#23: Mystery on the Mayhem Express

[Raven]

About the book:
Brother detectives Frank and Joe go full-steam ahead to find the truth in the twenty-third book in the thrilling Hardy Boys Adventures series.

For Chet's birthday, the Hardys and some of their friends hop aboard an old train that's been restored and turned into a murder mystery experience. A cast of actors will perform an immersive theatrical production while passengers dine in style, assume roles in the game, and ultimately try their hand at solving the case. This should be a cakewalk for Joe and Frank!

The production is a mess. The actors are lousy, fumbling their lines and spelling out obvious clues. At least the food is pretty good. But just as the Hardy Boys are trying to make the most of a disappointing situation, one of the cast members goes missing. At first, the audience thinks that the show is taking a turn for the better, but it quickly becomes clear that this is not part of the act. For the Hardys, the mystery has gone from good fun to deadly serious. And trapped on a train full of people who aren't who they say they are, everyone is a suspect.

Will Frank and Joe be able to figure out how someone can vanish into thin air on a moving train before this case goes completely off the rails?

Publisher: Aladdin (June 22, 2021)
Length: 144 pages
ISBN13: 9781534478077
Grades: 3 - 7
Ages: 8 - 12

Here's the cover:

[MacGyver]

Sounds like an interesting plot; cool cover!

[Raven]

I just finished this book. Like the summary at the back of the book, the Hardys took part in a 1920s murder mystery on a partly restored old train. There's even a glossary of 1920s slang provided in the book. The train ride took three hours and it took the boys nearly that time frame to solve a real kidnapping case. When was the last time the Hardys solved a case this fast?
Aside from Chet and Biff, this book suffered with too many characters introduced in the first chapter alone, IMO. I kept trying to figure out who was who nearly throughout the whole book. I suppose that's why the list of cast was also included in the book. 
Some tidbits, Chet's latest hobby was uploading videos on YouTube with just "five subscribers," according to Joe. Frank had a crush on two girls at the same time. One of them was Charlene -- I think she last appeared in Dungeons & Detectives. There's also a pop culture reference to the Kardashians. Ugh.
Oh, this is the first time I noticed gay characters appeared in a Hardy Boys book -- there was a gay couple as the passengers on the train, and another gay character as one of the suspects.

[MacGyver]

Interesting. Thanks for the review.

[tomswift2002]

I just finished this book. Like the summary at the back of the book, the Hardys took part in a 1920s murder mystery on a partly restored old train. There's even a glossary of 1920s slang provided in the book. The train ride took three hours and it took the boys nearly that time frame to solve a real kidnapping case. When was the last time the Hardys solved a case this fast?
Aside from Chet and Biff, this book suffered with too many characters introduced in the first chapter alone, IMO. I kept trying to figure out who was who nearly throughout the whole book. I suppose that's why the list of cast was also included in the book. 
Some tidbits, Chet's latest hobby was uploading videos on YouTube with just "five subscribers," according to Joe. Frank had a crush on two girls at the same time. One of them was Charlene -- I think she last appeared in Dungeons & Detectives. There's also a pop culture reference to the Kardashians. Ugh.
Oh, this is the first time I noticed gay characters appeared in a Hardy Boys book -- there was a gay couple as the passengers on the train, and another gay character as one of the suspects.

Quite frankly, that's the norm for the Adventures series.  The authors have wayyy too many characters and really have no clue how to write.  The two known "Franklin W. Dixon"'s for the series, Michael Anthony Steele and Reuben Sacks, are more or the level of Dr. John Button and George Edward Stanley.  They are nowhere near the levels that we've seen over the last 94 years with Leslie McFarlane, Andrew Svenson, Jim Lawrence, Christopher Lampton and Peter Lerangis to name a few.  I realize every author has a bad book now and then, but Steele & Sacks don't seem to have written any good books.

[Raven]

Thanks for the info. Previously, we only got to know who the ghostwriters were until the series has ended.

[tomswift2002]

As of August 2021, the author of Mayhem Express is unknown.