The House on the Cliff

By Franklin W. Dixon

The House On The Cliff is the second book in The Hardy Boys original series. It was written by Charles Leslie McFarlane, who was a Canadian journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He is most famous for ghostwriting many of the early books in Hardy Boys series, using the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon. In 1959 this book was revised by Harriet S. Adams, as a result its plot was significantly rewritten.


A lot of stories about the young detectives of the Hardy brothers were written by the same authors who invented the famous detective Nancy Drew. TV series and computer games were made based on the Hardy Brothers books.


The book ranks 72nd on the Publishers Weekly's All-Time Bestselling Children's Book List in the United States.


In The House On The Cliff Fenton Hardy, the famous private detective and the father of the Hardy Boys, asks his sons to help him with his latest case involving a criminal named Felix Snattman and the illegal drug trade smuggling of stolen drugs. Hardy directs Frank and Joe to a house on the cliff, whose location overlooking Barmet Bay offers an excellent vantage point to watch for smugglers...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aegitas
• Release date: Jun 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9780369408914

Franklin W. Dixon

Franklin W. Dixon is the author of the ever-popular Hardy Boys books.

Book preview

The House on the Cliff

by Franklin W. Dixon

Franklin W. Dixon

D18 The House on the Cliff – М.: Aegitas, 2022. – 121 p.

Parallel worlds, unsolved family secrets, evil spirits, alien matter, witchcraft and magic, cursed places, visions beyond the human mind – Lovecraft's world of fiction is not only filled with Cthulhu myths. His universe is inhabited by other unknown and unfathomable creatures that come from the depths of forests, impassable swamps, deep caves, mysterious dungeons and even other times and dimensions, which can be accidentally entered by opening a window in the attic. Lovecraft wrote one of his first stories, The Beast in the Cave, when he was only 14 years old. Short story The Color Out of Space the author considered one of his best works. The original plots of Lovecraft's mystical stories became the basis for popular songs, movies, and computer games. The famous writer Stephen King considers Howard Lovecraft his inspiration.

The Colour Out of Space appeared in the September 1927 edition of Hugo Gernsback's science fiction magazine Amazing Stories. The story revolves around the area known as the blasted heath near the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts. Many years ago a meteorite crashed there, poisoning every living being nearby; vegetation grows large but foul-tasting, animals are driven mad and deformed into grotesque shapes, and the people go insane or die one by one.

© «Aegitas» publishing house, 2022

© Photo by henri meilhac on Unsplash

eISBN 978-0-3694-0891-4

Copyright: This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA.

All rights reserved. No part of an electronic copy of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting in the Internet and in corporate networks, for private or public use without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Reader Reactions

From Ann

Hardy Boys #2 The House on the Cliff is a great adventure and mystery filled with suspense and danger. Frank and Joe's search for their dad, Fenton, the risks, the bravery, and the loyalty are all great elements that make this book a real Hardy Boys story and worthy of 5 stars. You can really feel the suspense and concern as you read each page. I definitely could while reading it. As they searched the cliff, it was like I was there with them, every step, listening, trying to be careful to not be detected. I absolutely couldn't put it down. The cool trick that their dad had taught them really helped them out a lot. One of the best Hardy Boys books ever.

The action on the cover with the boat and cliff and waves only gives you a little taste of all of the excitement in the book. And I really like that in a book.

From Emma Frank

The Hardy Boys The House on the Cliff is a thrilling mystery about two brothers who are determined to find their detective father, Fenton Hardy. The boy's father is working on a smuggling case but the two boys are eager to help. When the boys are assigned a look out task their tools are mysteriously stolen and strange screams for help are heard with nobody in sight. The boys later discover that their father has disappeared. When they go back to investigate the cliff from the water they discover a secret passageway that leads to the house on the cliff. The boys enter the passage way hoping to find their father, well they do and the only struggle now is escaping. Luckily their friends call the police and the smugglers are arrested. I love all mysteries and this was a great story that I didn't want to end.

From Sebastian Morales

The Hardy Boys House on the Cliff was a classic mystery. Joe and Frank Hardy are two brothers who are have an endless need for adventure and excitement. Fenton Hardy is their successful dad who is known as the most talented detective in all of Bayport. At times Mr. Hardy will ask his sons to help out with some of the cases he's as assigned with. In this story Mr. Hardy is tasked with taking down smugglers. He invites his sons in the case and they gladly accept as they are tasked to look out for any suspicious behavior out at sea from an abandoned home on top of a cliff as a vantage point. The brothers invite two of their friends Chet and Biff to help with the case. Once on arrival they almost immediately spot possible suspects out at sea. Soon after they are fooled and lured into a trap in the house leading to their equipment being stolen and vehicles damaged.

I highly encourage anyone who enjoys mystery and suspense to read this book or to anyone who needs to complete a project or even pass time. This book keeps readers excited for more by putting these characters through some hardships and of course introduces long anticipated clues to solve the mystery. If you happen to become bored of the Hardy brothers the book does introduce more and new characters, and if you stick around you'll see some of the fun through their point of view.

All in all I love this book and gladly give it a five star rating and can't wait to read more of this action-packed mystery.

From Jessaka

What do you read on a rainy day? Me, I often pick up one of my Nancy Drew, Dana Sisters, or Hardy Boys books. This time I picked up the right book.

