Last Laugh

The Hardy Boys Casefiles #42

by Franklin W. Dixon

While attending a comic book convention in San Francisco, Frank and Joe witness the kidnapping of celebrated publisher Barry Johns--an event they dismiss as a publicity stunt until someone destroys a priceless art collection

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Young Adult

155 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by a variety of different authors who were part of a team that wrote The Hardy Boys novels for the Stratemeyer Syndicate (now owned by Simon & Schuster). Dixon was also the writer attributed for the Ted Scott Flying Stories series, published by Grosset & Dunlap.
Canadian author Leslie McFarlane is believed to have written the first sixteen Hardy Boys books, but worked to a detailed plot and character outline for each story. The outlines are believed to have originated with Edward Stratemeyer, with later books outlined by his daughters Edna C. Squier and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. Edward and Harriet also edited all books in the series through the mid-1960s. Other writers of the original books include MacFarlane's wife Amy, John Button, Andrew E. Svenson, and Adams herself; most of the outlines were done by Adams and Svenson. A number of other writers and editors were recruited to revise the outlines and update the texts in line with a more modern sensibility, starting in the late 1950s.
The principal author for the Ted Scott books was John W. Duffield.

Reviews

[Bookish Indulgenges with b00k r3vi3ws · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first read Hardy Boys, I think I was in class 5, I had such a crush on Frank Hardy. I liked the brainy one over the brawny one and that sums up my first impression of Hardy Boys.
In their late teens, Frank and Joe Hardy take after their detective father Fenton Hardy. Frank is the older of the two and has more breakthroughs in the cases because he is the brainy one. Joe is the younger brother who more often than not is useful when things get hot and they need to fight their way out.
Like Nancy Drew, the books in the The Hardy Boys series re written by ghostwriters under the collective pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon. And yes, the earlier books were better than the latter ones.

[Wes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Safe to say the series was getting off the rails at this point.

[G. Salter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was only just becoming aware of comics at the time I discovered this book, and as an 8/9-year-old living in Germany I was a long way away from understanding what a San Diego comic convention was. However, I do remember the non-stop pace and the frightening imagery of a supervillain lighting comic book stacks on fire.
I suppose that means it wasn't the comics that ruined me. It was the mystery novels ABOUT comic books that did it.

[Dannuel Delizo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last guffaw!