Customer Reviews

Secret of Terror Castle - Three Investigators (Paperback)

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All of the Three Investigators books are much more than children's books. Reading this book brought back all kinds of memories from my childhood years, and I enjoyed it almost as much now as I did twenty years ago. The biggest danger of adulthood is forgetting your childhood, and I am somewhat surprised to realize that I have forgotten as much as I have already. How could I have forgotten Jupiter Jones? When I was young, I wanted to be Jupe--the brains, the adventurous spirit, the dauntless courage, the determination and drive to know everything. He was my hero. I dreamed of having my own secret headquarters, with all of those great hidden entrances. I should add here that I was a nerd, and that accounts for some of the admiration I had for the stocky sleuth. Maybe athletes by nature aren't as drawn to these boys as I was, but I always felt as if I knew these guys. Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews are great all-American guys in their own right. All three are very different individuals, but together they do form a powerful team and serve as a wonderful model of the power of friendship. The only thing I can't figure out is why Bob spends so much time working at the library. At one point in this book, he has the task of reorganizing the whole catalogue--I work at a library now, so I know this is a pretty big task to be assigning to a kid.

This book, while eminently readable by youngsters, is more than satisfying to me as an adult. The story is suspenseful and well-contrived. Robert Arthur does a masterful job of allowing the reader to "investigate" the mystery along with the Three Investigators. The boys come across as extraordinary but very real. I can't imagine any youngster, girl or boy, who would not be drawn in to these adventures, and I can think of no better way to introduce a child to the enjoyment of reading than to give him/her one of these books. The Secret of Terror Castle is the first one, so I would start with it. If you are an adult who loved these books as a youngster, don't be afraid to pick this book up and reintroduce yourself to your old friends. If you happen to be an adult who has never immersed himself in the world of the Three Investigators, do yourself a favor and pick one up--it may be about as close as you can come to recapturing the magic of your youth.

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I was first introduced to this series in 5th grade, some 23-24 years ago. This was one of the books in my classroom, and I fell in love with it. I had already read almost all of the Hardy Boys and while I enjoyed them, the Three Investigators books were not as formulaic. You knew of course that they would solve the mystery, but you couldn't specify the events chapter by chapter, they way you can with the Hardy Boys.

I had been looking for these fairly regularly for the past few years and was disappointed that they had been out of print. Now they are back in print, but they have been abridged to remove the references to Alfred Hitchcock. I assume this is a licensing problem with his estate, or possibly a mistaken theory that young kids would not know who he is anyway, but I strongly urge Random House to reconsider this and put them back in.

I remember fondly looking for Alfred Hitchcocks trademark appearance in the cover art. Just like in his movies he was always there somewhere.

I was shocked to see him replaced with Hector Sebastian, who did appear in the later books, after Mr. Hitchcock past away.

In anycase, if you can't find the originals, at least the stories are here for our kids, and they are great stories.

Being a middle school teacher I try to keep up to date on books aimed for younger readers. As I was browsing through the bookstore I came across The Three Investigaors series. WOW! TALK ABOUT A BLAST FROM THE PAST!

I recalled (back in the late 70's) reading a few of these stories involving the three teens and their mystery solving cases dealing with mummies, sharks, and scarecrows. Of their partnership with Alfred Hitchcock and their secret headquarters buried in a salavage yard. But, would their adventures be as fascinating to a grown up?

The answer (as I briefly pinch my lip) is - YES! I'm happy to say that Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews have held up remarkably well over the years. Granted Mr. Hitchcock is now referred to as Reginald Clarke, but everything else remains the same just a fun-filled mystery. The Secret of Terror Castle does a nice job of starting off the series and introducing readers to the characters and their exploits.

Anyone who grew up with Scooby Doo will love these books. As an educator I also strongly recommend them for parents who are looking for books to get their young boys interested in reading.

For anyone (of any age) that is looking for more to young-literature than Harry Potter, the Hardy Boys, or the Wolrds of Narnia...then The Three Investigaors series will be a great discovery!

At one time I used to own the first 23 titles of AH & The Three Investigators. As I've grown older, I've lost titles until I recently realized I only had two left. I've lamented to my wife, after searching used book stores high and low for the other titles and not finding them, that this was a great blow against childhood reading. I was so glad that they are still being printed and read! The format may be different and Alfred Hitchcock is lamentably missing, but they are still as readable and enjoyable as they were when I was a child!

I highly recommend this series for young readers who dream of adventure and suspense. They invigorated my youth and helped interest me in reading and writing. I hope to God that there are more coming out!

And for those of us who remember Alfred Hitchcock, maybe Random House could put out a collectors series of the books as they were originally released - covers, illustrations and all. I would certainly snap them up!

The Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series was the best juvenile mystery series I ever read, and is of such high quality that I can still read and enjoy it as an adult. In fact, I only need "The Mystery of the Cranky Collector", the last book in the original series, to complete my collection.

For far too long these books have been out of print, though I understand they're still being published in Europe. With their return, a whole new generation of readers can thrill to the adventures of Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews.

