#86 The Mystery of the Silver Star (33rd Anniversary Review)

[tomswift2002]

The Mystery of the Silver Star
Published: September 1987
Publisher: Minstrel Books (1987-1995?)
Author: Unknown as of September 2020
Editor: Anne Greenberg

Plot: The Hardys ride some cool wheels into a hot race!

Mischief turns to mystery in the baffling case of the super souped-up bike!

Riding the famous Silver Star bicycle, Keith Holland is on the road to victory in the Bike-Aid cross-country race. But someone is determined to sabotage his bike and knock Keith out of the running. When he calls on the Hardy boys to investigate, the game turns deadly serious: The Silver Star is stolen, and Keith vanishes into thin air!

The crooked trail leads Frank and Joe from the Manhattan skyline to the Colorado mountains, where they uncover a sinister plot to steal much more than just the Silver Star. Now the race for justice is on, and there's danger at every turn!

Review: So, I am now into the Mega-Books, Minstrel Books and Simon & Schuster era of the Hardy Boys.  The Stratemeyer Syndicate is no more from this point forward, after Simon & Schuster had purchased them in 1984, and finished off a number of books that the Syndicate had in the pipeline at that point.  And when The Mystery of the Silver Star was released in September 1987, it had been 2 years since The Skyfire Puzzle was released in October 1985 by Wanderer Books. 

The Mystery of the Silver Star was also the first original Hardy Boys book to be released at the same time as a book from a spin-off series (Casefiles #7 Deathgame was also released in September 1987).   

The Mystery of the Silver Star is also the second story assigned to be #86 in the Hardy Boys Mystery Stories.  There was, originally, a different story written to be #86, in a Casefiles-like style, that was cancelled and buried in a Simon & Schuster warehouse, once the decision was made to create the Hardy Boys Casefiles,  and produce the Mystery Stories as a similar series to the Stratemeyer-era books. 

It's interesting how on the 1987 cover, it looks like the artist modelled Frank after David Hasselhoff in Knight Rider!  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hasselhoff#/media/File:DavidHasselhoff1986.jpg

[MacGyver]

It's very interesting hearing about this alternate #86. I wonder if that book was not adapted into the Casefiles.. .?
I guess I can kinda see Frank based some on David Hasselhoff- but Joe definitely got his hairstyle.

[tomswift2002]

I remember in the early 2000's talking to James Keeline about it and he said that he had been told about it by Anne Greenberg and that it had not been adapted.  It had been put in storage and that was it.

Anyway, it's interesting with Silver Star that the author was making sure that it tied back into the earlier books.  There's mention of Tony Prito in the first few pages, even though he doesn't appear, Chet is back and the later on in the chapter called "Callie's Party", Callie (who is celebrating her birthday) and Iola appear.  Plus Con Riley shows up in the book (he's the one who told Keith Holland to hire Frank and Joe) and Chief Collig is mentioned. 

[MacGyver]

Too bad we'll likely never see what might have been then.

Nice to see so much of the supporting cast in the book.

[tomswift2002]

I finished The Mystery of the Silver Star. It was an okay book.  Not the best for a soft relaunch in the series (Revenge Of The Desert Phantom was better), the style  while inline with the G&D style, still felt like it had some of the Casefiles trappings.  Also, it was interesting how, Fenton heads off on his own case in California, and yet it doesn't connect with Frank and Joe's, although Fenton has to be called near the end in order to get a CIA agent to work with Frank and Joe. 

I also didn't really like how the author had two seperate criminal organizations going and while one was only the prankster (it was Dave Lakey, who was trying to get higher ratings for his Syndicated Sports TV show) it kind of felt like the author didn't know how to get a longer story than by having a 2nd criminal that wasn't connected to the main criminal.  The book had 18 chapters over 150 pages. 

Rating: 5.5/10

[tomswift2002]

It's also interesting that there was a slip-up in continuity, since on page 97 when the Hardy's are asked to investigate the kidnapping of Keith Holland, and Frank replies that kidnapping is a bit out of their league and the Silver Star's inventor should contact the FBI.  Apparently Frank has forgotten that they have investigated other kidnappings, like in The Secret Panel as well as kidnappings of their friends in The Missing Chums and other books.