BOOKLIST -- While some of us old fogeys will lament the darkening of these stalwart, all-American kid detectives, teens will find this disillusioned and gritty version of great interest. The sunny town of Bayport has a dark underbelly. Police detective Fenton Hardy is dead and disgraced, and his sons Frank and Joe stand accused of his murder. Enter tough-as-nails Nancy, who helps them infiltrate the Bayport underworld to clear themselves and uncover the truth about Dad. Del Col creates an interesting friction between the brothers, but it's Nancy who drives the plot with a feisty confidence and hard-boiled dialogue that she maintains even through her own tragic familial revelations. While the three are all enterprising and brave, for famous detectives, they do virtually no actual deducting, making the familiar crime elements somewhat less riveting for it. The visuals, though, stand out for the international art team's subtly nonstandard sensibilities. The refined gestures and body language of characters, the somber blues and seeping noir shadows, and even the unusual integration of the sound effects create an enjoyably distinct world.- Jesse Karp

In Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie, Detective Fenton Hardy has been murdered, and the Bayport police think Joe and Frank murdered their father. The boys, high school teens, face session after session in the police station, interrogated by Chief Collig and Detective Peterson. It turns out that was the plan, concocted by their friend Nancy. Someone framed Fenton Hardy and made him look like a crooked cop before murdering him, and the teens decide to play a very dangerous game to prove Detective Hardy's innocence and find the actual murderer. This story is not for children, but for high school-age readers; everything in the book, from the tough characters to the somewhat seedy atmosphere in Bayport to the dark-toned art lends to the strongly noir mystery. Nobody, including Nancy and the Hardy boys, are quite what they appear; everyone has secrets here. Older teens who enjoy mysteries and anyone who thought that the classic Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys were too good to be true will enjoy this story.
-VOYA