The Three Investigators Ebook Collection

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One of the Three Investigators book

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Notes: I am terribly sorry that I couldn't respon all the email I received about downloading the rare collection of The Three Investigators.

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Updates: But hey may be these books on Amazon may satisfy your hunger for The Three Investigators book :p. Please let me know if you found one you search.

So, just below of this paragraf are some good 50 The Three Investigators books of 584 I could find on Amazon. (it may take a while to load the Amazon box).

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Original Posting : Here's The Three Investigator Ebook Collection in my HSPRDP, all of them are in PDF format :

1. The Secret of Terror Castle
2. The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot
3. The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy
4. The Mystery of the Green Ghost
5. The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure
6. The Secret of Skeleton Island
7. The Mystery of the Fiery Eye
8. The Mystery of the Silver Spider
9. The Mystery of the Screaming Clock
10. The Mystery of the Moaning Cave
11. The Mystery of the Talking Skull
12. The Mystery of the Laughing Shadow
13. The Secret of the Crooked Cat
14. The Mystery of the Coughing Dragon
15. The Mystery of the Flaming Footprints
16. The Mystery of the Nervous Lion
17. The Mystery of the Singing Serpent
18. The Mystery of the Shrinking House
19. The Secret of Phantom Lake
20. The Mystery of Monster Mountain
21. The Secret of the Haunted Mirror
22. The Mystery of the Dead Man's Riddle
23. The Mystery of the Invisible Dog
24. The Mystery of Death Trap Mine
25. The Mystery of the Dancing Devil
26. The Mystery of the Headless Horse
27. The Mystery of the Magic Circle
28. The Mystery of the Deadly Double
29. The Mystery of the Sinister Scarecrow
30. The Secret of Shark Reef
31. The Mystery of the Scar-Faced Beggar
32. The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs
33. The Mystery of the Purple Pirate
34. The Mystery of the Wandering Caveman
35. The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale
36. The Mystery of the Missing Mermaid
37. The Mystery of the Two-Toed Pigeon
38. The Mystery of the Smashing Glass
39. The Mystery of the Trail of Terror
40. The Mystery of the Rogues' Reunion
41. The Mystery of the Creep-Show Crooks
42. The Mystery of Wrecker's Rock
43. The Mystery of the Cranky Collector
44. The Mystery of the Ghost Train (unpublished/unfinished)
    

Who were The Three Investigators?

The Three Investigators was an American juvenile detective book series first published as "Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators." It was created by Robert Arthur, Jr., who believed using a famous figure like movie director Hitchcock would attract attention. Random House, which is owned by Bertelsmann AG, is the U.S. publisher and still holds some of the rights to the books. Other rights are held by the heirs to Robert Arthur, Jr. and the German publisher, Kosmos. The Three Investigators are Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews.

Most of the mysteries involved investigation of baffling phenomena (e.g., an ancient Egyptian mummy that whispered and a human skull that talked).

Main Characters of The Three Investigators

1. Jupiter Jones, First Investigator - A former child actor, Jupiter is intelligent, stocky, and has a remarkable memory and deductive skills. Jupiter is an orphan who lives with Uncle Titus Jones and Aunt Mathilda, who run a salvage business. Jupiter is not exactly fit, and a bit plump. He goes by the nickname "Jupe."
2. Pete Crenshaw, Second Investigator - Pete is an athletic youth who dislikes dangerous situations but is nonetheless reliable as the "action member" of the team. Pete loves and cares for animals. His father is a special effects man in Hollywood.
3. Robert "Bob" Andrews, Records and Research - Bob is studious, meticulous, and wears glasses. Early in the series he wore leg braces because of an accident he had, relegating him to a more studious and less physical approach to investigation. Bob works in the local library part-time, suiting his role as data collector. His father is a newspaper man, and occasionally gives Bob helpful hints.

Supporting characters

1. Worthington - Worthington is a British chauffeur who drives the Three Investigators around in a Rolls Royce. As time passes, he also becomes a confidante and helper in the boys' investigations.
2. Alfred Hitchcock - Hitchcock was the boys' first patron who "introduced" their first 30 cases. In truth, the introductions were written by each book's author, not by Hitchcock himself. Random House paid Hitchcock for the use of his name. After the death of the movie mogul in 1980, the Hitchcock estate asked for more money, and the publisher refused. The last Hitchcock book was The Secret of Shark Reef. From then on, the boys' cases were introduced by the (fictional) famous detective-turned-writer Hector Sebastian.
3. Hector Sebastian - Sebastian took over the patron role beginning with The Mystery of the Scar-Faced Beggar (#31). Hitchcock's name and silhouette on the cover art of each book were then replaced by a stylized keyhole. Later, all of the Hitchcock volumes were reprinted with the keyhole and introductions by Hector Sebastian. The one exception was the reprint of the first story, The Secret of Terror Castle, which was "introduced" by the fictional Reginald Clarke, a movie producer. This was necessary since a movie producer (originally Hitchcock) was central to the plot, and Hector Sebastian did not fill that role.

