[billybooks]

This is a nice and well-done variation on the Hardy Boys and I wish the series had continued. I love the way Tim winds up sporting a lipstick kiss from a hot gal at the end -- that never happened to Frank and Joe!

Link to the book: Adventures of the Dover Boys (alt)

[crashryan]

I think the Dover Boys were more directly inspired by the Rover Boys, who starred in a popular juvenile adventure series from 1889 to 1926. There were three Rovers: Tom, Sam, and Dick. They were raised by an aunt and uncle. They had adventures all over the world as well as solving local crimes. Over time they grew up, married, and had kids. The kids took over the series. A big difference between the Rovers and the Dovers is that the Rovers attended a military boarding school where they had typical schoolboy adventures between jaunts around the globe.

As a boy I read a couple of Rover Boys books from my grandma's shelves. They were creaky but as entertaining as any of those old boys' adventure series were. I looked the lads up on Wikipedia and learned that there was a connection between the Rover Boys and the Hardy Boys. The Rovers were an early creation of Edward Stratemeyer, the guy who also created the Hardys, Tom Swift, and a bunch of other characters. The article also says that the series remained in print into the 1940s, years after the last volume was written.