March 2018 Update


Bayport Beat
Welcome to the March edition of The Hardy Boys News with new & upcoming releases and a look at “The Mystery of Cabin Island”.

New Releases

Clue Book #5Hardy Boys Adventures Graphic Novel #5 – March 2018 – For Sale
Scott Lobdell (Author), Paulo Henrique Marcondes (Illustrator)

This may be a phantom title.

 

Upcoming Releases

Hardy Boys Adventures #17

17: The Gray Hunter’s Revenge – 10/18
For Sale: Paperback – Hardcover
Frank and Joe investigate a supernatural crime in the seventeenth book in the thrilling Hardy Boys Adventures series.
One of the Hardys’ favorite writers, Nathan Foxwood, has recently died in a tragic car accident. Now, the press is swarming his house in Bayort to get the scoop on the novel he completed just before his untimely death.
When Joe hears that Nathan’s wife is having a giant estate sale, he drags Frank with him. Who could pass up the opportunity to see inside their favorite author’s home? Nathan’s wife says she wants to get away as quickly as possible; strange things have been happening since their first night there and now her husband is gone and she’s sure the house is haunted. But Nathan’s assistant, Adam, is not so willing to blame it all on the supernatural. Valuable things keep disappearing from the house-why would a ghost need money? Adam recognizes the Hardys’ from an article he read and asks for their help.
Of course Frank and Joe Hardy don’t believe in ghosts and are positive they can get to the bottom of all this. But when Adam is mysteriously hurt after spending the night alone in the house, the brothers start to wonder; what is the motive for these crimes if not ghostly revenge? Could these brother detectives be in over their heads?

Clue Book #7Clue Books
7: The Pirate Ghost – 04/18
For Sale: PaperbackHardcover
Illustrated by Santy Gutierrez
Detective brothers Frank and Joe work to uncover a pirate ghost hoax in the seventh book in the interactive Hardy Boys Clue Book series.
The Hardy Boys are super excited when their friend Jason Wang wins the “Talk Like a Pirate Contest” at Bayport’s annual Pirate Palooza. Jason’s prize is a map to the legendary pirate, Captain Scurvydog’s buried treasure. Expert detectives Frank and Joe offer to help him find it.
But the next day, Jason tells the brothers that he won’t be doing any treasure hunting. He says the ghost of Captain Scurvydog has been haunting him; his parrot is singing pirate songs he’s never been taught, pirate coins appeared on his windowsill, and there’s a mysterious note in a bottle warning Jason to stay away from buried treasure. To Jason, the message is clear: stay away from Captain Scurvydog’s booty! Frank and Joe don’t believe in ghosts. They’re sure someone is tricking Jason so they can dig up the buried treasure themselves. The only question is, who?

 

Clue Book #88: The Time Warp Wonder – 11/18
For Sale: Paperback – Hardcover
Illustrated by Santy Gutierrez
Detective brothers Frank and Joe work to debunk a time travel machine in the eighth book in the interactive Hardy Boys Clue Book series.
Bayport Elementary is almost ready for the annual science fair-it’s all down to the final touches. Frank and Joe have collaborated on a detective helmet. It’s the perfect lie detector-just place it on a suspect’s head and the bells and whistles will tell you when they’re lying.
But not everyone is as prepared for the big fair. Their good friend Phil has designed a time machine he calls the Time Warp Wonder. He just needs to figure out how it works first.
Phil uses Chet’s hamster as a test subject. And the machine really does make the hamster disappear from the cafeteria! It’s just that Phil isn’t sure where the hamster went or how to get him back. Frank and Joe are not so sure the hamster went back in time. They have a feeling their Clue Book will be more help to Chet’s hamster than Phil’s calculations.
But the brothers start questioning their instincts when they receive pictures of the hamster in different time periods; dressed as caveman with the dinosaurs, suited up in armor in the middle ages, in a top hat watching Abe Lincoln give a speech. Could Chet’s hamster really be traveling though time? It’s up to the Hardy Boys-and you-to find out!

 

Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys: The New Case Files – December 2018 – For Sale
by Stefan Petrucha (Author), Sarah Kinney (Author), Gerry Conway (Author), Sho Murase (Illustrator), Paulo Henrique (Illustrator)
Some of literature’s most famous detectives team-up in a feature length story! Plus zombies, vampires, this one’s got everything! Five thrilling graphic novels are collected here featuring world famous teen sleuths Nancy Drew and Frank and Joe Hardy. First, see them like you’ve never seen them before-teaming up! Plus, Nancy Drew is off slaying vampires and the Hardy Boys call it quits…after crawling with zombies.

