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.

Twilight Darkness #13 Vicious Circle, #14 Footprints of the Dead, and #15 Spirits and Spells

In Twilight Where Darkness Begins #13, Vicious Circle, children are disappearing one at a time. First, an important possession disappears. Hours later, the child disappears.  When the children return, they are silent and unresponsive.  Jenny fears that her little sister, Andrea, will be the next child taken.  How can Jenny protect Andrea from the evil that lives near the river?

This book includes some excessively lengthy flashbacks of the former life of the evil spirit.  I found the flashbacks to be way too long and rather confusing.  I would have preferred for those parts not to have been in the story.

Aside from the flashbacks, this is a very good book.

In Twilight Where Darkness Begins #14, Footprints of the Dead, Dani retuns to the island of St. Jacques to live on her family's sugarcane plantation.  Dani is shocked at how much the island has changed.  The people are now so poor, and her beloved Uncle Victor is hated by the villagers.  Dani cannot understand what is wrong.  Later, Dani learns about the evil voodoo practiced in the mountains and how voodoo is used to bring people back from the dead.

One character is likable until partway through the book when the reader learns this character's secret.  Dani has no idea, and the reader's stomach will churn upon learning the information. This makes the book quite suspenseful, since for a good part of the story Dani has no idea what is really going on.

This is a compelling story about zombies.  It would have made a good introductory book for a zombie apocalypse trilogy.  The plot is resolved in this book, but it is left open-ended.  More zombies will come to life later, and I wish that this book had been part of a trilogy.

This is an excellent book.

In Twilight Where Darkness Begins #15, Spirits and Spells, Gerry and his friends play a new role playing game in an abandoned old mansion.  The premise is that the players are trapped in the mansion and must find certain hidden objects before morning, or else they will be killed.  Soon after the friends begin playing, they learn that the game is real and that they are truly prisoners in the mansion.  They must defeat the evil presence or lose reality as they know it forever.

I did not like this book.  The story gets very positive reviews, so I suppose it is just me.  I did not care for the magical aspect.  This story is not at all like the other books in the set, which all feature characters set on Earth who are haunted by spirits.  This book features visitors from another world and has lots of magic.  I was not in the mood for that kind of story.

Nancy Drew Diaries #13 The Ghost of Grey Fox Inn

In Nancy Drew Diaries #13, The Ghost of Grey Fox Inn, Nancy, Bess, and George are attending a wedding.  Bess's cousin Charlotte is marrying a news anchor, but someone must not want the couple to wed.  A ghostly figure is seen at night, and various items begin to disappear.  Nancy investigates.

How boring can you get?  Each book is a variant of previous books in the series.  This is my synopsis of the Nancy Drew Diaries series.

Nancy Drew and her friends attend a social function or event which is being sabotaged. Nancy must tell herself multiple times to get serious about solving the case, because otherwise, she wouldn't bother.

And at this point, I wonder why I bother.  I am only still purchasing each new Nancy Drew Diaries book in order to acquire the hardcover version with dust jacket.  The hardcover books will probably always be scarce in years to come, so I don't want to miss getting my copies.  However, I feel like I am being suckered.

The opening of this book is not interesting.  The wedding information is not interesting, either.  Simon and Schuster apparently feels that girls want girly stuff, so wedding preparation will be so fun to read!  Actually, it might have been somewhat interesting if I had cared at all about the two people getting married.  I didn't care!

I noted at the end of Chapter 2 that George is eating lots of food.  That again?  Why?

On page 63, we learn that Nancy gets very nervous being in front of a room full of people.  This is the kind of detail that annoys me about this series.  They want Nancy not to be perfect.  Okay, fine, but Nancy is supposed to be a strong person, and having her be scared in front of a room of people doesn't fit the image I have of Nancy Drew.

The people who don't like Nancy Drew being perfect are fine with Trixie Belden.  Here's the deal.  Trixie isn't afraid to be in front of people.  Trixie is just impulsive and makes decisions in haste that often end badly.  That's how Nancy Drew Girl Detective was written, and I was fine with that.  Both Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew were strong characters up until the beginning of the Nancy Drew Diaries series.

Nancy Drew isn't strong any longer.  On page 36, Nancy struggles to keep her voice from shaking when she sees a dark figure in her room.  Most of us would be terrified, too, but Nancy is supposed to be stronger than that.  Her pulse should quicken, which is all the description we need.  In fairness, I must note that later in the book, Nancy's pulse quickens, which is the appropriate response for Nancy Drew.

Nancy should be confident.  I understand wanting to make Nancy not perfect, but this is the wrong way.  Nancy Drew Girl Detective is confident but makes mistakes.  This Nancy Drew is nervous and trembles in fear?  No way!  Trixie Belden doesn't even do that!  Some readers like Trixie Belden better because she isn't perfect, but Trixie is confident.

