The Secret Warning

The Hardy Boys #17

by Franklin W. Dixon

Strange events involve Frank and Joe Hardy in a mystery which shrouds an ancient treasure—the golden head of the Pharaoh Rhamaton IV. The owner of the million-dollar golden Pharaoh’s head claims it was aboard the freighter Katawa, which sank not far from Whalebone Island. But suspicious developments indicate that Mehmet Zufar may be trying to defraud the shipping line’s insurance company. Frank and Joe enthusiastically accept the challenge of their famous detective father to assist him in investigating the complex case for Transmarine Underwriters.

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

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

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

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Hardy's adventure - this time on scary Whalebone Island with ghost stories, a treasure map, sunken treasure and a Pharoah's head in gold! The boys go skin diving and save their kidnapped dad once again. Ok, so the ad at the end for the next book was annoying, but nonetheless this was a great story!

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of the same...which isn't a bad thing.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Secret Warning was the 17th novel published by Grosset & Dunlap in the Stratemeyer Syndicate's Hardy Boys series. It was written under the house pseudonym of Franklin W. Dixon by Leslie McFarlane and John Button and appeared in 1938. (There was speculation that each wrote a separate novel that was cobbled together by someone at Stratemeyer or Grosset & Dunlap, but we'll never know. It's not as cohesively plotted as McFarlane's earlier Hardy books.) From 1959-1973 Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Adams, oversaw a program that saw the first 38 books in the series revised, shortened, and simplified that was meant to update the books and make them more appealing to younger readers and compete with the fast action of television. Some of the new books were simply lightly edited, some were completely replaced by new stories, and some, like this one, were heavily adapted with some elements of the original kept. The new novel was written by James Duncan Lawrence and was released in 1966. The first version was 220 pages long and had 25 chapters, while the second was 176 pages in 20 chapters along with several illustrations. I've read both, back-to-back, to compare them. I'd say the new version would be appropriate for 8-to-12-year-old readers and the original for 10-to-14, depending on individual levels. Both books are more undersea adventure stories than traditional mysteries, with diving for sunken treasure the focus. In the original, there's an underwater x-ray camera that sees through steel and wood and whatever else to reveal the gems and precious metals in a ship that's been sunk in "the war." In the newer one, insurance fraud involving an Egyptian artifact is the key, along with a German submarine full of cash that's been in WWII. The first one (before "trigger warnings" were a thing) has a dog killed by the criminals, but in the second one there's a giant dog named Tivoli that the Boys bring home to help guard Aunt Gertrude. They have a big octopus battle in 1938, too. The girl friends Iola and Callie don't figure much in either story; in 1938 they bake cookies and in 1966 they put up their hair and go to a party. There's a bit more diversity in 1966, as the Boys have a Chinese friend named Jim Foy, but in 1938 we just have Joe disguising himself as "a colored boy." Chet is along for most of both adventures, Joe has some silly exclamations in the later one (Sufferin' snakes and jumpin' Jupiter!), but both have interesting underwater sequences, despite an over-reliance on caves and suspected ghosts and possible pirates. They're both good stories despite shortcomings of their eras, and though they're quite different from one another I'll rate each with three stars.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Secret Warning was the 17th novel published by Grosset & Dunlap in the Stratemeyer Syndicate's Hardy Boys series. It was written under the house pseudonym of Franklin W. Dixon by Leslie McFarlane and John Button and appeared in 1938. (There was speculation that each wrote a separate novel that was cobbled together by someone at Stratemeyer or Grosset & Dunlap, but we'll never know. It's not as cohesively plotted as McFarlane's earlier Hardy books.) From 1959-1973 Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Adams, oversaw a program that saw the first 38 books in the series revised, shortened, and simplified that was meant to update the books and make them more appealing to younger readers and compete with the fast action of television. Some of the new books were simply lightly edited, some were completely replaced by new stories, and some, like this one, were heavily adapted with some elements of the original kept. The new novel was written by James Duncan Lawrence and was released in 1966. The first version was 220 pages long and had 25 chapters, while the second was 176 pages in 20 chapters along with several illustrations. I've read both, back-to-back, to compare them. I'd say the new version would be appropriate for 8-to-12-year-old readers and the original for 10-to-14, depending on individual levels. Both books are more undersea adventure stories than traditional mysteries, with diving for sunken treasure the focus. In the original, there's an underwater x-ray camera that sees through steel and wood and whatever else to reveal the gems and precious metals in a ship that's been sunk in "the war." In the newer one, insurance fraud involving an Egyptian artifact is the key, along with a German submarine full of cash that's been in WWII. The first one (before "trigger warnings" were a thing) has a dog killed by the criminals, but in the second one there's a giant dog named Tivoli that the Boys bring home to help guard Aunt Gertrude. They have a big octopus battle in 1938, too. The girl friends Iola and Callie don't figure much in either story; in 1938 they bake cookies and in 1966 they put up their hair and go to a party. There's a bit more diversity in 1966, as the Boys have a Chinese friend named Jim Foy, but in 1938 we just have Joe disguising himself as "a colored boy." Chet is along for most of both adventures, Joe has some silly exclamations in the later one (Sufferin' snakes and jumpin' Jupiter!), but both have interesting underwater sequences, despite an over-reliance on caves and suspected ghosts and possible pirates. They're both good stories despite shortcomings of their eras, and though they're quite different from one another I'll rate each with three stars.

