Favorite minor characters

SDLagent · October 21, 2009, 03:05:54 AM

There's a lot of interesting characters in The Hardy Boys Csefiles, and many of them only appeared once or twice. Out of the many minor characters, do you have any favorites who you would you have liked to see become more regular characters? Here's mine:

1. Charity. She appeared in two books by Steven Grant, and even though I've only read one of them, The Crowning Terror, I've always wished she'd appeared in a few more stories. She's just so different from any other Hardy Boys character...there isn't many Hardy bad guys who are woman (as the Casefiles went on, yes, there was quite a few more, but she was one of the first), there's even less badies who get away at the end, unpunished, and even less who help the Hardys! Charity was all of the above, and there was a lot left unexplored.

Having said that, I'm glad she staid a fairly mysterious character, and if they had featured her in more stories, I would have been against her true alliance. Part of what make the character so great is that she's one of the few "gray" characters in The Hardy Boys. Most of the Hardy World is very black and white.

2. Chris Hardy. Probably what I like most about Chris Hardy is the premise: Frank and Joe's long-lost brother. Because of this, he probably wouldn't have had as much impact in subsequent appearances, but I still think he's a strong enough character with an interesting backstory that he could have been used a few more times. He worked and got along so well with the brothers in his first appearance, that I always thought it was odd that he never showed up again. It would have been a nice change every now and than to have a Hardy Boys story co-staring their "older brother".

3. Larry Biester. In Double Exposure and Danger Zone we are led to believe that thanks to Larry "The Beast" Biester, the Hardys jobs were made a lot easier. So, it only makes sense that the Hardys would turn to him again, right? I think it would have been cool if the Beast sort of turned into the Hardys tech guy. If they needed some info, while in the field, than the Hardys would call-up the Beast. James Bond has Q, Batman has Oracle, and the Hardy boys have the Beast!

tomswift2002 · October 21, 2009, 06:35:54 PM

The Foxes. They appeared in A Crime For Christmas and The Paris Connection, and I seem to recall that they also made an appearance in Best Of Enemies, but its been a while since I read that one, so I may be mistaken. But the Foxes were a Father-Daughter team of cat burglars who had Joe going gah-gah over Fiona Fox, the daughter.

mscriminalist · January 20, 2010, 05:26:48 AM

I would love to see Denise (Evil, Inc.[/]) again. She was interesting.

SDLagent · January 20, 2010, 07:45:36 PM

Yeah, I agree. It would have been cool if she showed up again.

MacGyver · January 21, 2010, 02:39:45 PM

I would have to second basically every character listed here.
Denise from "Evil, Inc." was definitely cool. It would've been neat to see Larry Beister and Chris Hardy again as well. But I particularly agree on seeing Charity again. She first shows up in "The Crowning Terror" and makes a return appearance in "Thick as Thieves". (Which, by the way, is an excellent read!)

Charity reminds me of Catwoman in the DC Comics universe. She started off as a villian that Batman and Robin fight against, but over time she's become sort of a flawed heroine... she's sort of Batman's lover (and in fact, in one universe, Batman and Catwoman wed and give birth to Helena, aka Huntress.) So yeah- at times Catwoman can be on the side of good but also still goes back to her evil ways at times too.
Charity seems to be kind of like that with The Hardy Boys. And at the end of "Thick as Thieves", it definitely left it very clear that both Frank and Joe, much as they didn't want to believe it, knew that they'd run into Charity again. So with an opening there, I'm surprised she never did show up again.
(But she does make for a great character to use in return appearances in fan fiction.

)

SDLagent · January 22, 2010, 01:53:20 AM

I really want to read Thick as Thieves.

tomswift2002 · January 22, 2010, 05:32:45 PM

Quote from: SDLagent on January 22, 2010, 01:53:20 AM
I really want to read Thick as Thieves.

That is a really, really, really, really, really GREAT book!

hardygirl847 · February 19, 2010, 04:28:20 PM

Quote from: tomswift2002 on January 22, 2010, 05:32:45 PM
That is a really, really, really, really, really GREAT book!

Agreed! One of my faves! It came after 2 other ones that I liked a lot too; Nowhere to Run and Countdown to Terror.

Olivia · October 03, 2010, 09:03:45 PM

I agree with Chris Hardy and Larry Biester.

Either I can't recall at this point or I haven't read enough Casefiles yet for me to pick anyone else.

MacGyver · October 04, 2010, 07:52:32 PM

Larry Biester was a cool character, but I kinda was thinking about it again and Phil Cohen was pretty much made into the Hardy Boys go-to tech guy in The Hardy Boys Casefiles series.

SDLagent · October 06, 2010, 02:05:47 AM

True, but they went to Larry when what they needed was too advanced for Phil.

MacGyver · October 06, 2010, 12:49:23 PM

Ah- okay. Yeah, that's true too.

tomswift2002 · October 11, 2010, 02:02:58 PM

Quote from: hardygirl847 on February 19, 2010, 04:28:20 PM
Agreed! One of my faves! It came after 2 other ones that I liked a lot too; Nowhere to Run and Countdown to Terror.

Unfortunately they sort of left a dangling cliff-hanger with no follow-up on the Charity plot point.

hardygirl847 · October 18, 2010, 01:58:28 PM

Charity comes back later, doesn't she?? but I didn't care enough for her for them to wrap her up. It was probably inconsistency among the writers? I don't know...I just know that those were good books.

MacGyver · October 18, 2010, 03:13:43 PM

Charity showed up in #6 The Crowning Terror and #29 Thick as Thieves The ending of #29 certainly left room wide open for a return appearance- but it never happened.