What Happened at Midnight

What Happened at Midnight is Volume 10 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.

This book was written for the Stratemeyer Syndicate by Leslie McFarlane in 1931.^[1] 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.^[2] The original version of this book was rewritten in 1967 by Tom Mulvey^[1] resulting in two different stories with the same title.

Plot summary (revised edition)

Joe and Frank are asked to break into the house of a scientist and retrieve a secret invention and keep it safe from being stolen while he is away. Later, Joe is kidnapped. This event leads Frank and his friends to investigate. While investigating they see someone waving from a car and think its Joe. The mystery has begun.......

Plot summary (original edition)

This story opens with Chet Morton giving the Hardy boys and their chums a lesson on how to use the new automat which just opened in their hometown of Bayport. While jostling one another the boys bump into a blonde haired man. Later, while wrestling with the boys from Crabb Corners, Joe Hardy falls against the blonde man again causing him to drop his package which is later revealed to contain diamonds he is smuggling.

That evening the Hardy boys attend a party at the Morton's farm. While the clock was striking midnight Joe Hardy disappeared without a trace. At first Frank thinks his brother is playing a joke on him but when he does not reappear Frank gets worried. A while later Frank and his chums manage to locate Joe who has been kidnapped and kept hostage in a cave along the Shore Road.

The rest of the story deals with Frank and Joe traveling to New York to unravel the mystery of the blonde man. In New York they are pick pocketed and have to spend a night sleeping in a park, while listening to the clock strike midnight. While hitchhiking back from New York the boys meet two Department of Justice men who are investigating a case of diamond smuggling. When they return to Bayport the Hardy brothers locate who they believe to be Taffy Marr, the diamond smuggler. The Hardy boys chase him to the airport and then hire a plane to continue the chase, however the plane they hired has mechanical problems and crashes. After again returning to Bayport they locate Taffy Marr again, and send a message for the Department of Justice men to come and help them make the arrest. Together with help from the Department of Justice men, the Hardy brothers manage to arrest Taffy Marr and the men he's been working with.

The story concludes with an informal party at the Morton's farm again, with the boys recounting their adventures for their friends, while the clock strikes midnight again.

References