The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon
The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon
This is the first novel I ever read. I was six years old and we got the book as part of a deal on the back of a cereal box. When I finished it, my father (probably unintentionally) confirmed me as a reader forever by asking me to tell me the entire plot at the breakfast table. I ended up reading all of the blue hardbacks over the next four years and I’m fond of the Hardy Boys series to this day.
The Tower Treasure is the first book in the series. I read it a few times during my childhood. It’s not my favorite Hardy Boys book, but it establishes the characters and the tone of the series. Set in the 1960s, Frank and Joe are brothers, eighteen and seventeen respectively, and are what we might call good American boys—popular with their classmates and wholesome and decent. Their father is a famous detective, and they are desperate to follow in his footsteps.
The novel opens with the boys getting their chance to solve their first mystery on their own. Their friend Chet’s much-loved car has been stolen and the boys are anxious to help him find it again. They search for clues and organize a search for the car, but even as they taste their first victory, a bigger mystery falls into their lap. One of the wealthiest families in town has been robbed and the father of one of Frank and Joe’s friends is arrested for the crime. The brothers dedicate themselves to finding the missing money and proving their friend’s father is innocent.
There isn’t a lot of depth to the majority of the characters. One of the most fun is Oscar Snuff, a not-particularly-talented detective desperate to prove himself and win a spot on the Bayport police force. Snuff is everything the Hardy Boys are not—a crude blunderer with the appearance of questionable ethics. He’s not exactly a villain but he is a purposeful counterpoint to the heroes.
It's interesting to read the book again after many decades. I was pleasantly surprised by how much of the book and how many small details I remembered. I think it was a pretty good choice for my first novel.