 

The Mystery Of Cabin Island

Hardy Boys Cover Art Hardy Boys Cover Art Hardy Boys Cover Art Hardy Boys Cover Art

08: The Mystery Of Cabin Island – Collectible Editions For Sale
Cover Art & Edition Information
Original: 1929 Leslie McFarlane (214 pages) – For Sale
Outline: Edward Stratemeyer
Revised: 1966 Andrew Svenson * (178 pages) – For Sale
Outline: Anne Shultes
Revision: Altered
Art: 1929 W.S. Rogers
Art: 1944 A.O. Scott
Art: 1960 Rudy Nappi
Art: 2017 Ryan Brinkerhoff – Design: Mallory Grigg
Notes: In 1940 the text on page 213 was altered to include the title of the next book.
* Anne Shultes wrote a manuscript for the revised edition which was rejected by Syndicate editor, Anne Hagen, who then requested that Svenson take over.
This is probably the most popular story among fans.
The Hardy Boys solve the mystery of Elroy Jefferson’s missing stamp collection while camping on Jefferson’s Cabin Island retreat on their Christmas vacation.
Description of current edition: With two mysteries to solve, Frank and Joe must climb aboard their iceboat the Sea Gull to reach Cabin Island, where a belligerent stranger orders them off. Sabotage to the boat, danger to themselves, and a ghostly prowler do not daunt the Hardy boys in their search for Johnny Jefferson and for clues to stolen antique medals. How the teenage investigators outwit a ruthless foe and succeed in solving both mysteries makes for mounting suspense in this brisk-paced adventure.

 

The Mystery Of Cabin Island Review
#8 in the series – 1929 – Written by Leslie McFarlane

It’s Christmas time in Bayport and the Boys and their chums are enjoying themselves iceboating out on Barmet Bay. They decide to explore lonely Cabin Island but are chased away by a surly stranger (Hanliegh). On the way back, they nearly come to ruin in an accident with another iceboat manned by Tad Carson and Ike Nash, a pair of obnoxious bullies.
Heading home from this near disaster, they find a message from Elroy Jefferson (who’s car they recovered in The Shore Road Mystery). They head over to Jefferson’s posh digs to collect a reward and obtain permission to camp out on Jefferson’s Cabin Island retreat over the Christmas school holiday.
The Boys along with Chet and Biff head out to the island on their iceboats and have an unpleasant encounter with Ike and Tad, who are in cahoots with Hanliegh. They chase Hanliegh off the island and settle in for some rousing winter adventures.
Soon, they find their supplies stolen and head to the nearest town to get more from elderly storekeeper, Amos Grice, and, incidentally, discover from him that Jefferson had a valuable stamp collection stolen many years ago.
Back at the island, they have more adventures, discover a notebook dropped by Hanliegh indicating that the stolen stamps are hidden in the chimney of the cabin. They make a search and, surprise, find nothing.
Later, during a howling blizzard, they are forced to rescue Hanliegh who has come to grief in an iceboat accident. The storm increases in intensity, finally blowing down the chimney of the old cabin. Searching through the rubble, the Boys discover the stamp collection which miraculously has escaped any damage whatsoever despite being walled into a chimney over a huge fireplace for more than twenty years. They return the stamps to Jefferson and pick up yet another reward and Jefferson’s offer to let them use his Cabin Island retreat any time they want.
Comments: This tale appears on almost everyone’s list of favorite Hardy Boys stories and with good reason. The story is well written and paced and the prose is charmingly evocative and descriptive. One can almost picture oneself ice-boating and camping along with the Boys and their chums.
The mystery is, as usual, solved pretty much by dumb luck (aided by the infamous foul weather that seems to plague Bayport) but this doesn’t take away from the excitement and mystery presented here.
The action is not too far removed from that which a teenage detective could accomplish. The villians are bad but not too bad and the mystery not too difficult to solve.
As in a few other of the earlier stories, the Boys arm themselves in this book (this time with rifles) and, although they threaten to use them, no shootings take place (except for a hapless fox who meets his demise in a totally extraneous sequence.)
Apparently the accident with the iceboat shook up Frank more than he cared to admit because the suggestion to go camping had to be made twice to him! When the suggestion was made the second time, Frank acts like he never heard of such a thing before – oh well!
I’m glad to note that, for once, the Boys’ chums got a share of the reward but sadly there was no lip-smacking feast to cap off the Boys triumph in this case!
The revised version of this story by Andrew Svenson sticks close to the plot of the original and although the charm of McFarlane’s prose is completely lost, it still ranks among the best of the revisions.
Rating: A+
This review originally appeared in The Bayport Times #14 March 1999
 

Original Outline for “The Mystery Of Cabin Island”






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