Caught in their motorboat the Sleuth by a sudden storm at sea, Frank and Joe Hardy are relieved to see the lights of a yacht. But their SOS ignored. The shrill sound of a siren fills the night air and moments later a helicopter drops an object alongside the Sleuth: a wallet containing two thousand dollars! The next day, a truck carrying a shipment of high-powered rifles has been stolen. These two apparently unconnected events are clues in a tangle of mystery which turns out to be one of the detective brothers’ most exciting adventures.

The handwritten will of a deceased world-traveler is strange and mysterious. Its cryptic instructions are to deliver “the valuable Aztec warrior to the rightful owner, a descendant of an Aztec warrior.” Frank and Joe Hardy have only one slim clue to work with: the name of a complete stranger who can help. Despite the harassments, the threats, and the attacks made upon them, Frank and Joe unravel clue after clue in their adventure-packed search for the living descendant of the mighty Aztec nation which once ruled in Mexico. It takes as much high courage as clever deduction for the young detectives to defeat their ruthless foes and to decipher the fascinating secrets of the strange and mysterious will.

Once again Frank and Joe Hardy take on a puzzling case when their famous detective father asks the boys to assist him in tracking down a notorious jewel thief and his accomplices. The trail leads to the outskirts of the Hardys’ home town and to a weirdly guarded mansion on the old Perth estate. With their pal Chet Morton, the brothers must tackle the mystery of the mansion heir’s sudden death. A disappearing floor, a huge, savage-looking, hound, a galloping ghost, and a college professor’s startling invention are just a few of the strange elements that complicate the boys’ efforts to solve both mysteries.

Difficult assignments are nothing new to the Hardy boys and this one that takes them to the Deep South is particularly challenging. Their mission: to vindicate a long-dead Confederate general, disgraced during the Civil War because he was accused of stealing hidden gold belonging to a bank. Skillfully avoiding booby traps and flying bullets, the boys persevere in their perilous quest. The arduous search is full of surprises that will thrill all fans of the Hardy boys.

In a search for the missing Willard Grafton, Frank Hardy and younger brother Joe, encounter a gang of criminals intent on defrauding the US government, and are lead across California and even into Mexico.

Another exciting mystery begins for Frank and Joe when they help a stranger who has had an accident with his car. The man introduces himself as John Mead, owner of a nearby estate. But when the Hardy boys find an odd-looking house key and try to return it, they realize that John Mead died five years ago! They are even more amazed when they find that the intricately carved doors in the deserted mansion have no visible knobs or keylocks. What happens when Frank and Joe discover that there is a link between their father’s case of thieves and the mysterious Mead mansion will keep the reader on edge with thrills and suspense.

Frank and Joe Hardy become involved in an intriguing mystery which revolves around their fencing master, Ettore Russo. Proof that Russo is the rightful heir to his grandfather’s estate hinges on retrieving the guard end of a broken saber lost many years ago in California. The young investigators’ quest is complicated by a bank robbery during which some of their father’s important records are stolen. A chase ensues in the grape-growing region of California as the boys engage in a dangerous game of hide-and-seek with the bank robbery gang.

Tony Prito enlists the help of his detective friends Frank and Joe Hardy when a sinister stranger demands that Tony sell him the bizarre curio collection he has just inherited. While the boys are discussing this suspicious incident, the stranger, Valez, telephones and threatens Tony. That same afternoon the three boys collect the cases of curios at a freight station only for Joe’s life to be at risk on their way back to Tony’s house. The next day a seaman claims two medallions in the collection that coincidently go missing. Did Valez steal them? And what was their significance. Unraveling the clues in this exciting mystery takes the Hardys and their friends to a desolate region in Guatemala and straight into the hands of a gang of dangerous thugs.

Timber wolves, a Rocky Mountain blizzard, and a mine cave-in are only a few of the perils Frank and Joe Hardy encounter during their search for the principal members of a notorious gang responsible for a payroll robbery. Clue by clue, Frank and Joe cleverly fit into place the scattered pieces of this dangerous puzzle and come up with the astonishing solution.