Hardy Boys

As a kid, I read some of the Hardy Boys books, though not religiously and certainly not without any kind of methodical obsession. And I remember none of them.

However, as I am approaching middle age, and pondering my mortality, that has changed. I have decided that it would be a great regret of mine if I were to check out out of this world and head to my heavenly reward without having read all of the original Hardy Boys mysteries. So, over the past three years, I have been working my way methodically through the Hardy Boys, starting with #1 of the series and reading them up the chain. I am currently up to #53 of the original series, which is The Clue of the Hissing Serpent. I guess this averages about 1 book every three weeks or so.

I found after the first three or so books that the basic plot lines and character descriptions are always the same, which tends to make the reading experience not as exciting as it could be. In fact, the stories are absolutely predictable. Nevertheless, I would say that I have enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) reading the books. Probably more so because, with every book completed, I am that much more at peace and less regretful of unfinished business before dying. Nevertheless, I'd be curious if any of you have had a Hardy Boys reading experience. If so, I'd be interested in hearing your reactions to this experience, to the Hardy Boys series generally, and, if you have a favorite of the series, which one it is and why.

As for me, one of my recent favorites was #45, The Mystery of the Spiral Bridge, probably because it went the most off script by having Fenton Hardy, the famous, and usually unassailable detective father of the Hardy Boys, so completely taken in and hammered by the bad guys that he spent almost the entire story in the hospital very badly off and with a seriously scrambled mind. I also think I liked this story because the bad guys used a very specialized prison gang slang in their conversations that made for some humorous scenes when the Hardy Boys themselves did some "slumming" with prison gang slang conversations of their own.

Anyway ... let's hear from you.