Book name: Mystery of the Desert Giant
Author: Franklin W Dixon
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Format: Print, ebook
Genre: Children’s Book
Publication Date: 1961
Star Rating: 5/5
Mystery of the Desert Giant is a Hardy Boys Mystery Story.
It is one of the original series of books. The author is James Buechler, writing as a part of the Franklin W Dixon team.
The Hardy Boys are with Chet Morton outside the Hardy residence awaiting a mysterious visitor to see their father after receiving a telephone warning.
Chet intends to photograph him when he arrives.
Before the real visitor arrives, however, a suspicious man loiters near the house. Chet snaps a picture and develops it in the Hardy lab while the real visitor is inside.
Before Chet can share the picture with Frank and Jo, he is hit over the head by another man and left unconscious.
The assailant then steals the other copies and leaves a message in the lab warning the boys off.
Chet has hidden the negatives, however, so they are still able to develop a copy of the photo to use to track the man down.
The two unwelcome visitors seem to be linked to the legitimate arrival, Philip Dodge, a lawyer.
Mr Dodge asks Fenton, Frank and Joe’s father, to investigate a disappearance. Fenton is too busy on another case, but he hands it over to his sons.
Willard Grafton disappeared three months earlier. His uncle has instructed Mr Dodge to find him.
Willard’s plane has been found in the desert in California near some engraved images of giant figures.
These are so large that they can only be properly seen from the air.
The plane is undamaged but Willard is nowhere to be found.
Frank and Joe fly with Chet to LA to begin their investigations. Frank pilots the plane and they immediately run into interference from some men trying to ground them with the authorities.
Despite this, they land safely in LA. Although these threats continue, Chet even manages to fit in the chance to watch a film being made.
Out in the desert, another source of danger emerges. There are plenty of natural hazards in this sort of environment, so most of the action in Mystery of the Desert Giant, comes from the desert rather than being man made.
The story behind Willard’s disappearance was appropriately complicated, but Joe and Frank are equal to the task. I found the story quite atmospheric due to the desert, the animals, the Native American Indian engravings and the boat trip down the Colorado River.
I really enjoyed Mystery of the Desert Giant!
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