Recurring adversaries

1. E. Skinner "Skinny" Norris - Skinny is a student from a well-to-do family in the school attended by the Three Investigators who was a legal resident of another state, and thus able to drive. He was constantly trying to outdo the Investigators, always failing in the end but not before causing the Investigators some trouble. In The Mystery of the Headless Horse, Skinny Norris dabbles in arson, a stunt that gets him shipped off to military school.
2. Hugenay - Hugenay is a French art thief who cleverly eluded police from Europe and had a professional respect for Jupiter Jones.

"The Three Investigators" agency

Jupiter, Pete, and Bob live in Rocky Beach, a fictional southern California coastal town described as 10 to 12 miles from Hollywood and 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Jupiter's family owns and operates the Jones Salvage Yard ("the Yard"), where the team's headquarters is hidden in an old trailer, which itself is hidden amid the "junk." There are several ingenious secret entrances (ie. Tunnel Two, Door Four...etc). The trailer's equipment includes a telephone, a darkroom, a filing cabinet, and a workshop in which Jupiter assembles devices, mostly from discarded items found in the junk yard, which help the Investigators in their detective work. The team often has to pay for what they take by working for Aunt Mathilda, a hard taskmaster who believes "idle" boys should be put to work.

Jupiter has designed a business card to intrigue their potential clients, memorable to readers particularly for its three question marks. These potential clients often ask what the question marks stand for, giving Jupiter an opening to impress them with his explanation that they are "symbolical of questions to be answered, mysteries to be solved." The boys' patrons usually did no more than introduce them to cases, meet again with them at the end of a particular adventure, and sometimes refer them to specialists such as a scholar on studies of the supernatural. At no point is it ever suggested that the patrons provided the Investigators funding in their work.

The Three Investigators solve cases by doing research (Bob's speciality), active observation (Pete's speciality), and clever deduction (Jupiter's speciality). Though the boys are both younger and lack the resources and connections of fellow fictional detectives The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, they have found ways to compensate or ignore these handicaps. Though too young to drive, the Three Investigators soon acquire reliable transportation in the form of a Rolls Royce limousine driven by British chauffeur Worthington. Jupiter won the use of the limousine for "thirty days, of twenty-four hours each" after winning a promotional contest held by the rental agency, soon before beginning their investigation of The Secret of Terror Castle. Despite Jupe's argument that the wording "thirty days of twenty-four hours each" meant that the boys should have the use of the Rolls Royce for the equivalent of 30 full days (or 720 hours), the Rent-N-Ride Auto Agency briefly ended their use of the limo in The Mystery of the Fiery Eye. Fortunately, a grateful client arranged for the boys to have access to the car whenever they needed it. Nevertheless, although Worthington became a confidante and a supporter of the boys' work, the limo's use grew rare in later books.

After proving their reliability, the Investigators received a green card from Rocky Beach police chief Samuel Reynolds, which identified them as junior deputies cooperating with the Rocky Beach police. They used this credential occasionally to convince others they were serious detectives.

Plot elements

Each installment of the series would begin with an introduction by the current patron of the Three Investigators. The mystery would then begin, as the boys would be introduced to a case, investigate using their observation skills and wit, and eventually solve the case. However, in each book, there would usually be an instance in which one or more of the boys is threatened or captured, and the other boys, sometimes with the help of others, must rescue the Investigator in peril. For instance, in The Mystery of the Green Ghost, Bob and a friend (and later Pete) are captured while exploring a narrow cavern and taken to the headquarters of Mr. Won, the book's villain, a Chinese man who drinks powder from rare "Ghost Pearls" to prolong his life. Mr. Won convinces the boys to reveal the location of the ghost pearls which they had hidden and attempts to hypnotize them into leading the way to the hiding place. Jupiter is able to obtain the assistance of Chief Reynolds and other policemen to nab the wrongdoers and rescue his friends by intercepting a note with "???" written on it which Bob had composed as he had successfully avoided the hypnosis.

Though the books were initially published in 1964 and thus computers and cell phones were not available to the Three Investigators in their early days, the technology and plots evolved as time passed. Reflecting trends in U.S. society, there were references to the growing public interest in the supernatural, such as seances in two books published in the 1970s. Awareness of ecology showed in The Mystery of the Sinister Scarecrow (1979), UFOs in The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs (1981), protection of whales in The Mystery of the Kidnapped Whale (1983), and the dangers of toxic waste in Rough Stuff (1989). One of the first novels ever published that revolved around a computer virus was Fatal Error (1990).

