The Crisscross Shadow (The Hardy Boys, No. 32)

There are two main characters in the book. They are Frank and Joe Hardy. When they come home from football practice there is a man in their house named Breck. The man is a leather goods saleman. He tries to sell their mother a key case. When their mother goes to get the money Breck takes a key and a picture from their house. The boys find the picture, but not the key. The boys go on a hunt to try to find where the key case was made. When they get to the place the place is an Indian tribe. The tribe sends them on a hunt for the deed to their property. When the boys find the deed they solve their mystery too.

Published in 1953, this was a swift paced adventure that took place primarily in the wilderness near an Indian reservation. The crooks were known early on in the book to the Hardys and there was a great amount of interaction. All & all I really enjoyed this book. The frontispiece ranks among my favorite, the cover was well drawn, the plot and mystery kept the reader turning from page to page. There actually was a good mystery here as the Hardys were in a race with the criminals to learn the location of the Crisscross Shadow. RATED B+

In all your life, in all the places you've lived, has any touch of interior design or decoration ever looked better than that long powder blue line of Hardy Boy book spines, with the little Frank & Joe cameo, did on your bookshelf when you were a kid? I thought not.The Hardy Boys were created, along with Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins and myriad others, by Edward L. Stratemeyer (1862-1930). He would then outline stories and farm them out to writers hired through his Stratemeyer Syndicate--which sounds like the literary equivalent of the Triangle Shirt Waist factory. The resulting stable of series must surely be the most read children's books of all time, even in this era of Goosebumps and Harry Potter.Frank and younger brother Joe are the sons of the renowned detective Fenton Hardy, who always seems to be away on an important case. Between attending class and winning football games for Bayport High, the boys manage to investigate their own fair share of suspicious doings. This fairly typical entry finds the brothers involved in a case which includes a local Indian tribe (yes they were still Indians then) and some dubious characters who keep trying to break into their Dad's safe.Blessedly free of strong language, serious violence, sexual subtexts or weighty social issues, the books are suitable for all ages. I fondly recall plowing through pretty near the whole series, with brief timeouts for Encyclopedia Brown. I can't imagine a kid not liking them.GRADE: B