The Skyfire Puzzle

Last updated
The Skyfire Puzzle
The Skyfire Puzzle.jpg
Author Franklin W. Dixon
Cover artistRichard Williams
LanguageEnglish
Series The Hardy Boys
Genre Detective, mystery
Published1985 Wanderer Books
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages158
ISBN 0-671-49732-4 (hardcover)
0-671-49731-6 (paperback)
Preceded by Revenge of the Desert Phantom  
Followed by The Mystery of the Silver Star  
LCCN   85--11440

The Skyfire Puzzle is no. 85 in the Hardy Boys Mystery Stories, written by Franklin W. Dixon. It was published by Wanderer Books in 1985. As of 2018 this is the last Hardy Boys book to be published by Wanderer Books.

Contents

Plot summary

Frank and Joe Hardy are on a stakeout in Okefenokee Swamp with their father Fenton, using their van of computer and surveillance equipment. Fenton is chasing industrial saboteurs who nearly kill him and Chet Morton. The head of security at Kennedy Space Center, Harry Stone, is baffled by a series of accidents involving the Space Shuttle Skyfire. Frank, Joe, Chet, Stone and his daughter Suzanne head to Cape Canaveral, where they meet Nat Cramer from Starglass Corporation and his security man, Pete McConnel. Starglass developed the Longeye radio telescope, which is to be placed in orbit by Skyfire. Maxwell Grant, deputy director of operations, offers the young people the chance to fly on Skyfire.

Frank, Joe and Chet train for the shuttle mission and help Stone and his aide, Lew Gorman, investigate the accidents. Occurrences indicate that someone wants the Hardys off the case: Fenton is attacked by gunmen; a masked man makes a centrifuge run wild with Joe; a caller summons the young people to a trap meeting; and hallucinogenic crystals are placed in Chet's air hose during neutral buoyancy training, causing him to attack Frank. McConnel is apparently shot by terrorist Franz Schacht, who is linked by a fingerprint.

The day before the shuttle launch, the Hardys' van is shot at by a man whom Fenton recognizes as Stone. Evidence found in Stone's house seems to prove that he and Gorman are foreign agents; they are arrested, and Suzanne is removed from the shuttle crew. During the shuttle mission, Frank links the Spacelab computer with the computer in the Hardys' van and discovers that the body profile of one of the criminals from the beach matches that of a man present during the Okefenokee attack, linking the two cases. The Hardys deduce that Cramer and McConnel are involved with the industrial espionage ring. Frank discovers McConnel never visited an emergency room after being shot. The Hardys and Chet convince the shuttle commander to fake a power failure that would strand them in orbit, tricking Cramer into making a spacewalk to send Longeye, which is set to explode, into space. Frank follows Cramer outside and frightens him into a confession. The Longeye on the shuttle is a mockup; Cramer and McConnel planned to sell the real Longeye to the spy ring. McConnel and Cramer faked Schacht's involvement, McConnel's shooting and Stone's guilt using masks of Schacht and Stone and a planted fingerprint.

Notes

The Skyfire Puzzle was originally advertised under the title The Mystery of the Space Shuttle. [1] [2] This book, as well as #84, Revenge of the Desert Phantom , were pilots for what would become The Hardy Boys Casefiles . A third book was written in this style and was intended to be #86, but was never released due to the cancellation of the series in 1985. With the resumption of the series in 1987 #86 featured a very different writing style, and the Hardys' van, while loaded with equipment in The Skyfire Puzzle, was empty in The Mystery of the Silver Star.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hardy Boys</span> Fictional detectives and book series

The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterparts. The characters were created by American writer Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of book packaging firm Stratemeyer Syndicate. The books were written by several ghostwriters, most notably Leslie McFarlane, under the collective pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.

<i>The Short-Wave Mystery</i> Book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Short-Wave Mystery is Volume 24 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.

<i>The Tower Treasure</i> 1927 book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Tower Treasure is the first volume in the original Hardy Boys series published by Grosset & Dunlap. The book ranks 55th on Publishers Weekly's All-Time Bestselling Children's Book List for the United States, with 2,209,774 copies sold as of 2001. This book is one of the "Original 10", generally considered by historians and critics of children's literature to be the best examples of all the Hardy Boys, and Stratemeyer Syndicate, writing.

