The Secret of the Old Mill

By Franklin W. Dixon

The Secret of the Old Mill is the third 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 86th on the Publishers Weekly's All-Time Bestselling Children's Book List in the United States.


Frank and Joe help prevent 14-year-old cyclist Ken Blake from getting killed in an accident. As they help the boy up they see he is delivering an envelope to Victor Peters, a name that means something to the Hardys later on in the book.




The Hardys learn that their friend Chet Morton has been tricked when asked to make change for what turned out to be a counterfeit twenty dollar bill, something that the police later confirm is becoming more common in their town of Bayport...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aegitas
• Release date: Jun 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9780369408921

Franklin W. Dixon

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

Book preview

The Secret Of The Old Mill

by Franklin W. Dixon

Franklin W. Dixon

D18 The Secret Of The Old Mill – М.: Aegitas, 2022. – 124 p.

The Secret of the Old Mill is the third 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.

© «Aegitas» publishing house, 2022

© Photo by henri meilhac on Unsplash

eISBN 978-0-3694-0892-1

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 STP *SPOILER ALERT*

The Secret of the Old Mill, by Franklin W. Dixon, is a mystery story published by Grosset and Dunlap. The story takes place in the town, Bayport and the factory, Elekton.

The Hardy Boys are known as detective sleuths. The two brothers are Frank, who is cautious, and Joe, who is adventurous. The bad guys in this story are experienced at not getting caught, because they are always moving around.

There are many counterfeit dollars that are being passed around in Bayport. Frank and Jo follows their dad’s lead and searches Elekton along with their friends Chet and Biff to find some clues about the source of these fake dollars.

After the Hardy Boys get out of a tunnel that led to a cave, they find the criminals, but there are more of them than expected. So, the Hardy Boys get caught. Darn it. One of the brutes, the tall and skinny Victor Peter, comes and tells the other thugs that the police are coming, and he runs of the cave, while the others try to kill the Hardy Boys but get caught before they are able to. Victor Peter is separately arrested while running down the beach.

Some of the action I find exciting is when the Hardy Boys trick the counterfeiters into arguing angrily so that the police have enough time to come before the counterfeiters could escape. I also enjoy when the Hardy Boys get trapped in a garage, see a car, pry open the doors, get in, jam the key hole and smash the garage door.

This suspenseful adventure makes me not want to do school and just keep reading. I hope that I will get all the Hardy Boys books so I can read them all.

From David A. Plouffe

Granted, this is only the third book in the series, however, I think it is the best thus far! The whole cast is here, Joe and Frank Hardy along with their parents Fenton and Laura (and new introduction of Aunt Gertrude), Friends: Chet, Callie, Iola, and Tony, not to mention regulars: Oscar Smuff and Chief Collig. In this story most characters play a very small role and the adventure mainly revolves around Joe, Frank, and Chet. It is fast-paced as well as entertaining. The events could even be considered relevant to current day issues. Basically, I am trying to say that looking back through the books, some of the events and situations are quite 'dated.' This adventure, however, is not.

The boys take on tracking down a counterfeiting ring that has descended upon Bayport. Meanwhile, their father has a top secret mission of his own and can't tell the boys anything about it. Soon both mysteries intertwine with one another. The boys, their father, and even Chet begin receiving threats. The adventure centers around a company called Elekton and the renovated Old Mill on their property. High security around this plant doesn't keep saboteurs away and soon the Hardys find themselves searching for The Secret of the Old Mill!

From St[♥]r Pr!nc

I must say I had a very different childhood from everyone else in the neighborhood or even in the crappy school I went to. Cos, while all the other girls played with dolls and dreamed of an early marriage, I used to spend endless hours reading Hardy Boys mysteries. My dad was the one (as usual) who introduced me to these two fearless American brothers when I was 7 or 8. The Clue of the Screeching Owl (Hardy Boys who else) was the first real book that was presented to me at a special family event by my Dad. My older cousin who in those days was quite into taming me to be a perfect obedient wife, was a bit jealous when he took the book my dad had gifted on my special day, but smiled well with what he had wrote. (He's happily married now).

I have chosen this book for my review cos I always liked its cover the best. The Hardy boys books were available at my local book store only, which was right round the corner. And the pictures were always different, I have a hard cover of this book and it looks exactly the same. So, my most memorable summers were when I would force all the males in the house (just my dad and my brother) to beg borrow and get every copy they could ever find from neighbors, even private collections from other lanes we used to visit in the old city. It was a crazy innocent time, I didn't know anything about where I lived or even who I lived with in the outside world. Just our play friends and cousins and dreams and American books and movies.

The secret of the old mill , is about Frank, Joe and all their girlfriends (just two) and their old friend Chet and his old car and how they sneak into an old mill and solve an exciting mystery. Their father is a famous detective and their mom is a perfect housewife, their Aunt Gertrude always comes over for a stay and bakes cakes and cookies for the boys and always fears they will die or something. Frank's girlfriend is Callie and Joe's girlfriend is Iola, we never get to know the girls and that is the best part, lol, but they are always around to help out the brave brothers. If you follow the series, we get introduced to several of their other friends, including Biff whose dad is a realtor, and they live in this small town called Bayport and even have their own boat. Oh man what I would do to go back to those old days. It got so bad, the bookstore guy used to smile every time my dad went over and said, 'we didn't get the new book yet'. One of my girl cousins was so well girly but she liked my Hardy Boys book (the one i lent her) better than her Nancy Drew one and our affection knew no bounds.

Someone in school offered me their Nancy Drew, I did read some of those books, but somehow my heart will always be with the Hardys. I even told everyone how I had special feelings for Frank Hardy and just why, Franklin Dixon doesn't describe a lot, it's just like a small book but his stories painted images I will always remember as my very own special memories.

From Joe Sherry

The Secret of the Old Mill is the third Hardy Boys mystery .Counterfeit money is being passed around Bayport. Chet Morton, the best friend of the Hardys, makes change of twenty dollars for a stranger and when he tries to purchase a microscope he learns that the bill is counterfeit. When the boys bring the bill into the police station, they learn that the chief has known about the counterfeits being passed but is keeping it quiet so as to not alert the criminals. The Hardys start some investigating on their own. Threats are made to the Hardys telling them to get off the case; but are the threats about the counterfeit case or the secret mystery that their father, Fenton Hardy, is investigating? Reading the Hardy Boys as an adult is a nostalgic pleasure. I loved these books as a child and remember so much from when I read them years ago. What makes these books special is that I can enjoy them almost as much now as I did back then. The Secret of the Old Mill remains a good Hardy Boys mystery and a great story. It is fast paced and always interesting. I remember that after I read this book as a child, I started checking all of my money (such as it was) to see if it was counterfeit. That's the mark of a good story, that it can make a child interested in what is around him and comparing it to what was learned in the book.

From The hockey lover

It was a great mystery. One of the best Hardy Boys book I've read so far. The ending was great as it always is and will be. I do not like how lines are copied twice and words are missing though. I am taking a test on this. Overall, it was a pretty good book. I cannot wait for book 4! Hopefully you can fix the word problem. They never drag these books out which is great. Most of the time these kind of mysteries are dragged out but Franklin W. Dixon always comes up with something new. Good book.

The Secret Of The Old Mill

Franklin W. Dixon

Chapter I

A Narrow Escape

WONDER what mystery Dad's working on now? Joe Hardy asked.

His brother Frank looked eagerly down the platform of the Bayport railroad station. "It must be a very important case, the way