The Hardy Boys "Canon"

Fifty-eight volumes, beginning with The Tower Treasure in 1927 and ending with The Sting of the Scorpion in 1979, are considered by many collectors (including me) as the "canon" or "original" books in the Hardy Boys series. Especially prized are the pre-1960s volumes that appeared originally in hardback with dust covers. These editions were also longer and generally written at a higher grade level than the later stories.

Listed below are the volumes, the year of publication, and the person(s) believed to have done the outline and the manuscript. This data is from James D. Keeline, in an articled entitled, "Who Wrote the Hardy Boys: Secrets from the Syndicate Files Revealed," which appeared in the November, 1994 edition of Yellowback Library. Note: Edna Squier and Harriet Adams were Edward Stratemeyer's daughters, who took over the Syndicate at his death in 1930.

VOL	TITLE	YEAR	OUTLINE	WRITER
01	The Tower Treasure	1927	Edward Stratemeyer	Leslie McFarlane
02	The House on the Cliff	1927	Stratemeyer	McFarlane
03	The Secret of the Old Mill	1927	Stratemeyer	McFarlane
04	The Missing Chums	1928	Stratemeyer	McFarlane
05	Hunting for Hidden Gold	1928	Stratemeyer	McFarlane
06	The Shore Road Mystery	1928	Stratemeyer	McFarlane
07	The Secret of the Caves	1929	Stratemeyer	McFarlane
08	The Mystery of Cabin Island	1929	Stratemeyer	McFarlane
09	The Great Airport Mystery	1930	Stratemeyer	McFarlane
10	What Happened at Midnight	1931	Edna Squier	McFarlane
11	While the Clock Ticked	1932	Edna Squier	McFarlane
12	Footprints under the Window	1933	Edna Squier	Unknown
13	The Mark on the Door	1934	Harriet Adams	Unknown
14	The Hidden Harbor Mystery	1935	Edna Squier	Unknown
15	The Sinister Signpost	1936	Harriet Adams	McFarlane
16	A Figure in Hiding	1937	Edna Squier	McFarlane
17	The Secret Warning	1938	Edna Squier	John Button
18	The Twisted Claw	1939	Harriet Adams	John Button
19	The Disappearing Floor	1940	Edna Squier	John Button
20	The Mystery of the Flying Express	1941	Harriet Adams	John Button
21	The Clue of the Broken Blade	1942	Edna Squier	John Button
22	The Flickering Torch Mystery	1943	Harriet Adams	McFarlane
23	The Melted Coins	1944	Harriet Adams	McFarlane
24	The Short-Wave Mystery	1945	Harriet Adams	McFarlane
25	The Secret Panel	1946	Harriet Adams	Harriet Adams
26	The Phantom Freighter	1947	Harriet Adams	"Amy McFarlane"
27	The Secret of Skull Mountain	1948	Harriet Adams	Geo. Waller, Jr.
28	The Sign of the Crooked Arrow	1949	Harriet Adams	Andrew Svenson
29	The Secret of the Lost Tunnel	1950	Harriet Adams	Andrew Svenson
30	The Wailing Siren Mystery	1951	Harriet Adams	Andrew Svenson
31	The Secret of Wildcat Swamp	1952	Unknown	William Dougherty
32	The Crisscross Shadow	1953	Andrew Svenson	Richard Cohen
33	The Yellow Feather Mystery	1954	Andrew Svenson	Wm. Dougherty
34	The Hooded Hawk Mystery	1954	Harriet Adams	Charles Strong
35	The Clue in the Embers	1955	Harriet Adams	John Almquist
36	The Secret of Pirate's Hill	1956	Andrew Svenson	John Almquist
37	The Ghost of Skeleton Rock	1957	Andrew Svenson	James Duncan Lawrence
38	The Mystery at Devil's Paw	1959	Harriet Adams / Andrew Svenson	J. D. Lawrence
39	The Mystery of the Chinese Junk	1960	Andrew Svenson	Andrew Svenson
40	The Mystery of the Desert Giant	1961	Harriet Adams / Andrew Svenson	James Buechler
41	The Clue of the Screeching Owl	1962	Harriet Adams / Grace Grote	James Buechler
42	The Viking Symbol Mystery	1963	Andrew Svenson	Alistair Hunter
43	The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior	1964	Harriet Adams	Harriet Adams
44	The Haunted Fort	1965	David Grambs	David Grambs
45	The Mystery of the Spiral Bridge	1966	Andrew Svenson	Andrew Svenson
46	The Secret Agent on Flight 101	1967	Tom Mulvey	Harriet Adams
47	The Mystery of the Whale Tattoo	1968	Andrew Svenson	Jerrold Mundis
48	The Arctic Patrol Mystery	1969	Andrew Svenson	Andrew Svenson
49	The Bombay Boomerang	1970	Andrew Svenson	Vincent Buranelli
50	Danger on Vampire Trail	1971	Andrew Svenson	Andrew Svenson
51	The Masked Monkey	1972	Andrew Svenson	Vincent Buranelli
52	The Shattered Helmet	1973	Andrew Svenson	Andrew Svenson
53	The Clue of the Hissing Serpent	1974	Andrew Svenson	Andrew Svenson
54	The Mysterious Caravan	1975	Andrew Svenson	Andrew Svenson
55	The Witch-Master's Key	1976	Andrew Svenson	Vincent Buranelli
56	Jungle Pyramid	1977	Vincent Buranelli	Vincent Buranelli
57	Mystery of the Firebird Rocket	1978	Vincent Buranelli	Vincent Buranelli
58	Sting of the Scorpion	1979	J. D. Lawrence	J. D. Lawrence