“They’re a bit like The Hardy Boys…but way more modern,” is the way they were described to me. Contemporary might have been a more appropriate word, but I got the message. Whereas Hardy Boys had the look and feel of fictional 1930’s America (and why wouldn’t it? That’s the time-frame the series came from!), the Three Investigators was a product of the Sixties- kids who resided right here in California, kids who had their own hidden headquarters and secret codes-I was instantly drawn in!
The series revolved around three boys who had their own junior investigator services.
There was Bob Andrews, a thin boy who worked at the library and was in charge of records and research, Pete Crenshaw, the athletic “brawn” of the group, and Jupiter Jones, the stocky intelligent brain behind the partnership. They had all the cool gadgets any kid would love to have, secret headquarters, walkie talkies, their own phone and even a Rolls-Royce at their service! Each case was introduced and neatly wrapped-up by movie director Alfred Hitchcock. (The reader was led to believe Alfred Hitchcock really wrote the introductions, but in fact, creator Robert Arthur was using only the name in his stories. I guess the same way the Three Investigators were using it-as a name to get mystery-lovers interested in the series.)
With this information I finally decided that I wanted to start reading the series on my own, and asked if I could borrow the book he had just finished reading, which, if memory serves, was “The Mystery Of the Dead Man’s Riddle”. He said that I could if I wanted to, but the book was No. #22 in the series, and I might be better off starting “from the beginning”.
So it was that afternoon I made my way to the public library and checked out books #1 and #2 in the series: “The Secret Of Terror Castle” and “The Mystery of The Stuttering Parrot”. Terror Castle was great, spooky and fun, but it was the second book “Stuttering Parrot” that blew me away. It was about these parrots that all spoke fragments of a path to a treasure, and they had to collect ALL the parrots and THEN deduce what each clue meant! Really intriguing!
From then, I tried to borrow a couple of books every week, and was constantly amazed at how great the stories were. Faves that soon followed were MYSTERY OF THE VANISHING TREASURE(#5) where the boys get hired to catch gnomes, and MYSTERY OF THE FIERY EYE(#7), another great treasure hunting story! Each one got better and better!
I tried to read the books in order, but there were a few problems. One was that my library didn’t carry ALL of the titles in the series, and another thing that made it hard was the fact that the books were written by FOUR different authors, and so they were placed under each respective author: Robert Arthur, MV Carey, Dennis Lynds and Nick West! What efforts had to be made to find them all- I remember bicycling to different libraries all over town! But the searching bore fruit, and I was eventually able read every book in the series!
Robert Arthur was the creator and author of the first 10 or so books, and when he passed on, the series was continued by MV Carey and Dennis Lynds, with two books by Nick West.
Arthur’s take on the boys is the defining portrait of the Three Investigators, and his stories are undeniably the best of the series, but Lynds and Carey also brought new and interesting elements to the books as well. Lynds tended to write more historical/politically motivated stories, and Carey tended to lean towards the supernatural, although this may be generalizing a bit, as both wrote equally as well in the other styles. I have favorites from Arthur’s books, Carey’s, Wests’ and Lynds, and have decided to use this wonderful forum to let “those who may care” know my favorite picks of the series!
THE MYSTERY OF THE STUTTERING PARROT(1964)
The boys start off discovering a Parrot that quotes Shakespeare, only to find that there are as many as seven birds out there, each with a different quote to speak. They deduce that the parrots together recite a coded message, and as they get deeper into the mystery, they realize the message may lead to a great treasure-or their demise!
THE MYSTERY OF THE VANISHING TREASURE(1966)
The boys are hired by an old lady to investigate sightings of gnomes in her yard at night. At the same time, a golden belt is stolen from the Museum. Little do the boys know there may be a connection with the two! An awesome story here- the scenes where the boys stake out the old lady’s house at night…really scary!
I’m surprised the cover artist didn’t depict the gnomes on the cover, opting rather for the Golden Belt.
THE MYSTERY OF THE SCREAMING CLOCK(1968)
The Boys come across an old electric clock that has been programmed to scream instead of ring. Jupiter’s curiousity of “Why would somebody rig a clock to scream?”leads them onto another great case.
I remember reading this in one sitting. It was such a gripping story, one exciting scene leading to another til it’s over!
THE MYSTERY OF THE FLAMING FOOTPRINTS(1971)
I’m not sure why I love this story so much. Perhaps it’s the inclusion of so many new characters, or the way the story keeps building up, but this one has so much going on. A slightly political story, I keep thinking Lynds wrote this one, although it was in fact a Carey yarn.
THE MYSTERY OF THE SHRINKING HOUSE(1972)
Like the “Screaming Clock”, the story moves because of an interesting centerpiece, in this case a series of paintings that depicts a house slowly shrinking out of sight. A nice bonus is watching troublemaker Skinny Norris get his come-uppance!
THE MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED MIRROR(1974)
Wow, one of the scariest supernatural themed stories in the series, written by MV Carey. The Boys investigate a strange old mirror that is reputed to show the face of an ancient magician at night. There was one scene that I thought was really creepy- A Boy was in the house alone at night, and he could hear the sound of the mirror laughing down the hall…YIKES!
THE MYSTERY OF THE INVISIBLE DOG(1975)
Another supernatural-themed one by MV Carey again. Lots of interesting characters, (Burnout hippy Sonny Elmquist and cute over-eater Gwen Chalmers, for starts!) and a few spooky things to think about like astral projection and phantom priests! This is one I re-read most frequently, for some reason.
By the way, there really isn’t any “Invisible Dog” to speak of as depicted on the cover, but to explain more would be to give away the plot...!
THE MYSTERY OF THE SINISTER SCARECROW(1979)
Possibly my favorite Three Investigators story. Everything about this one works for me. The settings (farm field out in a valley), the footwork (I love the scene where Pete pretends to be someone's nephew), the suspects( A whole plethora of house guests!), and even who the culprit turns out to be!
A scarecrow is following a girl around and causing her anguish, and the ploy of having the scarecrow appear “only at dusk” is wonderfully spooky! The Boys are talking about the case at a restaurant, and an electrical repairman relates that he saw the scarecrow running around a corner of the Mosby Museum...creepy!
All this plus lots of nice details about the world of Museum curators and Entomologists.
After years of borrowing and RE-Borrowing the books,I made it my goal to acquire all the books in hardcover, a task that would take me YEARS to fulfill. At the time, the series was up to #28, so I had quite a bit to catch up- but it was all worth it! Although the series was discontinued in 1987, the 43 books in the series have stayed with me, and the cases that blew me away then are STILL great reads, and I have to indulge myself at least once every few years!
And with news of a possible Movie on the horizon, who knows?
The Three Investigators might be back!