<i>The Mark on the Door</i> Book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Mark on the Door is Volume 13 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.

<i>The House on the Cliff</i> 1927 book by Franklin W. Dixon

The House On The Cliff is the second book in the original Hardy Boys series published by Grosset & Dunlap. The book ranks 72nd on the Publishers Weekly's All-Time Bestselling Children's Book List in the United States with 1,712,433 copies sold as of 2001. This book is one of the "Original 10" Hardy Boys books and is an excellent example of the writing style used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate's writers. This style influenced many other "youth adventure series" books that the Stratemeyer Syndicate also published, including the Nancy Drew series, the Tom Swift adventure series, the Bobbsey Twins and other lesser known series. All of them used a unique writing style that made them very recognizable as Stratemeyer product.

<i>The Secret of the Old Mill</i> 1927 book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Secret of the Old Mill is Volume 3 in the original Hardy Boys series of mystery books for children and teens published by Grosset & Dunlap. The book ranks 86th on Publishers Weekly's All-Time Bestselling Children's Book List for the United States, with 1,467,645 copies sold by 2001. This book is one of the "Original 10", some of the best examples of the Hardy Boys, and Stratemeyer Syndicate, writing.

<i>The Missing Chums</i> Book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Missing Chums is volume 4 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap. The book ranks 108th on Publishers Weekly's All-Time Bestselling Children's Book List for the United States, with 1,189,973 copies sold as of 2001. This book is one of the "Original 10", generally considered to be the best examples of the Hardy Boys, and Stratemeyer Syndicate, writing.

<i>What Happened at Midnight</i> 1931 book by Franklin W. Dixon

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

<i>While the Clock Ticked</i> 1932 book by Franklin W. Dixon

While The Clock Ticked is Volume 11 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.

<i>Footprints Under the Window</i> Book by Franklin W. Dixon

Footprints Under the Window is Volume 12 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.

<i>The Sinister Signpost</i> Book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Sinister Sign Post is Volume 15 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.

<i>A Figure in Hiding</i> Book by Franklin W. Dixon

A Figure in Hiding is Volume 16 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.

<i>The Secret of Skull Mountain</i> Book by Franklin W. Dixon

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

<i>The Masked Monkey</i> 1972 book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Masked Monkey is Volume 51 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.

<i>The Mysterious Caravan</i> 1975 book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Mysterious Caravan is volume 54 in the original Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.

The Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers is a detective fiction series of books published by Aladdin Paperbacks, which replaced The Hardy Boys Digest paperbacks in early 2005. All the books in the series have been written under the pen name of Franklin W. Dixon.

<i>The Voodoo Plot</i> 1982 book by Franklin W. Dixon

The Voodoo Plot is the 72nd title of the Hardy Boys Mystery Stories, written by Franklin W. Dixon, and published by Wanderer Books in 1982.

In the late 1950s, Disney contracted with the Stratemeyer Syndicate and Grosset & Dunlap to produce two Hardy Boys TV serials, starring Tim Considine and Tommy Kirk. The first of the serials, The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure, was aired on The Mickey Mouse Club in 1956 during the show's second season. To appeal to the show's audience, the Hardy Boys were portrayed as younger than in the books, seeming to be twelve or thirteen years old. The script, written by Jackson Gillis, was based on the first Hardy Boys book, The Tower Treasure, and the serial was aired in 19 episodes of fifteen minutes each with production costs of $5,700. A second serial, The Mystery of Ghost Farm, followed in 1957, with an original story by Jackson Gillis. This serial shares some elements with "The House on the Cliff", the second Hardy Boys book.

<i>The Hardy Boys</i> (2020 TV series) Canadian mystery drama television series

The Hardy Boys is a mystery drama television series, based on The Hardy Boys book series created by Edward Stratemeyer. The show is produced by Nelvana and Lambur Productions. The first season was released on Hulu on December 4, 2020, and the second season was released on April 6, 2022. The series has been renewed for a third and final season on July 26, 2023.

References

  1. The Skyfire Puzzle, p. 160.
  2. Keeline, James D. "Who Wrote the Hardy Boys? Secrets from the Syndicate Files Revealed" (PDF). p. 9. Retrieved September 22, 2014.