The Mystery of the Deadly Double

Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators #28

by William Arden, Alfred Hitchcock

A terrifying ambush...
Before the boys could move, two men leapt out of the Mercedes and grabbed Jupiter. "If you want to see your friend again, don't follow us!" one of them shouted. Next moment they had thrust him into their car and were speeding down the highway...
Pete and Bob are baffled when Jupe is kidnapped. What could be the motive? Soon they realise that they are caught up in a deadly political struggle, the victims of a strange mistake. Jupiter Jones has a double...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Detective, Audiobook, Crime

147 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Real name: Dennis Lynds.
Beginning in 1968 with The Mystery of the Moaning Cave and ending in 1989 with Hot Wheels, Dennis Lynds wrote fourteen novels under the pen name William Arden for the juvenile detective series The Three Investigators, which was originated by Robert Arthur, Jr.. Under this same name, he also wrote five novels featuring private eye Kane Jackson, a former military policeman who has become an industrial security specialist after leaving the military. The first Jackson novel, A Dark Power, appeared in 1968. As Arden, Lynds also wrote the highly-regarded espionage short story, "Success of a Mission," which was a finalist for the 1968 Edgar Award for best short fiction.

Reviews

[Annemarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed my time reading this story.

Even though this is a childrens book, it has a mature topic that was executed in a good way.

The characters were well developed if you take the length into consideration.

The writing style was easy to read and had both humour and suspense.

[Nadja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ist mir nicht so gross in Erinnerung geblieben. Aber nun ist mir dafür umso wieder präsenter von wo wir Ian Carew und Nanda aus Buch 223 kennen.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

original 2010 review - When Jupiter is kidnapped by mistake, in an attempt by political extremists to unseat the liberal Prime Minister of Nanda, an African nation, the boys are thrust into a tale of international intrigue. Aiding two agents from the Nandan trade mission, it appears that the Prime Minister’s son Ian has gone missing - he and Jupiter are exact doubles (apart from one cleverly revealed thing) - and the kidnappers need him to force his father to stand down. This rockets along, with some thrilling set pieces (the escape, by Jupiter, from his kidnappers being one), great characters and a nice nod to the anti-apartheid movement and has Bob and Pete coming out of top in the detection stakes. Well written, gripping stuff - highly recommended.
2015 update - I’d agree with the 2010 assessment, it’s well constructed, well paced and has some nice humour (especially Jupe’s protestations over Pete’s missing sarnie and the food Aunt Mathilda says is missing from the fridge). Well worth a read.
2019 update - Great fun, another good read and I continue to think it works well, though there’s a quick sequence not written from the boys POV which is as jarring to me as when Robert Arthur did it. It’s good to have Worthington in the story and while Bob is pleased to see him and Rolls, he appears to have missed them too. Is this his first appearance in the series since “Haunted Mirror”? Nice comment too at one point, where Jupe gets Pete to help him repair the emergency signals he’d “built for their work many years ago”. Well worth a read.
2023 update - Still great fun.

[Niki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off very promising, but turned over the top by the end. This is the third story about a fictional place by now after the Silver Spider and the Flaming Footprints, and I haven't enjoyed any of them all that much.

This one gets a higher rating than the other two because it took Jupiter out of the equation for a bit and had Pete and Bob do some deducing, which is something I've wanted from the books for a while now (I'm looking at you, Fiery Eye, AKA The One Investigator And His Two Sidekicks book). The mystery also takes a few clever twists and turns, but....

....not clever enough to make me appreciate the several convenient coincidences (Ian and Jupiter being completely identical, looking alike, talking alike in identical voices, thinking pretty much exactly alike as well is the biggest offender, but there's also Ian choosing to hide in Jupiter's literal home out of millions of other hiding places in the city, or miss Lessing conveniently losing her earring at the canyon, or the kidnappers not finding the signal that Jupiter'd slipped into their jacket), or, my personal nemesis in the Three Investigators books, stuff like the FBI getting involved by the end but the boys still being allowed to hang around for the climax, and them noticing something that even the police or experienced border officers didn't. Can't suspend my disbelief that much. The TI books work not between the boys are mini Sherlock Holmeses who just don't miss anything, but because they engage with cases that adults scoff at, and they can solve them because they keep an open mind.

At least the baddies weren't wearing completely believable rubber masks, something William Arden really likes to include for some reason.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amerikanisches Original vs. deutsche Übersetzung. Ich habe ein nur eine Frage: Wieso das N-Wort einbauen, wenn es das in der englischen Vorlage nicht gibt?? Ansonsten sind meine Übersetzungshighlights: "hot dog" ➡️ "Grillwurst", "ham sandwich" ➡️ "Schinkensemmel" und "toast" ➡️ "Waffeln".