Page 95:

It suddenly became clear that my investigation needed to get serious—and fast.

Nancy never used to think that way, probably because her mysteries used to be interesting.

On page 97, Nancy accidentally discovers a secret passage.  The old Nancy Drew would have known to check for one, but this one stumbles into the discovery of one.

Nancy Drew has been turned into a weak, timid character.  She lets the mysteries come to her, and she lets the mysteries solve themselves.  She doesn't investigate. Her behavior is totally lame.

Nancy pretty much is a blank slate in this series.  We don't know much about her except that she reluctantly solves boring mysteries and gets scared easily.

These books are written by anonymous authors who have nothing to lose if the quality is substandard.  That's always been the case for Nancy Drew.  However, the publisher has the responsibility to demand higher quality, but they apparently don't want higher quality.

Additionally, the books are supposedly written by authors who submit story ideas to the publisher.  But how very strange that every author submits a story about sabotage.  Or is it that Simon and Schuster only accepts the boring story submission ideas?  I get the idea that Simon and Schuster only wants Nancy Drew sabotage stories.

I also begin to suspect that Simon and Schuster wants to destroy Nancy Drew, but I realize that I am venturing into crazy conspiracy theory territory.  Seriously, I am trying to make sense of what has happened to Nancy Drew, and the only logical answers are crazy conspiracy theories.  If the current Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books were equally bad, I would not have any of these suspicions.  Since the Hardy Boys Adventures are much better than the Nancy Drew Diaries, I am suspicious.

The last part of this book is much more interesting than the first part.  If only the entire book could have been like the last part.  Nancy is a strong character near the end of the story.

This is a good book overall, but I've read this same story a few dozen times and have grown tired of the predictable plot.

Twilight Darkness #10 Avenging Spirit, #11 Nightmare Lake, and #12 Twisted Room

In Twilight Darkness #10, The Avenging Spirit, strange accidents happen at Thunder Rock. Christina finds herself drawn to Thunder Rock, where she is nearly killed.  Christina soon realizes that a restless spirit will never be at rest until he takes revenge on the descendant of the person who wronged him.

I overall enjoyed this book, but I consider it below average as compared to the rest of the set.

In Twilight Darkness #11, Nightmare Lake, Burt and Sammi vacation at a lake when Sammi discovers a skeleton in the woods.  Their dog jostles a stick of wood loose from the skeleton, and later, the young people learn that the skeleton was a vampire.  The removal of the wood has brought the vampire back to life.  Burt and Sammi are thrust into a nightmare as they try to avoid being bitten by vampires.

This is overall a very good book up until the end. Unfortunately, the ending ruins the story.  Since I know how the story ends, I will never be able to read and enjoy this book again.  I closed the book feeling quite disgusted.  I won't state what happens, but if you don't mind being spoiled which will result in you not being able to enjoy this book, read "Cliches to Avoid: 4 Story Endings Your Readers Will Hate."  It is the second ending listed on the page.  Ugh.  I can't stand it when authors do that.

In Twilight Darkness #12, The Twisted Room, Lisa goes to live with Great-Aunt Nikki, who is a recluse who is stuck in the past.  Lisa sees a girl beckoning to her from the window next door and goes to visit her.  Marie invites Lisa to a party... a party that was held on June 10, 1944.  Lisa is pulled between past and present by Marie, and almost too late Lisa realizes that Marie is using her to change history.

I learned something new when I read this book. On page 127, Aunt Jenny (Great-Aunt Nikki) tells Lisa that many years ago margarine was white and used to come in a clear bag with a capsule of yellow dye.  They would break the capsule and knead the bag until the margarine turned yellow. Even my parents had never heard of the yellow dye, since they were young children when restrictions on margarine were lifted.  I found this very interesting.  Read this page for more information.

This book is quite disjointed during the opening chapters.  The back cover summary is also confusing, since the summary makes it sound like Marie is the protagonist when she is instead the evil spirit. By halfway through the book when the plot begins to make sense, the story becomes quite interesting and compelling.

The first half of the book is confusing and a bit depressing, and the second half of the book is excellent.

A Wet International Package

I went to the post office to pick up a package that had arrived yesterday.  As soon as I saw the package, I knew that the books were likely damaged.  I could tell that the top of the package had been wet.

Once I had the package in hand, I could feel the dampness on the outside.  When I arrived home, I opened the package.  Water had soaked through the package.  The below picture shows the inside of the box right after I removed the books.

Since photos often make it harder to see what is obvious in person, compare the above picture to the below picture, which shows the box a few hours later after it had partially dried.

Now for the books.  At first, they looked fine.

However, the seller had not wrapped bubble wrap around the bottom or top edges of the books, which meant I had a problem.  Once I extracted the books, I discovered that three of the four books were partially wet.

