#100 The Secret Of The Island Treasure (31st Anniversary Review)

[tomswift2002]

Published: February 1990
Publisher: Minstrel Books (1990-1991) no digital edition
Author: Christopher Lampton

Plot: Frank and Joe Return To The Scene Of Their First Case---And Uncover A New Twist On An Old Crime!

A 300-year-old secret leads to a mystery as deep and dark and dangerous as ever!

The landmark Tower Mansion, site of the Hardys' first triumph, is being converted into condos, and the construction workers have unearthed a pirate map leading to a cryptic message: "Here lies the greatest treasure of them all." Frank and Joe take the challenge and take the case, leaping into action once again!

But the Hardy boys have seen plenty of action, and one thing they've learned: The greater the treasure, the trickier the trail. A mysterious modern-day pirate, whose greed knows no bounds, is determined to keep The Secret of the Island Treasure all to himself ... even if it means getting Frank and Joe out of the way -- for good!

Review:  So the 1990's, when it came to the Hardy Boys Mystery Stories started off with a retro case.  Frank and Joe return to Applegate Tower and rediscover a new mystery. 

As people remember, the Hardy's first case was The Tower Treasure where the Hardy's helped Hurd Applegate and his sister Adelia, recover some stolen jewels and securities. 

Anyway, the Hardy's are visiting Hurd and Adelia, along with Chet, after they hear that Tower Mansion has been sold and is being converted into condominiums, with Hurd and Adelia each staying in the different towers in thier own apartments.  However, when the workmen are remodeling Hurd's apartment, they find a false wall, and Hurd, Chet and the Hardy's discover that it's Major Applegate's (Hurd and Adelia's father's) private office that had been relegated to family myth.  And in the office they discover a map to a treasure on an island close to the Atlantic entrance to Barmet Bay.  Unfortunately, while Major Applegate owned the island decades ago, he had sold it at some point and the Applegate family no longer owned the island.  But when Hurd goes to buy the island back, he discovers that someone else has already beat him to the punch.  So the three interested parties agree to work together to go on the treasure hunt, with the Hardy's and Chet representing Hurd Applegate's interests.

As a kid, I remember finding that this book was really not that great of a throwback book.  And even now, I found that the characters were off and Chris Lampton didn't seem to know much about The Tower Treasure either the Leslie McFarlane 1927 original or the Harriet Stratemeyer Adams 1959 rewrite.  It was nice that the Hardy's reminisced about a few locations in Tower Mansion, but otherwise, there wasn't much connecting The Secret of the Island Treasure to The Tower Treasure.  Tower Mansion only shows up at the beginning and end of the story, and then the rest of the story takes place at the marina and the island. 

Also, the criminals just felt crammed in, and I didn't like how the criminal was known to the Hardy's at the start of the book.  There were two criminals, but unlike The Tower Treasure, that had two criminals (Red Jackley and the hobo) that were interesting, the criminals in The Secret of the Island Treasure were not interesting.

Of course, for those in the UK and other Commonwealth countries, they might've found it odd that the 100th book was celebrating The Tower Treasure when that book had never been (except throught American imports) #1 in the UK.  The first UK Hardy Boys book was the 1950 version of The Secret Of the Lost Tunnel (Harold Hill, although HH used the American order so The Tower Treasure[/i ] was considered #1, but it wasn't released until 1951, as the 4th Hardy Boys released).  Then the Sampson Low/MacDonald order considered The Sinister Signpost as #1 (SL never released Tower), and Collins/Armada had The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior  as #1 (Collins issued Tower as #31). 

Also, The Secret of the Island Treasure was in print for only about a year, only going through 3 print runs before being discontinued in 1991.  The first two printings were released individually (the first in February 1990, the second later on in 1990) and then the third printing seems to have been only released in a box set that contained Dungeon of Doom, Money Hunt & Terminal Shock. 

Review: 5.5 out of 10

[tomswift2002]

Oh, yeah this is Hurd Applegate's first appearance in the series since #11 While The Clock Ticked.

[MacGyver]

This is one book I do remember fairly well. I remember being excited to order this one online so as to finally read this story. I personally love the connection with the Tower Mansion and the Applegates! Frank and Joe even recall a scene from The Tower Treasure, when they go by the spot Joe fell over the railing (and then got rescued).
  I' m glad this story exists to concretely give a connection between the Grosset & Dunlap 58 book set and the Digests. I know The Sting of the Scorpion has a mention of Night of the Werewolf in early prints at least. And the numbering obviously continued. But The Secret of the Island Treasure was a great connection between the different iterations of Hardy Boys books. It even used the classic naming structure!
       And yes- growing up reading the Armada books, I regarded The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior as the first in the series. It took a while to get used to the American order.

[tomswift2002]

As far as I am aware, Island Treasure never had any foreign reprints, so it's been out of print for 30 years now.