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one had just slightly more of an edge than most of the Three Investigator novels.

If you can get past the fact that someone that looks exactly like Jupiter Jones is a political target, and that said political target just happens to end up in the Jones Family Junkyard, then the story is really good. This book dealt with racism, separatism and apartheid, which is pretty heady stuff for the three investigators. The bad guys are kidnappers and we are dealing with radical extremists. Extremist groups of both black and white races are mentioned, and the political agendas discussed are pretty dark. There was just a feeling of real danger in this one I didn't sense in most of the series.

Also, and this is just a random observation, Aunt Mathilda is a real B#@$% in this one! She's always been strict, but in this one she was an over the top jerk. It was funny, but a little out of character.

So overall this was one of the stronger in the series, even if a little far fetched.

[MaggyGray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mit diesem Buch habe ich mich etwas schwer getan, tatsächlich ist es das erste Drei-Fragezeichen-Buch, das mir nicht so gut gefällt wie das Hörspiel dazu. Die Geschichte ist wie bei den meisten früheren Folgen toll, gut durchdacht, schlüssig in der Auflösung am Schluss - aber trotzdem hat es sich ein bisschen gezogen.

In "... der Doppelgänger" gerät Justus in die Fänge zweier Entführer, die ihn mit Ian Carew verwechseln, der Sohn eines wichtigen Mannes eines afrikanischen Landes. Mit Ian als Geisel möchte eine Gruppe Extremisten die Macht in Nanda an sich reissen und die schwarze Bevölkerung - die eigentlichen Bewohner dieses Gebietes - unterdrücken.
Ian entkommt seinen Häschern, versteckt sich auf dem Schrottplatz, und dort sehen die Entführer Justus, der Ian wie ein Zwilling gleicht, und schnappen ihn sich.

Während hier das Hörspiel schön stringent und trotzdem spannend auf einen gelungenen Schluss hinarbeitet, gerät die eigentliche "Romanvorlage" ein bisschen ins Verschachtelte. Da wird jemand gerettet, dann gelingt die nächste Entführung, dann gibt es eine heiße Spur, die verläuft im Sand usw.

Wie gesagt, ich finde die Geschichte nach wie vor toll, aber in der Kürze liegt nun mal die Würze ;-) und das hätte dem Buch bestimmt nicht schlecht getan.

Trotzdem gibt es von mir eine Leseempfehlung, wie bisher bei allen Büchern der Drei Fragezeichen.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone who is almost as clever as Jupiter and looks like him? Will the world survive? When they are both kidnapped Pete and Bob rise to the occasion. Pete, in particular, who doesn't usually make important observations or deductions does so in this book.

It is unusual for books of this type to tackle social issues. Racism, unfortunately, even today is still something the world, and our country, is struggling with. This book sets it in a different country that makes it a little less controversial. Still, I applaud the writer for taking it on.

Jupiter is teased a lot more in this book than most. Some of it is funny when they prick his ego a little bit. It wasn't so funny when they made fun of his weight. That I thought happened too often.

[Robert Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the last of the good 3I stories. A wonderful read with great characterisation and Alfred Hitchcock making a great quip at the end. This book is excellent.

[Sathya Sekar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Returning to the trio after a while, and it was such good fun! The adventure stands up pretty well after 35 years!

[Jeff Stephenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

AH&T3I Update: All 28 hardbacks read! Now to take a short break before reading the remaining 15 paperback titles in the series.

Dennis Lynds, aka William Arden, produced a gem as the last T3I book to originally come out in hardback. The remaining 15 titles were all originally produced as paperbacks or as GLB hardback books meant for libraries. That means that hardback copies of those later books are rare and are usually marked up fairly well as old ex-library copies. A clean hardback copy of those later titles could cost hundreds of dollars. So this is the last mass market hardback in the original series. It did not disappoint. Okay, some of the story-line is a little hokey--I mean, an exact double of one of the boys just happens to show up in Rocky Beach, CA, the home of the Three Investigators? But once the reader gets beyond that far-fetched story element, the tale takes on excitement, adventure, and deduction--and not just deduction by the master Jupiter Jones! All three boys make some sort of deduction that advances this case. The evolution of the Three Investigators seems apparent. Of course, all of the normal T3I elements were in place for this tale. Aunt Mathilda and Uncle Titus played roles. The boys use a bunch of their tools developed throughout the series run: the Secret Headquarters, the electronic direction finder set, the See-All periscope, and they even mentioned possibly using the Ghost-to-Ghost Hookup procedure. Worthington and the Rolls-Royce play key roles early in the book so the entire book is definitely a celebration of all things T3I related. Still, the book included some new twists on the series as well. The boys worked very closely--closer than normal--with Chief Reynolds and the local police authorities. They also spent much of the book working with government officials from a foreign country as well. Needless to say, it was an exciting and fast-paced book!

