''The Hardy Boys Detective Handbook'' is a special volume in the original

Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in a series of mystery novels for young readers. The series revolves around teenage amateur sleuths, solving cases that often stumped their adult counterparts. ...

book series 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. In recent years, through the P ...

. The book is composed of several didactic short fictional stories illustrating various actual crime detection methods featuring the Hardy Boys and their friends. Although some of the material is dated, the book remains a useful primer on topics such as basic

forensics Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...

techniques, including the examination of

fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfa ...

s and shoe prints at crime scenes, as well as a brief introduction to the basic properties of various

illegal drugs Illegal may refer to: Law * Violation of law ** Crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and uni ...

. Four editions were printed: *Edition 1 (1959) featured commentary from Dominick A. Spina, a retired

NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

detective. Dust jacket *Edition 2 (1959, first reprinted in 1962) As above, but picture cover *Edition 3 (1966-text/1972-artwork) became necessary when Captain Spina was indicted (although eventually acquitted) as a result of a corruption scandal in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. The

Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was an American 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. It pu ...

turned to retired

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

agent William F. Flynn for expert insight in the revised edition. The text was also reduced in length from the original. *Edition 4 (1987) was only slightly altered in content, but it included new artwork. The Detective Handbook had always been an oversized book compared to the novels in the Hardy Boys series, so with these changes it was reconfigured to match the rest of the collection.

References

The Hardy Boys books 1959 children's books Children's non-fiction books Handbooks and manuals Grosset & Dunlap books {{child-book-stub