The above picture shows that the book in the lower right was wet along the top of the front cover.  That book was damaged the most.

The below picture shows that the books in the upper right and lower left were each wet along the bottom edge of the back cover.

The pages of the those three books were also damp towards the outer edges.

The following book did not get touched by moisture at all, as far as I can tell.

This is unbelievably fortunate, since I purchased the four books just to get the above book.  The other three books are duplicates of books I already have.  While I am not happy that three books arrived wet, I am very happy that the book I needed was spared from the damage.  So this isn't all bad.

The three books that arrived wet are now in front of a fan.  The pages are now dry, but the inner portion of the boards probably still holds moisture.  I hope that I can get the boards dried out completely before mold or mildew sets in.

Unfortunately, the boards have already warped slightly as they dry.  Books are never the same after moisture exposure.  At least these books did not get completely wet, so the damage will most likely not be that bad, so long as the books don't mold or mildew.

I am concerned that I picked up the package 24 hours after it arrived, which means that the books were wet for more than 24 hours.  That's not good.

This situation serves as another example of why sellers should completely wrap books in plastic before mailing them.  Packages do get wet sometimes, and once books get wet, they are permanently damaged.

I am not going to tell the seller about the damage.  We have a language barrier, and besides, I did receive the books.  The one I wanted is fine.  When I purchase books internationally, it is with the understanding that much can go wrong and that I am willing to take the risk.

I purchase a lot of books internationally, and the transactions from outside North America always have a greater risk.  Transactions with Canada are of no higher risk than domestic transactions via media mail.  When the packages come from overseas, much more can go wrong.  I have had at least three international transactions from Europe that went missing and never arrived, and I have had several damaged packages over the years.

I will sell the three books that are extras, and I will not price them cheap, even with the damage.  These books were not inexpensive.  I have found that many collectors do not know how expensive it is to import international editions.  Prospective buyers have often asked me to lower my prices for the international editions.  It's quite common for international editions to cost $15 to $25 each after international postage is added to the initial cost.  That's why sellers of international editions do not usually offer them at low prices.

The Blue Velvet Dana Girls Books

In 1954, the first eight Dana Girls books were issued in a format known as the "blue velvet" editions.  The name was chosen because the texture of the boards resembles blue velvet fabric.  The boards do not have fabric on it; rather, the appearance makes the texture look like fabric.

The boards look similar to the Grosset and Dunlap boards of the late 1940s, except that these books were printed in 1954.  Furthermore, the Dana Girls books of the late 1940s have solid green covers, not blue.  Even the Nancy Drew books from the late 1940s have blue covers that are a different texture than these books.

I now have the set of all eight dust jackets, although one dust jacket is matched with a tweed book.

The jackets are distinctive for the blue velvet books.  Each jacket has a code on the back panel.  The code appears in the lower right corner of an ad for Nancy Drew #1-31. These are the codes.

D.1.49
D.2.49
D.3.49
D.4.49
D.5.49
D.6.49
D.7.49
D.8.49

We don't know what the codes mean.  The volume number is present in each code, but what is the significance of the "D" and the "49"?

Here are pictures of the jackets.  The code is visible on the back panel of each jacket.

All of the jackets have the ad for Nancy Drew #1-31 on the back panel.  The front flaps all list Dana Girls to #16.  The back flaps have several different lists.

The blue velvet books come with two styles of endpapers.  Some of the books have the usual green endpapers that appear in the tweed books.

Some of the blue velvet books instead have endpapers that are grayish green.

It's strange that I have one blue velvet jacket paired with a regular tweed book.  On the other hand, it's not strange at all.  The jackets from two books were probably swapped back when the books were new.

Collectors have theorized about these books for years, but no one knows for certain why only #1-8 were issued in this format and why the jackets have special codes on the back that appear on no other Dana Girls books.

We have observed that the blue velvet books generally appear either in Canada or in the far northern United States near Canada.  Two of my books were originally owned by somebody who lived in Bangor, Maine.  My other books came from Wollaston, Massachusetts.

The main theory about these books is that they might have been Canadian editions, which would explain why they appear in Canada or near the Canadian border.

Another possibility is that these books were issued as some type of special promotion. They could have been offered through a certain retailer or as some type of book club. This is just speculation on my part.

Perhaps one day we will know exactly why this set of books was issued and where the books were sold.

Twilight Darkness #7 Play to Live, #8 Blood Red Roses, and #9 Demon Tree

In Twilight Where Darkness Begins #7, Play to Live, Joey is new to Norwich.  Nothing is more important to Norwich than football, and the Norwich team is on a huge winning streak.  Joey makes the team, and he notices that horrific injuries to the opposing team occur during each game.  Joey also notices that Mr. Wynn, owner of the sporting goods store, has a strange hold over the team.  Joey begins to suspect something evil at play.

