The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon

Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators #14

by Nick West

Henry Allen's dog is missing - and he thinks it's been eaten by a dragon! On the night the dog disappeared, Mr. Allen swears he saw a huge dragon slither into the sea caves beneath his cliff-top house.Could Mr. Allen really have seen a dragon? The Three Investigators doubt it, but they're determined to find the missing dog. That means exploring those dark, dangerous caves>>>And whether or not Mr. Allen's dragon is real, something terrifying and deadly is lurking there!

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

202 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was entertaining, but slightly more predictable than some of the others. It had some other differences as well. There was no other boys their own ages involved, and the villain wasn't quite as sinister as in previous volumes. The story seemed a little lacking though, as in there wasn't much variety as far as settings go and the characters weren't quite as interesting. That being said, this was still entertaining. This is such a great series.

[Nadja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr atmosphärisch und undurchsichtig. Die Detektiverei bleibt aber im Vergleich zu den vorherigen Folgen eher im Hintergrund.

[C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, I have abandoned Mrs Dalloway for the simpler pleasures of a children's book, but even the relatively un-challenging prose of Virginia Woolf requires too much cognitive processing from me right now. So I turn to an old favourite.

Quite apart from the undeniable coolness of running a detective agency out of a trailer hidden in a junkyard, I always liked the Three Investigators because they seemed to be more independent, less childish and more intelligent than other child detectives. In The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon, Jupiter, Pete and Bob become entangled in a bizarre mystery involving disappearing dogs, dragons of questionable reality, giant insects and gold bullion. It's not a brilliant example of this series - the bare bones of the solution to the mystery are clear from the outset - but it's still relatively ingenious and appealing enough for me.

Like their Enid Blyton counterparts, the heroes of our story seem to live life in one endless summer holiday, have blissfully unconcerned parents and little need for any company aside from each other. Also there are no girls in their world. Unlike their Enid Blyton counterparts, however, they do not seem to fall into mystery simply by existing and they use their wit and intelligence to solve puzzles and save their own lives rather than blind luck and a bit of courage.

On a scale ranging from the most generic and carbon-copied of Blyton to the most brilliant and ingenious of Agatha Christie, the Three Investigators would fall somewhere in the middle. Nothing brilliant (at least not in this book), but not too bad either.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jupe, Pete, and Bob, the Three Investigators, are off on another adventure. This time Alfred Hitchcock calls on the boys to help out a friend. Mr. Henry Allen's Irish Setter Red Rover has gone missing. And Allen thinks that maybe a dragon has run off with his beloved pet. When he was out searching for the dog, he swears he saw a dragon come out of the sea and enter one of the caves below his house on the cliff. Red Rover isn't the only dog that's gone missing in the little town of Seaside. Several other pet owners are missing their furry friends as well.

The boys don't really believe in dragons (do they?), but they decide that the cave deserves their attention too. But when a sabotaged staircase leading down to the beach collapses, it begins to look like someone doesn't want them investigating. Jupe is the one who tumbles down the staircase. Then Bob falls in a hole in the cave. Men in diving suits menace them with spear guns. And....they see the dragon! They escape safely and after they all calm down, Jupe realizes there were some odd things about the dragon and when he figures out what they mean he realizes that there's more going on than just missing dogs.

This is another just plain good fun mystery from my favorite three investigators. It's not too far removed from a Scooby Doo episode--because of course the dragon isn't a real live fire-breathing dragon. But it's a great cover for what's really going on. I love it when I can revisit favorite mystery series from my childhood and still get a kick out of them as an adult. The Three Investigators deliver almost every time. This one is particularly good for the town of Seaside and the background information that Bob manages to dig up on the caverns beneath Allen's house. The interactions between the boys are very good in this one as well. The culprit is fairly obvious (it's not too difficult when there aren't many suspects running around), but knowing this is aimed at a juvenile audience I don't expect intricate plotting. ★★★ and 1/2 [rounded up here]

