#85 The Skyfire Puzzle

[MysteryFan89]

I just read this book for the first time, and this felt so much like a Casefile, not a regular book in the series. Can anyone explain? This felt so much like Dead on Target, but not at the same time.

[tomswift2002]

https://www.hardyboyscasefiles.com/forums/index.php?topic=3018.msg78010#msg78010

You might want to check this out.  However the Stratemeyer Syndicate has been slowly changing the type of story told in the Mystery Stories in the late-70's/early-80's.  #74 "Tic-Tac-Terror" had the Hardy's yellow convertible blown up by terrorists, something that would reappear in the Casefiles.

[MysteryFan89]

https://www.hardyboyscasefiles.com/forums/index.php?topic=3018.msg78010#msg78010
You might want to check this out.  However the Stratemeyer Syndicate has been slowly changing the type of story told in the Mystery Stories in the late-70's/early-80's.  #74 "Tic-Tac-Terror" had the Hardy's yellow convertible blown up by terrorists, something that would reappear in the Casefiles.

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

[tomswift2002]

#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.

[MysteryFan89]

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?

[tomswift2002]

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.

[CalvinKnox]

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.

[MacGyver]

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.)

[CalvinKnox]

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.)

It's funny, but shortly after I made that statement about Chet in the casefiles, I read The Last Laugh, which has him playing an important role, basically as a third Hardy brother. 

[MacGyver]

It's funny, but shortly after I made that statement about Chet in the casefiles, I read The Last Laugh, which has him playing an important role, basically as a third Hardy brother. 

Yeah- that's a great example. As a comic book fan, I love that book!

[MysteryFan89]

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.

Are you thinking of Highway Robbery or was there another chop shop one?

[Bigfootman]

(The Eskimo's Secret & The Phantom of Venice both have more romance in them)

Mild correction: the two pilot books were The Bluebeard Room and Phantom of Venice, the Eskimo's Secret does have some fileish elements (and is even a Files book in the French series), and it could be one of the pilot books, but the other two were way more romance focused.