39th Anniversary Review #68 The Submarine Caper/Deadly Chase

[tomswift2002]

The Submarine Caper
Published by Wanderer Books (1981-1986)
Retitled: Deadly Chase
Published by Wanderer Books (1987-1989), Minstrel Books (1989-1997?)
Cover Artists: Steven Assel (1981 Wanderer), Richard Williams (1987 Wanderer), Paul Bachem (1989 Minstrel)
Author: Conrad Fuchs
Translated by: Lilo Wuenn

Plot: (1989 Minstrel Edition) Frank and Joe Hardy are in Germany visiting investigative reporter Gerhard Stolz, and he's enlisted the boys to check into a couple of hot stories.  The top-secret plans for a mini-submarine have been stolen, and a hoard of priceless paintings, hidden since World War II and just recently uncovered, has vanished!

In pursuit of the truth, the Hardy's find that twice the mystery leads to double the danger.  They take off on a deadly high-speed chase down the Autobahn and get trapped in the minisub at the bottom of the lake with only a 30-minute air supply!  The DEADLY CHASE is on, and Frank and Joe face one of their greatest challenges ever.

(1981 Wanderer Edition) Vacationing in Germany does not keep Frank and Joe Hardy away from another mystery!  When an inventor's mini-submarine is sabotaged and the theft of five precious paintings occurs, a valuable clue brings the young detectives to a picturesque town on the Rhine River.  A sudden discovery in an old wine cellar is the first link in a hair-raising chain of events in which the boys come dangerously close to losing their lives!

Review:  Amongst Hardy Boys books, as of May 2020, this is the most unique story out there.  The reason that it's unique is because the author originally wrote it in German, and so far it is the only Hardy Boys story that people are aware of that was written in a language other than English.  Now then there have been translations of the Hardy Boys, like this Norwegian translation of The Submarine Caper (known in Norway as The Hardy Boys and the Submarine Mystery[/i]https://www.oocities.org/hardyguttene/h80f.jpg]The Hardy Boys and the Submarine Mysteryhttps://www.oocities.org/hardyguttene/h80f.jpg), but they were translating the English manuscripts to Norwegian or whatever language.  But in this case, the English was a translation of the original German.  By the way, the translator was Lilo Wuenn who was a long time editor on the Hardy Boys series.  She started editing the series in 1968 with Mystery Of The Whale Tattoo (she co-edited that book with Andrew E. Svenson, but then took over sole editing duties with The Arctic Patrol Mystery) and continued editing the series until 1985 when she edited her last book, The Skyfire Puzzle. 

Overall, I think the book is a so-so book.  At times I find that Frank and Joe don't seem to behave like the Frank and Joe of the Mystery Stories.  I'm not sure if that's because the way Conrad Fuchs wrote the book in German, it didn't translate well to English, so their characterizations are off because of the translation, or because Fuchs didn't know the Hardy's that well (as far as I know, this is the only Hardy Boys book, or any Stratemeyer Syndicate book, that he wrote.  Actually, I can't find any other books by Conrad Fuchs, or any information on him.  I've found other people named Conrad Fuchs, however I can say that they are not the author of The Submarine Caper, since those Fuchs died years before the book was written (and we are talking decades in the case of one who died in 1908, and centuries for a second one who died in 1779).  I did find an obituary for a lady from Saskatchewan, Canada that listed a brother of hers who was named Conrad Fuchs (and the obituary for a sister-in-law to that lady from a few years later that listed a Conrad Fuchs as a brother-in-law) saying that he died in 1997.  Whether this is the Fuchs that wrote Submarine, I can't say. 

Anyway, I can see why the book was retitled in 1987 by Wanderer Books (yes, Wanderer Books was still publishing the Hardy Boys in 1987---Simon & Schuster hadn't discontinued it by that point, unlike what was thought of years ago that Wanderer had been discontinued with the end of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in 1985).  The submarine plot is the "B" plot mystery, whereas the chase for the missing paintings is the  "A" plot.  It's interesting, however this book dates itself to the 1980's, as there is mention of World War II and the ages of people and how long they've worked at a certain place, or something.  Whereas other Hardy Boys books are timeless, this book is like the original text of The Mystery of Cabin Island and Mystery of the Samaurai Sword or all the books in the Undercover Brothers series, in that it is dates itself. 

