The Clue of the Screeching Owl
ISBN: 9780006945086
Description
When dogs and men suddenly disappear, and strange screams fill the night, fantastic stories of vengeful ghosts are almost believable. It is these strange happenings which bring Frank and Joe Hardy to the Pocono Mountains to help their father's friend, a retired police captain, solve the mystery of Black Hollow. But when the Hardy Boys and Chet Morton arrive at Captain Thomas Maguire's cabin on the edge of the hollow, he has disappeared.
Reviewed on 19th December 2020
The fourty-first Hardy Boys adventure once again sees them, with Chet in tow, off on holiday to help their father out with a case.
The plot seems relatively solid, though there's a large amount that is just the boys going along with events - they rarely seem to do any actual deduction, and rely on a lot of coincidence.
The usual racism typical of the time of writing makes a subtle appearance, as does one particularly blatant momet of sexism in the narrative. On the other hand though there is a healthy anti-ableism message in this entry in the series.
Overall a pretty standard entry in the series, though probably one of the more forgettable stories - I've certainly read it before and remembered exactly nothing.