayport like the Centrovians of River Heights and the "Chinamen" of the original text, so at least the situation is less absurd.

I enjoyed the book less and less the more I read.  The plot is too convoluted, like with so many of the higher-numbered books.  I commented in another review that the revised text books are better than the higher-numbered books.  That is not the case with this book.  It is about the same as the higher-numbered books.

While I enjoyed the revised text more than I did the original text, that is not saying much.  I do not like either version.  I intend never to read either one ever again. 

Hardy Boys Revised Text #7 Secret of the Caves and #9 Great Airport Mystery

In the revised text of Hardy Boys #7, The Secret of the Caves, the boys are asked to search for Morgan Todd, who is missing.  Fenton Hardy's case involves preventing sabotage to a Coastal Radar Station.  The boys travel to Honeycomb Caves where their adventures strongly parallel those of the original text.

I like the subplot with the missing relative, Morgan Todd, much better than its counterpart with Toddham Todd from the original text.

The end of the book is interesting with no long question and answer session.  Yay!  I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  I enjoyed it at least as much as the original text, and I'm sure I enjoyed some parts of it more than the original text. 

In the revised text of Hardy Boys #9, The Great Airport Mystery, Frank and Joe are hired by a mining shipment company to investigate stolen shipments containing platinum.  During the investigation, the boys hear the voice of an airline pilot who is supposed to be dead, and they wonder whether he is alive or whether they are hearing his ghost.

On page 140, Chet jokes about starting a "ghost-to-ghost network."  I couldn't help thinking of the "Ghost-to-Ghost Hookup" in the Three Investigators series.  

The original text has a lot of problems, including racist language, the stupid scene where Frank tries to keep his car ahead of a plane trying to land, and the boys' false graduation from high school that was rescinded in the next book.  All of that was removed, which is good.

While I enjoyed the revised text, I think I enjoyed the original text more.

Hardy Boys Revised Text #4 Missing Chums, #5 Hidden Gold, and #6 Shore Road

The revised text of Hardy Boys #4, The Missing Chums, follows the overall story of the original text, but almost all of the book has been rewritten.

Early in the story, the boys go to purchase ice cream for the party.  The ice cream is purchased on page 22 and is placed in the carrier of Joe's motorcycle.  The boys then witness a robbery.  They chase the criminals, find out their boat has been stolen, speak to the police, and do all sorts of stuff.  I kept thinking about the ice cream, which was finally put away on page 37 with no mention of it having melted. 

I greatly enjoyed this story.

The revised text of Hardy Boys #5, Hunting for Hidden Gold, follows the same story as the original but is mostly rewritten.  It is improved, and I liked it better.  The search for the gold is more logical.  Stupid events like the cabin sliding off a cliff and landing intact don't happen in this story.  The outlaws' behavior makes more sense.  The story of Dawson is good and is much better than the original text version.  This story is an improvement.

The revised text of Hardy Boys #6, The Shore Road Mystery, is also similar to the original text but has been greatly changed.  The Dodds are accused of stealing the vehicles just like in the original text, but their role in the story is fleshed out better.


A subplot involving a relative to the Dodds and a search for a treasure is added to the story.  I did not feel that the subplot added anything and found it quite uninteresting.  I would rather that part have been left out.

There is a scene in which Chet is to deliver a cake for Aunt Gertrude.  He has been dieting and is greatly tempted by the cake.  He begins removing the frosting from around the edges.  I found during this part of the story that I was so fixated on the cake and what was happening to it that I ignored the mystery.  The same distraction happened to me in a similar scene with Jupiter in the Three Investigators book, The Mystery of the Two-Toed Pigeon.

I greatly enjoyed much of this story, but I believe that I enjoyed the original text more.  I skimmed the revised text book towards the end.

Hardy Boys #58 Sting of the Scorpion and #3 Old Mill Revised Text

In Hardy Boys #58, The Sting of the Scorpion, Fenton Hardy investigates a group of terrorists.  Frank and Joe witness attacks on a dirigible and a wild animal park.  They soon believe that someone is sabotaging the wild animal park to force the owner to sell. 

References to The Mystery of the Chinese Junk and The Secret of Wildcat Swamp are worked into the text of this story.

I greatly enjoyed this book.  I read it very quickly. 

I was originally only going to read the Hardy Boys series up through #45.  I then decided that I was enjoying them enough to proceed to #58.  Once I reached around #50, I decided that I would read the revised text books that were significantly or completely rewritten. 

