“Here’s a Christmas story that everyone who has ever ready the well-known Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books will love. It was written especially for Family Circle by Harriet Adams (her pen name is Carolyn Keene) who has been writing these series for 50 years.” That began the introduction to the lovely piece in the December 16, 1980 issue of Family Circle.

Commissioned by Family Circle, during the ongoing Nancy Drew publisher trial, there are documents in the New York Public Library related to this piece, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Solve a Christmas Mystery, including the agreement for which Harriet was paid $3500.00. This story was later published in 1981 in Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys Super Sleuths as The Secret of Mountaintop Inn.

The mystery centers on the missing Sue Hardy, Frank and Joe’s cousin whom Nancy and the boys must find. “With three great young detectives working on it, the mystery of Sue’s disappearance should be solved before Christmas gets here!” And solve it they did as well as nab some jewel thieves!

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