LITMIR.BIZ

       Prologue

      “I can hardly wait to get home and show Father all the exciting new French detective techniques we learned while on our vacation!” Joe Hardly said eagerly. The dark-haired, muscular lad, one half of the crime-fighting team known far and wide as the Hardly boys, leaned against the rail of the majestic Queen Mary and gazed at the wide expanse of blue water all around them. In two days, they would arrive in New York Harbor, catch a speedy train to their beloved hometown of Feyport, Illinois, and be reunited with their parents, world-famous detective Fennel P. Hardly and his wife, Mrs. Hardly. Although Joe had had a swell time on their six-week jaunt through Europe, the tousled-haired lad was eager to get back home and resume his exciting life as a famous boy detective.

      “Are you as anxious as I am to get back to work?” Joe asked his older brother Frank as he took a stick of cherry gum from the pocket of his baby blue cardigan-style overshirt in washable rayon and popped it in his mouth.

       “I’m fit and rested and ready to go,” Frank replied with a smile as he ran a hand through his thick, close-cropped blond hair, then slipped a cable-knit tennis sweater over his head. His cruise-wear outfit of white cotton sunburst-print clam-digger trousers and matching top was just the ticket for a sun-drenched day aboard ship, but now that the sun was setting, the boy detective was getting mighty chilled!

      “Oh, I do hope Father’s got a good mystery brewing for us. After all that sightseeing, I sure am anxious for some real action!” Frank said wistfully.

       “Father’s probably embroiled in a new case this very minute,” Joe cried. “Why, I bet as soon as we get home, we’ll be pulled into an exciting adventure!”