Are The Hardy Boys All That Hardy?

The Choice of Fenton, February 4, 2006

Reviewer:
John P Bernat (Kingsport, TN USA) - See all my reviews

In the 1920s, the first book in a series of preteen readers was published. It depicted the adventures of two teenage brothers, Frank and Joe Hardy, as they solved mysteries in Bay City.

Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name of the actual author of not only the Hardy Boys series, but also the Nancy Drew mysteries. Since the same person wrote both, here are some puzzling questions to resolve:

1. There are two Hardy boys but only one Drew girl. Why?
2. Fenton Hardy is the Hardy boys' father. Why did F.W.Dixon choose the name Fenton? Is it only a coincidence that Fenton happens to be the name of a suburb of St. Louis, which could be the actual home of "F.W.Dixon's" parents? Makes you wonder...
3. Their friend Chet always has a yellow car. Nero Wolfe loved the color yellow, and always wore yellow shirts. It's most intriguiing that Chet was also written as an overweight character. Could it be that Chet is actually Nero Wolfe's illegitimate son, and hides his genetic genius by secretly counseling the Hardy boys and then insisting that his role be omitted from the books?
4. The final point is most telling: the male detectives are "Hardy," while the female detective is "Drew." "Drew" is, of course, a nickname for Andrew and is also the past tense of the verb "draw." So, males are "Hardy" while the female detective is "drawn," a synonym for pale and unhealthy.

I could go on, but by now you no doubt would rather I did not.