The Tower Treasure

The Tower Treasure is the first Hardy Boys mystery, published in 1927 by Grosset & Dunlap as a 214-page book. Dixon; the earlier volumes were written by Leslie McFarlane.

The plot is built on a confession and a search. A criminal says before he dies that his stolen property is hidden in the tower, which sends the authorities through one tower and then another without result. The failure of the official search is what establishes the boys' opportunity, since the answer requires someone to notice what the adults have discounted.

The Hardy Boys books were produced as a series of short, inexpensive mysteries designed to be collected, and this first volume sets the pattern the rest follow: a family of amateur detectives, a crime against a local resident, and a resolution that restores a reputation. The book was written for the Stratemeyer Syndicate by Leslie McFarlane, and it is one of the earliest volumes in a series that ran for decades under the same house name. The search that follows clears the name of a friend's father, which is how these books usually settle a case: the crime is solved and a reputation is restored.