Reviews

The language of ~1927 is a delight. The portrayal of women in that time period, less delightful.

While the audience of this book is boys and the subject of this series is clearly defined in the title, the way Mrs. Hardy and other women are described in the background of each mystery subtly influences the reader and intended audience.

Mr. Hardy's job is detective work and Mrs. Hardy's job is looking after him and their boys. Mrs. Hardy is a nurturer to the extreme. She will pack the lunches and the bags and send the boys out on the adventure while she herself hardly leaves the kitchen, let alone the house. She seems happy enough with this role and has polite sons and a considerate husband, but I would have liked to see her involved in other ways (or less involved in food preparation). I never read this as a youth, due to gender politics of my own time, I limited myself to Nancy Drew whilst watching my brother read The Hardy Boys, and I only read the books where they were on a mystery together--the super mystery series.

There is one instance of a mother fainting--typical behavior for a woman *eye roll*--and she is revived by what you'd expect for typical behavior like this: "smelling salts and her special medicine." I'd like to know the name of the special medicine.

There is also another character who eats as often as Joe and Frank but he is always described as LOVING food--in a body-shaming way compared to the lead boys. As being "stout." I felt bad for this character. The descriptions of his body always came in front of his qualities and contributions to the story and he was seldom mentioned without his size also being mentioned. Chet, we all love food. We all have complex relationships with our bodies and with food.

Frank kept impressively calm under stressful situations and they were able to get themselves out of said stressful situations. I appreciated that they went on a walk when they weren't sure what else to do. That they were saving money for college and doing detective work to do so. That they were friends with boys and girls. That they cared about their community.

Imagine my smile when the criminal's deathbed sentence is a vague clue to the treasure! "'It’s in the old tower—' 'That was all he said. Jackley lost consciousness then and never regained it."

And at how the author teases the next book in the series at the end: "They accepted it all with a grin, but secretly, each boy had a little feeling of sadness that the case had ended. They hoped another mystery would soon come their way, and one did at THE HOUSE ON THE CLIFF."

Relatable:
"They had no heart for further sports activities. It was a dull, gloomy day, indicative of rain and this did not raise the boys’ spirits."

Food they ate that I also want to eat:
poached eggs on toast
hot applesauce
hot cocoa
roast beef sandwiches under a tree

Words/phrases I loved:
vexed
got to dash now