The Hardy Boys are riding down the road on their motorcycles on a nice sunny day and see this large house on a cliff and decide to go check it out because they had heard that it was now haunted. There was a story about the last owner of the house having been murdered in it and his spirit remains.

They park their bikes under some trees and walk up to the house. Once inside they hear a loud eerie shrieking sound. They run out of the house and back to their bikes. Storm clouds begin gathering, and next they are taking cover in a shed. See, it's a perfect book for a rainy day.

After thoughts:

I wanted to see who wrote this book since they used various writers in the Hardy Boys series. So, I spent some of this rainy day doing research on the internet.

Leslie McFarlane wrote the first 11 books, and then while he is said to have written numbers 12, 13, and 14, the writing in these three books is different. Also these three have the most obvious comments on racism in them. And yet, I had only found one in this book, his second one. Then I read that he also wrote number 14 and 15 before he quit writing this series.

In 1959 all of the series of The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and The Dana Sisters were edited to remove racist comments. While this was a good idea, they also changed other things in the books, which is why I read the old ones.

Next, I wanted to know more about Leslie McFarlane, and so I did some research on him.

He started out as a journalist in Canada and moved to the U.S. where he freelanced the boys adventure books, Dave Fearless. His son Brian wrote: I was about 10 years old when I discovered the Hardy Boys books on my dad’s bookshelves, and began reading them. One day I asked him why he was interested in reading kids books and he told me he didn’t read them, he wrote them! ‘But don’t tell your friends that I write that nonsense,’ he told me.

From David A. Plouffe

I had expected the second installment of The Hardy Boys to be not unlike the first. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the differences between the two books. Whereas the first book moved at a moderate pace, the second moved much quicker as there was a tremendous amount of action and even suspense. The Tower Treasure dealt mostly with a passive mystery which the Hardy Boys were following, picking up clues as they went. Here, in The House on the Cliff, the mystery is quite active and the boys are participants in its various stages pushing it along to its conclusion.

The scene is slightly removed from their town of Bayport. An old, abandoned house looms over a cliff is where Mr. Hardy suggests is a good place for his sons, and their friends, to set up a telescope to keep an eye out on the ocean to try and spot traces of a smuggling ring. No sooner have the boys done this but they begin to hear screaming from the abandoned home. The mystery is off and running...

Characters such as Callie, Iola and Mrs. Hardy take on a much lesser role than they had during the first book, while Pretzel Pete and a few other interesting figures are introduced. The disappearance of Mr. Hardy, attempted murder, lots and lots of mayhem, culminate in a hostage situation that includes the boys, but in the end the bad are caught and the good go on to figure out...The Secret of the Old Mill.

The House On The Cliff

Franklin W. Dixon

Chapter I

The Haunted House

Three powerful motorcycles sped along the shore road that leads from the city of Bayport, skirting Barmet Bay, on the Atlantic coast. It was a bright Saturday morning in June, and although the city sweltered in the heat, cool breezes blew in from the bay.

Two of the motorcycles carried an extra passenger. All the cyclists were boys of about fifteen and sixteen years of age and all five were students at the Bayport high school. They were enjoying their Saturday holiday by this outing, glad of the chance to get away from the torrid warmth of the city for a few hours.

When the foremost motorcycle reached a place where the shore road formed a junction with another highway leading to the north, the rider brought his machine to a stop and waited for the others to draw alongside. He was a tall, dark youth of sixteen, with a clever, good-natured face. His name was Frank Hardy.

Where do we go from here? he called out to the others.

The two remaining motorcycles came to a stop and the drivers mopped their brows while the two other boys dismounted, glad of the chance to stretch their legs. One of the cyclists, a boy of fifteen, fair, with light, curly hair, was Joe Hardy, a brother of Frank's, and the other lad was Chet Morton, a chum of the Hardy boys. The other youths were Jerry Gilroy and Biff Hooper, typical, healthy American lads of high school age.

You're the leader, said Joe to his brother. We'll follow you.

I'd rather have it settled. We've started out without any particular place to go. There's not much fun just riding around the countryside.

I don't much care where we go, as long as we keep on going, said Jerry. We get a breeze as long as we're traveling, but the minute we stop I begin to sweat.

Chet Morton gazed along the shore road.

I'll tell you what we can do, he said suddenly. Let's go and visit the haunted house.

Polucca's place?

Sure. We've never been out there.

I've passed it, Frank said. But I didn't go very close to the place, I'll tell you.

Jerry Gilroy, who was a newcomer to Bayport, looked puzzled.

Where is Polucca's place?

You can see it from here. Look, said Chet, taking him by the arm and bringing him over to the side of the road. See where the shore road dips, away out near the end of Barmet Bay. Do you see that cliff?

Yes. There's a stone house at the top.

Well, that's Polucca's place.

Who is Polucca?

Who was Polucca, you mean, interjected Frank. He used to live there. But he was murdered.

And that's why the place is supposed to be haunted?

Reason enough, isn't it? said Biff Hooper. I don't believe in ghosts, but I'll tell the world there are some funny stories going around about that house ever since Polucca was killed.

He must have been a strange fellow, anyway, commented Jerry, to build a house in such a place as that.

Indeed, the Polucca place had been built on an unusual site. High above the waters of the bay it stood, built close to the edge of a rocky and inhospitable cliff. It was