The Secret of Skull Mountain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Secret of Skull Mountain
Author Franklin W. Dixon
Country United States
Language English
Series The Hardy Boys
Genre(s) Detective, Mystery novel
Publisher Grosset & Dunlap
Publication date January 1, 1948
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 212 pp
ISBN ISBN 0-448-08927-0
Preceded by The Phantom Freighter
Followed by The Sign of the Crooked Arrow

The Secret of Skull Mountain is Volume 27 in the original The Hardy Boys book series published by Grosset & Dunlap.

[edit] Plot summary

Every night water strangely disappears from the new Tarnack Reservoir near Skull Mountain. Frank and Joe join forces with a team of skilled engineers to solve the baffling mystery.

The book takes place on Skull Mountain, a mountain where many skulls have been seen, near Bayport, U.S.A. This city around Skull Mountain loses water each night because of the new reservoir. There is always something mysterious happening on the mountain, which has an underground channel.

The story begins when Joe wants to go swimming, however, Frank points out that there is no water. When they discover that the water is missing, they team up with Chet Morton, Dick Ames and Bob Carpenter in order to solve the mystery. While exploring Skull Mountain, where the reservoir is located, the boys are attacked several times. They finally find Timothy Kimball Jr. (sweeper) breaking into Mr. & Mrs. Kleng’s store in order to steal the safe which holds his pay ($5000). Timothy is arrested and questioned about the reservoir. This leads the Hardy Boys to catch the villain, Mr. Kleng, and solve the crime. At the end, the Hardy Boys can go swim because there is enough water in the pool.

The original 1948 text was altered and shortened to 177 pages in 1966.

[edit] Characters

The main characters are the Hardy Boys: Joe Hardy, who is a 17 year old and the son of world-renown detective Fenton Hardy, and his 18 year old brother, Frank. Minor characters include a local engineer named Bob Carpenter, his assistant Dick Ames, and the Hardy boy's friend, Chet Morton. Mr. & Mrs. Kleng organize the crime to steal the water from the reservoir, but Timothy Kimball Jr. (sweeper) is actually being paid to carry out the plan.Dr Foster is an other character who is kidnapped by Mr Kleng's gang to test the tunnel in the mountain to see if their are any minerals in it. Mr. Kleng treats Dr.Foster very badly.