#89 The Sky Blue Frame (32 Anniversary Review)

[tomswift2002]

Published: March 1988
Reading Level: 6.9
Publisher: Minstrel Books (1988-1998?)

Plot: Frank and Joe Are Drawn Into A Tangled Web Of Deceit!

The Hardys Concoct A Clever Caper Just For Kicks And Get Caught In A Crooked Con Game!

Mark Maxwell, owner of the Sky Blue Inn, wants Frank and Joe to commit a crime!  But it's a fake one and all in fun.  Maxwell says he's planning a mystery weekend for the benefit of his guests, and he hires the Hardys to plant the clues.

Unfortunately, someone's not playing by the rules.  When the hotel safe is cracked in a real robbery, the Hardy's catch the blame.  They've been framed, and the only way to clear their name is to flush out the true Sky Blue crook.

Review:  I remember buying this book at a garage sale back in the summer of 1994, along with #92 The Shadow Killers & Casefiles #51 Choke Hold, and of the 3 I liked this one. 

It's a very interesting premise for the Hardy's.  And in a way, this book feels like a Casefile (well, with a reading level of 6.9, it's just at the threshold of the Casefiles reading level of 7.0), although not as violent (nor is it as violent as the previous book Tricky Business which had bombs going off all over the place).

Of course page 38 has one of Joe's best lines ever!

'(Brad Wilcox speaking) "Meaning I don't think detectives are anything special.  Any idiot can solve a crime."

"And you want to prove that you're an idiot?" Joe asked.'

Also, we get to meet Iola Hardy---Joe's wife! 















No, actually, as part of the fake mystery, Iola is pretending to be Frank and Joe's sister, while Chet is the thief who is unknown to the Hardy's and Iola.

[MacGyver]

I actually remember this one fairly well. I liked the plot of the Hardy Boys encountering a real mystery while planning a fake one. I love Joe's one-liners too. I also recall there being a jab at book collectors as a character is ridiculed for still writing his name in books.