The tutor continues his probe of the popular Hardy Boys mystery series.

Back on Jan 19, I began about the Hardy Boys. I’ve not stopped reading them to my kids, now 11 and 13. In fact, we just finished Mystery of the Chinese Junk the night before last.

After writing the Jan 19 post, I came to doubt that The Tower Treasure, from 1927, and The Firebird Rocket, from 1978, were truly written by the same person. While theoretically possible, a writing career spanning that many years, in a valuable, but static, style, just seems very unlikely. A few times a month, spontaneously, I’d return to the issue to continue wondering: does the series use several ghostwriters, all posing as Franklin W. Dixon? The authorship of the books became a mystery similar, indeed, to a Hardy Boys case. Perhaps just as baffling, I never thought to research it.

Yesterday, I finally did inquire online about the Hardy Boys author. In fact, the series does use several ghostwriters. What do you know – a Canadian, Leslie McFarlane, wrote the first sixteen, and 21 in all.

So often, one finds a Canadian connection in what seems to be American culture:)

I’ll be talking much more about the Hardy Boys series in future posts.

Source:

wikipedia

wikipedia

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.