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

original 2009 review - The boys are hired to find a missing dog, but then discover the dogs owner has spotted a coughing dragon coming up the beach in front of his house. Investigating that, the boys discover hidden caves and a long-abandoned underground railway, before coming face to face with the dragon itself. This is preposterous but such good fun that you can forgive the plot-holes (you’d use a dragon, for that purpose?) and the humorous interplay between the boys is superb (the dialogue here, in fact, is probably some of the best in the series). With a limited cast and well realised - and used -locations, this is real treat. Highly recommended.
2014 update - I stand by the 2009 review completely, this is a very well written mystery with some wonderfully humorous dialogue. It’s still preposterous of course but, as with “The Mystery Of The Dancing Devil”, if you’re willing to buy into the central concept (as I was) then it’s a great deal of fun and it’s told at a cracking pace too. With well realised locations, a nicely constructed history to Seaside and some strong set pieces, this is a great read and very highly recommended.
2022 update - Completely agree with the previous reviews - yes it’s silly but it’s so well done you’re willing to accept it. A cracking read.

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Der siebte Fall der deutschen Hörspielreihe beginnt wenig spektakulär und es ist wohl auch ein bisschen der allgemeinen Langeweile geschuldet, dass die drei Detektive überhaupt erst den Auftrag annehmen, nach einem verschwundenen Hund zu suchen. Allerdings gerät der vom Hundebesitzer Mr. Allen vermisste Vierbeiner schnell in den Hintergrund, als jener dem Trio erzählt, dass im Küstenstädtchen Seaside momentan noch weitere merkwürdige Dinge vor sich gehen und er selbst sogar einen Drachen am Meer gesehen haben will. Diese Aussage macht Justus Jonas, Peter Shaw und Bob Andrews dann doch neugierig und so stürzen sie sich begeistert in ihren neuen Fall...

Man verrät sicherlich nicht zu viel wenn man enthüllt dass es die drei ??? hier natürlich nicht mit einem leibhaftigen Drachen zu tun bekommen und somit keineswegs ins Reich der Fantasy abgewandert sind. Trotzdem sorgt der Fall nach dem unscheinbaren Auftakt schnell für Spannung und bietet mit dem Örtchen Seaside und insbesondere dessem unterirdischen Höhlensystem ein gelungenes Setting und eine interessante Kulisse für diese Geschichte. Überhaupt bekommt man hier einiges geboten: geheimnisvolle Ungeheuer-Sichtungen, mordlustige Taucher, dunkle Höhlen, Hollywood-Insidereinblicke von Mr. Hitchcock himself - über zu wenig Abwechslung kann man sich wahrlich nicht beschweren. Auch akustisch wird diese Vielfalt gut umgesetzt, wobei vor allem die Geräusche des "Drachen" sehr stimmungsvoll klingen. Zudem kommt es zum ersten Mal auch innerhalb des Detektiv-Trios zu richtigen Spannungen und hitzigen Diskussionen um die richtige Herangehensweise. Da stört es letztlich auch kaum, dass mancher Hinweis eher wenig subtil platziert wird (*hust*) und die Auflösung somit nicht allzu überraschend kommt. Vielleicht nicht unbedingt der raffinierteste Fall bisher, für mich aber der unterhaltsamste.

[Hal Astell · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a baker's dozen of 'Three Investigators' books written by either Robert Arthur or his initial replacement, William Arden, the series gained a third author with 'The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon'. Like Arden, that name is a pseudonym, this time for Kin Platt, an American author who wrote for radio, comic books and children's mysteries, winning an Edgar Award in 1967 for 'Sinbad and Me', a juvenile mystery in his 'Steve Forrester' series. As with many pseudonymous authors, he also wrote porn. It's hard to find a complete bibliography of his work and there are apparently unpublished novels in a university collection.

He proves to be a comfortable writer for the 'Three Investigators' penning some strong dialogue; arguably the best of the series thus far, but settling for a relatively straightforward mystery with few characters and few locations. He ties in other stories, giving Blackbeard the mynah bird from 'The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot' a brief appearance, but doesn't add much to the mythos of the series. Other than the dialogue, the only example I can conjure up is how Pete plays out more negatively than usual but Jupe calls him on it.

