The Mark on the Door (1934)

This is a very good book. Frank and Joe spot a submarine in the lake that is there illigaly. When they dicide to investigate, it brings them to Mexico. When in Mexico the boys run into a big group of Mexicans who everyone in the village is scared of. While investigating they get captured by the group.

I LOVE this book!!!!!! ( )

One day, the Hardy boys had an assignment to find a Mexican man at Barmet Bay. Their dad, Fenton Hardy a famous detective, is working on a case where a Mexican has disappeared. Mr. Hardy and the Hardy boys have to go to Mexico. There they help Mexicans who give the Hardies a clue that they trail. Then trouble happens. Frank and Joe get more and more involved in the mystery. The smugglers capture the hardies, and that is only the beginning of the chain of their troubles... ( )

This is the second in the series in which the Hardy's adventures take them away from Bayport. Familar themes pop up through the book, in keeping with the detective series but they did not get in the way of the story line. Some characters make brief apperances ex: Mrs. Hardy but have much stronger role in this story then other titles. ( )

BEWARE OF THE MARK ON THE DOOR!

It seems there's no such thing as an ordinary day for the Hardy boys. This one starts off with a mysterious submarine and proceeds to include not one but two attacks at sea and news of the unexplained disappearance of an important trial witness. Needless to say, the boys are soon in Mexico investigating the mysterious Pavura and his reign of terror.

This is just more of the kind of fast-paced international jet-setting super-sleuthing nonsense that I love about the Hardy Boys. The exotic locations, the kidnapped friends, the action and the danger. The appearance of the strange symbol of the title is genuinely mysterious and the drip-feeding of information about it's use and meaning is handled well - it's a nice bit of plotting that keeps you guessing. There's the usual mad stuff - I'm still not sure what the submarine was entirely necessary for, other than to make a big splash on the first page - but it's all par for the course in a world where the greatest detectives are a couple of high schools kids. Thouroughly enjoyable. ( )