Franklin W. Dixon. Tagged for Terror. New York: Archway, 1993. Print. The Hardy Boys Casefiles.

I picked this up simply for nostalgia. From about ages 8 to 13 I devoured many Hardy Boys mysteries: The Tower Treasure, The Melted Coins, The Phantom Freighter, and so on. Friends would trade them, and sometimes we would compare them and discuss them. The Hardy Boys Casefiles is a newer series, and as of 1993 there were already 77 of those. “Mr. Dixon” keeps cranking them out.

This book followed much of the same formula as the old ones with a couple of exceptions. Apparently now people actually hire Frank and Joe Hardy. In this case they are hired by a small airline that has had difficulties with luggage theft. In most of the older ones, the brothers just happen to stumble into a case that their father was working on. Yes, Fenton Hardy is investigating these thefts, too, but his sons are formally taken on as well.

The boys are hired as luggage handlers, and almost immediately their two roommates are suspected of helping the ring of thieves steal the luggage. They realize there must be an insider. Who else would be able to sabotage the plane used by airline CEO Mr. Eddings? It seems that luggage with certain silver tags are especially tagged for theft.

Frank is attacked in the airport and found unconscious on a luggage conveyor belt. Someone shoots at a car they are driving. And the mysterious Grey Man shows up.

In most ways the story was a lot like the originals. There is always a cliffhanger at the end of a chapter. The end of the book introduces the reader to the next mystery. One major difference was that in Tagged for Terror someone dies. That rarely happened in the original mysteries.

It was entertaining to read the blurbs and advertising matter. Besides a list of the 77 current titles, we learn that there is a whole series where the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew work together on cases. Similarly, there is a shorter series where the brothers join Tom Swift.

The authors? Of course, the Hardy-Drew books are said to be co-authored by Dixon and Carolyn Keene. While Victor Appleton still “writes” the Tom Swift stories, the Hardy-Swift ones appear to be by Franklin W. Dixon alone. We know who they really are, don’t we?