Hunting for a decent story (The Hardy Boys: Hunting for Hidden Gold - Franklin W. Dixon)

Member Name: keeperofthematri

Product:	The Hardy Boys: Hunting for Hidden Gold - Franklin W. Dixon
Date:	10/06/09 (13 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Somewhat interesting "western" setting

Disadvantages: Fairly dated

Frank & Joe Hardy are the teenage sons of famous private detective Fenton Hardy & his wife Laura. Together, (& sometimes from help with family & friends) they investigate all sorts of crimes & strange occurences....

This was the 5th Hardy Boys book, first published in the US in 1928 & then revised in 1963. It was first published in the UK in 1973 & was numbered 25 in the series when published by Armada.

The book opens with Frank & Joe & some friends camping out in the woods. Their father, Fenton Hardy, has asked them to keep an eye out for a man called Mike Onslow who may be connected to a case that he's working on "out West".

The boys receive a message from Hank Shale in Lucky Lode telling them that their father needs their help. At this point they also meet Mike Onslow who tells them about a gold vein that he & three partners were working twenty five years previously. Unfortunately, an outlaw named Black Pepper & his gang found out about the gold & beseiged the cabin that Mike & his partners were in. Mike's partner, Bart Dawson managed to escape in his plane with the gold but he never appeared at the pre-arranged rendezvous.

The boys set off for Lucky Lode &, after some close shaves in Chicago, finally arrive. The book then all goes a bit "Scooby Doo" at this point as we're presented with something approaching a ghost town complete with ghostly piano playing and a mysterious blue light in the cemetery.

It transpires that Fenton Hardy has been working on a case involving an armoured car hijack & he's traced a villain named Big Al to Lucky Lode. The boys soon discover that Big Al & his gang are determined to stop them "interfering" & that there's a gang spy in town called "Slip Gun".

The rest of the book revolves around Big Al's attempts to rid himself of the boys whilst they're determined to catch him, unmask "Slip Gun" & find the gold that Mike Onslow told them about.

The book briefly features:-

+ Laura Hardy
+ Aunt Gertrude
+ Chet Morton
+ Biff Hooper
+ Tony Prito

in addition to an injured Fenton Hardy.

As a child this was always one of the Hardy Boys books that I was less keen on. I always felt that it didn't gel together that well & I wasn't overly keen on the setting.

Re-reading it now, I haven't changed those views. It's less enjoyable than The Tower Treasure, The Secret Of The Old Mill & The Mystery Of The Missing Friends aka The Missing Chums, but it does deserve some credit for taking the boys out of their home town of Bayport & away from the usual cast of supporting characters. It was obviously the first attempt to do something different with the series & even if it doesn't quite work some credit should be given for the attempt

Summary: Not one of the stronger books.