So, am I the only one who read "The Three Investigators" as a kid?

Cafe Society
41

The Hardy Boys were wusses.

The Three Investigators kicked ass. I’ve read every book at least twice, and I’m on a life-long quest to collect them all (they’re sadly out of print), scouring every used bookstore I encounter and buying all the stock they have–so I’ve got duplicates of several, in case I can ever find anyone to trade with.

Indeed, I even remember the first time I encountered them: I was in the 4th grade spending the afternoon at the Nicholson Memorial Library in Garland, Texas, looking for something to read. Back then, I mostly read the “Colby” books (subject, perhaps, for another thread?) and had tried to read the Hardy Boys and even Nancy Drew, but really didn’t get into them. My mom was (is) a big fan of mystery novels and helped me out–she spotted the Three Investigators series (???) sitting on a separate shelf and suggested I try one of those. (At the time, they were only up to #30 or so; Hitchhock was still alive.) I liked Alfred Hitchhock–at least, I enoyed the series of spooky books that he would “introduce”, so I gave it a shot, picking the coolest looking one they had: The Secret of the Talking Skull.

And I tell you what: that book freaked this 4rd-grader out. I was reading under my covers late that night when the skull started “talking”, and I was hooked. By the end of the 5th grade, I’d read them all at least once, and several twice or more. (The main problem was waiting for people to return ones I hadn’t read.) Soon, I was spending my scant allowance on the paperbacks, grabing them as soon as the new ones came out.

I’ve got a few of those left, and now I’m looking for them again. These days, when I’m between “serious” books, sometimes I’ll grab a Three Investigators title and read it in about two hours. I still love them, and hopefully my son will, too.

Oh: and I WAS Jupiter Jones!

(That was probably another reason for my dislike of those smarmy, good-looking, athletic Hardy Boys!)

Thanks for the thread! I seriously like the Three Investigators.

42

The Three Investigators were fantastic. I read every one that I could get my hands on.

Diogenes:

No, he never knew Alfred Hitchcock. He just brazenly walked into Hitchcock’s home and told him they’d find him a good location for a horror movie (in exchange for writing introductions for their adventures). I don’t recall the specific details, but in classic Jupiter Jones fashion, he pretty much refused to go away until Hitchcock would agree.

43

Another fan checking in, read them all as a child.

44

Yet another lady chiming in who loved her Investigators, especially Jupiter. How could I not have affection for the husky smart kid? Looking at all those book covers brings back a lot of memories (especially The Mystery of the Moaning Cave), and I hate that I don’t know what happened to my copies. :frowning: My mother probably gave them away, so I hope another kid got to enjoy them like I did.

Hey, I liked my Sweet Valley High. I ordered those books from Scholastic–remember the joys of browsing for books and waiting for them to come to homeroom?–and devoured the adventures of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. But I did try to balance things out with the Investigators, the Hardy Boys, and Christopher Pike.

45

YEAH!! I loved these books, too when I was a kid. I was always obsessed with the idea of having a secret hideout/fort/tree house or something like that so probably the secret junkyard hideout was what initially drew me to the series. Then read every single one that the library had and bought others!

I think the best ones were the ones that actually had Alfred Hitchcock in them - once he left and was replaced with whoever that was, they weren’t as good.

Cricket
(also a girl!)

46

Let us not forget Encylopedia Brown.

47

Yet another person jumping into the pit of 3 Investigators love. Those were, by far, my favorite books/series as a kid. Couldn’t get enough of them. I ended up owning most of them, but I think they have disappeared into the nether reaches of the storage area of my parent’s house. I now have firm plans to go there next weekend, find those books, and liberate them to the reading stack at my house.

48

Me too. The only one I even vaguely remember was with some Egyptian theme, where there were statues of Egyptian gods that had to do with the plot somehow.

Beyond that…I’m drawing a blank.

49

Yes, but he wore a brace because he broke his leg in “umpteen” places falling down a hill, not from disease.

