# Crime Fighting Teens

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crime-fighting-teens/87754>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 16, 2001, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crime-fighting-teens/87754 "2001-10-16T17:21:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NotMrKnowItAll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6bbea6/32.png) [@NotMrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotMrKnowItAll)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crime-fighting-teens/87754/1 "2001-10-16T17:21:07Z")

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I’ve been reading Hardy Boys books to my son lately. Before that it was Harry Potter, he watches Scooby Doo a bunch. There’s Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins as well for other audiences.

Any notion what was the first teenage sleuth/crime fighter character?

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crime-fighting-teens/87754/2 "2001-10-16T19:33:44Z")

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Wasn’t “Robin” (of Bat Man and Robin) just a teen? Also, I had a series of mystery stories called “The Happy Hollisters” circa 1960’s…if anyone else might have read these books. But, I recall liking only the first one.

- Jinx

BTW: Your boy might enjoy Encyclopedia Brown stories, too.

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**Author:** ![Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Eyed_Stranger)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crime-fighting-teens/87754/3 "2001-10-16T21:40:24Z")

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Well, the Baker Street Irregulars come to mind, but they of course weren’t main characters. Our public library had a collection of Tom Swift Jr. stories. A quick search shows that they were first published in 1954. These aparently were a continuation of the Tom Swift stories, first seen in 1910. There was one copy of a Tom Swift Sr. story in our public library, but I didn’t read it, so I don’t know if it was a teen sleuth story or not. The first link google turned up was [here](http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Crete/8601/ts1.htm)

That’s the first thing I thought of, although there probably are others.

Hope it helps.

GES

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**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crime-fighting-teens/87754/4 "2001-10-16T21:57:40Z")

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Rover Boys - 1899  
Bobbsey Twins - 1904, longest running series  
Tom Swift - 1910  
Hardy Boys - 1927  
Nancy Drew - 1930  
Encyclopedia Brown - 1963?  
Three Investigators - 1964, the only licensed kid detectives 🙂

There were dozens of others.

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**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crime-fighting-teens/87754/5 "2001-10-16T22:32:58Z")

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**Jinx** , I used to have a bunch of the Happy Hollisters books. I think they were originally my mom’s. The only one I remember involved them going to the Black Forest and seeing people make cuckoo clocks or something.