#97 Cast of Criminals (32nd Anniversary Review)

[tomswift2002]

Published: August 1989
Author: Unknown as of January 2021
Publisher: Minstrel Books (1989-199?)

Plot: The stage is set for danger!

Frank and Joe raise the curtain on crime

Bayport's Grand Theater is putting on a murder mystery, and Frank's girlfriend, Callie, is the star of the show. But she's also in the middle of a real-life mystery -- a backstage intrigue in which her life may be in real danger!

The only clue the Hardys have to go on is the theft of a tiara Callie planned to wear onstage. Someone has threatened to make this the last part she ever plays unless she finds the missing prop. The show must go on, but the final act could be murder if Frank and Joe don't puzzle out the plot!

Review: CHET MORTON MURDERS CALLIE SHAW!  And it's up to Frank and Joe to figure out why their best friend would murder Callie---not!  Frank, Joe, Callie and Chet are involved in the Bayport Player's production of Homecoming Nightmare, a revival of a 1950's murder mystery play.  Callie has the leading role in the play, while Chet plays her boyfriend who ultimately murders her character, while Frank and Joe both play police officers. 

We also learn in this book that shortly after Fenton started his private detective practice, he was hired by a shopping mall to investigate a large number of shoplifitng cases.  He later learned that the culprit was Amelia McGillis, who was a kleptomaniac.  Fenton arranged for the charges against her to be dropped, just as long as she got professional help for her kleptomania.  But still, years later, when Frank and Joe mentioned her name, since she was also in the cast of Homecoming Nightmare, he felt compelled to warn them against her, since her name still set of alarms in him, even though the only times in the years since that he had heard or seen her name was when she acted in local theatrical productions.  (page 65)

This was another book where, had it been written in the Undercover Brothers era, the plot would've been split into a trilogy, as there were a couple of different crimes going on with different people who were not connected to the others, except for through the play.  But it worked better in a single book, whereas a trilogy I think the author would've been having the boys go from place to place just to fill up page space. 

Of course, now in the Adventures era, it was really nice to read a book where the Hardy's old friends were front and center, and Callie really took center stage in this book.  At one point I was even wondering if this had possible been a Casefile turned into a Mystery Story.  You even had Frank and Joe handling guns in this book --- sure they were loaded with blanks, but they were still functional guns.  And Callie's involvement, it reminded me of the number of Casefiles where she was a main character and was brought to the fore.

I remember buying Cast of Criminals at a garage sale in the summer of 94, so it was one of the earliest Hardy's that I read.  My copy's a book club edition, as the spot for the barcode on the back cover is just a white square, which usually indicates a book club printing. 

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

[MacGyver]

Now this is a book I remember pretty well. I got Cast of Criminals from a Scholastic Book Fair at school in 1990, shortly after it was released. I recall reading this one a couple of times as a kid. I love these mysteries that are interwoven together with a revival of an old murder mystery play at a theatre. I believe Con Riley comes to the show at the end of the book and helps capture the villain. And to this day, I still remember the last line Frank and Joe say about Chet, claiming he's the only guy they know who doesn't need a costume to play a hot dog!

[tomswift2002]

https://youtu.be/bp2K8nO46cg

Cast of Criminals, along with the Nancy Drew File #37 The Last Dance make a cameo appearance in this rare game show from Canada's YTV.  Years later in 2006,YTV aired, as a summer replacement and promotion for the then-released DVD's of the 1995 Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew from sister company Nelvana.

[MacGyver]

Cool! Thanks for the link.

[tomswift2002]

Yeah, Distican was Simon & Schuster's Canadian arm from 1990 to 2002 when they were renamed to Simon & Schuster Canada.