| Children's |
Summary
Summary
A criminal that seems to be straight out of a Sherlock Holmes novel is out to get brother detectives Frank and Joe in the sixteenth book in the thrilling Hardy Boys Adventures series.
An original Sherlock Holmes manuscript was stolen from the Bayport Museum and now pages keep showing up in Frank and Joe's things: their lockers, menus, even the backseat of their car. It's clear someone is out to frame them. But who could it be?
The boys try their usual means of deduction, but everything leads to a dead end. They just keep finding unsuspecting people who were paid to hide the pages by a mysterious third party. Frank recognizes this tactic--it's exactly what Moriarty would do to throw off Sherlock Holmes. So the brothers decide to use one of Sherlock's signature ideas: The Baker Street Irregulars. Though instead of street kids, Frank and Joe use a group of skateboarding tweens to keep their eyes and ears open around town.
It's a battle of wits as the brother detectives try to clear their name. But this Moriarty wannabe always seems to be one step ahead. Can the Hardy boys find the real culprit before it's too late?
Author Notes
Franklin W. Dixon Franklin W. Dixon is actually a pseudonym for any number of ghostwriters who have had the distinction of writing stories for the Hardy Boys series. The series was originally created by Edward Stratmeyer in 1926, the same mastermind of the Nancy Drew detective series, Tom Swift, the Rover Boys and other characters. While Stratmeyer created the outlines for the original series, it was Canadian writer Leslie McFarlane who breathed life to the stories and created the persona Franklin W. Dixon. McFarlane wrote for the series for over twenty years and is credited with success of the early collection of stories.
As the series became more popular, it was pared down, the format changed and new ghostwriters added their own flavor to the stories. Part of the draw of the Hardy Boys is that as the authors changed, so to did the times and the story lines. While there is no one true author of the series, each ghostwriter can be given credit for enhancing the life of this series and never unveiling that there really is no Franklin W. Dixon.
(Bowker Author Biography)