Thus ends my reviews of all 28 hardback books of the original 43 titles for The Alfred HItchcock and the Three Investigators adolescent mystery series. Granted, I still have the remaining 15 titles to read and review, but the end of the hardbacks makes a good place to pause and review. I grew up with the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators Mystery Series. These books were just much more cool than the Hardy Boys books. Now I still love the Hardy Boys books as well, but the Three Investigators were, in my opinion, just a much better series of books. Some titles were better than other titles (mainly I REALLY enjoyed almost all of the Robert Arthur titles except Silver Spider), but ALL of the T3I titles are just a notch above almost all of the Hardy Boys books. Why? Well, the Three Investigators always seemed more realistic than the Hardys. Both series are fiction. None of these stories could actually happen in real life, but the T3I stories felt like they could happen in real life. On the other hand, the Hardys own their own motorcycles, a car, a boat named the Sleuth, and have easy access to an airplane. They can go anywhere they want to go at just about any time, and often they do just that. As the Hardy Boys series progresses, we learn that the Hardy Boys--at ages 17 and 18--now have pilot's licenses. Okay, so the legal minimum age for a private pilot license is literally 17 (16 for gliders), it just strikes the reader as a bit far-fetched and almost too unbelievable even as an adolescent mystery book that the Hardy Boys are private pilots. Airplanes and helicopters figure into a few of the T3I stories, but never do the Three Investigator boys even earn their driver's licenses let alone pilot's licenses. Couple that fact with the idea that the Hardy Boys seem to never ever make a false step when investigating a crime while the Three Investigators sometimes seem lost and occasionally make false and bad moves, and the reader is left with the Three Investigators series being at a more realistic, more believable level. It was a joy to read many of these books as a kid, and it is now an absolute passion to collect, read, and re-read ALL of the books as an adult! So bravo Robert Arthur, Jr! Bravo William Arden! Bravo M.V. Carey! Bravo Nick West! You created a CLASSIC adolescent mystery series and I thank each of every one of you for your part in doing that!

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

gute Folge

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good title for this book! It's also an acceptable mystery story which has continuous action until "the mystery is solved." I think most kids who like mysteries will enjoy this book. It's a typical mystery children's novel for mid to upper elementary students, but the storyline is different enough to keep a young reader reading!

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bob Andrews, Jupiter Jones and Pete Crenshaw make up what they call The Three Investigators. Even though they are still boys, they are very clever and wise in the ways of the world of the nefarious. Even the local police chief understands how good they are at their craft and is willing to seek their aid and counsel as well as act on their recommendations.
In this story, Jupiter is a nearly identical twin of Ian Carew, the son of the leader of the country of Nandia. Self-declared patriots of that country are determined to kidnap Ian so that they can get leverage over his father and alter the political course of Nandia. The kidnappers are confused when they encounter two boys that look so much alike, which gives the investigators the chance to confound their schemes.
Jupiter demonstrates that he is an extremely clever boy, when he is lost he always manages to find a way to leave clues for his partners in the investigation business. The kidnappers in this case are more determined and ruthless than the criminals that appear in similar stories. As befits a book in adolescent fiction, the clues are fairly obvious, generally within the capabilities of adolescent readers.
While some of the approaches are a bit dated, this story has worn very well over time. It is fun to read about these boys that have built themselves a sophisticated headquarters in the middle of a junkyard. Many adolescent boys have dreamed of constructing a fort much like what these boys have built.

[Sebastian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ingesamt eine eher durchschnittliche Hörspielfolge, die sich durch ein vergleichsweise erwachsenes Thema auszeichnet. Hintergrund für die etwas abenteuerliche Verwechselungsgeschichte sind die politischen Unruhen einer fiktiven Kolonie in Afrika, die vor allem Justus Jonas unfreiwillig am eigenen Leib zu spüren bekommt.

Das auf die Apartheid in Südafrika anspielende Setting ist interessant, bleibt leider aber sehr oberflächlich und dient lediglich als Vorwand für die Handlung. Diese ist trotz eines dramatischen Einstiegs letztlich jedoch eher mäßig spannend und mündet in einem in der Hörspielfassung auch etwas missglückten Showdown, welcher im Vergleich zur Buchversion offenbar stark vereinfacht wurde und hier nicht so richtig funktioniert.

