104 Tricks Of The Trade (30th Anniversary Review)

[tomswift2002]

Published: October 1990
Publisher: Minstrel Books (1990-1998?)
Author:  Unknown as of July 2021

Plot: Can the boys catch a crook in the act—-before their case goes up in smoke?

Double -Dealing and dirty tricks in a Hardy Boy Houdini whodunnit

Danger takes center stage as Frank and Joe head to New York for a magic seminar hosted by the legendary Lorenzo the Magnificent.  But the biggest mystery of all in the Big Apple is sorcery of a more sinister kind: the case of the disappearing diamonds!

The magic turns more menacing by the minute as the Hardy's face flash fires, flying knives, and venomous fumes.  They'll have to act fast and think even faster to learn the TRICKS OF THE TRADE—-because the safecracker is determined to make them disappear too!

[MacGyver]

I don't remember much of anything about this one, though I think this book may be where I learned the words "legerdemain" and "prestidigitation".
As a fan of magic and magicians, I enjoy this book for that aspect.

[tomswift2002]

"Tricks of the Trade" is kind of dated at this point, as on page 36 it is said that the Hardy's and Chet attend a party at the top of the World Trade Center! 

It's also interesting that no one has mentioned the events of The Billion Dollar Ransom as that involved Zandro the Magnificent or The Secret Agent On Flight 101 that also featured magicians.

[MacGyver]

Yep. The Hardy Boys also had a case involving magic in the Casefiles- #98 Murder by Magic.

[tomswift2002]

I didn't include "Murder By Magic" because it was a Casefiles, also it wasn't published until 1995. 

But that's one thing that I don't like about the S&S era of the "Mystery Stories", that lack of continuity with the Stratemeyer era books.

[MacGyver]

Okay. I was just mentioning other Hardy Boys books dealing with magic.
   The  S&S era has rarely had continuity back to the Stratemeyer era books- true.
The few examples I can think of would be The Secret of the Island Treasure and The Case of the Psychic's Vision, though the latter is more of an in-joke reference.
I still contend that The Test Case likely has a cameo from a Stratemeyer era character though, so there's that.
   But yeah, I know what you mean about the Digests not really maintaining continuity with earlier books.

[tomswift2002]

On page 68, Frank uses the expression "quarter of" when talking about the time, which I found rather archaic.  I still hear people say "quarter to", but the only times that I hear "quarter of" is if I'm around a senior.

[MacGyver]

Yeah, I guess it's not a phrase you hear all the time. It is probably just something the author naturally said though.

[tomswift2002]

I'm finding with this book, especially since I just read Billion Dollar last year, the Hardy's really seem to have forgotten what they learned from Zandro in that book about magic and keep wondering how Lorenzo does his tricks!