Hardy Boys Adventures #16- Stolen Identity

Bigfootman · June 06, 2017, 04:20:17 PM

http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Stolen-Identity/Franklin-W-Dixon/Hardy-Boys-Adventures/9781481499668
"A criminal that seems to be straight out of a Sherlock Holmes novel is out to get brother detectives Frank and Joe in the sixteenth book in the thrilling Hardy Boys Adventures series.

An original Sherlock Holmes manuscript was stolen from the Bayport Museum and now pages keep showing up in Frank and Joe's things: their lockers, menus, even the backseat of their car. It's clear someone is out to frame them. But who could it be?

The boys try their usual means of deduction, but everything leads to a dead end. They just keep finding unsuspecting people who were paid to hide the pages by a mysterious third party. Frank recognizes this tactic—it's exactly what Moriarty would do to throw off Sherlock Holmes. So the brothers decide to use one of Sherlock's signature ideas: The Baker Street Irregulars. Though instead of street kids, Frank and Joe use a group of skateboarding tweens to keep their eyes and ears open around town.

It's a battle of wits as the brother detectives try to clear their name. But this Moriarty wannabe always seems to be one step ahead. Can the Hardy boys find the real culprit before it's too late?"

The book will be 208 pages long, and will be released on February 20, 2018.

This one actually sounds pretty interesting. Not the most interesting cover though.

MacGyver · June 06, 2017, 05:56:26 PM

As a fan of skateboarding, I dig the cover!

And as a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I'm definitely interested in reading this Hardy Boys book- thanks for the information.

tomswift2002 · June 07, 2017, 09:00:00 PM

This will be the second Hardy Boys book based on Sherlock Holmes, as back in the 90's we had The Giant Rat Of Sumatra (#146 in the Hardy Boys Mysteries).

MacGyver · June 08, 2017, 10:15:41 AM

Yep- I enjoyed that book for the same reason. If I recall correctly, "The Giant Rat of Sumatra" is a famous Sherlock Holmes case that is referenced in the books but never actually told as a story- thus readers are left wondering what this cryptic reference is about.

kosmicdust · November 13, 2017, 12:21:40 AM

MacGyver · November 13, 2017, 07:08:57 AM

Thanks for the enlarged look at the cover art.

VLoneWolf · November 13, 2017, 04:49:50 PM

This book sounds interesting.

Bigfootman · February 13, 2018, 02:17:13 PM

Update: The Simon and Schuster Website is listing Stolen Identity as having 144 pages, (which is still more then the last two books in the series) instead of 208. I think it's best to just not trust the listed page count number until the book is close to being released. According to Michael Anthony Steele's website, he's the ghostwriter for this book.

tomswift2002 · February 14, 2018, 09:17:09 AM

I just got an email from Chapters this morning saying that this book (the paperback version anyway) has shipped. So we should be seeing this book in stores pretty soon.

tomswift2002 · February 16, 2018, 10:07:34 AM

I just got the book. It's page count is a whopping 117 pages, plus 20 pages from "The Grey Hunter's Revenge" as a sneak-peak (so 137 altogether).

tomswift2002 · February 16, 2018, 10:14:52 AM

And it's got 21 chapters over those 117 pages. Last time I saw 21 chapters in a stand-alone Hardy Boys book was in the original text of "The Secret Of Pirates' Hill", but that book had 25 chapters over about 220 pages.

Bigfootman · February 16, 2018, 10:30:59 AM

Quote from: tomswift2002 on February 16, 2018, 10:07:34 AM
I just got the book. It's page count is a whopping 117 pages, plus 20 pages from "The Grey Hunter's Revenge" as a sneak-peak (so 137 altogether).

I'm pretty sure that's the ghostwriters fault. All of Michael Anthony Steele's adventures books have been ridiculously short. Even by adventures standards.

tomswift2002 · February 16, 2018, 10:58:20 AM

Quote from: Bigfootman on February 16, 2018, 10:30:59 AM
I'm pretty sure that's the ghostwriters fault. All of Michael Anthony Steele's adventures books have been ridiculously short. Even by adventures standards.

And looking at the table of contents it looks like Chapter 16 is only 3 pages long, with a few others only being 4 pages.

Bigfootman · February 16, 2018, 11:02:17 AM

Quote from: tomswift2002 on February 16, 2018, 10:58:20 AM
And looking at the table of contents it looks like Chapter 16 is only 3 pages long, with a few others only being 4 pages.

I suspect that $&$ added the preview to pad out the books length. Did any other adventures books have previews?

tomswift2002 · February 16, 2018, 12:36:12 PM

I think all the books have previews.

I've started the book. It's decent so far, however I've got no idea what the title has to do with the story. So far the boys are not liked by the acting Bayport Police Chief, Lt. Wolfe, and are having pages of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's manuscript for "A Scandal In Bohemia" showing up in their things.