“The Three Investigators”, by Multiple Authors

 

Random House

Along with the Endless Quest series of books (reviewed on November 11^th, 2021), I was enamored with The Three Investigators…er, not how you think. Every month my grade school – first Einstein Elementary and then later, when Fraser Public Schools closed it to turn it into a nursing home, Walt Disney Elementary – my class would get a catalog from Scholastic Book Club and we were all given the opportunity to shop for the books we wanted. And I always wanted the latest Three Investigators mystery. I’m sure I ordered other books, too…but I can’t remember what they were. But you better believe I remember my Three Investigators. And just who were The Three Investigators I hear you ask? Cretin:

Jupiter Jones – the leader of the crew and a former child-actor previously known as “Baby Fatso”, a nickname he understandably disdained, who never hesitated to strut his endless intellectual prowess and curiosity

Pete Crenshaw – the closest of the three to resembling a Hardy Boy, with good looks and natural athleticism, he always had the others’ backs, even when the three found themselves over their collective head

Bob Andrews – the smaller-framed academic with a father who was a newspaperman, he often proved to be the source for much-needed background information, earning him the title of “Records and Research”

Each of the books was ostensibly presented by Alfred Hitchcock (although in reality he had nothing to do with the series), introducing and concluding each volume. When he died in 1980, Random House had a dilemma: should they continue The Three Investigators series with Hitchcock, or find a replacement for him? They ultimately decided on the latter, and Hector Sebastian was born while Hitchcock’s profile on the books was replaced with a keyhole logo, beginning with The Three Investigators #31. In 1984, Random House revised the first 30 titles (the ones I collected), replacing Hitchcock with Sebastian in all – except for the very first book, Terror Castle, which features the fictional movie producer, Reginald Clarke.

The Three Investigators were originally published between 1964 and 1987 and through into the mid-90s, ultimately running to nearly sixty titles, although only the first 43 books are considered to be the original series. While each book is a unique mystery, they do share similarities with one another in that Jupiter, Pete and Bob are shown invariably battling nobly against the world while being dismissed by the stupid adults that consistently underestimated them, meaningfully relatable to their target audience of pre-to-pubescent boys. I, for one, was always enraptured by their perils and enthralled by their adventures and couldn’t wait for the Scholastic Book catalogs to come out each month so I could see what lay in store for Jupiter, Pete and Bob.

But make no mistake: The Three Investigators were uncool and not a little geeky. Obviously there was Jupiter, what with his husky physique and standard issue Hawaiian shirt, and Bob as the very definition of a prototypical nerd of the era, being a library rat who never stopped researching this or that; as for Pete, rather than hanging with the jocks he played sports with at school, he would inevitably be found at Three Investigators HQ, an abandoned RV buried under a mountain of junk in Jupiter’s uncle’s junkyard. Three friends with a shared love of adventure and problem-solving who just happen to find themselves at the center of one mystery after another. And they managed to do it over 20+ years and almost 60 books.

“The Secret of Terror Castle (#1)”, by Robert Arthur Jr.
192 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864013
“The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot (#2)”, by Robert Arthur Jr.
174 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864020
“The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy (#3)”, by Robert Arthur Jr.
180 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864037
“The Mystery of the Green Ghost (#4)”, by Robert Arthur Jr.
179 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0001601475
“The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure (#5)”, by Robert Arthur Jr.
160 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864051
“The Secret of Skeleton Island (#6)”, by Robert Arthur Jr.
160 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864068
“The Mystery of the Fiery Eye (#7)”, by Robert Arthur Jr.
164 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864075
“The Mystery of the Silver Spider (#8)”, by Robert Arthur Jr.
176 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864082
“The Mystery of the Screaming Clock (#9)”, by Robert Arthur Jr.
168 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0590303309
“The Mystery of the Moaning Cave (#10)”, by William Arden
176 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394837734
“The Mystery of the Talking Skull (#11)”, by Robert Arthur Jr.
179 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394837741
“The Mystery of the Laughing Shadow (#12)”, by William Arden
157 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864129
“The Secret of the Crooked Cat (#13)”, by William Arden
168 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864136
“The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon (#14)”, by Nick West
166 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864143
“The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints (#15)”, by M.V. Carey
175 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864150
“The Mystery of the Nervous Lion (#16)”, by Nick West
143 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394923086
“The Mystery of the Singing Serpent (#17)”, by M.V. Carey
146 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864174
“The Mystery of the Shrinking House (#18)”, by William Arden
145 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864181
“The Secret of Phantom Lake (#19)”, by William Arden
141 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394842578
“The Mystery of Monster Mountain (#20)”, by M.V. Carey
142 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864204
“The Secret of the Haunted Mirror (#21)”, by M.V. Carey
160 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0001600225
“The Mystery of the Dead Man’s Riddle (#22)”, by William Arden
145 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864228
“The Mystery of the Invisible Dog (#23)”, by M.V. Carey
145 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394844923
“The Mystery of Death Trap Mine (#24)”, by M.V. Carey
145 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864242
“The Mystery of the Dancing Devil (#25)”, by William Arden
134 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864259
“The Mystery of the Headless Horse (#26)”, by William Arden
144 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864266
“The Mystery of Magic Circle (#27)”, by M.V. Carey
143 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864273
“The Mystery of the Deadly Double (#28)”, by William Arden
140 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864280
“The Mystery of Sinister Scarecrow (#29)”, by M.V. Carey
151 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394864297
“The Secret of Shark Reef (#30)”, by William Arden
181 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0394842493

As for me, I never collected all of the books in the series, stopping with The Secret of Shark Reef, the last that the Scholastic Book Club offered, to my recollection; by then I had moved on to Endless Quest, Choose Your Own Adventure and histories and biographies. But I will never forget the thrill I had in following Jupiter, Bob and Pete as they solved crimes, researched mysteries and thwarted adults, book after book after book.