No. 166 Past and Present Danger

[CalvinKnox]

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".

[tomswift2002]

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. 

[MacGyver]

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.)

[tomswift2002]

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.

[MacGyver]

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.

[tomswift2002]

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

You have to remember that there were some authors that worked on both series, such as Chris Lampton, Stephen D. Sullivan and Frances Lantz, plus there could be more (right now there are no known authors for Mystery Stories #'s 125-159 between April 1994 and January 2000 and in the Casefiles the longest gap is between #110 and #123, between April 1996 and May 1997; Stephen D. Sullivan wrote #124).

[MacGyver]

You have to remember that there were some authors that worked on both series, such as Chris Lampton, Stephen D. Sullivan and Frances Lantz, plus there could be more (right now there are no known authors for Mystery Stories #'s 125-159 between April 1994 and January 2000 and in the Casefiles the longest gap is between #110 and #123, between April 1996 and May 1997; Stephen D. Sullivan wrote #124).

True. But even so, I would think the editors would keep the universes separate. I like that let some elements slip in though.

[tomswift2002]

True. But even so, I would think the editors would keep the universes separate. I like that let some elements slip in though.

Anne Greenberg was the editor for both lines (MegaBooks was handling both series).  She edited the Mystery Stories from #86 The Mystery of the Silver Star in 1987 right up to #176 In Plane Sight in 2002, including moving from MegaBooks when Simon & Schuster decided to bring the series in-house in 1999 with #154 The Caribbean Cruise Caper.  For the Casefiles, as I understand it, Bill McKay was the editor of the series under Greenberg from the launch of the series in April 1987 up to #66 The Phoenix Equation in August 1992, then both series continued under Greenberg until the Casefiles were discontinued in 1998.  She was also the editor for the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, Files, River Heights and SuperMystery'88 series's between 1986 and 2002. (The Tom Swift and Hardy Boys/Tom Swift series of the time we're done by Byron Preiss Visual Communications so they were under a different editor.)

After Greenberg left in 2002, there are no records for who edited #177 The Case of the Psychic's Vision in 2003 through to #190 Motocross Madness in 2005.  There was some reports back in the day that there were multiple editors for those books, thus the continuity errors and lack of editing.

Going back to the start of the G&D part of the Mystery Stories, Edward Stratemeyer edited the original #1-9 between 1927-1930 (his death), Harriet Stratemeyer Adam's edited  from the original #10 in 1931 to #43 in 1964 (as well as the Revised texts that were issued between 1959 and 1964).  She also partially edited #44 The Haunted Fort in 1965 with Andrew E. Svenson and Jocelyn Starzyk.  Jocelyn Starzyk edited #45 The Mystery of the Spiral Bridge by herself in 1966, then in 1967 Andrew E. Svenson co-edited #46 The Secret Agent On Flight 101 with Starzyk.  In 1968, Andrew E. Svenson co-edited #47 Mystery of the Whale Tattoo with Lilo Wuenn.  Then from #48 The Arctic Patrol Mystery in 1969 to #85 The Skyfire Puzzle in 1985, Lilo Wuenn was the editor of the Hardy Boys through the 1977-79 TV Show, the changeover from Grosset & Dunlap to Simon & Schuster's Wanderer Books, Harriet Stratemeyer Adam's death in 1982 and finally the sale of the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1984 to Simon & Schuster (Wuenn was one of the 5 shareholders in the Syndicate that sold the Syndicate).  Obviously the death of Adams and the S&S takeover caused some issues with the editing of books 80-83, because they were commissioned under the Stratemeyer Syndicate and then were being edited under Simon & Schuster's lead, but for the most part, people have found that the Nancy Drew Wanderers were very uneven while the Hardy's Wanderer quality was very stable since they were under Wuenn's purview the whole time and obviously she had 10 years experience with the series having handled the 1969-1979 G&D books.  Whereas, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams edited the Nancy Drew G&D's from 1960 to 1979, then she co-edited #57 with Lilo Wuenn, then Wuenn when went solo for #58-61 and 63.  Also under Wuenn and Nancy Axelrad, the beginning stages of the Files-Casefiles continuity were started.

[MacGyver]

Okay. Thanks for the editing history rundown.