# List of Hardy Boys books
[The Hardy Boys](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hardy-boys) books are the volumes of a juvenile detective series credited to Franklin W. Dixon, a pen name used by ghostwriters working for [Edward Stratemeyer](https://www.edgepedia.org/edward-stratemeyer)'s Stratemeyer Syndicate, beginning with three volumes published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1927.[1](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history) There is no writer named Franklin W. Dixon; the name covers a group of writers paid flat fees to turn [Syndicate](https://www.edgepedia.org/syndicate) outlines into books.[1](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history) The series has sold over 70 million copies.[2](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/HAB/the-hardy-boys/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First volumes | The Tower Treasure, The House on the Cliff, and The Secret of the Old Mill, released May 1927 by Grosset & Dunlap[1](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history) • [3](https://hardyboys.us/hb3.htm) |
| The "Canon" | The 58 volumes published by Grosset & Dunlap from 1927 to 1978, plus the Detective Handbook[4](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=series-canon) |
| Revisions | The first 38 volumes were revised between 1959 and 1973 under Harriet Adams; books shortened from 225 to 180 pages and 25 to 20 chapters[5](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=series-canon-revisions) |
| Publisher change | In 1979 Simon & Schuster acquired rights to all new Hardy Boys books; Grosset & Dunlap kept the right to reprint the canon[1](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history) • [6](https://hardyboys.us/hbos.htm) |
| Main spin-offs | Hardy Boys Casefiles (1987-1998, 127 titles), The Clues Brothers (1997-2000, 17 titles), Undercover Brothers (2005-2012, 39 titles)[1](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history) • [7](https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/62426/1/Lucy%20Andrew%20-%20PhD%20Thesis%20Final.pdf) |
| Current series | Simon & Schuster's Hardy Boys Adventures; the latest listed volume is Demolition Mission, Book #112[8](https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Hardy-Boys) |
## Origins and the Stratemeyer Syndicate
Edward Stratemeyer conceived the Hardy Boys in 1926, wrote the plot outlines, and hired ghostwriters through his Syndicate to complete the stories.[6](https://hardyboys.us/hbos.htm) The first three "breeder" volumes appeared in mid-May 1927, and after five more stories in the following two years, new titles were released in an almost unvarying pattern of one per year for the next fifty years.[6](https://hardyboys.us/hbos.htm) The most notable ghostwriter was Leslie McFarlane, a Canadian journalist who wrote the first fifteen or so volumes and established the writing style that made the books successful.[1](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history) A Hardy Boys timeline records that McFarlane was hired for a flat payment of $125 per book, a sum that increased over the years.[3](https://hardyboys.us/hb3.htm)
## The original series (the Canon)
Collectors call the 58 Grosset & Dunlap volumes, published from 1927 to 1978 together with the Detective Handbook, the "Canon."[4](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=series-canon) The first three titles were The Tower Treasure, The House on the Cliff, and The Secret of the Old Mill.[1](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history) Early volumes were cloth hardcovers with color dust jackets; in 1962 the series switched to picture covers, with art printed directly on the board, a format used until 1987.[1](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history) Dust jackets from the series' early years, 1927 through 1932, are hard to find and highly sought after by collectors, with a genuine first printing of The Tower Treasure called the Holy Grail for Hardy enthusiasts; equally, the initial printing of volume 11, While the Clock Ticked, seldom surfaces and may rank as the costliest of any Hardy Boys title.[6](https://hardyboys.us/hbos.htm)
## The 1959-1973 revisions
Beginning in 1959, the Syndicate systematically revised the early volumes, a project completed in 1973 and directed by Harriet Adams, Stratemeyer's daughter.[5](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=series-canon-revisions) The stated results included shorter books (180 pages instead of 225, 20 chapters instead of 25), a streamlined writing style, elimination of racial stereotypes for the most part, modernization, and consistent premises in which Frank and Joe no longer gradually aged from 15/16 to 17/18.[5](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=series-canon-revisions) A collector's history adds a practical motive: the earlier books had been printed from copper plates that had degraded, so copies printed from them were of poor quality.[6](https://hardyboys.us/hbos.htm) A Stratemeyer research site gives the count as the first 37 books revised between 1959 and 1973, a small discrepancy with the 38-volume figure given by Hardy Boys Online.[9](https://stratemeyer.org/def/original-text-vs-revised-text/)