[Lauren Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Jumping Jupiter!" "Leaping lizards!" "Sufferin' snakes!" Joe has a pretty colorful vocabulary in this particular Hardy Boys book!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I see that most people who reviewed this book were reviewing the revised text story. My review is of the original 1938 text- the stories are different. In this one Frank meets Roland Perry, who tells him about diving for treasure in sunken ships. Soon the Hardy Boys get a chance to do some diving with Perry on a ship that was sunk "during the War"- that would be World War I since #2 hadn't happened yet in this 1938 book. The treasure is diamonds and gold bars. It's astounding what their parents and other adults allow these teenaged boys to do. First, they stay in a hotel in another city for weeks. Then when a member of the diving team, who owns a new x-ray type camera, is injured, the owner of the diving company allows the Hardy Boys to take over its use. I take it that hotel rooms in the 1930s didn't have locks on their doors since nearly every night someone prowls in their room while they're asleep. And they go off to dinner and leave the camera in their room. Guess what happens to it?

The story was enjoyable, if you can suspend belief. There were less coincidences in this book but there were still some. And the "secret warning" was a suspenseful title but in general, it wasn't much more than a good title. However, there are some really bad guys out to harm the boys in this book.

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

eponymous sentence:
p116: "When you received the secret warning I had a hunch the Pharaoh's curse was no laughing matter...."

Is Tivoli making another appearance in future volumes?

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een nieuw avontuur, een nieuw element: diepzeeduiken.
Grappig is zeker de beschrijving van de oude duikerpakken waarbij het minstens een half uur duurde voor iemand er zo eentje aan had De zuurstof werd door een slang vanuit de begeleidingsboot naar het pak onder water gepompt. Niet veel beter maar op dat ogenblik het neusje van de zalm is de introductie van de nieuwe duikerpakken met zuurstofflessen op de rug. Door dit boek realiseer je je pas hoe recent deze uitvinding eigenlijk is.
Om het interessant te maken gaat het natuurlijk om een schat in een gezonken passagiersschip.
Een ex-bemanningslid is gek geworden en zit in een instelling. Dit valse spoor is totaal overbodig en kan enkel gezien worden als bladvulling.
De concurrentiestrijd tussen de twee duikersploegen is letterlijk moorden en zorgt voor de spanning in dit boek, naast de avonturen onder water.
Een goeie plot, zeker niet te complex dit keer, enkele nieuwe personages en een totaal nieuwe omgeving maken van dit boek weer een topper in de reeks.