The beginning feels like a throwback, with Jupiter Jones planning another big robbery, entirely as an intellectual exercise. Wasn't this done already in 'The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure', with more impact to the broader story? Instead, it's Pete who sparks the mystery by fixing a radio in the junkyard. Testing it, they hear news of five dogs that have been reported missing in Seaside, which isn't far away from Rocky Beach. They're thinking of heading down there with business cards as an attempt to drum up business when Alfred Hitchcock rings and the game is afoot.

One of the dogs' owners turns out to be an old film director friend of his, Henry Allen, who used H. H. Allen as his byline. He made horror movies long ago, which ought to prompt evocative history, given that Kin Platt was born in 1911 so a near contemporary of Robert Arthur, who was two years older. Dennis Lynde, by comparison, the writer behind William Arden, was over a decade younger, having been born in 1924. This would have been a better book, had Platt explored Allen's history a little more, but he's content to use it only as the means to set up the coughing dragon of the title.

You see, Allen lives in a house by the ocean, as the name of his town, Seaside, might suggest, and under the town is a network of caves. Out of those caves, Allen swears, emerged a dragon, which he both saw and heard, because it coughed. Needless to say, any mystery surrounding the missing dogs is immediately eclipsed by the coughing dragon, which our stalwart trio promptly explore in some neatly dangerous scenes. Even the steps down to the beach prove dangerous, when they fall away, railing included. In more clichéd fashion, Bob falls into a pit of quicksand at one point.

I mentioned that there are fewer characters than usual here. That's partly because Platt focuses so tightly on the Three Investigators, minimising other series regulars, even with Worthington in play. He also ditches a standard trope for the series, namely to add a temporary fourth member to the team in the form of a guest, usually a boy from a foreign culture. Platt completely ignores the idea here and the novel feels emptier for that omission. Mostly, though, it's because his location is so remote, without the benefit of a ranch or a fairground, let alone a castle, to provide multiple background characters.

Allen apparently only has two neighbours. Mr. Carter is cantankerous and meets the boys at his door with a shotgun in his hand. He clearly wants none of whatever they're selling. The other one, Arthur Shelby, is far more interesting, a prankster by nature whose house is a wonderful addition to the characterful locations the boys had encountered in earlier cases. His automatic gate is just the start. There's a trellis trap, an electric charge hooked up to his doorbell and even a fake bird attack. He's an amateur inventor and he calls his house Mystery Castle.

I'm not going to dig much deeper into the story, because it's not particularly substantial, Platt far more interested in character than plot; even though he oddly writes in so few actual characters to have character. Other than Allen, Carter and Shelby, he builds it into the historical backdrop that he hooks his story onto. Never mind the smugglers and rumrunners who used this cave system for their nefarious work, I'm talking about the South Pacific Coast Railroad.

I'm guessing that Platt's Seaside is the one that used to be East Monterey so is located further up the Californian coast than this novel suggests. That's three hundred miles from Rocky Beach, not a trivial distance for the Three Investigators, even with a gold plated Rolls Royce at their disposal. However, very close to Seaside are the towns of Alameda and Santa Cruz, which were the termini for the South Pacific Coast Railroad, a marvel of 19th-century engineering Platt that suggests had a planned and partly built but never opened southern extension to Seaside. Whether it was true or invention, it's a great backdrop for a 'Three Investigators' novel.

And so there's good here, especially in the dialogue, the banter between the boys never feeling fresher, but it's ultimately a weak entry in the series. That makes it unsurprising that Platt would only write one more episode, 'The Mystery of the Nervous Lion', which was two books away on the other side of the debut contribution of another new author, M. V. (for Mary Virginia) Carey, who would eventually write fifteen 'Three Investigators' mysteries, one more than Lynde as William Arden, with whom she alternated for the longest time. Her first is up for me next month, namely 'The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints'.

Originally posted at the Nameless Zine in September 2024:
https://www.thenamelesszine.org/Nana-...

