HARDY BOYS ABANDONED FARM

THE ABANDONED FARM MYSTERY
Hardy Boys fanfiction at its best!

This full-length Hardy Boys mystery by a Canadian fan is a stellar example of top-notch fanfiction. Anyone who loves the vintage Hardy Boys will really enjoy this book, which is one of three that this fan has written and printed in book form for other fans only.


The Abandoned Farm Mystery is written in the tradition and style of the first nine original-text Hardy Boys books, as authored by Leslie McFarlane. The atmosphere and characterizations are the same as in those early beloved texts. The author uses people, sites, backstory, and even villains from the originals, and it's one big ball to revisit all this once again in a very original story.

To be fair, this book would have benefited by professional editing, but that's really a moot point; it's well-written enough and no Hardy Boys fan is going to care that it isn't perfect because it is so much fun to read.

The Bayport area and surrounding environs are experiencing a rash of robberies at upscale estates owned by wealthy and important businessmen. Elroy Jefferson is one of them; his stamp collection is stolen again! Another victim is wealthy Morgan Monarch, now the step-father of the boy Lester from The Secret of the Old Mill. Lester joins Frank and Joe to do some river-sleuthing in this book in ther boat the Sleuth.

The boys work on helping their dad solve the case of the estate robberies locally, as he goes off to Boston and New York to look for clues. I had to laugh because this is so true: Fenton Hardy is always going out-of-town to solve mysteries that take place right there in Bayport! The boys take off to Cabin Island for a few days with their whole gang of chums, and there they witness strange signal lights coming from an abandoned farm on shore , and night-riding boats motoring back and forth between the mainland and the island.

It's great to return to Cabin Island again, and to Amos Grice's general store in Bayville. The boys and chums do a lot of sleuthing on the island, at the abandoned farm on the mainland, and up and down the Willow River near Bayport. They even stop at the Old Mill to search for clues, and it's great fun revisiting all these sites again.


Aunt Gertrude is her wacky old self in this book, uproariously funny at times as she tries to manipulate the boys into doing her bidding and continuously meddles in their business. There are food feasts with the chums , long discussions about past adventures on Blacksnake Island, Tower Mansion, the Old Mill, Cabin Island, and the Shore Road, and all the great camaraderie the early Hardys are famous for.

The other two titles by this author are The Abandoned Railroad Mystery and The Abandoned Fishing Lodge Mystery. These books are well-made hardbacks with hand-drawn endpapers and frontispieces. The other two are just as good as this one and will bring you back to the early days of the Hardy Boys when mystery and adventure and good times with all the chums thrilled millions of readers.

These books were advertised in one of the leading series books fanzines a number of years ago.