Danger on Vampire Trail

The Hardy Boys #50

by Franklin W. Dixon

The Hardy boys and two friends take a camping trip to the Rocky Mountains in an attempt to locate a gang of credit-card counterfeiters.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Classics, Adventure, Middle Grade

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

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

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the fiftieth book in the original Hardy Boys series. It was produced by the Stratemeyer syndicate and published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1971. The author was Andrew E. Svenson, though all of the novels were published under the house pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon. It was one of the last that I read as a child, or Y.A. as they're now called; I would have been twelve when I read it the first time. It was one of my least favorites then, and after reading it again I still thought it was one of the weakest. The Boys are sent to the Rocky Mountains by Dad to investigate a credit card fraud scheme. They go in a tent camper and take Chet and Biff along with them, and Biff brings his dog, Sherlock, along, too. It seems to take them a very long time to drive from Bayport to Colorado, and once they arrive, they find there are two mysteries, the credit card scammers and some jewel thieves. They meet some quirky characters along the way, some of whom turn out to be quite helpful and some are incompetent criminals. The title is misleading because there are no vampires, just a few bats that have been imported to scare away investigators and an unlikely name of a dirt bike. (The bats die as soon as they're exposed to cold temperatures in the Rockies; very sad.) The mystery itself is sillier than most and peopled with silly people like practical joker Whip Lasher and Prince Cuthbert, but what I objected to most was the way they treat the poor dog, Sherlock. They leave him tied up alone for unreasonably long stretches, and he gets poisoned and almost burned to death. I found it objectionable in 1971, and it seemed way out of character when I just reread it. Also, Joe is swept up by an attraction for a random trailer girl named Barbie, which seemed sort of cad like when Iola is patiently waiting for him back on the Morton farm. Not a good entry in the series; where's Leslie McFarlane when you need him?

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, this was great whodunit fun.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps some false advertisement on the title - there's little to do with vampires, but vampire bats do play a minor role.

A better title might have been "Danger in a Tent Trailer". It's quite astounding how much abuse the Hardy Boys' tent trailer takes in this novel.

But... since each chapter must end on a cliffhanger note, and since there are 20 chapters in this book, it's possibly easier for the author to end a chapter now and then with some damage to the trailer.

Some really bizarre characters - the Prince is realy strange, and Pick seems a bit weird too.

Worth a look if you enjoyed these as a youth and want to reminisce with an offbeat Hardy Boys tale that you missed the first time around. Or... if you're a young reader, this has got to be better than other YA Vampire books.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardy Boys with Chet and Biff and his dog too! I really liked reading this one to my boys after camping with my boys in the west of the United States. Great fun and a few GRE words to work through for my boys - which is always good. Not really expected with book number 50, like I expect it with earlier numbers. Favorite GRE word in this book was lugubrious. :)

[Aidan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hardy boys are chasing Whip Lasher, a practical joker. When Lasher leads them to vampire trail, the brothers have to get past the dangers that await them, but can they also get past Lasher too?
This is one of my favorite Hardy Boys so far because it involved one of my favorite animals, Bats!

[GrizzlyVanBearTheFirst · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good short book to read.
There were a lot of times when I was reading and thinking to myself that they could have solved it earlier or easily, but the end was so good and unexpected!
Also I loved Biff, prince cuthbert and Fritz!

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eli got bored

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a little all over the place and the lot meandered, and lost it's way from the original story, and yet, it was still enjoyable. The endless trouble that followed the boys and their friends on this cross country camping trip kept me engaged, even if the plot became somewhat.muddled.

[Emily Ott · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book I ever read of the Hardy Boys series, and I might say it was good enough to read the rest of the books, but, once I started reading the other books I found out that I had switched Frank and Joe around! The action was good, the mystery one that was quite interesting and they went out of Bayport. Compared to the other books in the series though, this one I remember quite a bit of, while others I can barely think of what was going on.

The Hardy Boys series is more for an audience that isn't looking for a deep read, but an enjoyable read that focuses more on the action instead of the knowing.

[Hannah Belyea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank and Joe bring along two of their friends on a camping trip in an effort to track down a gang who have been counterfeiting credit cards! Dixon will have readers cheering and gasping with every chapter in this entry!

[Saffron Mavros · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, like the trademark of the series, there are two mysteries going on simultaneously, however, this time the Hardy boys are chasing just one, and accidentally stumble upon the other.

