The Witchmaster's Key

The Hardy Boys #55

by Franklin W. Dixon

There is not time for explanations when Mr. hardy telephones Frank and Joe form the West Coast and sends them flying off to England to help his old friend Professor Rowbotham. Their stay in East Anglia begins with a weird omen, as they witness the bizarre funeral of an old witchmaster. From then on, strange things happen. When the Hardys learn about the strange disappearance of Lord Craighead, the plot deepens. Danger follows them to Ireland as Frank and Joe survive a shipwreck and find a clue from a frightened white which that leads to the torture chamber of a black witches’ coven, all in search of the telltale Witchmaster’s Key.

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

192 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1975

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 3 out of 5]

I read almost all of the original Hardy Boys mysteries as a kid, but by the time the last few appeared I wasn't a kid anymore and so this is the first time I've read this 55th (out of 58) one. It was produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and published in 1976 by Grosset & Dunlap in the iconic blue hardbound format. The book was written by Andrew E. Svenson and Vincent Buranelli but appeared, of course, under the Franklin W. Dixon house pseudonym. The back cover says it's for "Anyone from 10 to 14," but I'd say average readers from 8 to 12 might be more appropriate. (For years and years, the back cover said the books were for boys, so the change to "anyone" was significant... just like Kirk's Enterprise went where no "man" has gone before but Picard's was for every "one".) In the story, Frank and Joe go to England to help their father investigate a museum theft. There are some spooky and well described bits of made-up with-lore, and it's a pretty well contrived kids' mystery. On the other hand, there are some silly bits of obvious coincidence, and England and Ireland as they are described don't seem to be much bigger than the Brant's Spindrift Island. For example, they just drive right up to Stonehenge and climb about, London doesn't seem much bigger than Bayport, and when they go to Ireland, they just happen to bump into a couple of their pals who are vacationing there. Oh well... I probably would have enjoyed it a lot when I was in the third grade.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the story was good and the writing decent, the themes of witchcraft and occultism bothered me. Discerning parents may want to think twice before handing this to a kid.

[Mikayla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Definitely my least favorite Hardy boys of all time. All the witches, potions, palm readings, and dark descriptions were just to much for a kids mystery.
Also it was very choppy in the writing style, which was just an insult on injury.

[S.G. Dewey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like some candy mixed in my reading, and Hardy Boys are usual a fun and quick addition, but this book was just full of weird things. Witches, superstition, torture, darkness... just not my type.

[☮ morgan ☮ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Frank and Joe knew that Chet was usually up to his ears in a new hobby"

This one is pretty silly, but entertaining none the less.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dark for kids. Torture chamber, witches? Hardy boys always manage to stay alive!

[Celeste Skywalker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to devour Nancy Drew books as a kid and was just as entranced with The Hardy Boys. I've read the ones where Nancy is like in the third grade and the ones where she's a teen and when the hardy boys are teens. I LOVED THEM. ONE REASON WAS PROBABLY BECAUSE I SUCKED AT SOLVING REAL BIG CRAP SO I WAS ALWAYS SHOCKED AT THE TURNOUT.

This was my first classic Hardy Boys book. Though I admit I didn't like this as much as the modern Hardy Boys books (which is probably because I don't get on with um like almost every classic),it had the mystery, the action, the suspense.

One moment you think "hey yo this wittle birdie is actually a friggin Lannister Lion!" and then the next,you say the same for another, and another until you think the whole world has motives and missing alibis and strange shit.

What I take away from this book: Never trust someone who has really creepy masks underground and alot of them and also tells you to not tell anyone about those masks.

All in all, this was as good as I thought it would be with loads of mystery and action. (it also has a few pictures) AND STONEHENGE.

[Bookworm Amir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joe and Frank's father Fenton Hardy gave a hurried phone call from California telling them to help his old friend Professor Chauncey Rowbotham at Griffinmoor. On the way they stopped to let pass a funeral procession go by. But it was a strange funeral that they hid behind a clump of bushes and watched. It was a funeral of an old Witchmaster. It was bizarre. Then they met the professor and told them that his witch museum was robbed. They look for clues but found nothing. They went o the dentist after Joe complained about his aching tooth. the name of the doctor was Dr. Burell, who also made masks. After t he Hardies were spied, trapped, attacked and smitten by an old crone's nurse, they also learned about the disappearance of Lord Craighed. A clue of a frightened white witch leads them to a torture chamber of the black witch's hideout. They then fought their adversaries with the help of their friends and found Dr. Burell. As the king of black witches, Satan. Finding the Witchmaster's key, they unlock the mysterious door and found lord Craighead dead for almost 5 years.

[Gillie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked The Witchmasters Key because I like the hardy boys and I am interested about witches.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

My grandson said he liked it, but I think some of the plot points were a little odd for a children's book.

