The Mystery of the Silver Star

The Hardy Boys #86

by Franklin W. Dixon

The Hardy brothers agree to help a bicyclist riding an experimental bicycle - the Silver Star - when Keith starts having too many unexplained accidents. They agree just in time before the Silver Star is stolen... that's when the straightforward case turns deadly serious.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Thriller, Adventure, Classics

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1987

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

[Ethan Hulbert · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Hardy Boys - who recently saved the world from a nuclear holocaust, drove a tank through Africa while shooting at rebels, and saved a space launch program from terrorists - find a missing bike.

Sure.

[old account (rl) · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Mystery of the Silver Star was one of the worst Hardy Boys mysteries I have ever read. It was just so boring! This series was one of my childhood favourites but this was not the sort of thing I remembered. The mysteries used to be good, gripping and suspenseful. The plot of this was terribly dry. I struggled through it and couldn't have cared less about the outcome - not exactly what you want when going into a mystery novel.

And what happened to Frank and Joe? I use to love the relationship between these brothers and how individualistic they were. Normally they are extremely realistic and witty but I found them to be completely flat this time round. They lacked personality. Joe's humour was gone and Frank didn't have his usual spunky intelligence thing going on. They were just plain old boring.

Overall, I have to say that I am awfully disappointed with The Mystery of the Silver Star. It certainly didn't live up to its name and I wouldn't recommend it.

[Rick Bavera · Rating 2 out of 5]

It could be that I'm tired of the Hardy Boys stories.
Or have finally gotten past suspending disbelief that a couple of ordinary kids would be such great detectives, smarter than most of the adults around them.
Or, that a bicycle mystery isn't as challenging as some of the other capers they've been in.
The story was not bad. Just not as exciting as some of the others in the series.

[John Teske · Rating 4 out of 5]

This version is less dated than some of the versions I have recently perused.

Overall still entertaining, and keeping up with the tech of the times.

I'll pass this on in a "Little Library" near me.

[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.