Welcome to the Hardy Boys books that are behind the fanfiction series. These books started out with three mysteries that have spawned hundreds of books and several different universes. A unique thing about the Hardy Boys series is that no one author penned all the stories. Hundreds of ghostwriters have been responsible for bringing the Hardy Boys to life. The world has changed since the first Hardy Boys story which was penned in 1927, and the Hardy Boys have changed with it. Now you can see into what each of the series offered as well as the current series.
Blue-spine mysteries – Also known as the canon, these books start off the Hardy Boys series. From the beginning with the introduction, the readers see Frank and Joe Hardy growing and learning as they solve more mysteries with the help of their father, famous private investigator Fenton Hardy. Fenton Hardy used to be a New York City police officer. It introduces the readers to the Hardy brothers circle of friends: Phil Cohen, Jerry Gilroy, Biff Hooper, Chet Morton, and Tony Prito. Also introduced are Frank’s girlfriend, Callie Shaw, and Joe’s girlfriend Iola Morton (sister of Chet Morton). Laura Hardy is the brothers’ mother but not seen or heard from s lot. It was known that she would have preferred her sons to be doctors or lawyers instead of private investigators. Aunt Gertrude is shown and is depicted as the older, unmarried sister of Fenton Hardy who, without invitation, moves in with the family. She is seen as giving unwanted advice, always predicting doom, and always trying to decide what the brothers should do with their lives. Sam Radley is introduced as Fenton Hardy’s partner in his business. Jack Wayne is Fenton’s pilot while Doctor Bates is the Hardy family doctor. The readers are also introduced to Chief Collig of the Bayport Police force and Con Riley who is a lieutenant officer of that same police force. Con was portrayed as friend to the brothers while Chief Collig was shown to find them more of a nuisance in his work.
The mysteries the brothers solved started out as small mysteries in and around their hometown of Bayport. As the series progressed, Frank and Joe solved more crimes outside of Bayport and were soon globe-trotting. The series still tried to stay close to the older stories that they were remade from, but it’s clear in the later books that the technology was changing and the books showed the changes. Stopped at book 58, the series picked up again, turning paperback mysteries into blue-spine mysteries.
The series started out with the boys getting hit on the head in nearly every book, but was soon stopped as medical science advanced and showed that it was physically impossible to get so many blows and not receive damage from them. The crimes were changed too as theft and disappearances dominated the early books and slowly were replaced with murder, kidnappings, and terrorist threats.
In each book Frank and Joe’s friend Chet Morton had a different hobby. Most if not all of the time, that hobby would somehow play into the current mystery that the brothers were trying to solve. As the series progressed, the brothers other friends would help more and Chet was given more things to do besides switch hobbies.
Casefiles – This series was a complete change from the paperback mysteries. It started out by killing Iola Morton in a car explosion meant for the Hardy brothers. It introduces the mysteries Gray Man who works for a U.S. government organization called the Network. The Network’s main goal was to stop a terrorist group known as the Assassins. Smaller in size that the mysteries, each casefile packed more action, angst, adventure, intrigue and other things into it, making the brothers expert crime solvers.
The main changes are in the personalities of the characters. Frank Hardy is shown to be both verbally and physically more protective of his younger brother Joe. Joe is more outgoing and likes to flirt with girls but is shown to be just as protective of his older brother. Most of the Hardys friends still appear. Noticeably absent is Jerry Gilroy. Chet is shown to be smarter, stronger, and not as hobby-crazy as he was in the mysteries. Phil is shown to be a genius and often he’s working on computers and tinkering with gadgets. Biff becomes a stronger person, and Tony becomes more than just a person working in his father’s business. Laura becomes more vocal and voices her opinion when the book comes to her. Here Aunt Gertrude is still in the series, but her tone and personality are taken down a few notches. The writers probably noticed what fans had seen, so they made sure the aunt didn’t have as much control over the Hardy boys as their mother did. Joe didn’t get a new girlfriend until over halfway through the casesfiles. Vanessa Bender started out as someone the boys help out and blossoms into being Joe’s girlfriend. Callie Shaw changes as she becomes more of a pest. She constantly tries to get in with Frank and Joe in solving mysteries, ending up needing a rescue of her own. One change with her is that she will insult Joe and Frank will not correct her.
Sam Radley isn’t shown in the casefiles, but the Hardys gain a new friend in Sam Peterson. He’s Fenton’s former partner on the police force who has now become chief of New York City police department. Con Riley and Chief Collig are still with the Bayport police department. Both men have personality changes as they are portrayed as being highly skilled officers. Con Riley is their friend while Collig still tries to show that he doesn’t like them even though at times the Hardys can tell otherwise.
