The Mystery of the Flying Express

I’m thoroughly confused — the Goodreads listing seems to think that this book is about a hydrofoil and involves signs of the zodiac, whereas the copy of the book I own is most definitely not about either of these things.

OK, apparently this book was REWRITTEN with a completely different plot and the same title. The ORIGINAL story of the Flying Express, which I read, involves a foreign spy camp that Fenton Hardy has been asked by “the Government” to find. And naturally his teenage sons are the perfect assistants.

This book relied very heavily on coincidence and random helpful strangers, and some details were maddeningly vague, as though the author couldn't be bothered to do any research. The spy camp is in "the West" (if the show more Hardys go into the West, will they remain Galadriel?) and one of their flights is announced at the airport with the statement "Plane Number 6 is ready for boarding". PLANE NUMBER SIX??? What the heck kind of airline is that? Are there only six planes in the country at this point? Jeez.

Not funny was the fact that Chet Morton was drawn as a one-note caricature of “the fat kid”. He spends a lot of time “waddling” and is motivated primarily by food. Never mind that he probably isn’t actually fat by 21st-century standards. And then there was the unfortunate moment when I deduced that the train porters were black (before they were described as “coloured”) because their dialogue was written in awful dialect :(

I hope the rewritten version would avoid these pitfalls, although the coincidence and random-stranger thing is probably more difficult to give up. Overall, I can't say I recommend this story. show less

A sleek new hydrofoil is scheduled to start ferrying passengers between Bayport and Cape Cutlass. But business enemies of the hydrofoil owner have stirred up a hornets' nest of violent opposition among small boat owners. Fearing sabotage, he begs Frank and Joe Hardy to guard the Flying Express on her maiden trip. Startling developments plunge the teenage detectives into a dangerous chase by sea, air, and land in pursuit of a gang of hardened criminals who operate by the signs of the Zodiac. Tension mounts when the Flying Express vanishes - and so does Sam Radley, Mr. Hardy's skilled operative. Peril stalks Frank and Joe's every moves as they hunt down the terrifying gang leader Zodiac Zig and his vicious henchmen.

Fully realizing these are young adult books at best, this one was a bit of a snoozer for me. The whole tone and tenor of the boys and their mystery seemed off...seemed forced. They are often slightly silly, and surely pure as the new-fallen snow, but this was lacking something......it was effort....took me 2 weeks to finish....not a good quality in a Hardy Boys book. But my quest continues to own and read every example of both the original brown series and the second blue series.

Beautiful cover art, but the story within is a mess. Lots of lucky coincidences that help the Hardy boys solve the caper. And though the title says "mystery" of the Flying Express, there really is no mystery regarding the train itself.

This edition stands the brothers out and away from having mysteries interlinked with their father. But the realy hero in this story is Chet. He really comes into his own on this story. This story is more about Chet than a Hardy Boys mystery.

Near fine condition

Near fine condition