Publishing History

The original series ran from 1964 to 1987 and comprised 43 books. Books number 1 to 9 and 11 were written by the creator, Robert Arthur, who also sketched out ideas for a few of the other stories. Arthur had been an editor for several Hitchcock book collections. The other authors were William Arden (Dennis Lynds), Nick West (Kin Platt), M(ary). V(irginia). Carey, and Marc Brandel (born Marcus Beresford). All of the authors wrote their own introductions and epilogues, which purportedly were dictated by Hitchcock.

In the original series, the specific ages of the investigators were never revealed, but context indicates that they were likely 13 or 14 years old. They were not old enough to drive, but were said to be just a few years younger than their nemesis Skinny Norris, who had a driver's license. On one occasion it was mentioned that Pete was on the high school wrestling team.

The investigators were typically introduced into a mystery through a client or by accidentally stumbling upon something unusual. The boys encountered baffling, sometimes misleading clues and danger before finally solving the crime. A major strength of the series was that the boys had to work to find and understand clues, unlike other contemporary series in which serendipity and coincidence played a frequent role. The last chapter of each book was an epilogue in which the investigators sat with Alfred Hitchcock (and later, Hector Sebastian), reviewing the mystery and revealing the deductions through the clues shown earlier in the book.

In 1989, Random House revamped the series, calling it The 3 Investigators — Crimebusters Series. The investigators were 17 years old, could drive, and were far more independent. The stories continued to contain an abundance of detecting but with the addition of more action. The series was well received but was halted in 1990 when legal issues between Random House and the heirs to the Arthur estate could not be resolved. By 2005, the disagreements were still not settled.

Eleven novels were published in the Crime Busters series, which was launched by one of the series' favorite authors -- William Arden (pseudonym of Dennis Lynds, who wrote the Dan Fortune mystery series for adults under the pen name of Michael Collins). The other authors were Megan Stine and husband H. William Stine, G.H. Stone (Gayle Lynds), William MacCay, Marc Brandel, and Peter Lerangis.

Random House has reprinted several of the original books in two paperback reprint series, partly to assure their legal rights.

International Publishing

The Three Investigators books have always been very popular in Germany. They are known there as the "Die drei ???" (Die drei Fragezeichen) meaning "The Three Question Marks". While American authors' novels in the series continue to be published there, German writers have added more, contributing about six new ones a year with the count being up to 124 episodes in summer 2008. None of the German books have been published in the United States, although there are by far more German than U.S. titles by now. Taped readings (radioplays) of the novels are special favorites in Germany. Many fans listened to them as children and rediscovered them as grownups. When the actors, who have been narrating the plays since 1979, toured the country, entire stadiums in major cities like Hamburg were packed.

Sixty-one original stories (including 'Crimebusters') have been published in Poland (by SIEDMIOROG), where they are still very popular. The books are also very popular among kids and grownups in Slovakia where the books are published by MLADE LETA.

In Italy, the Three Investigators novels have been published in paperback by Mondadori in the 1970s and 1980s within their "Giallo per ragazzi" series that included Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and other juvenile sleuths' adventures. The cover author for the Three Investigators books was always Alfred Hitchcock, whereas the inner copyright notice correctly reported the real author (although saying "Text by ..."). No other publications of the novels is known.

In France, the original 9 books were published in the 70s by the Bibliothèque Verte collection of books for young readers under the title Trois Jeunes Détectives (3 young investigators). In that version Jupiter was rechristened as Hannibal, nicknamed as "Babal". As in Italy, Hitchcock was touted as sole author.

In 2003 a Three Investigators movie was announced. If it is successful, the producers have said they will make more, since they have projected a series. The first is The Secret of Skeleton Island,[1] which was released in Europe in 2007 and is scheduled for release in the U.S. in 2008.

New English-language Three Investigators titles were released in 2005 for the first time since 1990. The German 'American-English' series saw the release of Poisoned E-Mail and The Curse Of The Cell Phone. As of May 2008, a total of seven German stories have been translated and published in this format, with an eighth title due for publication in October.

Collecting The Three Investigators

A complete set of the Three Investigators is not easy to locate, especially in hardback, and can be quite expensive. As the series continued, the books went through several format changes, from matte finish covers, to glossy covers, to different endpapers.

Beginning with book #29 (Secret of the Sinister Scarecrow) and continuing through book #43 (The Mystery of the Cranky Collector), hardcover editions of the books were only released to libraries (Gibraltar Library Binding); therefore, hardcover copies of books 29 through 43 are typically found in poor condition, and paperback copies are easier to locate. Interested collectors should look for books #1 through #30 that state the series title as: Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, rather than just Three Investigators.

Those without the Hitchcock name are editions that were rewritten after Hitchcock's death in 1980, replacing Hitchcock with Hector Sebastian. These are easier to find but only have value as reading editions. Additionally, these editions have been edited and rewritten from the original.

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