The Great Airport Mystery

The Great Airport Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon (1930) When the Hardy Boys are introduced in this book, the 9th in the series, it's revealed that Frank, the older brother, had had an illness at one point and missed a lot of school, so was held back one year, and is therefore in the same grade as Joe. I don't know if I ever heard that in any other Hardy Boy books. Also, they are finishing up their Senior year of high school, here, so they may have been thinking about, in future books, having them both going off to college—you'd kind of want them both going at the same time, right? I looked at the intro paragraphs in the next book (What Happened at Midnight), and sure enough, they're back in high school—of course—and the way they proceeded is to keep them young—high school age—forever. Anyway, they're heading out to the new airport at the opening, and instead of a crazy driver running them off the road, this time it's a drunken airplane pilot who almost lands his plane on their car! Also, interesting is they go back to Cabin Island, but now in the summer. Of course, they get caught in a big storm—always my favorite part of every book! Then, in another unique twist, Frank and Joe get arrested!—as suspects in the airmail robbery. What's funny is that Chief Collig actually suspects them, and even their dad has to be convinced they're innocent. They're even worried, themselves, that they won't be able to clear their names, so they work extra hard to solve the mystery. In order to do surveillance on the airmail thieves, they hide in the back of the their plane, in a cargo compartment. Remember, this book came out in 1930, so think 1920s airplanes! At one point the steering cable gets caught on the sleeve of one of the Hardys and the plane nearly crashes. It's a totally insane way to proceed in this case, which makes it a pretty lively book. They take along blankets, water, milk, sandwiches, and CAKE. I mean, why not.