[David Allen Hines · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I continue my quest to re-read the Hardy Boys books of my youth... This is one of the final of the "original" hardcover Hardy Boys books and was penned in this mid 1970s. While the basic idea of the story is both interesting and exciting some aspects make this one of the few Hardy disappointments. Frank and Joe travel to England to help their father's friend investigate a massive theft from his museum of withcraft. The Hardys immediately chance upon the funeral of a local witchmaster... a witchmaster in this day and age, really? That wouldn't be all that bad except for the innane chants the author has the boys overhear several times. These chants are so idiotic that even as a boy I remember reading them and shaking my head. Other parts of the book have the boys wandering around huge London as thought it is a small local city; even in the 1970s it was huge! The basic story that modern day witches stole the witch museum's displays mixed in with the disappearance of a local Lord and the harassment of an artisan's village on his grounds up for sale to a developer is actually a very good, very modern storyline. But the innane details of this one like the chants and some of the dialog and events will leave even a die-hard Hardys fan shaking their head!

[Carter Kissell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The witchmaster's key by Franklin W. Dixon is about the Hardy boys Frank and Joe who are sent to Britain to solve a case about Professor Rowbotham’s stolen Museum items. The boys have to persevere through many obstacles and setbacks. They meet a fair few of challenges including being followed in town, being locked in a room, meeting someone in the middle of the night at stonehenge, and many more.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a great mystery. I enjoyed reading it, every time I read it I didn’t want to stop reading it. I wanted to know what kind of things the boys would face next. I also enjoyed how the author can describe where they are so well that it feels like you are their with them. The last thing that I will mention is that I love how the author can give you goosebumps at parts or make you feel relieved that they made it past a problem. I don’t really have any complaints about the book, other than it can be a little confusing differentiating between Joe and Frank. But all in all it is a very good book and I would recommend giving it a try and reading it.

[Saffron Mavros · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel was sensational. The voodoo, witchcraft, satanic rites, potions, cauldrons added a real spooky spiral to the story that made it interesting to read.

In all books, Chet is involved from day 1. In this book, I actually missed his character. Everything was going awry, till he turns up, and stands behind the Hardys, strengthening them.

Professor Rowbotham was not a very appealing literary character. Seers being exonerated was surprising. I actually believed he was in on the whole fun! Lord Craighead's fate was a little dire and gross. But all in all, the imagery created and the way of writing was brilliant. It transported me into a quaint little town, close to the stone henges, strife with wizardry and witchcraft.

[Stacey Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hardy boys go to England to help their fathers' friend Professor Rowbotham. Items were stolen from the Professors with museum and the boys are hired to find them. They must face witches as they search for clues. They must deal with white witches who are good and black witches who are bad. Of course they run into trouble as some witches want them off the case. The boys are skeptical and don't go for the superstitions, fortune telling, rituals and other witch going on they encounter. There's another mystery of the disappearance of Lord Craighead that seems to be tied in giving the boys more mysteries to solve.

[Brentman99 · Rating 3 out of 5]

#55 has one of the best covers for a Hardy Boy book. What is interesting is to see longer hair. I wonder why the boys never agedÉ They will be 18 and 17 forever...

I think it was this one (or the previous could of books) that quite surprised me with some of the word choices. Ièm 58 years old and I was surprised to find two words that I have never come across in my life-long reading experience. So to find them in a young adult book was quite something else.

Over all, the story isnèt bad and may appeal to young adults.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole witchcraft aspect is a bit unintentionally comical with a lot of “Abracadabra” thrown about. And the Hardy boys are shown as entirely clueless with lines like:

“You mean,” Joe said, “where the cave men tossed those boulders around like marbles?”

Rowbotham smiled. “I imagine we are talking about the same place. Yes, Stonehenge, where prehistoric people placed those-ah-massive stone blocks in a precise arrangement.”

The book is overall fine, but not my favorite or the stories.

[Arwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Hardy Boys book that deals with breaking up an Occultic ring of crooks. Very interesting territory, and I wonder what the original was like. (Remember Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were all update in the 60's, so the original 20's and 30's book are quite different.)

[Ethan Hulbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The witch stuff was a bit weird... and the professor was super annoying. And the traveling adventures part didn't really take them anywhere interesting. I had the toughest time tracking down this book for some reason and unfortunately it was only so-so.

[AdamMelaine Webster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book, although maybe a bit scary for very young children.

[Jaden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great continuation of The Hardy Boy mysteries.

[Zachary Rightler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardy Boys are at it again with another good mystery.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of the better Hardy Boys stories

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still my favorite Hardy Boys book after all these years.

[Edward Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty average, and not much of a mystery.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was very different. The hardy boys have a very hard time because a large community is against them.

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[Codi Lessner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Hardy Boys books. This one is no exception!

[Maddy Walock · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty mid but the climax was wild 🤣

[Kurtbg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank and Joe Hardy are sent by the detective father to help out a friend in England. Well, this book has everything to keep the short attention span of the adolescent - kidnaps, beatings, dental work, friend from home who appear from nowhere, torture rooms, and one or two pretty girls.

I was given this book for christmas sometime in my youth (1977 perhaps) and picked it out of storage for a revisiting re-read. I never got on reading more of the series. I did watch the television show with Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson. I have fond memories of the theme music. I also wondered if Parker has issues breathing through his nose as he always seemed to have his mouth slightly open and teeth clenched.

I flipped over to fantasy and science fiction. No doubt due to Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica (the original series). Oddly enough the cold and clinical world of Star Trek never resonated or perhaps lacked adrenaline. It did make you stop and listen - kind of like the Mr. Rogers Neighborhood show.

[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.