42nd Anniversary Review: The Secret Of Mountaintop Inn (1980)

[tomswift2002]

The Secret Of Mountaintop Inn aka Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Solve A Christmas Mystery
Published: December 16, 1980
Publisher: Family Circle Magazine (as Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Solve A Christmas Mystery
Published: 1981
Publisher: Wanderer Books (1981-1985)
Author: Unknown

Plot: Nancy Drew is called to the Mountaintop Inn by Karen Young and Janet Hardy to help look for Janet's daughter , Sue.  Frank and Joe Hardy are also at the Inn looking for Sue, who is their and Karen's cousin.

Review:  This is interesting.  I'm reviewing this on December 17, 2022, just one day after the 42 anniversary of this story's publication in the December 16, 1980 issue of Family Circle Magazine.  Back in December 1980 you have to remember that the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries TV series had ben off-the-air for nearly two years (the last episode aired in January 1979), but obviously people still wanted more of the stories that really appealed to the audiences, the crossover stories with Nancy and the Hardy Boys joining forces.  (I found the cover for this magazine here.  As you can see the story is mentioned on the front cover.) 

It's not the big of a mystery, considering that it was a short story intended for a magazine.  What makes this interesting is that for the first time, since 1947 when The Phantom Freighter was released, that the Hardy family gets expanded, and we learn that Fenton Hardy (who is not in the story, however, because Janet has the last name Hardy and her daughter also has the last name Hardy, and because of the era it was written, Hardy was most likely Janet's married name, and not her maiden name; her maiden name could quite possible be Young) and Gertrude Hardy have a brother who is married to Janet Hardy, or at least was married to Janet (the story doesn't specifically mention much about Janet's husband, and seems to imply that he might even be dead by the time of the story, although that is speculation due to the fact that the story only says that Janet and Sue were going to spend 2 weeks by themselves at the Inn for Christmas with no mention of her husband joining them.
 It's also possible that she's divorced but no mention is made either way.)   

As it turns out the Hardy's and Nancy soon discover that Sue's disappearance is related to a rash of burglaries at the Inn that the reverend, who was playing Santa Claus, witnessed occur along with Sue.  Suffice it to say, the criminals kidnapped both Sue and the reverend and then one of them took the reverend's place as "Santa Claus" to tell stories to the kids staying at the Inn.

All in all, for a short story, it was a decent story, one which would fit well in a magazine.  Also, when I look at the other stories in Nancy Drew & The Hardy Boys Super Sleuths! Volume 1, this is the shortest of the stories at 15 pages, whereas the others are around the 25 page mark. 

Rating: 7/10

[MacGyver]

The bit about Frank and Joe's extended family is probably one of the most interesting parts about the story, aside from the fact that this is the first literary crossover for Frank, Joe and Nancy, as far as I know.