In some cases, I may not be able to state for certain which version of the text I prefer, since the reading of the original and revised versions of the text are separated by several months and many books.

The revised text of Hardy Boys #3, The Secret of the Old Mill, follows the overall same story as the original text.  I like how the boys interact with Ken, the boy from the mill, in a number of scenes. 

The main thought I had as I read this revised text was that it is better than most of the higher-numbered Hardy Boys books.  The higher-numbered stories have too many villains and tend to have overly complicated plots.  These early books, even in the revised versions, are much simpler and more interesting.

The revised text flows quite well, and I enjoyed most of the story.  I began getting tired of the story once the boys enter the mill near the end.  The conclusion contains too many questions and answers, which always tend to bore me.  I skimmed a lot of the last part of the story.

Since I don't recall skimming any of the original text, I probably liked it better.

Hardy Boys #56 Jungle Pyramid and #57 Firebird Rocket

In Hardy Boys #56, The Jungle Pyramid, a million dollars' worth of gold has been stolen from the Wakefield Mint.  Fenton asks his sons to help him track down the culprits.

I did not like how the boys go to Europe for a brief interlude which is actually pointless to the plot.  I like books better when the characters travel less. Some travelogue information is included, which also detracts from the story.

The title of this book has almost nothing to do with the story.  Near the end, the boys do find a lost pyramid in the jungle.  They actually find the pyramid way too easily, when apparently others had been fruitlessly searching for the pyramid for decades. So we are expected to believe that in the days of airplanes and helicopters that no one had been able to spot this pyramid, but the Hardy boys find it immediately without even trying.  Right.

The book wore on me towards the end, although it was good overall.

In Hardy Boys #57, The Firebird Rocket, a famous rocket scientist has disappeared.  His disappearance has endangered the launch of the Firebird Rocket, a top-secret project.

The boys behave quite stupidly at times.  For instance, they find Jenson but then sit around and discuss the case in great detail with Jenson, giving the criminals time to catch up with them.

On page 154, I was quite puzzled that the boys and Jenson are sent away from the rocket site to keep them safe.  The rocket site is more secure than a cheap motel.  Of course, since this makes no sense, it's a huge red flag as to what is really going on.  It's a flaw in the plot since the illogical nature of this event gives the reader insight into the mystery.

I overall greatly enjoyed this book.

Hardy Boys #54 Mysterious Caravan and #55 Witchmaster's Key

In Hardy Boys #54, The Mysterious Caravan, Joe finds an ancient death mask while the boys vacation in Jamaica.  Some unscrupulous treasure hunters learn about the death mask and pursue the boys back to Bayport.  Meanwhile, Fenton Hardy works on a case involving stolen airline tickets.

I am pretty forgiving of the racial stereotypes in the old series books from the early part of the 20th century, since authors didn't know better back then and everyone was racist.  I find stereotypes to be much more disturbing when they appear in books written after 1970.

On page 10, William has a "broad white smile," and on page 154, he has a "white-toothed smile."  Wouldn't "broad smile" have sufficed? 

Joe is chased by the treasure hunters as he tries to get to the police station in Jamaica.  Once he gets into a taxi, he goes to the airport with the death mask.  I couldn't understand why Joe didn't take the taxi to the police station, since that is where he was going.  Instead, he leaves Jamaica with the death mask, and I guess he somehow makes it through customs with the contraband. 

I enjoyed this book from the very beginning.  It really makes a difference when the number of characters and different possible scenarios are kept to a lower number.

A decent explanation is given at the end for the convergence of the two mysteries.  Yes, for once, a Hardy Boys book has two mysteries.  They do converge, but at least a reason is given.

I greatly enjoyed most of the book, and it flows a lot better than the previous book.  I still feel that the story has a few too many characters and is a little confusing.  The book lost me some in the last few chapters, but other than that, I found the book to be very good. 

In Hardy Boys #55, The Witchmaster's Key, Frank and Joe arrive in England to investigate the theft of all the contents of a museum about witchcraft. Wow.  I guess the thieves didn't want to miss out on anything.

I like how the dentist's name is Vincent Burelli.  This book was written by Vincent Buranelli.

On page 55, it is mentioned what a "strange coincidence" it is for two men to have the same name.  No, not really.  Those of us with common names are rather used to that. 

Is it bad that I kept reading Griffinmoor as Gryffindor?

On page 137, the boys buy some toothbrushes and some clothes.  I guess they don't need to shave anymore like they did in The Arctic Patrol Mystery.