Yeah, I liked 'em. Many of the early, better ones were written by Robert Arthur, who was writer and/or editor of such titles as Mystery & More Mystery, Ghosts & More Ghosts, Spies and More Spies, etc.

50

Another big fan checking in. Basing my view of reality on the Three Investigators and Encyclopedia Brown, I was continually disapointed when I couldn’t find any mysteries to solve in my neighborhood or school.

I probably still have about 20 or 25 of them, just waiting for when my kids are old enough.

51

Another fan checking in. I remember reading through them dozens of times as a kid.

Now, who wants to talk Brains Benton or Danny Dunn?

52

tanstaafl, I mentioned Brains Benton a little bit ago. And I remember Danny Dunn, too, with Professor Bullfinch! I know I read the one where they got shrunk to the size of an ant and another one that I can’t remember the plot to…

53

Hitch put his name on the Three Investegators and you know he wouldn’t put his name on crap – to paraphrase Bart Simpson.

Whispering Mummy and Singing Serpent + 1 or 2 more were the only ones I ever read.

Here’s a fan site with covers and synposes. Some of these covers seem much more lurid than the eds. I had.

http://www.palacecreations.com/3inv.html

54

A biography of Robert Arthur:

http://www.threeinvestigators.com/SD.html

More information, links to other author biographies:

http://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.homestead.com/authorsartists.html

55

Another fan checking in. I read these books voraciously when I was a kid. I read every copy the library had, but I never actually owned any.

Although like others have posted, I can’t seems to actually remember any of them. Weird.

56

Add me to the list. I was that nerdy girl in elementary school who would sit in the library and read every book she could get her hands on, and “TTI” and “Encyclopedia Brown” were my favorites.

About 10 years ago, my mother was volunteering at the same library. I went in with her one Saturday to help shelve books, and found a few from the set. They still had my name on the cards. Kind of sad in a way, because the books are older than dirt, and not many kids have checked them out since I was little. (Which was a LONG time ago.)

57

I adored these books. Still read them on occasion (I am a fifteen-year-old girl). Loathed Sweet Valley High - it was all about cheerleaders and pretty girls and their boyfriends and their hairclips, I seem to remember…

Anyway, Jupiter Jones rocked. I was in the shower this morning, and started thinking about his Ghost-to-Ghost Hookup. I always wanted to try that…

58

Boy, this brings back memories! I loved this series - could only find five or six of them though. Talking Skull, Green Ghost, Screaming Clock (I have especially good memories of this one, as I read it in the school library after classes were canceled due to snow!) and the one with the midgets. I wish I could find them again.

59

I apologize for the zombie bump, but the topic and content of the thread serve the purpose well. When I was around 10-12 I was reading everything I could get my hands on, but my absolute favorite series was The Three Investigators in its original incarnation. Luckily I kept all those books (actually, I kept everything - Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, whatever) and I unpacked them recently for my own pre-teens, and am reading through them again…and they’re still fun! What makes the series remarkable is that the kids are really working out mysteries on their own, with limited outside help (okay, some help with the limo, but they often do hitch rides with Uncle Titus or the junkyard helpers or ride their bikes), and the fat smart kid (yeah, that was me) often gets to be the hero. Plus, I still want my own secret tunnel.

I’m missing two of the first 26 books, and then lots of the later ones, but with the miracle of the internets I should be able to find them.

One odd thing, by the way. I was reading wiki on the series and came across this:

I found this hard to believe, but some additional searching on youtube and google.de convinces me that this is essentially true (well, everything but the packed stadiums…haven’t found that yet). How cool is that? I only wish they’d been that big in the U.S.

60

“The three investigators” were my childhood-- Damn. See? You all got me misty-eyed.

The scary scarecrow is without a doubt the biggest literary achievement of the XX century. Period.

Juìter, Bob and Pete could kick the Nancy boys ass and send them home crying.