I’ve always been a voracious reader. When I was a kid, I spent a good amount of time reading every single Hardy Boys book I could get my hands on.
This piece on the true nature of Franklin W. Dixon, whose name was on the cover of every one of these books, was crushing. Not just because Mr. Dixon was a complete fiction, but because of the appalling treatment of the people who actually did write these books.
There have been moments, as an adult, when I’ve thought about rereading one of the books, perhaps The Tower Treasure, which was the very first one. But after reading the linked article, not so much.
A friend told me this years ago and it was hard to believe so nice to have this confirmation. He was a newspaper photographer and said one of his reporter friends wrote Hardy Boys mysteries.
I heard this back in early 1980s, when I was less than ten years old. I was giving a book report. The teacher asked me about the author, and I said I had no clue. And so she told me.
I remember feeling a bit sad, but even then — there were already 58 of the original series, and the quality of writing and stories varied wildly.
As for avoiding re-reading based on this: Leslie died before my second birthday. Surely the people mistreating him died even before then. I’m not going to worry about it.