Hardy Boys Adventures #19: Dungeons and Detectives

[Raven]

If you look inside the book The Disappearance (the hardcover version) at the Amazon, the next title for #19 is Dungeons and Detectives.

[Bigfootman]

Good eye! Surprised a listing hasn't popped up on the simon and schuster website, as that's usually how we find out about new books.

[MacGyver]

Okay- so I guess we have (likely) another RPG mystery for Frank and Joe to solve. Thanks for the heads up.

[Raven]

There's a cover and plot at Amazon.

The plot:

Brother detectives Frank and Joe search a hidden castle for clues to help them find a missing comic book in the nineteenth book in the thrilling Hardy Boys Adventures series.

Frank and Joe have been hanging out at Sir Robert's Comic Kingdom, the local comic and gaming shop, and got the exclusive invite to this year's Halloween costume ball at Bayport's one and only castle. Sir Robert plans to use the big event to unveil his most prized possession, a super rare comic that is rumored to contain a map to buried treasure.

Sir Robert agrees to show his store regulars—who now include Frank and Joe—a sneak preview of the comic before the party. But when he goes to unlock the fireproof casing, he finds the book is gone.

It will take all of Frank and Joe's recently acquired LARPing skills to solve this case. Anything can happen in a castle full of dungeons and deception. Can the Hardy boys keep up?

[MacGyver]

Thanks for the plot description. 

[SkyWarp]

Just got my copy today.  This has got to be one of the thickest Hardy Boys books in a long time.  It just feels heavy when I pick it up.  212 Pages.

[tomswift2002]

I just got the paperback version today, along with the new Tom Swift Inventor's Academy: Restricted Access.  Beside being the thickest, Dungeons & Detectives probably has the most chapters of any Hardy Boys at 26 chapters. 

The G&D books had 25 chapters before 1957 (and around 212 pages), but I'm trying to remember if any of the SuperMystery'88 books hit 26 chapters, since they were also around the 212 length for all the books.

[Raven]

Just finished reading this. I see Nancy Drew gets a mention in this book. The boys remembered working on a case with her last Christmas.

[MacGyver]

Cool! Thanks for that tidbit. I always appreciate continuity.

[tomswift2002]

So I started reading this book today, and I've got to ask what the next book is?  In the paperback version, the back cover lists Return To Black Bear Mountain, as #20, however, inside the book, the series list at the front lists A Treacherous Tide as #20!

This is reminding me of Haunted!

[tomswift2002]

I think this book needed to go through another editing pass.  Especially Chapter 10.  There are sentences missing words or seem to be run-on sentences like this one from page 68:

'It meant she was the only other person we knew about besides Angus, us, and Robert who had access to the castle.'

That reads as a very clunky sentence.

[tomswift2002]

So I finished the book today.  The book definitely needed another pass at editing.  Otherwise, I'm kind of mixed on the whole thing.  While it was nice to see, especially Joe, in a physical fight with one of the criminals at the end, and there were multiple mysteries, I felt it wasn't working that well.  At times it felt like I was reading a "Secret Files" story in terms of characterization and just the structure of the different mysteries, but then the next sentence or paragraph the mystery & boys would sound and act like the Hardy's from the later Mystery Stories.

5/10