Also, another interesting thing is that, which could still be timeless for this book seperate from what I just mentioned, is that Germany is not referred to as East or West Germany, which, in 1981, Germany was still split.  However, when you look up the cities mentioned in the book, you can tell that the author had the Hardy's just travelling around West Germany.  So having Germany just referred to as Germany makes it timeless, as it could be set in Germany in the 90's or now. 

Overall, this book is so-so.  At times its exciting and really moves, but at other times it really slows to a crawl, and with the Hardy's seeming to forget what they've learned as Detectives in the last 67 books, I can't really seem to find that this is a good Hardy Boys.  But again, I can't really say whether that is because Conrad Fuchs didn't know how to write the Hardy Boys, or if this is an issue because of the German to English translation and stuff that Fuchs put in and probably worked in German, didn't work in the translation to English.

Rating: 5.5/10

[MacGyver]

I don't remember much about this book other than it was set in Germany and involved a submarine, obviously. I didn't know it was first written in German and then translated to English! That's interesting.
   I always wondered about the retitling of the book. So I guess it was mainly to rebrand the book to better reflect its main focus?
    To be clear though, the Wanderer and Minstrel versions are still the same text, yes?
   

[tomswift2002]

Yes the Wanderer and Minstrel editions are the same text. 

It would be interesting to find out sometime if this book had been published in German, since right now in 2020, I have not been able to find out whether it was or wasn't or if any Hardy's have been published in German, or who the publisher's were.  That Norwegian translation is the closest so far. 

[MacGyver]

The Hardy Boys books were published in German. Here is some photographic proof.

[tomswift2002]

The Hardy Boys books were published in German. Here is some photographic proof.

Where?  I see a lot of UK editions, and I did spot one that looked like a Hebrew version, but I didn't see any German looking titles.

[MacGyver]

If you enlarge the picture, you can see a German language copy of The Secret of The Lost Tunnel right below (on the next shelf down) the Collins hardback of The Firebird Rocket and the Diamond 3-in-1 paperbacks.

Also- see the library catalogue listing for this book here.
https://www.worldcat.org/title/geheimnisse-im-vergessenen-tunnel/oclc/553416545

Schneider-Buch was the publisher, publishing this title in Munich in 1972.

[MacGyver]

Here's a German library online catalogue listing for The Wailing Siren Mystery that includes a picture of the front cover.

https://vzlbs3.gbv.de/DB=11/LNG=EN/CLK?IKT=12&TRM=824319591

[MacGyver]

You can also find some listings for Hardy Boys titles, along with pictures of the books on Amazon.de

[tomswift2002]

You can also find some listings for Hardy Boys titles, along with pictures of the books on Amazon.de

That Pininterest pic, when I try to zoom in, it just gets so pixelated that I can't make out anything but the Collins and Hebrew covers.

But I did find some on the Amazon.de site, but only after going through a ton of English imports. 

But I saw this one (which seems to be The Criss-Crossed Shadow), (https://www.amazon.de/Hardy-Boys-Geheimnis-gekreuzten-Schattens/dp/3505072613/ref=sr_1_6?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=Die+Hardy+Boys&qid=1589325705&sr=8-6) that seems to have been issued sometime around the 1977-81 timeframe, and features painted versions of Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson on the cover.

And then this one (https://www.amazon.de/Die-Hardy-Boys-Fluch-Juwelen-K%C3%B6nigs/dp/B00ZTQWZX0/ref=sr_1_16?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=Die+Hardy+Boys&qid=1589325848&sr=8-16).  It translates as "The Curse of the Jewel King"---I'm trying to think which book that might be.  The cover has a balloon which reminds me of the Grosset & Dunlap cover for The Clue Of the Hissing Serpent, which was about a rare King piece from a chess set, so that might be the book that it is. Oh, and if you look on the back cover, you can see that in Germany, Joe is known as Jan.  Frank and Jan Hardy.

Just an interesting note, Schneider-Buch released 2 Tom Swift books around 1974.  They were translations of Tom Swift and His Flying Lab & Tom Swift And His Jetmarine.

Oh, and I see that people in Germany can also watch th 1995 Hardy Boys series on Amazon Prime.  Not sure if its dubbed German or just subtitled.

[MacGyver]

I noticed that tie-in to the '70s show with The Crisscross Shadow too. Neat!