''The Mystery of the Flying Express'' is Volume 20 in the original

The Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterpa ...

Mystery Stories published by

Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. Today, through the Penguin Gro ...

. This book was written for the

Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published and ...

by John Button in 1941. Between 1959 and 1973 the first 38 volumes of this series were systematically revised as part of a project directed by Harriet Adams, Edward Stratemeyer's daughter.''The Hardy Boys Online'': Revisions
/ref> The original version of this book was rewritten in 1970 by Vincent Buranelli and retitled to ''Mystery of the Flying Express''. Because of Dr. John Button's death in 1967, ''The Mystery Of The Flying Express'' (1941) entered the Canadian Public Domain on January 1, 2017.

Plot

Revised edition

After the new

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

they are guarding, the ''Flying Express'', is stolen, the Hardy Boys face frequent danger in solving a mystery involving criminals who operate by signs of the

zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the Sun path, apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. ...

. Eventually they are kidnapped and taken to the ''Flying Express'', but Chet manages to escape and uses their car's emergency light to alert the

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

at which point the boys foul the hydrofoil's propellers and stop the ship.

Original edition

The Hardy boys help their father locate a foreign spy camp hidden somewhere in the western United States. In the original edition, the ''Flying Express'' is a daily passenger train used by the spies to send secret messages.

References

The Hardy Boys books 1941 American novels 1941 children's books 1970 American novels 1970 children's books Grosset & Dunlap books {{1940s-ya-novel-stub