In Erinnerung bleiben wird von dieser Folge hauptsächlich die durchgehend falsche Aussprache des Namens der Figur Ian "Ei-en" Carew – in den 1980ern war der Name "Ian" augenscheinlich noch nicht so bekannt wie heute. Auch die Akzente der Sprecher wirken oft unfreiwillig komisch und unpassend und reihen sich in das durchwachsene Gesamtbild der Folge ein.

[sonofabook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die drei Detektive sind auf dem Weg zu einem Vergnügungspark, als sie plötzlich von einem Wagen, der sie verfolgt hat, angehalten und mit Waffen bedroht werden. Daraufhin kidnappen die zwei Männer mit den Waffen Justus Jonas und verschleppen ihn in die Berge von Rocky Beach.
Dort kann er sich jedoch mit Hilfe einer List versteckenund wird von der Polizei rechtzeitig gefunden.
Das Kidnapping fand allerdings nur statt, da Justus Jonas dem Sohn eines afrikanischen Ministers zum Verwechseln ähnlich sieht.
Nun müssen Justus, Peter und Bob diesen Jungen finden, denn er steckt in großer Gefahr.

Diese Folge hat einen speziellen Platz in meinem drei ??? Herzen, denn soweit ich mich erinnern kann, ist es die erste Folge, welche ich als kleiner Junge gehört habe und es war wirklich so interessant, sich die Einzelheiten nach und nach wieder in den Kopf rufen zu lassen.
Also bin ich natürlich auch voreingenommen, aber es ist eine spannenden Schnitzeljagdfolge mit einem schönen Ende. Alles wirkt strukturiert und gut geplottet.

Daumen hoch und eine Empfehlung!

[Cliff · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's much to commend in this book, especially since Bob and Pete end up carrying much of the load here. But it does mean that Jupiter ends up flailing a bit more than usual, when you'd expect that he'd have a devilishly clever time when there's his doppelganger running around. Also, with such potential that such a resolution could have had, the "normal" cut away to reporting to Alfred Hitchcock seems a bit of a let down.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

At what point does coincidence go too far and detract from a novel? My favorite author, PG Wodehouse, tends to overuse coincidence somewhat but in comedy it generally works. In drama and mystery I think it is less acceptable and here the author just pushes that envelope too far. This is unfortunate as the rest of the book is quite nice. The three boys act like themselves and are entertaining and the book is well written. Only the plot lets it down, but that is quite a letdown.

[Susi · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Hörspiel]
Der Fall entstand in einer Zeit, in der zwar die Dekolonisation Afrikas in vollem Gange war, aber vor allem Südafrika durch die Apartheid geprägt war. Dementsprechend finde ich es bemerkenswert, dass hier dem Machtwechsel - wenn auch in einem fiktiven Land - Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt wurde.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I laughed out loud several times and found some parts excitingly delicious. I was less enthused by the comments about Jupe’s appetite, and an identical “twin” from Nanda in Africa who just happens to be visiting Rocky Beach was the most unlikely/unbelievable coincidence.

[anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure I ever read this one as a kid, so it was especially fun to have a "new" 3 investigators to read. I'm so glad my friend gave me his collection, as I only had one or two left from mine.
Oh how I would love to update this series.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baca ulang seri ini memang menyenangkan.

[D M]

Krótka, ale konkretna i wciągająca 😁 miło było do niej wrócić. Jako nastolatka zaczytywałam się w tej serii 😁

[D Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid story. I prefer the three investigators books that have more intrigue or supernatural occurances but still enjoyable all the same.

[Raja99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a vivid memory of buying this book at a B. Dalton in Indianapolis when it first came out and reading it on the trip home. Of course, it has been 44 years, so my memory may be wrong.

2022:

I brought this book down from the shelf in part to look at the illustrations-and got hooked again. I finished rereading it in bed on Saturday, July 23 and I wish I could rate it 4.5; it's one of Dennis Lynds's better Three Investigators books, though perhaps not as good as The Mystery of the Headless Horse or The Mystery of the Dead Man's Riddle.

[Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2019
Jupiter Jones becomes involved in a political plot when he gets kidnapped! But the kidnappers have the wrong guy! They are looking for someone nearly identical to poor Jupe, which turns out to be their downfall. Since Jupe has been alerted to this mysterious boy that looks like him, he is instantly on the case of solving where young Ian is and who is after him.

The only real problem I had with this book is how coincidental Ian's hiding place was. I mean, seriously. Jupiter not only looks exactly like him, but he also just happens to be hiding in Jupiter's back yard. Very far fetched, in my opinion.

[TimTam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Auch in papierform ganz schön. Natürlich nicht mit dem Hörspiel vergleichbar. Allein des fehlenden Titelsongs wegen...

[Serena · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.

[Sugiharto Hadiwibowo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jupiter-Oscar-Petra...

[Aidan Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a good book.