The mysteries change as well. Murder, robbery, terrorist threats, all play into the newer type mysteries. On the covers, the brothers are depicted as older teens and their activities such as skateboarding, concert going, and mall shopping are all shown in the books. The brothers work with the Gray Man in some casefiles as they are considered his students. They are involved in more extreme sports such as BASE jumping, snowboarding, and mountain climbing. While this series was decidedly more popular among readers, it was cancelled after 127 casefiles.
Clues Brothers – Stopped after only 17 books, this series was an attempt to capture even younger readers, though the other paperbacks are placed in the kiddie section of book stores and libraries. Instead of being in high school, the Hardy boys are in middle school. Frank and Joe solve mysteries but they are more grade-school mysteries with things like finding out who stole a book, tampered with a bike, etc. There was little interest in the series as it really took the brothers out of the element that readers were used to seeing.
Comic books – Stopped after only a couple of issues, this was supposed to be the same as in the graphic novels only published in comic book format.
Graphic Novels – The graphic novels take the Hardy Boys stories one step further and creates a comic book style format. The pictures have distinct anime-style format in that the characters have large eyes, small noses, the girls have the same-shaped figure, etc. The novels bring mysteries that are an extension of the Undercover Brothers series to life in picture format. The graphic novels are noticeable thinner than the paperback books as the written description that would take a couple paragraphs now only takes a frame or two of comic book art. Frank, Joe, and Fenton Hardy’s depictions in the novels are close to what they were described in the paperbacks. A reader might notice that Aunt Trudy’s (Gertrude) depiction is radically different from the paperbacks. She’s depicted as a woman who looks like she would be Laura’s age and figure too. Graphic novels are not published as frequently as the Undercover Brother’s mysteries.
Hardback mysteries – The Hardy Boys series started out with three books; The Tower Treasure Mysteries, The House on the Cliff, and The Secret of the Old Mill. These smaller but very thick red-spine books were written in the 1920’s. The Hardy Boys, their friends and relatives, language and attitudes all are based on that time period. Frank and Joe wear hats all the time, and they are younger, sixteen and fifteen respectively. Fenton Hardy is still a private detective, but he’s seen as smoking and giving his sons hunting rifles for holiday gifts. Laura Hardy is portrayed as the dutiful quiet wife who says almost nothing and is always in the background. Gertrude is seen as a whiny pushy bossy old maid who has nothing better to do than take over the house, threaten everyone and make sure the Hardy boys do what she tells them.
The Hardy friends are different too. They don’t have any friends different from their class. The area is different in that the best way to travel is by boat or by rail. The doctors and hospitals of the time are not aware of many diseases, and it’s still not known that disease can spread by reusing needles. The biggest ones of that time are Spanish flu, scarlet fever, and small pox. Not everyone has a car and airplanes are considered new and innovative. Frank and Joe walk arm and arm and they are learning subjects like Latin in school. Racial and social stereotypes are seen as was common during the time. Woman’s liberation hasn’t happened so men commonly have all the more important roles in these stories.
The officers of that time are seen as either hardcore or a stooge. Con Riley and Chief Collig are in the mysteries but both are seen as hardcore cops that stick to the law. Oscar Smuff, a detective on the force was seen as a bumbling idiot who always tried to be better than the Hardys but ended up falling on his face.
Paperback Mysteries – Considered almost a continuation of the blue-spine mysteries, this series didn’t differ really from them. Frank and Joe were dating Callie Shaw and Iola Morton respectively. Aunt Gertrude was seen in some way in practically every mystery, more than Laura Hardy, their mother. Fenton Hardy is a private investigator and the brothers typically help their father out on the same case. As the series progressed, the technology and language of books changed. In the beginning of the series the brothers didn’t even use or think about using computers and didn’t really take big risks, towards the end they were using the Internet and rode Motorcross bikes.
Undercover Brothers – This is a complete change for the Hardy Brothers. While the description of Frank and Joe are the same, and their relative ages are intact. Everything else around them has changed. Their father, Fenton Hardy, is not a private investigator but the creator of ATAC. Frank and Joe are members of this group and help solve mysteries that they are assigned. Aunt Gertrude has been renamed to Aunt Trudy and drives a VW bug but still has the same crabby personality. Laura Hardy is now a librarian. Frank and Joe’s usual gang of friends are not seen as much, and it’s not clear if they will have girlfriends. The technology can be considered state-of-the-art or futuristic (but still possible). The language has been updated to include street words like ‘dude’ and ‘cool’ and the personalities of the brothers has changed somewhat.
The Hardy family is still in tact but now Laura has become a total geek, always reciting facts that she knows. Despite being as smart as she is, she’s clueless as to what is going on in her own house. Gertrude by all standards runs the house with no objections by Laura. Gertrude still puts the brothers’ down and treats them like they’re five. Fenton has become stronger in personality but still allows his sister and wife to treat his sons like little kids. The parrot does offer comic relief but tends to become annoying.