Cullen’s reading log

Eighteen year-old Frank Hardy and his seventeen year-old brother Joe no sooner accept a 'shantytown' beach investigation from Bayport Police Chief Collig when two of their close chums vanish. After a crime occurs which they partially witness and the matter of the same squatter town surfaces again and again, they wonder if all of Bayport's havoc could stem from that one place.

Nancy Drew is visiting Deer Mountain Lodge to help her father with a case involving jewel thieves and while there, comes across another mystery involving a haunted bridge! How Nancy solves both mysteries and competes in a golf tournament despite her injurred arm is exciting and fun reading. l

Frank and Joe Hardy are investigating a mysterious old house high on the cliffs above Barmet Bay when they are frightened off by a mysterious scream. The boys return to the apparently haunted house and make a connection between the place and a smuggling case their father is working on. When their father goes missing, they start-out investigating the secret caves beneath the house and soon confront the gang of smugglers.

The Hardy boys are determined to learn the secret of an old mill and employ a clever ruse to gain entrance. But soon they are trapped. In this adventure, there is danger on two levels for Frank and Joe. First, they confront a nasty gang who will stop at nothing to halt their investigations and second, their father Denton Hardy is on a confidential mission that may deal with sabotage. Will the Hardys unravel the mysteries?

The first of an enduring series. The Hardy Boys will soon celebrate their 100th anniversary, but they remain the quintessential mystery and detective stories for young readers. This first one, "The Tower Mystery," introduced the action, mystery, and suspense themes. The boys continue to deliver thrills to this day. It all starts with the boys, Frank and Joe, on their motorcycles delivering important papers to a lawyer in Willowville for their father, Fenton Hardy. He's the well-known private investigator in Bayport. A reckless driver almost forces them over the embankment. It is not long before they find that their friend Chet's yellow jalopy has been stolen, possibly by the same red-haired driver! Stolen loot may be the issue. Later a dying criminal confesses that the loot has been stashed "in the tower" and the Hardy Boys make an astonishing discovery.

Bonbon is back in the third instalment in a brilliantly clever, funny and highly illustrated murder mystery series. Bonnie Montgomery (as her case-cracking alter-ego Montgomery Bonbon) has been tasked with delivering a priceless diamond to Adderstone Manor, the home of retired master thief Fergus Croke. The plot thickens faster than a good roux when Croke is found dead hours later, and every one of his four protégés is suspected of the dirty deed. But when everyone is a crook, how does even the great Bonbon know where to begin? With the help of Grampa Banks and an undercover best friend, it’s not long before Bonbon uncovers hidden identities, motives a-many, and a rather surprising hedge maze full of monkeys. But can they catch the killer, before it’s too late?

While Nancy races to protect her video jockey friend, Terry, from a masked intruder, Frank and Joe Hardy try to keep tennis superstar Pat Flynn from falling prey to an unknown assailant.

Timber wolves, a Rocky Mountain blizzard, and a mine cave-in are only a few of the perils Frank and Joe Hardy encounter during their search for the members of a notorious gang responsible for a payroll robbery. In the old Montana mining camp of Lucky Lode, the young detectives puzzle over a series of mysterious events. A piano-playing ghost haunts the long-abandoned dance hall; eerie blue lights flash from the hilltop cemetery in the dark of night; strange men arrange a meeting at Shadow the Bear, and a suspect disappears through a curtain of frozen ice. Are these events related to the men who kidnapped the boys in Chicago on their way to Montana? Who booby-trapped the helicopter which flew the young detectives to the ghost town? And what ever happened to Bart Dawson who seemingly deserted his gold-mining partners twenty-five years ago? Frank and Joe cleverly fit the scattered pieces of this dangerous puzzle into place, and come up with an astonishing solution.