Index of all my Nameless Zine reviews:
https://books.apocalypselaterempire.com/

[Sarahbel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading this series for over 15 years now and I've been collecting them for nearly as long. This particular one wasn't my favorite -- it has a great story and plenty of adventure, but I think I prefer the writing style of some of the other author's of the series over Nick West's. The beginning felt a little rocky and awkward, but by the middle it began to get into the rhythm of the typical T3I mystery. As always, the boys find more than they bargained for and end up putting themselves in several dangerous situations. I know I'm a good bit older than the target audience for this series, but it is never more evident than when I catch myself wondering "What are these boys' parents thinking letting them run around all over California at all hours of the day and night?" While I did enjoy this volume, my favorite of the series so far is still the first one I ever read, The Mystery of the Green Ghost.

[Robert Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nick West penned two of the 3I books and it's a pity that they were both pretty weak. This book has a lot of slapstick banter and it turns out that "Nick West" was actually Kin Platt, who wrote among other things one of my fave TV shows Top Cat. And I can hear T.C.'s voice in this! It might as well be Chooch and Benny the Ball talking, with a little Fancy and Spook thrown in for even more laughs. But as a 3I writer, he just never got to grips with it. The story is very, very weak. The solution is laughable and the characters are not endearing. Carter at one point has his face twisted in a snarl! That is a cliché worthy of the most hastily written Hardy Boys books. Not a good story.

[Kest Schwartzman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well. Jupiter Jones is the kind of asshole who won't tell his friends what he thinks is going on, because that makes it easier to pretend he's always right, and he is ALSO the kind of asshole who doesn't listen to his friends or in any way respect their opinions, and ALSO the kind of asshole who risks his friends lives repeatedly. Oh right, and also the kind that treats his chauffeur as not-a-person. I probably missed some other ways in which Jupiter Jones is an asshole.

[Soňa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iste, prečo by aj záhada zmiznutého psa, nemohla prerásť v napínavý príbeh troch pátračov?

Nemyslím, že som tento diel predtým čítala a preto bol príjemným prekvapením, i keď boli momenty, keď som tušila niektoré kroky skôr ako naši pátrači, výsledok bol veľmi dobrý, preto 5 hviezd.

[Demian Katz · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fourteenth Three Investigators novel is also the debut of series author Nick West (a pseudonym of Kin Platt). Unfortunately, it is easily the worst book in the series so far.

The story certainly contains all the right elements to make an enjoyable entry in the series: a mysterious monster sighted in a town with a tragic history, a treacherous cave system inhabited by dangerous villains, and some film industry connections to incorporate Alfred Hitchcock into the story. The problem is that none of it comes together properly in the execution.

The first problem is that the characterization and dialog are both quite poorly done. While these books have never exactly offered the height of naturalism, the character conversations here are especially stilted, and the boys seem unusually foolish and whiny. The motivations of the villain are confused at best, with the tacked-on epilogue forced to do some heavy lifting to explain the story, and one significant "red herring" character could have used a little more work to better fit into the plot.

The poor execution of the titular monster is also a problem. The creature's ultimate explanation is perhaps more implausible than if it had actually been a monster (which, in the conventions of this series, you know from the start it will not be). The plot offers two different explanations for the creature's "coughing," neither of which really matter, suggesting that the title came first and the story came later. None of the characters (adults or children alike) seem to understand or consider the difference between an extinct animal like a dinosaur and a mythological beast like a dragon, which makes everyone seem unusually foolish.

The film industry elements of the book are also poorly used and dated even for 1970, when the book was published. At one point, the Investigators watch an "old movie" about a dragon and find it terrifying; this seems a bit hard to believe given the characters' real-life experience and the nature of early monster movies. Even harder to believe is the way they use a supposedly contemporary science fiction film (which sounds more like something from the 1950s) to fool the villains toward the end. In theory, having references to special effects techniques like stop motion animation should have been a fun addition to the book, but as written, it just seems condescending.

It's a shame that nothing really comes together properly in this adventure, since it certainly had some potential to be fun. As it is, though, I can only recommend bothering with it if, like me, you're attempting a complete chronological read-through of the series.

