Finally gotten round to reading the original reprint of The Secret Of The Old Mill by Franklin W Dixon. The version we had under the Armada imprint was the later reprint which was dumbed down and reworked. Its been so long since I've read it, (and yes I have all 87 titles from the UK print run) I had quite forgotten the plot to it.
Synopsis
Frank and Joe have to deal with a case of counterfeiting when they are passed a bent 5 buck note at the station, whilst waiting for their father to come off a train. What does this have to do to with the people who have started up the abandoned mill at the edge of town.
I'm about halfway through and to me this doesn't read like a kids book now. Its not dumbed down and the words and language used aren't like what they are nowadays. In fact a couple of times I've had to result to using my trusty Chambers dictionary to look up the meaning of a few words.
There is a brief piece in the front of this reprint about changing language use and such and themes. This amounts to the word queer being used in a few places including the delightful term "Shoving the queer" which Fenton Hardy points out is an underworld slang for laundering counterfeit notes which made me lol pretty hard. Incidentally both Tony Prito and Phil Cohen seem to be treated with respect in this book, no ethnic slurs against Italian Americans or Jews here. Which leads us to.
Dynamic.
Frank and Joe are well Frank and Joe. Frank is the smarter one and Joe is the more athletic one there is nothing more of note to add here about them here.
Incidentally, the book has some sort of sequence going on with the Hardy's motorboat The Sleuth being bought from the proceeds of the reward from the Tower Treasure (incidentally its the only one of the original series where someone dies, its quite dark I thought, maybe darker in the original).
Although it has been said they are college students and attend Bayport college, this is the first time I've seen the Hardy's actually do college stuff, here they are revising for a Latin and Geometry exam.
Callie Shaw gets a cursory mention and its quite odd as she seems to be independent and living away from her parents, she is staying with her cousin Pollie who runs a beauty salon and is also a victim of the bent notes, this time a $50 note which is a days takings back then. Which is odd as I could have sworn she had parents who lived in Bayport in the original series we got.
In fact the biggest rework to the original character goes to Chet Morton who in the revised editions was a lazy but dependable mate who was forever going on about food, the latest fads and riding his beat up lemon of a car. The classic editions he's the archbishop of fucking banterbury. In other words an insufferable cunt and the class clown. He's still a fat bastard mind and dependable but if there is any film remake then you know he'll be played by Adam Sandler and be a goof ball.
A few other things of note, Barmet is a village across Barmet bay which the Hardy's visit on the Sleuths inaugural run. Their relationship with the local police is strained, Chief (Ezra Collig) and Oscar Smuff seem to be the stereotypical "donut cops", those of little ambition and fob the boys off with signs that they are looking into the case, all the while enjoying a game of Pinochle. Con Riley is portrayed as stupid and lazy, who often sleeps on the job. Chet Morton pranks him up with a package for "Muggins" which turns out to be an alarm clock that rings when he tries to have a kip whilst on patrol.
I'll not spoil the end for you but I will say that its plausible and tense and I'd love to see if there are any more of the originals around. Like the new books I've edited this post and have started up the UK version which is number 16 on the list. Its not as good and is re written, but it is what I remember it to be.
The Secret of the Old Mill. Applewood Books reprint edition. Leslie Macfarlane, for F W Dixon.
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