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Summary: PLEASE GET SERIES REPRINTED
Review: Dear Amazon.Com,Please somehow get the publisher to re-release the ENTIRE series. It was my favorite as a child, and now I would like to pass their legacy on to youngs one's in my life. I regret not buying it 10 years ago in the Big Downtown Bookstore, and was disappointed to only see one-see, two-see of these INCREDIBLE books listed on your fantastic service. I would like to purchase the ENTIRE series if you can somehow swing it. Thank you.
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Summary: If you like horror and humor, you'll like Robert Arthur too!
Review: Even though these are so hard to come across sometimes, the Three Investigators books by Robert Arthur are phenomenal! There's humor, excitement, and all that good stuff!
Some people accuse these books of being sort of out-dated, since the boys don't have any girls to help them in this mystery. Well, one should just keep in mind that these were written in the 1960's, and I don't think people should let that sort of thing get in the way of an enjoyment of these books. Robert Arthur is a wonderful author with a stellar sense of humor, and this is definitely his very best of the Three Invesigators books!
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Summary: ???
Review: I, now 34 years old, like most of the other reviewers for this book grew up reading the series and believe them to be great stories for both the young reader and the adult reader. A few years ago I began wondering if the THREE INVESTIGATORS (TI) were available for purchase today. I have an 11 year old son and thought he might enjoy reading them. I also thought I might like re-reading them again. I found that indeed some of the books were available but to my surprise the Alfred Hitchcock introductions and conclusions had been removed from the books. This put me off so that I decided not to purchase them. Around this time I also became familiar with Amazon.com's auction site ... . Suffice it to say I was able to find almost all the orginal mysteries with the Hitchock material and references included as well as the artwork by Harry Kane. I also was able to purchase them in the 1960's hardback form. These books have been read before and show some light wear but that's a fair trade off if it means I can have the original hardback versions with all the original content. I began my collection with THE SECRET OF TERROR CASTLE. I think that this is a great intro into the series and as other readers have indicated the mystery follows a logical pattern so that if you pay attention you may be able to piece the ending together. As for me I almost figured the mystery out. I had guessed the Whisperer had a role in the events going on at Terror Castle but had not guessed the full extent. For the adult reader I might suggest reading this book while at work. I have recently read adult authors such as Clancy, Cussler and Brooks at work and find that such concentration is required for this heavier reading and that the work enviornment slows my reading pace down. I found that while reading TI at work I was able to move at a quick pace and the lighter reading lent itself nicely to the busy work enviornment. I have just about completed collecting all the Robert Arthur TI books in hardback and will probably stop there as I like his writing the best. ...
Rating:
Summary: ???
Review: I, now 34 years old, like most of the other reviewers for this book grew up reading the series and believe them to be great stories for both the young reader and the adult reader. A few years ago I began wondering if the THREE INVESTIGATORS (TI) were available for purchase today. I have an 11 year old son and thought he might enjoy reading them. I also thought I might like re-reading them again. I found that indeed some of the books were available but to my surprise the Alfred Hitchcock introductions and conclusions had been removed from the books. This put me off so that I decided not to purchase them. Around this time I also became familiar with Amazon.com's auction site ... . Suffice it to say I was able to find almost all the orginal mysteries with the Hitchock material and references included as well as the artwork by Harry Kane. I also was able to purchase them in the 1960's hardback form. These books have been read before and show some light wear but that's a fair trade off if it means I can have the original hardback versions with all the original content. I began my collection with THE SECRET OF TERROR CASTLE. I think that this is a great intro into the series and as other readers have indicated the mystery follows a logical pattern so that if you pay attention you may be able to piece the ending together. As for me I almost figured the mystery out. I had guessed the Whisperer had a role in the events going on at Terror Castle but had not guessed the full extent. For the adult reader I might suggest reading this book while at work. I have recently read adult authors such as Clancy, Cussler and Brooks at work and find that such concentration is required for this heavier reading and that the work enviornment slows my reading pace down. I found that while reading TI at work I was able to move at a quick pace and the lighter reading lent itself nicely to the busy work enviornment. I have just about completed collecting all the Robert Arthur TI books in hardback and will probably stop there as I like his writing the best. ...
