City News

The Hardy Boys: Secret of the Old Mill, by Franklin W. Dixon, is volume #3 in the original The

Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published in 1927. The story is about the Hardy brothers, Frank,

Joe, their girlfriends, and their old friend Chet with his old car. Frank's girlfriend is Callie and

Joe's girlfriend is Iola. The reader never gets to know them, but they are always around to help

the brothers. Together these teens sneak into an old mill and solve two mysteries.

The Hardy Boys’ father is a famous detective, and their mom is a perfect housewife. Their Aunt

Gertrude always comes over for a stay and bakes cakes and cookies for the boys and always

fears they will bring harm upon themselves during one of their cases. In this book, Fenton Hardy

is working on a top secret case. Frank and Joe wonder about the mystery their dad is focused

on when they go to pick him up at the train station, but he is not there. Besides their dad not

being on the train, their friend, Chet, is handed a counterfeit $20 dollar bill. The boys must figure

out what happened to their father and what he is working on, find the counterfeiters and figure

out what is happening at the old mill outside of town.

I like how each chapter of the book has an adventure in it as noted in the chapter name. For

example, Chapter 1: An Escape, Chapter 2: The Trailing of a Detective, etc. Additionally, each

chapter ends with a cliffhanger which makes it hard to put the book down. This is a standard

formula for all the Hardy Boys books.

There are a couple of firsts in this book. For instance, the reader is first introduced to the boys’

friend, Tony Prito, and his boat the Napoli. Tony gives the brothers information about the

counterfeit money and how it was delivered to the lumber yard where he works. It was deli

vered

by a 14-year-old boy who Frank and Joe had just saved from getting killed in an accident.

Another first is the Hardy brothers receive the infamous Sleuth as a gift from their father, which

will reappear in other Hardy Boy books. This boat plays a large part in the story of how the boys

break up the counterfeit ring. At one point it is sabotaged and gives the boys a dangerous time

on the water. The boys deal with the counterfeiters while their dad investigates the destruction

of armament plants. Both stories converge with Mr. Hardy and his sons revealing the truth and

how it involves the old mill.

I do not like how badly the book is outdated with its references to old technology and strangely

antiquated language in both descriptions and dialog. This sometimes makes it confusing to

follow the story line. The text is short (174 pages in a large font) with a simple vocabulary;

however, the action sequences are well-thought out and the characters’ reasoning is

sophisticated and adult-like. Surprisingly for a kid’s book, the story has adult topics of weapon

destruction and counterfeiting.

I would recommend this book and give it a 10 out of 10. Unlike modern children’s books, it

teaches manners, personal responsibility, friendship, and family. This book, and all the books in

the Hardy Boys series, are a good escape for anyone. It stretches the imagination and is a lot of

fun to read. The book is a well written mystery that keeps the reader.

Check out The Hardy Boys: The Secret of the Old Mill from the Newport Beach Public Library.