Although the brothers get knocked out now and then, nothing ever gets bloody in the Hardy Boys series, and no one ever is murdered. The criminals pursued are not Mafia kingpins or other major underworld figures. No drugs are involved. No one, not even a villain, smokes or drinks alcohol, and no one uses profanity. Readers would be hardpressed to find anything morally offensive in these books.

There is, however, a certain air of snobbery implicit in the characterizations. The Hardy brothers are affluent members of Bayport society. They own motorcycles, a roadster, and—from the third book onward—their own motorboat, the Sleuth. They never seem to lack money, and after solving mysteries, are generally rewarded—a gift of a thousand dollars is usual. They and the other heroes of Stratemeyer's series, as their names suggest, are of wealthy AngloSaxon stock. A...