Murder At the Mint

Bigfootman · February 22, 2011, 07:22:56 PM

Here's some info and the first chapter of a Hardy Boys Casefile that was proposed but never published. It would have been ghostwritten by Allen Appel.
http://home.comcast.net/~allenappel/writings/Hardys.htm

Here's some info on Allen Appel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Appel

Hardy Boys UB Fan · February 22, 2011, 07:48:10 PM

I wish this would've gotten published!

It sounds like one that I'd loved to have read.

And that's saying something, since I'm pretty much a UB fan.

MacGyver · February 22, 2011, 08:08:46 PM

Sounds pretty decent. I was starting to think that the Chet always eating jokes were getting to be a bit much, but it could've been a great story here. Nice find, Dinosaur Dan. Thanks for the link.

JoeHardyRocks · February 23, 2011, 11:39:54 AM

Wow, that sounded like a pretty cool story..... It's a bummer that we'll never get to read it...

Bigfootman · February 23, 2011, 04:00:42 PM

At least we got the first chapter.

JoeHardyRocks · February 23, 2011, 05:26:55 PM

Which still isn't much. $:-\$

Hardy Boys UB Fan · February 23, 2011, 05:34:03 PM

Quote from: JoeHardyRocks on February 23, 2011, 05:26:55 PM
Which still isn't much. $:-\$

I know. Why can't S&S put it out as a E-book?

tomswift2002 · February 24, 2011, 07:34:16 PM

Quote from: Hardy Boys UB Fan on February 23, 2011, 05:34:03 PM
I know. Why can't S&S put it out as a E-book?

It could be that the first chapter is all the exists. If the book was written as a proposed story that never got picked up, then "Chapter 1" might've just been a sample chapter that Mr. Appel prepared for the editors to read, and it might not have been even close to the final version.

Hardy Boys UB Fan · February 28, 2011, 11:08:52 AM

Quote from: tomswift2002 on February 24, 2011, 07:34:16 PM
It could be that the first chapter is all the exists. If the book was written as a proposed story that never got picked up, then "Chapter 1" might've just been a sample chapter that Mr. Appel prepared for the editors to read, and it might not have been even close to the final version.

I have a great idea.

Why don't the S&S put out all of the Casefiles as e-books for the Kindle? (They only have one out, why not the whole series?)

I just got a Kindle and I know I'd buy them!

MacGyver · February 28, 2011, 01:49:45 PM

I know Simon & Schuster has some of the Undercover Brothers books out as E-books and I'm pretty sure most of the later Digests titles (somewhere around #161 onward) were released as E-books.
And Darkness Falls seems to be the only, rather randomly chosen, E-book released for The Hardy Boys Casefiles. Given the growing popularity of Kindles and other such devices, it would be nice if the rest of the books were released as E-books. It would be a great way to get those books back out to the public eye again since the print forms are out-of-print. This could also be a good way to release the Original Text version of the first 38 books since those are really long out-of-print.

Hardy Boys UB Fan · February 28, 2011, 01:50:56 PM

Quote from: MacGyver on February 28, 2011, 01:49:45 PM
I know Simon & Schuster has some of the Undercover Brothers books out as E-books and I'm pretty sure most of the later Digests titles (somewhere around #161 onward) were released as E-books.
And Darkness Falls seems to be the only, rather randomly chosen, E-book released for The Hardy Boys Casefiles. Given the growing popularity of Kindles and other such devices, it would be nice if the rest of the books were released as E-books. It would be a great way to get those books back out to the public eye again since the print forms are out-of-print. This could also be a good way to release the Original Text version of the first 38 books since those are really long out-of-print.

I know. I would love that!

tomswift2002 · March 03, 2011, 06:36:26 PM

Quote from: MacGyver on February 28, 2011, 01:49:45 PM
And Darkness Falls seems to be the only, rather randomly chosen, E-book released for The Hardy Boys Casefiles. Given the growing popularity of Kindles and other such devices, it would be nice if the rest of the books were released as E-books. It would be a great way to get those books back out to the public eye again since the print forms are out-of-print.

Well, it could be that the only reason that Darkness Falls is even in-print in digital is that it was released in the UK in the Undercover Brothers and Simon & Schuster may've just put it up digitally over there as a UB title, with the Casefile version being put out in North America.

But you also have to remember that with the older titles S&S probably doesn't have them in digital form anymore. Sure they may have the old 3.5" floppies, but either the computers won't accept the floppies (either because they don't have the drives, or the programs don't recognize the really old files) or the discs are corrupt and the only copies S&S have are hard copies that were printed out decades ago. So in order to release the books, S&S would have to pay someone to type or scan the books into a word processor in order to release them. And if Darkness Falls hasn't made the money to warrant doing more Casefiles, then why would S&S bother?

Hardy Boys UB Fan · March 03, 2011, 06:39:08 PM

Quote from: tomswift2002 on March 03, 2011, 06:36:26 PM
Well, it could be that the only reason that Darkness Falls is even in-print in digital is that it was released in the UK in the Undercover Brothers and Simon & Schuster may've just put it up digitally over there as a UB title, with the Casefile version being put out in North America.

But you also have to remember that with the older titles S&S probably doesn't have them in digital form anymore. Sure they may have the old 3.5" floppies, but either the computers won't accept the floppies (either because they don't have the drives, or the programs don't recognize the really old files) or the discs are corrupt and the only copies S&S have are hard copies that were printed out decades ago. So in order to release the books, S&S would have to pay someone to type or scan the books into a word processor in order to release them. And if Darkness Falls hasn't made the money to warrant doing more Casefiles, then why would S&S bother?

Is there a difference between the US and UK version? I have a Kindle and I'd love to own all of them!

tomswift2002 · March 03, 2011, 07:09:03 PM

Quote from: Hardy Boys UB Fan on March 03, 2011, 06:39:08 PM
Is there a difference between the US and UK version? I have a Kindle and I'd love to own all of them!

I have no idea if it was actually issued in ebook in the UK, but considering that the US ebook came out around the same time the UK version debutted in the UB series, so S&S may've just used the same file for both. As far as I know the UK paperback UB version has a different cover and different text setting, but its the same as the US version.

MacGyver · March 03, 2011, 07:44:27 PM

The UK version may have slight spelling differences from the US version though. They may have what's called an "Anglicized" version of the book. (i.e. An "apartment" is called a "flat", a "truck" is called a "lorry", "tire" is spelt "tyre", etc.)