[Jeff Stephenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

AH&T3I Update: 14 read, 14 hardbacks to go! (Yes, I am now halfway done with the hardbacks in the series. There are 15 additional titles all originally released in paperback versions that I still need to read as well. Of course, Alfred Hitchcock does not appear in the last 13 titles.)

Kin Platt, aka Nick West, only wrote two of the T3I titles: this one and book #16. Given the limited number of titles that this author wrote for the series, it would be easy to deduce that he was not the best T3I writer, and there may be some merit to that deduction. This is not the best of the T3I books, but I would not classify it as the worst either. Ok, it is a predictable plot, and almost any adult reader will see through the mystery fairly quickly. I even just tried to play along and let the action unfold naturally, but I had the bad guy figured out not long after his introduction in the book. The ending was a bit "cheap" as well. It is much more unrealistic than one might expect from a T3I book. Even a child might correctly question why a bad guy finishes his crime in the way this story ends it. Still, the book is a fun book to read. Despite the new author for the series, this book contained lots of continuity to the previous Three Investigators books. All three boys are back. Worthington and the Rolls-Royce, not to mention several of the main characters' family members, play roles in this title. Even Alfred Hitchcock plays a larger than normal role in this mystery than he has in any of the previous tales. The secret headquarters is used and it is nice to see a few connections to previous cases mentioned in this text. For example, Blackbeard the parrot, from Book #2, returns for a cameo appearance in this story. Overall, this is a fun tale that does justice to the series even if it is not the best Three Investigators story to be published.

[Adinda Putri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Akhirnya setelah sekian lama (sejak SMP) buku ini tertimbun kebaca juga huahahaa. Aslinya sih buku ini nemu di rak buku di rumahnya bude dan kebetulan ini buku kepunyaan bapak. Dulu bapak suka banget ngelahap buku serial Trio Detektif ini waktu masih zaman kuliah. Alhasil terwariskan ke putrinya wkwk.

Oke, jadi buku ini menceritakan tentang ketiga detektif remaja yang ditugaskan oleh sutradara kenamaan Amerika pada zamannya, Alfred Hitchcock (yang udah nonton film Psycho (1960) pasti tau neh :D), untuk meretas kasus hilangnya anjing-anjing di kota Seaside pada saat yang bersamaan. Kemudian investigasi mereka pun berujung pada keberadaan dari sesosok naga batuk yang terlihat berkeliaran di sebuah gua di tebing pantai dan juga sebuah terowongan misterius yang berhubungan dengan sejarah pelik kota Seaside.

Menurut saya buku ini cukup menghibur dan bikin kita menebak-nebak bagaimana konklusi dari pemecahan misteri dalam buku ini. Tapi sayangnya, entah mungkin dari gaya terjemahannya yang agak kaku sehingga tension ceritanya agak kurang menggigit atau pembangunan ceritanya yang sepertinya kurang maksimal. Tapi cukup menyenangkan lah untuk cerita detektif.

[David Phipps · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Three Investigators is a juvenile detective series published in the 60s, 70s, and 80s that spans about 43 books. They feature three teenage boys who mostly investigate paranormal type stuff that they debunk (somewhat like Scooby-Doo) or other abnormal crimes that the police do not handle. They report their cases to Alfred Hitchcock or a fake director depending on which versions you read. Their base of operations is hidden away in the depths of a junkyard and it has multiple hidden entrances. I discovered these books in the library during middle school and promptly read them all. As such, I have a lot of nostalgia for these books.

The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon is #14 in the series. The boys are investigating some missing dogs as well as the sighting of a dragon. This one was OK but nothing really stood out from the rest of the series. I read an online ebook version of this since most of these books are out of print.

[Kevin Cannon (Monty's Book Reviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every so often I like to leave the stack of 'adult' books to one side and enter the realm of good children's literature.

In this case it was to return to a series of books I last read over 40 years ago and have fond memories of.

Alfred Hitchcock's Three Investigators series is definitely a bit dated by modern standards but works great as a medium to lose yourself in for a few hours without having to worry about convoluted twists and turns.

