Simon & Schuster's Hardy Boys Adventures page

[Lungbarrow]

I just found this: http://series.simonandschuster.com/Hardy-Boys-Adventures

I'm pretty sure there wasn't a page dedicated to the new series until very recently, nor were there pages for the individual books. I note that (as of 1750GMT) the book pages are noted as having been created "about 6 hours ago".

The page might be worth keeping an eye on for new information - there's already separate ISBNs there for the different formats including ebook, which I hadn't noticed anywhere before. It'd be nice if they had larger cover art though.

There's also a UK version: http://series.simonandschuster.co.uk/Hardy-Boys-Adventures but no book info on there yet.

[MacGyver]

Cool! Nice finds, mate. Thanks.

[Lungbarrow]

And now there's a fairly minimal description up for both titles. It's not available on the individual book pages, only on the scrolling red boxout below the Series Updates section.

Secret of the Red Arrow:

The Hardy brothers must dismantle a dangerous crime gang in this first book of a fresh approach to a classic series.

Masked Mayhem

In this second book of a fresh approach to a classic series, Frank and Joe track down violent pranksters.

[tomswift2002]

"Masked Mayhem" still sounds like it might be something like "The Masked Monkey".

[Lungbarrow]

New synopsis up for Secret of the Red Arrow:

Teenagers Frank and Joe Hardy are supposedly ?retired? from their detective work. But there is a new mystery in Bayport that needs their investigative expertise?and fast!

Starting with a bank heist, a series of alarming pranks have popped up around Bayport. Ultimately harmless, the pranks turn out to be the work of Seth Diller, an amateur filmmaker who plans to make ?zillions? from his reality-horror flick, which he?ll use to help out his brother, a wounded Marine.

But after the Hardy brothers put a stop to the Panic Project, there is a new outbreak of Seth-like pranks?only these have definite victims. All signs point to evidence of a crime gang in Bayport, and Frank and Joe undertake the most dangerous investigation they?ve ever encountered. It?s up to them to save their town?and themselves?before the Red Arrow gets to them first.

[MacGyver]

Hmm- sounds interesting and promising. I'm curious about this bit about Frank and Joe being "retired" from detective work, yet they are still teenagers. So I take it we will still have the traditional (at least since the revised original 58 books) ages of 18 and 17, respectively. One thing I like about this book from the start is that at least this first mystery takes place in Bayport- it's nice to a local case and one that Frank and Joe seem to have run into on their own, rather than at the behest of a secret government agency. I'm kinda hoping that we can avoid that scenario for a while, and if they do decide to do that route eventually, that they can keep it rather limited.

[tomswift2002]

It sounds interesting, and I wonder if Simon & Schuster is trying to go after the same crowd that's buying the "Starfleet Academy" series.  I just picked up he latest SA book and it's 30 chapters and over 300 pages long; maybe we'll see that with the Hardy's.

But hopefully the series will be back in he third-person.  And with that "retired" bit, hopefully the boys maturity rate will go up from the UB's.

[Bigfootman]

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Masked-Mayhem-Franklin-Dixon/9781442422377?b=-3&t=-20#Fulldescription-20
"In this second book of a fresh approach to a classic series, Frank and Joe track down violent pranksters. Rich girl Lindsay Peyton is throwing the biggest and best Sweet Sixteen bash that Bayport has ever seen. But her party planning is off to a bad start when Frank and Joe discover that someone has keyed her very expensive car--an early birthday present--and has put the mean prank up on YouView. Soon after the prank goes viral, a group calling themselves the Scaredevils begin to film themselves committing acts of violent vandalism around town. Broken windows, Dumpster fires, and more threaten the security of Lindsay's party--and of Lindsay herself. Frank and Joe are determined to figure out who is the mastermind behind the videos before Lindsay's Sweet Sixteen turns into a party she will never forget...for all the wrong reasons."

[MacGyver]

Thanks for the synopsis, Dan. I wonder how they'll amp this up because the plot is sounding something like an in-between stage from the Clues Brothers and Secret Files books to the Digests series. Obviously, they are remembering their elementary school age primary audience and I do appreciate that. It's not aimed at teenagers so it shouldn't be like the Casefiles. I just hope it will be different from the Undercover Brothers series and more true to The Hardy Boys that we've always known and loved... It does seem like the original books had bigger plots than this though- but I don't want to prejudge- I'll have to see what the book is like when it's released.

[MacGyver]

Okay, after seeing the synopsis for Masked Mayhem and putting that together with the fact that both this book and the first in the series, Secret of the Red Arrow, are being released on the same day- February 5, 2013- I'm wondering if we're looking at the trilogy format of the later Undercover Brothers books. 'Cause the plots of both books sound very much like it could be the same gang that Frank and Joe are investigating. So that brings two possibilities to mind for me- one is that this may be the start of a UB-like trilogy (or perhaps it's a 2 part thing)- or maybe this criminal prank gang is a recurring villian that The Hardy Boys will fight against. Hmm- I hope that's not the most formidable foe they face in the series.... well, it's just speculation now, but I was just wondering...

[SDLagent]

The plot summaries of these two books don't sound to different from what we saw from the UB... And like Mac said, it seems like they're going for trilogies again.

[tomswift2002]

If it is a multi-part story, hopefully it is only a two-part story designed to kick-off the series and then stand-alones.

[MacGyver]

Agreed.

[Hardy Boys UB Fan]

Looks like Simon and Schuster have posted Chapter one of Secret of the Red Arrow and The Phantom Heist And they're still written in the first person style of the UB books...

Just what I hoped wouldn't happen.

[tomswift2002]

Not good, not good..