The Serpent's Tooth Mystery

The Hardy Boys #93

by Franklin W. Dixon

When a rare, deadly snake is found missing from the Bayport Zoo, all the clues point to Phil Cohen, a friend of the Hardys. Frank and Joe believe that Phil is innocent, even though more snakes are found in Phil's basement. The case turns deadly when a black market lab that extracts venom for sale is discovered.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult, Thriller, Adventure, Classics

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by a variety of different authors who were part of a team that wrote The Hardy Boys novels for the Stratemeyer Syndicate (now owned by Simon & Schuster). Dixon was also the writer attributed for the Ted Scott Flying Stories series, published by Grosset & Dunlap.
Canadian author Leslie McFarlane is believed to have written the first sixteen Hardy Boys books, but worked to a detailed plot and character outline for each story. The outlines are believed to have originated with Edward Stratemeyer, with later books outlined by his daughters Edna C. Squier and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. Edward and Harriet also edited all books in the series through the mid-1960s. Other writers of the original books include MacFarlane's wife Amy, John Button, Andrew E. Svenson, and Adams herself; most of the outlines were done by Adams and Svenson. A number of other writers and editors were recruited to revise the outlines and update the texts in line with a more modern sensibility, starting in the late 1950s.
The principal author for the Ted Scott books was John W. Duffield.

Reviews

[PenNPaper52 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slimy slithery snakes, kinda made me nostalgic for the harry potter books and that slimy slithering snake of a professor... but this book is nothing to do with magic, or boy with specs, Joe and Frank seem to be models with grit. I learned a lot of interested facts about snakes, milking snakes, why the cobra ain't actually the King of the venom, he's just more famous than his less known but deadly as sin tiger snake. The Hardy Boys books are always fun to read with lots of action. This book didn't give much chance to Chet and his enormous appetite or to the boys girlfriends. But we did get to read about Phil Cohen, but the reasons for him running away from a crime scene was a bit flimsy. If you want to go back in time to Magnum and TJ Hooker times, this is the book for it.

[Ethan Hulbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hardys' friends are somewhat rare in Digests so it's nice to see Phil's still alive here. This was a pretty good book.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snakes are my favorite animal. Is it by coincidence or fate that a Hardy boys book involving snakes was published the very month I was born? To make it even better, friendship is an even more important part of the book than a usual Hardy boys book.

[Seeker of Truth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very exiting! I can’t figure out who it is until the book is over! And then I see how it all fitted together but until that the suspense is amazing! Also I didn’t know about milking snakes for their venom till I read this book. Weird!
I really enjoyed it and I totally recommend it.

[Bookish Indulgenges with b00k r3vi3ws · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first read Hardy Boys, I think I was in class 5, I had such a crush on Frank Hardy. I liked the brainy one over the brawny one and that sums up my first impression of Hardy Boys.
In their late teens, Frank and Joe Hardy take after their detective father Fenton Hardy. Frank is the older of the two and has more breakthroughs in the cases because he is the brainy one. Joe is the younger brother who more often than not is useful when things get hot and they need to fight their way out.
Like Nancy Drew, the books in the The Hardy Boys series re written by ghostwriters under the collective pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon. And yes, the earlier books were better than the latter ones.