As a kids book this is exciting and entertaining - I used to look forward to reading the series in the same way as my son reads Harry Potter today. It is certainly not on a par with expertly crafted childrens novels today but still makes a fun read.

As an adult I just loved it for the memories of childhood spent reading these & Enid Blyton's books on long cold winter evenings (before we had video games and more than 3 TV channels)

3 Stars for the book and one for the memories, so 4 Stars in total

[Paul Street · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't come back to this one very often - but a recent read shows it wasn't too bad with some crisp writing and a unique plot.
It's a quirky story of the sighting of a sea dragon and the search for some missing dogs up the coast from Rocky Beach at a place called Seaside. Unusually Alfred Hitchcock plays a prominent role in a number of scenes.
The real significance of this book (the first of only two by Nick West aka Kin Platt - he also wrote #16 Nervous Lion) is that it helped continue the series at a time when it was in danger of being discontinued after Robert Arthur's death.
M.V.Carey came on board with #15 Flaming Footprints, and together with William Arden (Dennis Lynds), the series re-established itself on firm footing.
It's a pity Kin Platt only wrote two T3I stories.

[sonofabook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dieses Mal werden die drei Detektive aus Rocky Beach wieder einmal von Alfred Hitchcock persönlich beauftragt.
Sie sollen das Rätsel lösen, warum im Nachbarort plötzlich alle Hunde verschwinden und nicht nur das, sondern wieso auch ein Drache am Strand gesehen wurde.

Der Anfang ist wirklich stark und hat durchaus unheimliche Züge, wenn man die Folge spät abends hört.
Schön wie die unterschiedlichen Meinungen der drei zu dem Fall dargestellt werden und die Spannung in den Situationen aufgebaut wird, mithilfe dr Musik und Szenarien.
Auch, wenn ab der Mitte die Folge etwas nachlässt und sich in Details verliert, bleibt es eine der bisher stärksten Folgen.

Kann ich auf jeden Fall empfehlen.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Das ist das erste der Bücher der drei ??? Was ich je komplett gelesen habe. Man merkt, dass es sehr am Anfang der Reihe erschienen ist, die Charakteristika der drei Jungs und ihres Vorgehens sind zwar schon erkennbar aber noch nicht so ausgearbeitet, wie das in den meisten späteren Folgen der Fall ist. Dieser Fall braucht meiner Meinung etwas zu lange, um wirklich in Fahrt zu kommen. Erst nach über der Hälfte des Buchs passiert endlich mal was. Was für mich interessant zu sehen war, ist, dass die Jungs davon ausgehen, dass es Drachen früher mal gab...
Trotzdem würde ich das Buch als Zwischendurch Lektüre durchaus empfehlen.

[Sam Desir-Spinelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my kid as a bed time story, and he loved it!

There was decent art, and pretty much everything by was kid friendly. A couple scary parts, but ultimately no real violence (though there were guns as props pretty much)

However, I thought the inclusion of Alfred Hitchcock as a character made the story really weird. Almost like an advertisement for Alfred Hitchcock lol. Also the characters were kind of flat and at times annoying. The main protag is kind of a douche.

There was some nice art in this book, and a good amount of humor, my son laughed out loud at least once per chapter.

The mystery itself was suitable for the young kid age group.

[tobi10 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gibt es Drachen wirklich ?

In dem Buch die drei Fragezeichen und der unheimliche Drache von Alfred Hitchcock, geht es um die drei Fragezeichen, die von Herr Hitchcock angerufen werden, der sie um Hilfe bittet für einen Freund. Dieser Freund vermisst seinen Hund, sowie mehrere Leute in dieser Gegend, in der dieser Freund wohnt. Da die drei Fragezeichen gerade keinen anderen Fall haben, nehmen sie den Fall an. Was der Drache damit zutun hat und ob es ein echter Drache ist, sollte jeder selber lesen.

Die Geschichte war cool und einfallsreich gemacht. Gerne werde ich sie mir in Zukunft nochmal anhören oder lesen. Die Auflösung der Geschichte war wie immer genial. Nur zu empfehlen.

