Undercover Brothers - Series Background

Series Background

Like all Hardy Boys series, the Undercover Brothers is about two teenage brother detectives, Frank and Joe Hardy, who are the sons of world famous PI Fenton Hardy. Although there are many similarities in this series to previous Hardy Boys series, there are also many changes. Here are just a few:

• The Hardy boys are undercover agents for ATAC (American Teens Against Crime), a top secret government organization, co-founded by their father, and are solving more realistic and violent crimes. Since it is a top-secret organization, Frank and Joe often need to make up excuses to convince their mother and aunt to let them go places.
• The books in this series are written in first-person narrative style with Frank and Joe alternating chapters and often interrupting each other.
• The Hardy boys' aunt's name is shortened from Gertrude to Trudy, but she is very much the same person. It is revealed in Hurricane Joe why she shortened her name to Trudy.
• The Hardy boys' long-time girlfriends, Callie Shaw and Iola Morton, appear in the books, but Frank and Joe are no longer dating them.
• The Hardys have a pet parrot named Playback.