#105 The Smoke Screen Mystery (30th Anniversary Review)

[tomswift2002]

Published: December 1990
Publisher: Minstrel Books (1990-2002)
Author:

Plot: The Hardys are caught in a cage of fire!

A Fiery Vendetta Races out of Control -- And Frank and Joe are Running Out of Time!

The Hardys have always wanted to learn about firefighting, and winter break offers them the perfect opportunity to sign on as volunteer firefighters. The action heats up fast when they learn that fighting fires also means fighting crime: an arsonist is on the loose in Bayport!

Several warehouses belonging to a wealthy developer have gone up in smoke, and it soon becomes clear that no one is safe from the arsonist's torch. Frank and Joe want to extinguish the threat for good. But the only way they can penetrate THE SMOKE SCREEN MYSTERY is to follow a burning trail of blackmail and revenge -- a trail of blackmail and revenge -- a trail that leads straight to the top of a towering inferno!

Review:  I'm just starting this one.  I read it a few times in the 90'sand early 2000's. 

So I've got to wonder when do Frank & Joe have 4 months to study how to be firefighters?  The book says they took a 16 week course in firefighting before getting hired on as volunteers.  Of course, considering how many buildings have been bombed or set on fire in Bayport, why is Bayport's fire department mostly a volunteer department? 

And ever since the 90's, I've wondered if the artist had Kate Mulgrew model for him for this book, since that woman on the cover looks like a young Captain Janeway from "Star Trek Voyager" or "Mrs. Colombo"!

[MacGyver]

I remember liking this book pretty well when I read it as a kid. I mainly recall Frank and Joe becoming volunteer firefighters, the Hardy Boys rescuing Aunt Gertrude from a fire (whom I've wondered is supposed to be depicted on the cover), having pizza in an ending scene and helping a character named Kevin with the blackmail issues.

[tomswift2002]

I think that's suppose to be Iola who Joe is rescuing.

[MacGyver]

Yeah- that would make way more sense.

[tomswift2002]

Or it's Callie, as it seems to be a scene from the end of the book where both Callie & Iola were with Frank and Joe climbing out of a burning building.

[MacGyver]

Okay, but isn't Callie a blonde and Iola a brunette?