[Mehedi Sarwar · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of an adventure story with decent mystery element. Sometimes predictable. A neighborhood in a sea side city called “Seaside” , people are loosing theirs pet dogs. One such person was Henry Allen who was also Mr Hitchcock’s friend. Upon Hitchcok’s request the three investigators came to solve the mystery. By the time they talked with Mr Allen, they also learned that while searching for his missing dog Mr Allen saw a Dragon like creature coming from the sea and entering a cave. Did he actually saw a dragon ? And how is it connected to the missing dogs . The boys goes into the cave to investigate.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the few books in the series that the local library had when I was in 4th and 5th grade. I had not read this one. It appears it is a repackaged version of Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators. References to the legendary director are mostly changed to a made-up mystery writer. However, the editors failed to change all the times Hitchcock's name appears so it confused me. The mystery was okay. I would have probably liked it more when I was younger, but as an adult, it wasn't very challenging.

[Cliff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another good entry into the series, this time by first time writer Nick West (first time with this series, that is). His sense of the characters is fairly good, though a bit reliant on previous text. In fact, the opening conversation where Jupiter starts to surmise about how to pull off a crime is pretty much straight out of the Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure.

But forgiving that, we have a good plot, though again, it seems to be cribbed from Secret of Terror Castle. Perhaps this is due to the author playing it safe with what works.

[Trangttt15 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Đây là một truyện trong bộ truyện trinh thám dành cho thiếu niên của đạo diễn Alfred Hitchcook, cách đây hơn 20 năm, khi tôi đọc, seri này mang tên “Ba thám tử trẻ”, sau đó, khi phát hành lại năm 2008, được mang tên “Vụ bí ẩn”. Ngày trước tôi rất thích bộ truyện này và đã tìm đọc được gần hết các tập (mượn thư viện, mượn từ cửa hàng sách của mẹ) nhưng giờ đã quên nhiều. Nội dung truyện kịch tính vừa phải, có tập kết thúc khá “xàm xí”, ví dụ như tập này. Người già thường hay hoài cổ, vì vậy, nếu có cơ hội tôi vẫn sẽ sưu tầm và đọc lại bộ truyện này để nhớ về ngày xưa.

[Sonny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first introduction to a serious "dragon", a frightful creature that up until this point, I had largely envisioned as rather amiable, thanks to that effervescent character "Puff" (yeah, the magic one). Although there is a completely rational explanation for the existence of such a beast in this book, it nevertheless nudged me towards a path of the fantastical in my teenage years that would be characterised by the likes of Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms and the larger D&D universe.

[Micah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've enjoyed re-reading the series whenever I want something that doesn't require much investment or concentration, but this installment was really lacking. I never could quite grasp layout of the cave where much of the action takes place, and while there were multiple ideas that would make an interesting mystery, they never intersected well. The dragon in particular didn't make much sense and ultimately was one of several red herrings.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember this title from when I was in grade school, and I thought I had read this one, but it didn’t seem familiar. Of course, that was a while ago.

This story is by Nick West. My biggest disappointment was the “research” Bob did that said 1,000 people are killed by sharks every year. That is not even close. As a child, I understood these books were fiction but I would easily have believed that was accurate.

Other than that, I’d have rated this 4 stars.

[Joaquin del Villar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Se trata de un libro esta vez de Nick West, en esta ocasión los Investigadores son muy diferentes. West juega con la cueva de la playa donde está el supuesto dragón, creando situaciones que mas recuerdan a Scooby Doo que a un libro de los investigadores. Muy, muy, muy previsible todo el desarrollo, y el misterio. Mas activo el señor Hitchcock que en otros libros. Nadie hoy en día puede creer que una película proyectada sobre unas rocas es algo que esta pasando realmente. Demasiado infantil.

[Rodney Haydon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this UK paperback edition while I was at Half Price Books a few days ago. Other than the change of the word torches for flashlights, this story was as I remembered it from my childhood. Not the best of the T3I books (which I think are the ones penned by Robert Arthur) but a solid entry nonetheless.