[Bearcatgary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is yet another nautical Hardy Boys adventure that has Frank, Joe and Chet racing around in the Sleuth and flying up and down the East Coast to track down a missing Egyptian artifact. It's amazing how much the Hardy Boys uncover, while Fenton and Sam Radley work on the same mystery and accomplish almost nothing. I guess that is what make the Hardy Boys great.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cane, a sunken ship, and a missing Egyptian bust all conspire to send the Hardy Boys (and Chet) to a a haunted island and the depths of the ocean in 17th installment of this series. A fun, twisted adventure!

[☮ morgan ☮ · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Seems to bear out the curse all right, except I don't believe in ancient curses."

I wanna see Aunt Gertrude and Chet team up to solve a mystery.

[Emmy McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fun cutesy mystery with so many twists and turns. I never read Nancy Drew nor any of the Hardy Boys as a child, but I ate this up.

[Charles Bass]

great!!!

[Tobias · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was intersting and suspencful because events were continuously happening. The characters were daring and couragous.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another mystery complete. This one had unique and exciting factors that set it apart from the others in the series. I enjoyed the added humor of the Great Dane!

[Joe Stevens · Rating 2 out of 5]

The original edition.
Another chapter, another hotel room break-in. It gets a bit samey. There are some pointless but fun thrills and adventures as the boys go underwater which was a bigger deal in 1938 I suspect. The actual mystery makes no sense with the boys and the criminals competing to see who is dumber.
My working theory is that the Hardy Boy books after the death of Edward Stratemeyer through the 22nd book got weird as much because daughter Edna was plotting many of them while her sister Harriet worked on Nancy Drew as the better known fact that John Button took over the ghosting activities from Leslie McFarlane. The oddest books then were the Edna plotted and John written novels. I'll see if this theory holds up. This and the previous book where Edna's while Harriet plots the next one.

[Seema M. Fazil · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good, but not THAT good, I've got to admit.
It was confusing and it had too many things to keep up with. I. Just. Didn't. Get. The. Mystery! Which was so frustrating. But what I liked about it is Frank and Joe's braveness and smartness, and of course, most important thing, brotherly love! My favourite part was when they were in Philadelphia to find their father and when they were staying at a hotel, someone knocked Joe down and he got dazed and then Frank helped him. That was my favourite part. I know I probably said this like about a million times but my favourite thing about the Hardy Boys is brotherly love. That's why I love reading them so much! :)
I just LOOOOOOOVE brotherly love. <3

[Jack Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Secret Warning by Franklin W. Dixon was my new favorite of all of the Hardy Boy books that I have read so far.
Frank and Joe had recently read about a sinking off the coast of Whalebone Island. They read that two ships ran into each other one was carrying a golden pharaohs head worth 1,000,000 dollars. The owner of it Mr.Zuphar was outraged with the incident. Mr.Zuphar phoned the Hardy's to solve the case. The Hardy's agreed to the terms and started the mystery that cause explosions, break ins and the reviving of violent legend.

[JTSB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank and Joe Hardy are pressured to find a priceless Ancient Egyptian relic which has recently sunk on a voyage towards America. With the help of; Bayport High chum Chet Mortan, Father and private detective Fenton Hardy, Co worker of Fenton's Sam Radley, and their beloved Aunt Gertrude aid Frank and Joe on this perilous mission.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Please see my review of House on the Cliff. Same comments apply.)

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Binge Reviewing My Past Reads:

Hardy Boys (Read between 1990 and 1996 in M.P. Birla School library and punctiliously collected and read thereafter.)

Even the title bristles with tension—warnings are meant to be loud, public, unmistakable. But a secret warning? That’s danger in whispers, peril encoded in silence. For my schoolboy self in the ’90s, the phrase was irresistible, a guarantee that the Hardy Boys were about to stumble onto something both forbidden and urgent.

