SERIES BOOKS:  Articles and Reviews
The Secret of the Old Books - A reflection on the value and enjoyment of series books.

Series Books: Their Appeal 

What Makes for a Favorite Book? 

Used Book Stores - An endangered species.

Sixty Issues of The Review - A celebration of the finest publication of its type for series book
                                                    enthusiasts, 1980-2023.  NEW! 9/17/23

People We'll Never Know - Inscriptions in series books. 

Ms. Alice Lamay - Please read the above article BEFORE you read this one.  Enjoy! 

More than Rick Brant - Other Books and Articles by Harold Goodwin. 

Visiting Other Collectors  

Seven Women -  Seven women who wrote six exceptionally fine juvenile series.

Series Books as Serious Books 

Series Books: Yesterday, Today, and Yet to Come 

Confession of a Series Book Collector 

Series Books and a Better World 

Series Books Through the Lens of History - Books as time machines.   (Large file.)

Dates of Death of Primary Series Book Authors  (A sidebar to the above article.) 

Red, Brown, Yellow, Black, & White -A Reflection on Racism in Our Favorite Series
                                                                    Books. 

How Is the Weather? - Snow, Wind, Rain, and Sun in Series Books.

The Parent Problem - Dead parents, phantom parents and healthy, intact families in series
                                         books.

A Visit to Whitby, Ontario - Last home of Leslie McFarlane, the original Hardy Boys author.

The Ruin on Ghost Mountain - Searching for elusive author Marshal South.

Cosmic War: Light Versus Dark - War in Science Fiction Series Books with special insight
                                                              into the Starman series.

Discovering Enid Blyton in Hay-on-Wye - Noted English author of over 700 books!

After 60 Years - A neat story about a book that gets back to its original owner. 

The Story of an Old Library Book - David tracks down its journey, locates a vanished school,
                                     and finds the one person who "checked it out" long ago. 

Small Towns in Series Books - "There is something about small towns whose attraction is 
                                                         almost painfully wonderful."
Articles on Specific Series

The Three Investigators series - 43 titles, 1964 - 1987.

T3I: Modern-Day Mythology in the Making - an essay by Chris Workman, 2011.

Is Brains Benton the Inspiration for The Three Investigators? - an essay by Mark Coomer, 
                                                                                                                    2004.

The Barbara Ann series - 4 titles, 1939 - 1942. 

The Roger Baxter series - 3 titles, 1946 - 1948.  Prelude to the highly regarded Ken Holt
                                               series!

The Biff Brewster series - 13 titles, 1960 - 1965.

The Arden Blake series - 3 titles, 1934.  NEW! 10/29/23

The Iron Boys series - 4 titles, 1912 - 1913. 

The Carson Street Detectives - 4 titles, 1952 - 1969.

The Chums of Scranton High - 4 titles, 1919.

The Ellery Queen, Jr. series - 11 titles, 1941 - 1962.

The Frenchy Beaumont series - 5 titles, 1953 - 1960  NEW! 9/17/22

The Jay-Jay Jenks, Jr.  series - 2 titles, 1948 & 1950.

The Adventure Stories of Graham M. Dean - 17 books, 1930 - 1961. 

The Bret King series - 9 titles, 1960 - 1964.

The Mary Louise Gay series - 3 titles, 1935.  

The Mill Creek Irregulars - 10 titles, 1958 - 1970.

        Sauk City (A sidebar to the above article.)  

The Morgan Bay Mysteries series - 8 titles, 1962 - 1965. 

The Tom Quest series - 8 titles, 1947 - 1955.  No article yet on this series but the following
                                           piece concerns Gulliver, a delightful character found in the Tom Quest
                                           series. Indeed, Gulliver is one of the most interesting and memorable
                                           characters you'll find in ANY series:
                                           The Seasoning in Gulliver's Medicine Chest.  

The Tom Slade series - 19 titles, 1915 - 1930.

The Railroad series (Ralph of the Railroad) - 10 titles, 1906 - 1928.

The Roy Stover series - 4 titles, 1929 - 1934.  

The Sea Runners' Cache - Capwell Wyckoff's 2nd-to-last juvenile novel 1935.

The Ted Wilford series - 15 titles, 1951 - 1967.     (Scroll down to see a complete collection!)

The Wynn & Lonny series - 6 titles, 1975 - 1978.  The final Stratemeyer Syndicate product.

The X Bar X Boys series - 21 titles, 1926 - 1942.
UPDATED: 10/29/23

Since about 1998, juvenile series book reader, collector and author David M. Baumann has written several dozen articles on the subject.  Many of these articles are his personal reflections and reminiscences of the hobby while some try to answer how and why these "kid books" remain so dear to us.  Other articles are reviews of specific series.  Many of these articles have previously appeared in various publications or elsewhere on-line but there are also many which are only available right here.  threeinvestigatorsbooks.com is happy to provide a permanent on-line home to help preserve these articles and to introduce them to both new and veteran readers/collectors of series books. David continues to write articles on series books and we will include them here as they become available.

I would like to include many more articles, essays and reviews on series books.
Please contact me for more details.
Very scarce, complete collection of the 15 books in the Ted Wilford series written by Norvin Pallas.  All have their original dust jackets and only three of them are ex-library copies.  A couple of the books are signed by Mr. Pallas.  This assemblage incorporates some other books by Pallas including his self-published collection of poetry, "Moods in Mauve", and a previously unpublished book, "We Were Just Boys", published in 2014 and available through lulu.com.   - Collection of Seth T. Smolinske

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