In "The Secret of Terror Castle", Jupe, Pete and Bob, whose motto is "We Investigate Anything", investigate an allegedly haunted house in order to prove their mettle. Author Robert Arthur not only gives the boys distinct personalities, rather than making them "types", he also has them conduct their investigation in a logical, methodical fashion, even as they deal with a trouble maki! ng rival. He also plants clues throughout the text to give the reader a sporting chance to solve the mystery.

Arthur and his successors further respected their readers' intelligence by making the endings of the books logical developments of the stories, rather than coming up with a contrived solution. Granted, the means by which Jupe, Pete and Bob become involved in "The Mystery of the Silver Spider", a later book in the series, is a bit contrived. However, that story is also good, and throughout the series as a whole, the writers don't talk down to their readers.

Readers of the original hardcover editions may remember an illustration on the endpapers that depicted Hitchcock in profile behind a spider web on one page, while the facing page showed Jupe, with magnifying glass, Pete, with tape recorder, and Bob, with a home made walkie-talkie, making their way through a cemetery at night. That drawing exuded an atmosphere of mystery, and Random House might want to! consider duplicating it, sans Hitchcock, of course, in the! current paperback reissues.

In fact, Hitchcock's absense is the only negative aspect of the revised version. He added a touch of realism, because he was a real person. Now, he has been replaced by the fictional characters of Reginald Clarke and Hector Sebastian, and the illusion that Jupe, Pete and Bob might have been real people is gone. This is a minor point, of course, and doesn't affect the stories themselves.

At least not until the series gets to #31, "The Mystery of the Scar-Faced Beggar", the first post-Hitchcock volume. Jupe, Pete and Bob meet Hector Sebastian for the first time in that story-- a meeting which is central to the plot. I hope the series will continue to sell, so we'll see how that problem will be addressed.

Better still, I hope Random House publishes new adventures after the old ones have been reprinted.

If you've never been introduced to the 3 Investigators, you have no idea what you're missing. They make Nancy, Frank, and Joe look as exciting as an unbuttered piece of stale white bread. And parents, don't overlook these books for your daughters! I loved them as a child and I'm delighted to find my children are as enthralled today as I was then. I recommend starting here, with #1, to introduce readers to the 3 Investigators' start. As an added bonus, main character Jupiter Jones uses a vocabulary most English professors would be delighted with. It's nice to have a series of books that doesn't downplay its wording. Your kids can have a grand time reading, and actually learn at the same time! Most especially, I recommend Terror Castle and all the 3 Investigators books for any parent trying to find something to motivate their children to read more. These are genuine page turners. Exciting, thrilling, puzzling- everything a good mystery should be!

I read these books as a 10-year-old 20 years ago, and collected the entire series. Oh, now that I have a son how I wish I had held on to those ratty paperbacks that I read and re-read dozens of times to explore the wonderful world of these three adventurous teens! In fact, a friend of mine and I loved the series so much, we formed our own investigators group, complete with clubhouse and our own "tunnel two." Now that I am thinking about the books I want my son to read, I am collecting these again, so that he can enjoy the same exciting adventures I did as a boy.

When I was about 15, my mother brought home this book for me to read. It was called The Three Investigators and the Mystery of the Talking Skull. I am 26 now and still hooked on the trio of Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews.

Like all of the other Three Investigator books that I have read, The Secret of Terror Castle is just wonderful. It is suspensful and interesting throughout the whole book. Be aware of reading it because it will get you hooked and you will have to buy all the books in the series.

I hope the whole series comes out again, because I have not read about 15 of them. My fondest memories of the books I have are the Three Investigators hideout or clubhouse. They made it out of a junk pile and it has different passage ways. I dreamed of having a clubhouse while reading the books. Get out there and buy these books. I'm sure that you will be glad you did.

The Three Investigators series has probably had more of an effect on my adult mind than I realize. Having first read their stories in Junior High, I quickly developed a thirst for reading and haven't stopped in the last 19 years. I credit this series for instilling within me a love for reading and imagination that many do not possess.

Recently, I've grown nostalgic and purchased several of these books online in their original hardback format. I've found that I still love them. I wanted to be like Jupiter Jones when I was a child. Having still not attained that level of deductory ability, I am again striving to retain as much knowledge as possible like I did in Jr. High in order to remedy this. I find that I still want to be like Jupiter after all these years.

The fact that these books were popular throughout the 60's and 70's does not hinder the readability of these books. There are few, if any, portions of these books that date them to the point of being unreal to the new reader. To the adult reader, any dated concepts and language only add to the overall charm and character of the books.

I am going to continue to collect this series until I have at least all of the books that I originally read. Maybe I'll even try out some stories I haven't read yet.

In this mystery, a Hollywood star is trying to find a haunted house for a movie. He hires the three investigators to help him. They find a house that was once owned by an old Hollywood star who had built a castle for one of his films. After going bankrupt, the bank tried to take away the castle from the movie star. Mysteriouly, one day the star disappears. Now, according to legend, the castle is really haunted by the old star's spirit, and it's up to the three investigators to uncover the mystery!

This book was so scary that one night while I was reading, I couldn't finish the chapter.