The Missing Chums

This time around our annoyingly perfect duo deal with bank robbers, a mysterious island, and cheap Halloween costumes while the police and Coast Guard try to keep up. I love the improbable escapes and ridiculous "clues" but it's the stilted dialogue that provides the most laughs: "I shall get the police at once!" "Yes, you do that, and I will search for more clues!". LOL!

The implausibility of these books brings a smirk to my face every time. The police don't want to send their own detectives into Shantytown undercover, because they will be too easy to spot. So they call in the teenage amateur sleuth Hardy Boys to do it. Their Dad merely wishes them luck and their Mom says they'll be able to take care of themselves.

Still these are books for young boys so don't expect plausibility to get in the way of adventure. They are fun reads.

What a better way to celebrate the 4th of July weekend camping trip on the coast of Maine than with the next volume of the Hardy Boys!! This blue hardcover 2nd series book was just the ticket. Mysterious goings on in town, a bank robbery, a masquerade party, stolen boats, unusual goings on on a coastal island, and of course, the 2 missing chums!! Will the Hardy's prevail and save their friends?? Will the bank robbers be held accountable? Will they find their stolen boat, The Sleuth? Well now, what fun would it be if i ruined the story for you all! Loved it as i have always loved these. 4 down, many, many more to go! Yay!

Not only is the local bank robbed, but two of the Hardy boys' pals mysteriously disappear after a masquerade party. Are the events related? How the Hardy boys use all their courage and skill to outwit the criminals provides an exciting climax to one of the most baffling mysteries the young detectives have ever encountered.

Not only is the local bank robbed, but two of the Hardy boys' pals mysteriously disappear after a masquerade party. Are the events related? How the Hardy boys use all their courage and skill to outwit the criminals provides an exciting climax to one of the most baffling mysteries the young detectives have ever encountered.

A bank robbery! Kidnapped pals! Stolen radios! A crazy shotgun-wielding hermit on an island! It's all go again for the Hardy Boys in this fourth adventure in the series. It appears things are never quiet in Bayport and no-one is in the least bit surprised when Chet Morton and Biff Hooper go missing. In their quest to find and rescue them, Frank and Joe investigate a shanty just outside of town, are threatened, shot at and finally captured themselves! Exciting stuff.

This was a blast from the past & well done with just a few sound effects to bring the story to life. Well read. I never read much of the Hardy Boys as a kid, but occasionally I'd get stuck some place with nothing else or better. Even as a kid, I quickly learned the formula. It was kind of fun revisiting them, though. I doubt I'll want to read another in the foreseeable future, but they are an important piece of Americana. They have a pretty interesting history of their own. Wikipedia has a pretty good write up here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hardy_Boys