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#41

Hardy Boys Originals / Digests / Re: No. 166 Past and Present D...

Last post by MacGyver - September 30, 2024, 09:08:06 PM

Mr. Pizza was brought into the Mystery Stories back in the 80's.  It was first mentioned in #98 Spark of Suspicion from 1989.  So Mr. Pizza seemed to be one of those Bayport locales that was used in both series.

Okay- nice! Thanks for that tidbit. There were also Casefiles-specific characters though, like Liz Webling, that showed up in later Digests.

#42

Hardy Boys Originals / Digests / Re: No. 166 Past and Present D...

Last post by tomswift2002 - September 30, 2024, 06:31:32 AM

I haven't read this book in many years but the main thing I recall is that Aunt Gertrude plays a prominent role in the story and it's nice to see a supporting character get an elevated status like that for a book- especially one who's been around as long as their aunt has as well.
   I didn't realize it has a mention of Mr. Pizza! That's cool! Yeah- I remember some of the Digests around that time having some elements from the Casefiles series in them. Since the Casefiles series ended in 1998, some of those books may have been recycled potential Casefiles books. (As #150 famously is, as far as I recall.)

Mr. Pizza was brought into the Mystery Stories back in the 80's.  It was first mentioned in #98 Spark of Suspicion from 1989.  So Mr. Pizza seemed to be one of those Bayport locales that was used in both series.

#43

Hardy Boys Originals / Digests / Re: #85 The Skyfire Puzzle

Last post by MacGyver - September 29, 2024, 04:12:10 PM

Chet has a larger role in some Casefiles but yeah- probably not to the extent he does in this book. (The Casefiles title you were thinking of is Running on Empty, by the way.)

#44

Hardy Boys Originals / Digests / Re: No. 166 Past and Present D...

Last post by MacGyver - September 29, 2024, 04:10:30 PM

I haven't read this book in many years but the main thing I recall is that Aunt Gertrude plays a prominent role in the story and it's nice to see a supporting character get an elevated status like that for a book- especially one who's been around as long as their aunt has as well.
   I didn't realize it has a mention of Mr. Pizza! That's cool! Yeah- I remember some of the Digests around that time having some elements from the Casefiles series in them. Since the Casefiles series ended in 1998, some of those books may have been recycled potential Casefiles books. (As #150 famously is, as far as I recall.)

#45

Hardy Boys Originals / Digests / Re: No. 166 Past and Present D...

Last post by tomswift2002 - September 29, 2024, 11:31:25 AM

Past and Present Danger's claim to fame is that it was the first ever Hardy Boys book released in digital back in March 2001 at the same time as the physical. 

#46

Hardy Boys Originals / Digests / No. 166 Past and Present Dange...

Last post by CalvinKnox - September 28, 2024, 07:17:24 PM

Published Date: 2001
Clayton Silvers was once a well-known figure in investigative reporting, then he was charged with bribery and fraud. He has returned to Bayport, but an old high-school friend defends his case: Gertrude Hardy, Frank and Joe's aunt. Now, Frank and Joe do not know whom to trust, but, as the level of danger escalates, they must choose or pay the price

I read this book about two weeks ago and but already can't quite recall what the criminals were trying to accomplish.  Aside from that it was decent.  If this was the quality that S&S had been able to maintain up to the present, I would be content.
There was some throwbacks to the Casefiles, the opening was extremely similar to Casefiles 18 A Killing in the Market, so similar that it almost can't be a coincidence, like when Captain Kirk found that parallel earth planet in Star Trek.  Tony Printo also appears, and asks if he'll see the Hardys later at Mr. Pizza, although later Frank and Joe talk about going to "Pizza Palace".

#47

Hardy Boys Originals / Digests / Re: #85 The Skyfire Puzzle

Last post by CalvinKnox - September 28, 2024, 06:54:32 PM

Skyfire Puzzle is quite different from the casefiles in the way that Chet takes a very active role (I don't remember this ever being the situation in the casefiles, even in the chop shop one where he's a central character (can't remember name)), and it kinda seems like all three boys (young men) are active partners in Fenton's practice.

#48

Hardy Boys Originals / Digests / Re: #85 The Skyfire Puzzle

Last post by tomswift2002 - September 24, 2024, 06:49:48 PM

Those books seem very much like the Casefiles, but they didn't actually make into the Casefile series?

Desert Phantom and Skyfire appeared two years before Dead On Target appeared.  Just before Simon & Schuster bought the Stratemeyer Syndicate was already making plans for the Nancy Drew Files.  But even in the Nancy Drew line Simon & Schuster released two pilot books before the Nancy Drew Files debuted (The Eskimo's Secret & The Phantom of Venice both have more romance in them), because with both series the plan was to make them more teen oriented than they had been.  But even back when Harriet Stratemeyer Adams was alive, they had been testing the waters with other pilots.  However with the four 1985 pilots, they all feature inconsistencies with the Files & Casefiles.  One example is the Hardy's van.  In Desert Phantom Chief Collig give the Hardy's an old police van for solving the case.  In the Casefiles, the van doesn't debut until #3 Cult of Crime where it is mentioned that the Bayport Mall Association bought the van for the Hardy's because of the destruction of their second yellow sedan.  Also in Desert Phantom and Skyfire Iola is alive, whereas she's killed in Dead On Target.

#49

Hardy Boys Originals / Digests / Re: #85 The Skyfire Puzzle

Last post by MysteryFan89 - September 24, 2024, 03:09:22 PM

No.  The Mystery of the Silver Star is a completely different book from the #86 in S&S's warehouse. 

As for the authors, both authors for Desert Phantom and Silver Star are unknown.  Neal Barret, Jr wrote "The Skyfire Puzzle" and "The Swamp Monster".  He might have written "Sky Sabotage" because "Skyfire Puzzle" uses characters and locations from that book, however the author of "Sky Sabotage" is unknown.

Barret also wrote "Ark Two" and "The Invisible Force" in the Wanderer Tom Swift series.

Those books seem very much like the Casefiles, but they didn't actually make into the Casefile series?

#50

Hardy Boys Originals / Digests / Re: #85 The Skyfire Puzzle

Last post by tomswift2002 - September 24, 2024, 03:01:54 PM

#86 The Mystery of the Silver Star is another one, right? Were those all written by the same person?

No.  The Mystery of the Silver Star is a completely different book from the #86 in S&S's warehouse.   

As for the authors, both authors for Desert Phantom and Silver Star are unknown.  Neal Barret, Jr wrote "The Skyfire Puzzle" and "The Swamp Monster".  He might have written "Sky Sabotage" because "Skyfire Puzzle" uses characters and locations from that book, however the author of "Sky Sabotage" is unknown.

Barret also wrote "Ark Two" and "The Invisible Force" in the Wanderer Tom Swift series.