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Cargando... The Clue of the Broken Blade (1942)por Franklin W. Dixon
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Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. Warning: Here be spoilers Frank and Joe Hardy are rehearsing for a play in which they will be required to duel with swords. By a strange coincidence, their father, Fenton, is working on a case that will bring them into contact with real swords. Fenton is investigating a moving company that masquerades as legitimate firms and steals shipments of materials for resale. The boys meet the head of one of the legitimate firms, who also has an extensive sword collection. One of the swords ends up broken, another stolen, and the owner asks them to investigate. By modern standards, this is a very silly book. When do Frank and Joe ever go to school? Does their mother know they go gallivanting off in their car for days on end? The writing is very much of the "Avoid the word 'said' as much as possible" school. There's a lot of laughing, suggesting, pleading and even "chanting" (by a butler, of all people). Exclamation marks are used liberally, and characters are described in odd ways. The boys' Aunt Gertrude is described as "old", even though I imagine she is probably only in her 60s. I will, however, give credit to the author for using the word "erstwhile", which is not a common word these days. I would recommend this only to people who read the Hardy Boys in their youth and are looking for nostalgia. A more modern reader who has not been exposed to the Hardy Boys before would probably do better to read it as unintentional comedy. A part of me was wondering if I was reading a product placement book with all the names of cars ex: Buick, Ford and items featured in the story, Homburg hat. Another part of me was thinking What is the Hardy Boys traded places with Perry Mason. Despite my qualms, I loved the story line. Worth the read. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Pertenece a las seriesThe Hardy Boys (21) Contenido en
While searching for the guard end of a broken saber that will solve one mystery, the Hardy brothers become involved with a gang of bank robbers. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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I just...urgh. I'm sure there were other reasons why Button was excused from writing further manuscripts for this series. The Syndicate wasn't always on the ball when it came to good story pitches, but this one is the biggest Statemeyer syndicate klunker yet (including what I've read of Nancy Drew and the Dana Girls). What's important is we get back to the original writer of the series, Leslie McFarlane, for the next few titles. Hopefully he keeps the slight character development the boys have gained but brings back the horde of chums and day-to-day scenes of life that livened up the earlier books.
There are stories that are loopier than this, but still fun. There are stories with minor to staggering amounts of casual bigotry and racism that sink otherwise solid to mediocre books. This one got a small deduction with the butler, but it mostly fails on its lack of merit as a story.
The later revision involves a fencing school in jeopardy instead of a throwaway charity play with a dueling scene. There are also some Hollywood shenanigans and apparently the missing blade is now a clue to a lost fortune. Which was one of our ideas! I knew they could do it.
Note, for my legions of followers. I've finally worked it out that I'll be reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys in pairs, year by year, until I get to 1959 to see if there are any interesting parallels. I didn't notice any wartime austerity in the text, but did see it in the paper quality of my near first-edition printing. It's practically crumbling in my hands. Up next is 1944.
Hardy Boys
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