This installment leaned into maritime adventure again—sunken ships, treasure divers, and the eerie atmosphere of deep water. As a kid who had never seen the sea except in school holidays, I devoured these aquatic Hardy Boys mysteries like salt air in print. The secret warning here wasn’t just plot scaffolding—it became the pulse of the whole novel: a sense that danger speaks in codes, and only the initiated can translate it.

Later, as I thought back, The Secret Warning began to feel like a parable of growing up in the 1990s. Warnings were everywhere—political unrest, economic transitions, moral advisories from parents and teachers—but so many of them were secret, half-explained, whispered at the edges. Don’t go there. Don’t do this. Don’t ask too many questions. Like Frank and Joe, we learned to navigate danger by reading between the lines of what adults would never say aloud.

And in a larger cultural sense, the book mirrors a Cold War paranoia lingering in American pulp: enemies below the surface, threats invisible to the naked eye, danger that comes not with banners but with silence. Even as a boy in Calcutta, flipping pages in a library corner, I was absorbing that atmosphere without knowing its origin.

Still, beyond all the interpretations, I can’t forget the thrill: the dive beneath dark waters, the echo of something lost in the deep, and the electric moment of uncovering a warning meant for no one’s eyes. The Hardy Boys made danger intimate, almost personal. And The Secret Warning taught me that sometimes the most powerful alarms don’t shout—they whisper.

[Malaki $Pencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

My book is The Hardy Boys The Secret Warning by FRANKLIN W. DIXON. Lexile is 780. This brief summary is about my book, This book is about 2 boys and their father in the 1950s and they are on a hunt to find this golden pharaoh's head and there is a ghost playing tricks on them. Then they end up getting the head anyways because they stole it back from these bad guys.

I would recommend this book to 7th and 8th grade students especially if your a mystery fan i am. This book isn't half bad it's actually pretty good i love the thrill in this book the excitement and the way it ends the end is awesome. The theme is don't trust everyone that smiles in your face because in this book alot of people trade on the boys and their father and they thought they were best friends because they smiled in there face. A specific part in the book is when they are on whalebone island and the ghost is playing tricks on them and they split up and one of the people they were with traded on them “I think we should split up, why because so we can look for this person playing tricks on us, okay let's do it the hardy boys go this way i'll go this way”.(pg.67)

I think a lot of people should read this book because it is a good book the way the author put it together because one thing will happen and while they are investigate it something else happens to them it's kinda funny because they go back and forth. It was kinda easy but some of the words were hard to say but all together it was fine because i could understand what it was talking about. Besides when there was dialogue because it didn't say who was talking or not and i was confused. I can kinda relate with this because when i was a kid i would investigate little things and my mom would switch my whole mind up by just a couple sentences and that was confusing. This was my book review on The Hardy Boys The Secret Warning.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is easily the best Hardy Boys Mystery since my favorite, The Mystery of Cabin Island. It starts out with the boys home alone, waiting on their mother and Aunt Gertrude to return, when a couple of weird things happen including the sighting of a possible ghost and the arrival of an old family friend, Captain Early. Very quickly, they begin to learn about ships that collided and sunk off the coast, a haunted island and lighthouse, and a golden Egyptian Pharoah’s mask that may be in the sunken ship. Their father is working to prove that one ship was not at fault in the collision, but things quickly get more complicated.

Someone keeps breaking into in Captain Early’s house and he has a strange mishap with his car. There’s a museum and an art collector where things are odd—not necessarily crooked, just odd. And there is a belligerent sailor who seems to think the Hardy Boys are in his way.

This is a more complex mystery than most of the ones encountered in this series, but most of the problems the boys encounter are ones that it is believable that a seventeen-year-old and an eighteen-year-old could get into it. There’s a nice balance of tension, and even some vaguely comic moments when the boys end up watching a Great Dane. The action at the end of the story was a little bit over the top but that didn’t distract from an enjoyable adventure.