This is an excellent book.  None of it drags, and the ending was written well.  I enjoyed all of it.  This book is outstanding like The Mystery of the Spiral Bridge and The Clue of the Screeching Owl.

eBay's Largest Collection Part 2

eBay's Largest Collection Part 1

Finally, the first two packages arrived on Monday, February 29, but alas, they contained just Nancy Drew books.  Unsurprisingly, they were not packed well.  Both of the following photos show exactly what I saw when I opened the packages.

All books in the first package were fine.  Several books were damaged in the second package, one of them badly.  The second package looked like it had been rolled around and tossed around.  The seams were split and retaped, which worried me since I didn't know whether any books were missing.  I needed to receive all of the packages from the transaction before I would know if any books were lost.

Since I hadn't received any Hardy Boys Digest books yet, I had to purchase even more of them in local stores.  I received the tracking numbers for the reshipment of the six packages that had been returned to the seller, and those packages were finally on the way.

Three of the six packages arrived on Monday, March 7.  Most of the Hardy Boys Digest books were in these three packages.  Yay!  At this point, my stress level went down greatly.  Here are those three packages, and in each case, what I have pictured is exactly what I saw when I opened the box.

The next two packages arrived on Tuesday, March 8.  The contents completed the set of Hardy Boys Digests, so I had now received the books that were most important to me.

One package remained.  I needed it before I would know whether any books had gone missing and before I could figure out how to divide up my total cost between all of the books.  That package was delayed until Friday, March 11 when it finally arrived.

The shipping label had been torn, which had caused the delay.

I later realized that I was very fortunate, because if the label had been ripped off completely, I would have never received that box.  The seller didn't put a packing slip inside, so the shipping label was the only identifier for the package.

This is what I received altogether for a grand total of 684 books.

Nancy Drew #1-90, 92-175, Sleuth Book, Ghost Stories
Hardy Boys #1-190, Detective Handbook, Ghost Stories
Nancy Drew On Campus #1-25
ND/HB Supermysteries #1-36
2 Hardy Boys/Tom Swift Ultra Thrillers
Hardy Boys Casefiles #1-127
Nancy Drew Files #1-124
ND/HB Super Sleuths 1 and 2

The box that contained the lower-numbered Nancy Drew Digests was the box that had split seams which had been taped, so I believe that Nancy Drew #91 fell out of that box during shipment.  I am very fortunate that I lost only one book out of the entire lot.  One book is of little concern, especially since I received all of the books that were important.  Here are pictures of the books put in order by number.

The seller told me that these books were an inheritance, so this was someone's complete set of modern Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books.  The Nancy Drew hardcover set is primarily books with double oval endpapers from the 1980s, but the Hardy Boys set is from the early to middle 1970s.  Some of the Hardy Boys books have the first revised text, and Twisted Claw has the Nancy Drew list on the back cover.

Except for some of the early Wanderer Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, all of the softcover books are first printings.  Nearly all of the softcover books are in excellent condition with almost no wear.  I assume that the collector purchased every single softcover book new when released, which is why all are first printings. 

It took exactly four weeks from the day I won the auction for me to receive all of the books.  The experience was stressful, but I felt confident that the seller had been honest, which helped me through my long wait.

Even though stressful, the purchase was definitely worth it.

The purchase netted me the complete set of Hardy Boys Digests plus the complete set of Hardy Boys Casefiles, should I decide to read them.

I had sold my sets of Super Mystery books and On Campus books years ago when I decided not to read them.  I am keeping the sets from this purchase for now just in case.

I had purchased a set of flashlight edition Hardy Boys books so that I could read the revised text books in January.  It was another case of needing books fast, and the flashlight edition books fulfilled that purchase.  I swapped out 25 flashlight editions with the matte picture covers from this lot.

I upgraded nearly my entire set of Nancy Drew Files books, since nearly every single book from this lot was in better shape than the copies in my set.  I estimate that around 110 Files were upgraded.  I also upgraded around 30 of the Nancy Drew Digests. 

I would never have considered purchasing this lot if not for the complete set of Hardy Boys Digests that were included.  The set of Hardy Boys Casefiles made the lot even more desirable.  I knew that I would keep the Super Mystery books and On Campus books just in case, but I did not expect to keep any other books from the lot.  This turned out much better than expected, since I will be keeping around approximately 485 out of the 684 books.  That's pretty impressive.  This was a very successful and satisfying purchase.