The villainous characters got a little mixed up. There was just too much going on with very little explanation. Too many plot holes. The ending was very drab and trivial. Where did Fingers and his gang fit in? Till the end, Lasher was the main guy, and all of a sudden, he is working for an altogether different fella Pick. Pick is avenging Burn, but in the end he orders Burn around! So, what exactly was the chain of command? The ending didn't really make sense. Through the entire book, the story stretched on and on and on, with clues dropped here and there, and in one last chapter, it was all wrapped up (not neatly, if I must say). You realise that the characters you are reading about are actually inconsequential, and some new racketeers are running the whole show, characters introduced in the last chapter! So, needless to say, character development was also lacking.

[Stacey Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hardy boys, Chet and Biff are camping and trying to solve two r is it three mysteries at once. There are jewel thieves and credit card counterfitters to find and put to justice. There are so many players involved it's hard to keep track and know who is part of what gang and who is on the up and up. Luckily they have Sherlock, Biff's bloodhound along as he can track people giving the boys a good start to finding the men they're after. They encounter a strange man who believes he is a Prince, descendant of royalty from King Arthur's time. They also befriend a rock climber, mountaineer man as they work to catch the bad guys and solve the mysteries that are piling up. They don't get much time to enjoy the camping experience in their tent trailer but they do get other kinds of excitement.

[Kevin Findley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good entry into the series, this one taking the boys out of Bayport and into Colorado. Chet is here to do the cooking and introduce the Hardys to a character that proves quite valuable later. Also in attendance is their pal, Biff, and his bloodhound, Sherlock. Biff gets his time to shine here as well.

There are two mysteries that accidentally cross into each other, with one of the criminal gangs trying to catch and get rid of the other. Not the usual cross-mystery subplot, so it made for a nice change.

My problem with the book is that Sherlock was treated more as a nuisance than as a valuable asset. He proved his worth at the end, but that was as much of an accident as anything else. Sorry folks, mistreat a dog, even a literary one, and you lose a star.

Recommended for fans of the series, YA mysteries, and young detective novels in general.

Find it. Buy it. Read it!

[Jason Blataric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the book at an antique shop on the courthouse square in Goliad, TX last November. It once belonged to the Smithville Public Library, about two hours away in Bastrop County. The due date stamps range from April 18, 1978 to June 1, 2002.

It’s my 2nd Hardy Boys mystery I’ve ever read. It was copyrighted in 1971, but the writing and concept feel even older than that. The dialog and character actions seem downright absurd and unbelievable to me, but it is a dated youth/YA novel.

[Phoebe Hinkle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good for Hardy Boys! Even though it's from the 70s and we have credit cards now, it felt like one of the classic older books. Nothing was too weird (except for Cuthbert, lol, who was lovable in a way) and the Hardys weren't too stupid. For once it didn't get dumb at the end!

HOWEVER. The author clearly does not know Western geography. East of Denver is NOT mountains, it's plains. Boring, wide-open, flat, very non mountainous plains.

[Rex Libris · Rating 3 out of 5]

They were really mailing it on this one. The boys were heading west with a camping trailer to investigate credit card fraud; but the boys didn't need to look for the baddies, the baddies kept coming to them.

The baddies were hidden in a forest, the only trail to the secret location was protected by imported vampire bats.

The Beat-a-thon continues, but not as bad as in the previous books. Only Joe gets taken out for the count, and then only once.. The KO Count is now up to 64!

[Arwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This time the Hardy Boys and their friends are on a cross county camping trip to catch some crooks. Not so many kidnappings this time, except for the mass kidnapping and what was almost a mass execution at the end.

[Christine Goodnough · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written series, very suitable for the era in which they were first published and still okay today for a boys adventure tale, though simplistic and, of course, crime-solving details are quite outdated.

[Ethan Hulbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was really sort of hokey to me. I mean, Vampire Trail? Come on. It didn't really have a very engaging hook and while it wasn't bad, it was pretty much just okay.

[Erin Corcoran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a nostalgic read. Most of my friends had Nancy Drew, but the Hardy Boys was all I ever had. It wasnt astounding or anything but still a fun little book to get through quickly.

[Sruti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy thrilling book! Loved it! Hard to put down.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hardy Boys 50

Good fun mystery .good plot and twists what I call a clean read. Would recommend it to others esp. On a rainy day.
.

[Nora Rawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like the early ones must have been better? This was verging on unreadable. Also, the Hardy Boys are cops.

[Richard Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this Hardy boy! Really like how they combined the two gangs in the story! It made it so much more interesting.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

My grandson enjoyed it.

[Brentman99 · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story that is a bit more entertaining than some of the previous volumes.

The vampire bat angle has an interesting resolution to it.

Young people may find this an interesting read.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always love a good mystery!

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent adventure though one of many books that feel like it was named beforehand and the author didn't know what to do with it.

[Sue Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mystery is awesome. Story is good
And love the adventures

[Carissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was neat to read about the Hardy Boys coming to our state, but the plot was meh. Also, why is Chet always the one cooking and cleaning?