The House on the Cliff

When I started reading the Hardy Boys again, I was determined to get a hold of this book. The House on the Cliff is the second book in the series, but for some reason it was never published in the UK. I found out about the book in 1979 because a friend of mine had a copy of The Tower Treasure that I think his uncle had brought from the USA. Three things about that book struck me. First of all, in the UK, The Tower Treasure was Number 31 in the series, whereas it was actually the first one to be written. In Britain, The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior was the first title. Why? I have no idea. The second thing I noted was that my friend's book was Copyright 1959. The British editions all had much later copyright dates. I was even more surprised years later to discover that the books had actually first been written in 1927. The third thing I noticed was that the second title in the series was The House on the Cliff. I waited but, alas, no copy of this book ever materialized in the UK. So, in June of this year, I purchased the e-book and finally got to read it. It is not a remarkable story, but it is a good one and the first time the boys tangle with a "master" criminal. The only thing I would criticize about the book is that, like in The Tower Treasure, the criminal is nicknamed Red. The two crooks also have similar surnames: Jackley in the first story, and Snackley in the second.