Favorite Hardy Boys (or Stratemeyer Syndicate series) Christmas Stories

[tomswift2002]

Okay Halloween 2009 is behind us and now it is time to start thinking about Hardy Boys (or Stratemeyer Syndicate series) Christmas stories that you enjoy reading in November and December leading up to Christmas or even over the week's of Christmas and New Year's.

Just to clarify, when I say "Stratemeyer Syndicate series" I mean series that were created by the Stratemeyer's and not series created by Simon & Schuster.  Of course if it's a series that is based upon a Stratemeyer Syndicate series that Simon & Schuster started (ie. The Hardy Boys Casefiles, The Nancy Drew Files) then you can include those titles as well. 

Some of my favorite Christmas stories are:

The Mystery Of Cabin Island (1929, 1966): Out of all the Hardy Boys ever published, the original text of this story is the most dated by having Frank exclaim that a note in a notebook that has a date from 1917 being only 11 years old dates the story to a timeframe of December 23, 1928 to early January 1929.  But its a remarkable story and, even though a few of the jokes were scrapped, the Revised text still contains enough of the charm of the Original.

A Crime For Christmas (1988): The 2nd book of the long-running Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys SuperMystery'88 series introduces a recurring criminal father/daughter team: the Foxes. 

Tom Swift And His Atomic Earth Blaster (1954): Only the end portions of this story take place at Christmas, with the timeline of the whole book stretching over nearly a year, but it is fun to see Tom and the Swift Enterprises crew enjoying Christmas dinner at the South Pole.

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Solve A Christmas Mystery (aka The Secret of Mountaintop Inn) (1980, short story): For a story that first appeared in the December 16, 1980 issue of Family Circle magazine, this is a really good story.  We get introduced to Fenton Hardy's sister-in-law, Janet Hardy; niece, Sue Hardy; and Karen Young who is the niece of Janet Hardy (presumably Janet has a brother or sister because Karen is not a blood relative of Frank and Joe and is only related to them by marriage).

Purge (1984, short story): Another short story that takes place during the Christmas holidays---but this time the Hardy's are in River Heights when a bank realizes that its new computer is showing a loss of money.  (Some parts of the story may seem strange, but you have to remember just how "new" computers were to banking operations in 1983/1984.)

[SDLagent]

The Mystery of Cabin Island is my favorite, but I won't be reading it until next month.

[Bigfootman]

Foul Play: This is one of my favorite Casefiles, and full of action, and it take place around Christmas.
Perfect Getaway: Besides, the horrible lack of a refence to the book before, it's a perity good book.

[tomswift2002]

Perfect Getaway: Besides, the horrible lack of a refence to the book before, it's a perity good book.

I've noticed that in a lot of the Casefiles and SuperMystery'88 books you won't get that many references to the prior book, so much as a previous book, which may indicate that the author who wrote the book that you are currently reading also wrote the other book.  Take for example Casefiles #5 and 32.  32 doesn't make a mention about 31, yet it mentions book 5...possible the same author for the 2 books?

[SDLagent]

I just read "Purge" from Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Sleuths #2, and made an article about it on The Hardy Boys Wiki. Check out all the other Hardy Boys Christmas stories on the wiki, here.

[hardygirl847]

I just read A Crime for Christmas over the holiday and I enjoyed it. I am still working on liking Nancy Drew and my boys needed more of a spotlight. Other than that, I thought it was really good. I especially liked Joe being dipped in chocolate. YuM! 

[Bigfootman]

I just read "Purge" from Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Sleuths #2, and made an article about it on The Hardy Boys Wiki. Check out all the other Hardy Boys Christmas stories on the wiki, here.

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