This is another suspenseful book, and it is a very good story.

In Twilight Where Darkness Begins #8, Blood Red Roses, Kate places a deposit on an antique mirror for her bedroom.  Tracy, a selfish snobbish girl, tries to force the shopkeeper to sell the mirror to her instead.  When the shopkeeper refuses, Tracy is livid.  Kate hangs the mirror in her bedroom and immediately has bloody nightmares.  Tracy steals the mirror, and Kate's nightmares end.  Tracy begins acting strange, and Kate realizes that the mirror is evil. Can Kate save Tracy before something horrible happens?

The scene in which Tracy tries to get the mirror sold to her reminds me of Lettie Briggs and the study lamp in the Dana Girls book, By the Light of the Study Lamp.  Imagine the turn that book could have taken if the study lamp had been possessed by an evil spirit.  I would love to see Lettie possessed!  As it is, she already seems possessed at times.

Page 11 captures perfectly how someone feels when dreading an event that is coming the next day.  "It was Sunday morning already.  Monday, and the impossibility of avoiding the other girl at Shelter Cove High School, was already creeping up like a poisonous fog."

The ending of this book is horrifying.  This is an excellent book.


In Twilight Where Darkness Begins #9, Demon Tree, Maggie comes to live with her grandparents in an isolated small town.  Maggie sees a black shadow at night that beckons to her.  Everyone is miserable and mean and will not explain why.  It's as though something is holding the entire town captive.

The book is good but not that scary.  However, the title of the book is unsettling, and that set the stage for me getting spooked, when I should have realized what was really happening.

I was reading the book on the evening of September 2, when three different times I heard strange noises from different parts of the room. One time was a fairly loud sound like something hitting the window, and another time a sound apparently came from inside the dresser on the other side of the room.  I remember turning around in my chair and staring perplexed at my dresser.  I can't remember where the third sound was.  I did not imagine the sounds, but I also could not think of a logical explanation.  I was rather unnerved, even though I did not seriously think anything supernatural was involved.

A few hours later, I was trying to get to sleep when the mattress made a popping sound from the corner.  That unnerved me even more.  I woke up right before 7 AM the next morning.  I wasn't fully awake, but I was aware of my surroundings.  Suddenly, the mattress began moving up and down, jostling me.  It felt like something large was under my bed trying to push the mattress up, like I had been thrust into a horror movie. It was unreal.  I immediately put my foot against the wall, which was shaking hard.  I knew it was an earthquake, but it really scared me.  After the shaking stopped, I got up and went online immediately where I learned that we had just had a magnitude 5.8 earthquake, the largest in state history.  I was nervous for around half the day.

A few days later, I checked recent earthquakes and discovered that all three sounds from the night before had been caused by small earthquakes.  Click on the image to see a larger version.

My time zone is five hours behind the times stated, so the three earthquakes listed below the magnitude 5.8 earthquake are the three from the evening of September 2 and must have caused the three strange noises.  At least I had a logical explanation for all of the sounds, with the exception of the mattress popping.  I can rest easy knowing that my house is not possessed.  I'll always remember I was reading Demon Tree when all of these earthquakes occurred.

Twilight Darkness #4 Fatal Attraction, #5 Blink of the Mind, and #6 Voices in the Dark

In Twilight Where Darkness Begins #4, Fatal Attraction, Janet begins to suffer from terrible headaches that last for days.  A newcomer to the area, Mirella, appears to have mesmerized Janet's boyfriend, David.  Janet is certain that Mirella is evil, but nobody believes her.

I guess any teenage girl would consider it evil for another girl to steal her boyfriend.  In all seriousness, Mirella is evil, and Janet is in grave danger.  An evil spirit stalks Janet, and Janet's friend must help her avoid certain death.

This is a very scary book.  I felt quite spooked during some scenes.  This is an excellent story.

In Twilight Where Darkness Begins #5, Blink of the Mind, Kelly's parents were recently killed when their airplane crashed.  Kelly's mind keeps blinking back to the night of the crash, and she actually witnesses what happened in the plane right before and right after the crash.

Kelly's mind blinks happen more and more frequently, and with horror, she realizes that she is also glimpsing future events.  Kelly senses that an evil entity is watching her at all times and that this entity is out to destroy her.

This is an overall good book, although I consider it below average as compared to most of the books in the series.

In Twilight Where Darkness Begins #6, Voices in the Dark, Christie has moved to a small town. She has trouble making friends, and one of the girls at school spreads gossip about her.  This girl instinctively hates Christie, and Christie has no idea why.

Christie takes comfort in riding, but soon, she feels an evil presence inside the barn.  Christie learns that the presence is the spirit of an ancestor and that the spirit wants Christie to join him in eternity.

This book is quite suspenseful.  This is an excellent book.