The degree of revision varied widely, in four categories of increasing severity: same story with the same text lightly cut; same story with new text (The Tower Treasure); a new story retaining old ideas such as names or locations (The Twisted Claw, The Sinister Signpost); and a completely new story sharing no elements with its predecessor (The Flickering Torch Mystery).[5](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=series-canon-revisions) The Library of Congress describes the last case in detail: the 1943 original of The Flickering Torch Mystery concerned rare silkworms missing from a research facility and stolen government building materials, while the 1971 revision had the boys investigating airplane crashes and a plot to smuggle radioactive material, with every chapter title changed and Joe Hardy now playing an electric guitar.[10](https://blogs.loc.gov/catbird/2018/09/the-hardy-boys-and-the-secret-of-the-prolific-ghosts/) The revision timeline ran from volumes 1 and 2 in 1959 (no revisions in 1960) through volume 38 in 1973.[5](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=series-canon-revisions)
## The Simon & Schuster era and spin-offs
In 1979, after a protracted court battle, Grosset & Dunlap lost the right to publish new Hardy Boys books, which passed to [Simon & Schuster](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-and-schuster); Grosset & Dunlap retained the right to keep publishing the canon titles, which it continues to do through later ownership changes (today part of [Penguin Random House](https://www.edgepedia.org/penguin-random-house)).[1](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history) • [6](https://hardyboys.us/hbos.htm)
A scholarly series list counts the main lines as follows: the original series (Grosset & Dunlap, 1927-79, 58 titles), The Hardy Boys Mysteries (Simon & Schuster, 1979-2005, 132 titles), The Hardy Boys Casefiles (Simon & Schuster, 1987-98, 127 titles), and The Clues Brothers (Simon & Schuster, 1997-2000, 17 titles), followed by the Undercover Brothers novels and graphic novels and the Hardy Boys Adventures series from 2013.[7](https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/62426/1/Lucy%20Andrew%20-%20PhD%20Thesis%20Final.pdf) The Casefiles, aimed at an older audience, killed off Joe's girlfriend Iola in the first volume and showed the Hardys viewing murder scenes and using guns; the series was canceled in 1998 after just over ten years, its last volume titled Dead in the Water.[1](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history) The Clues Brothers, targeted at readers in grades three and four, was soon canceled for lackluster sales.[1](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history) Crossover series with [Nancy Drew](https://www.edgepedia.org/nancy-drew), also a Stratemeyer creation, include the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys SuperMystery series (1988-1998) and a later Super Mystery series from 2007.[11](https://hardyboys.fandom.com/wiki/Nancy_Drew_%28franchise%29)
## Later reprints and public domain
Applewood Books began publishing facsimile reprints of the early original-text volumes in 1991 and announced in 2007 that it would not continue.[6](https://hardyboys.us/hbos.htm) Starting in 2023, the early original-text versions began entering the public domain and appearing on [Project Gutenberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/project-gutenberg) and in paperback editions of varying quality.[6](https://hardyboys.us/hbos.htm) Simon & Schuster continues to publish new volumes in the Hardy Boys Adventures series, with Demolition Mission listed as Book #112.[8](https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Hardy-Boys)
## References
1. [A brief history of the Hardy Boys, Hardy Boys Online](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=history)
2. [The Hardy Boys Series, Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/HAB/the-hardy-boys/)
3. [A Hardy Boys Timeline, The Hardy Boys Unofficial Home Page FAQ](https://hardyboys.us/hb3.htm)
4. [Hardy Boys Canon, Hardy Boys Online](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=series-canon)
5. [Revisions (Canon), Hardy Boys Online](https://www.hardyboysonline.net/content.php?page=series-canon-revisions)
6. [The Hardy Boys Original Series, The Hardy Boys Unofficial Home Page](https://hardyboys.us/hbos.htm)
7. [Appendix 3: Series List of Juvenile Detective Fiction, Lucy Andrew PhD thesis, Cardiff University](https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/62426/1/Lucy%20Andrew%20-%20PhD%20Thesis%20Final.pdf)
8. [The Hardy Boys, Simon & Schuster](https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Hardy-Boys)
9. [Original Text vs Revised Text, Stratemeyer.org](https://stratemeyer.org/def/original-text-vs-revised-text/)
10. [The Hardy Boys and the Secret of the Prolific Ghosts, Library of Congress blogs](https://blogs.loc.gov/catbird/2018/09/the-hardy-boys-and-the-secret-of-the-prolific-ghosts/)
11. [Nancy Drew (franchise), The Hardy Boys Wiki](https://hardyboys.fandom.com/wiki/Nancy_Drew_%28franchise%29)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Prose fiction › Novel series and sagas › Children's and young-adult novel series*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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