[Andrew Muetzel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hardy Boys: The Secret Warning


The Secret Warning was an decent book to read. It was written by Franklin W. Dixon. After reading it I didn't think that it was an amazing book. It had a lot of good, cool things in it but the overall storyline wasn't amazing. He did do a good job at making the places realistic and he made it seem alive. It was set on a realistic island named Whale Bone.

This story was about the Hardy Boys out on another mission. They had to skin diving to find the pharaohs head and they save their father once again. They had to go to Whalebone Island to look for the pharaohs head which was on a boat that sank not to far from whalebone. But the whole time they were being chased by a bloodthirsty pirate by the name of Red Roger. But overall it wasn't the best story line, for me anyway.

My recommendation for age groups would be 12-16 years, but anyone can read it if they really want to. Go in with an open mind and I hope you have more enjoyment than I did. I have a very busy life so that could be another reason why I didn't like or understand it.

[Sami Westrick]

Frank and Joe Hardy are involved in strange events that leads to mystery and ancient treasure. They are looking for a treasure found on an island called Whalebone. They find suspicious company along the way of searching for this treasure. The boys are out for mystery and excitement as they look and find trials along the way. Literary devices and grammar are done well in this book and explain what is going on in their lives at the moment. I would give the rating a 2 because it is kind of hard to understand what is going on in the book at times, and can come across as not very clear. This isn't a book I would choose for my students because it is more of a book someone would read on their own time, not meant really for education, but for more of fun. Overall it is not awful I just would personally not choose it.

[Stacey Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A freighter ship sank near Whalebone Island which is notable for it's ghost. Aboard the ship is a rare treasure, the golden head of a Pharaoh. Mysterious goings on and the disappearance of evidence are making it hard for Transmarine underwriters, an insurance company, to do their job. The Hardy's are all involved as they try to solve the mystery. Warnings are delivered to the house, sent through lamp light from a lighthouse and delivered by phone....but who is trying to stop the Hardy's from discovering the truth? Is the strange person seen out their window really the ghost of Jolly Roger? Someone is looking for something rummaging through houses, vehicles and camp sights....but what are they looking for? and who's doing the looking? Are the searches related to the missing Pharaoh head?

[Rex Libris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank and Joe investigate the legend of pirate ghost on an island with an abandoned lighthouse. But wait, is this legend a cover for the loss and/or theft (or faked theft) of an Egyptian mask that may or may not be counterfeit? Do former Nazis make their way into this story? Read the story and find out!

Surprisingly, Frank and Joe make it through the whole story without getting a KO. Alas, the beatdowns the dad gets more than makes up for it. Poor Fenton gets a KO, then later is drugged unconscious and stashed in a mummy case. But his sufferings do not count towards the series total:

This book: 0
Series total: 25

[Brentman99 · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this volume, the boys help their father solve the mystery of a missing Egyptian idol, as well as what's going on at Whalebone Island.

Their father takes the brunt of the injuries this time, getting knocked out and drugged. But his sons come through for him. One interesting scene was where someone tried to blow them up, but they escape injury.

This volume had a nice twist at the end, so it may be of interest to a young reader.

[Carissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the action occurred in last part of the book, other than almost getting blown up on Whalebone Island somewhere during the first few chapters. The tear gas and bludgeoning at the end was a bit much. I thought that some of the crew of the Petrel died, but I could be misremembering from a couple days ago.

When I finished reading it to my son, my first thought was about the dog. It wasn't resolved... I'm assuming it went back to Biff?

[Fred Daly · Rating 2 out of 5]

My copy of this is the original version from the 1930s. It's not racist or offensive, like the other ones I've read from that era, before the books were edited and updated. It's just a dopey story. Among other things, Frank and Joe don't seem to know that it's possible to lock their hotel room door.