Rating:
Summary: A childhood treasure
Review: Like so many people posting here, I first discovered the Three Investigators books as a 4th grader in the early '70s. The Mystery of the Green Ghost was the first one I read and hooked me on the entire series. I am thrilled to see that these books are once again in print and available to delight and engross children of today.
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Summary: Great stuff
Review: Somewhere between 1964 and 1967 my mom gave me a new hardback copy of "The Secret of Terror Castle". So I was somewhere between 5 and 8 (I was an early reader). Wow, what a great book. This might actually be the best of the lot. I think there was some kind of a book-of-the-month club thing with the T.I. books because they kept on coming: The Whispering Mummy, the Stuttering Parrot, etc. I got the "Secret of Skeleton Island" for Christmas in 1968 or so. I read the darn thing in one day and woke my parents up late that night to inform them of it! The thing about the T.I.s was that they were almost like real kids and the stories were even somewhat spooky at times. I read the Hardy Boys of course (and the Happy Hollisters- ugh), but the Three Investigators are the best. In the 90s I saw some paperback re-issues in a grocery store and gave them to my young niece and nephew (I don't have kids). They liked the stories too of course- how could they not? Anyway, get these books now and give them to any/all kids you can find. Last year I bought up hardback copies to fill out the original set I once had and re-read all of them. Up to about the Nervous Lion I think. Viva Los Tres Investigators!
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Summary: An excellent series, that respects its readers' intelligence
Review: 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.
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Summary: inspirational
Review: 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.
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Summary: Excellent series for young readers who like mystery!
Review: What a great series of books this is. I remember first reading this series when I was in Fourth Grade in 1974. I was introduced to the series by going to my grade school library and reading "The Mystery of the Talking Skull". I was hooked on the series right there and then. Many years later (2002) I was re-introduced to the series and have been collecting the 1st edition hardbacks of the series that was published in the mid 1960's. Having the legendary Alfred Hitchcock introduce and become involved in the storylines of these mystery's was a stroke of genius by the contributing authors. I think it is neat that Hitchcock gave his own personal approval to the series. This first book finds the three teenage investigators trying to solve "The Secret of Terror Castle"! Will Jupiter, Bob, and Pete be able to solve the secret without being harmed? Well, I won't give away any secrets...However, I can tell readers that they will NOT be dissapointed with the storyline and mystery!! HIGHLY Recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: A great series with a few annoying lapses
Review: What I liked about this series:
1. The way the cases always have such neat and clever endings (with the possible exception of the flaming footprints).
2. The very original and inventive plots.
3. The occasional twists: the person you thought was bad suddenly turns good.
4. The ghost-to-ghost hook up. I think that's really clever. What I didn't like about this series:
1. I find it very annoying that the 3 main characters are boys. All right, I know that it was written in the sixties, but being a next generation female, this is the greatest problem. I can't think of any girl that is involved in any of their cases.
2. The club house. Kind of cliched, don't you think? Also, the secret passageways into the junkyard. How did those come about? How did they fix up the printer and the darkroom and all that? None of them seem to show any kind of electrical prowess.
3. The way the boys always have everything they need at their disposal, through the junkyard, thecompetition in which Jupiter won the Rolls, etc, etc.
4. Why is Bob always stuck in records and research? it's infuriating the way he never does anything exciting.
5. Jupiter's pompous and know-it-all manner. How can his friends stand it? How can he have friends?
6. Skinny Norris is another stereotype. The bully who gets in the hero's way. As you can see, there's a lot more bad than good, but seriously, I do like these books. They're so original and imaginitive.
I do think that kids these days aren't really going to get into these books. They're too old fashioned. Hey, I only read them because I have the weirdest and most varied taste in books I've ever come across.
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