Question for our German friends The 3 Investigators

[F13 (F13)]

I was just wondering if any of you are familiar with the book series about three amateur detectives know as "The Three Investigators" or "???". The earlier stories featured Alfred Hitchcock as a recurring character. I've recently discovered that this series seems to be very popular in Germany and there's now about 105 books in the series. Alas, the later titles are published in German only. There also may have been spin-off novels about Hans and Konrad [who worked in the Jones' Salvage Yard]

[Stefan (Auric)]

Yes, it is a very popular series here, especially among younger readers as far as I know. <BR> <BR>The series was originally created in 1964 by US-American writer Robert Arthur, who wrote 11 episodes of "The Three Investigators". <BR>It was published under the name of Alfred Hitchcock, who served as a patron for the series, but never wrote an episode himself. <BR>The first episode published in Germany was "Gespensterschloß" in 1968. <BR>The series has been continued by other US-American writers after Arthur had deceased in 1969. <BR> <BR>On October 12 in 1979 "Die drei ???" started as a radio play series in Germany, and has been very successful. <BR>In 1990 the book series was put on ice in the USA, and since 1993 it's only continued in Germany. <BR> <BR>In the years from 1993 to 1996 Brigitte Johanna Henkel-Waidhofer wrote 16 episodes of "Die drei ???". Today there's 3 authors who write new episodes by turns: Ben Nevis, André Minninger and André Marx. <BR> <BR>More information and a community and can be found at German site dreifragezeichen.de. <BR> <BR><CENTER><A HREF="http://www.dreifragezeichen.de" TARGET="_blank"><IMG SRC="http://www.electric-ent.com/bbs/messages/19/620.gif" ALT="Die drei ???"></A></CENTER> <BR> <BR>Hope this helps. <IMG SRC="http://www.electric-ent.com/bbs/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":)">

[This moment is so much bigger than (F_U_N_G_U_S)]

This sounds like "The Hardy Boys" mysteries.

[F13 (F13)]

Thanks for the information, Auric! Maybe someday, the "new" books will be translated into English. After finishing the original series, I did find some new adventures under the "Crimebusters" heading, but a different author had changed the personalities quite a bit. <BR> <BR>Fungus, the 3 Investigators were like the Hardy Boys in a way, but much more enjoyable. They mostly solved mysteries in their homn town of Rocky Beach, CA, rather than travelling to far-flung places. There were lots of nice little touches like a hidden headquarters buried under junk in a salvage yard, a Rolls Royce to carry them around [won in a competition], each member carrying different coloured chalk to leave a "?" if they got lost or in trouble and supernatural mysteries that turned out to be human-based.

[Tina (Trina)]

After Auric's comprehensive info there's not much to add for my, I'm afraid. ;-) But I also have several books from this series and I loved reading them. The characters are really nice and I especially liked the little paragraphs with 'hints' for the reader, so that every reader could train his or her 'detective skills' as well... Obviously these books are still very popular here, but I didn't know that there are still new stories written for the series. That's cool. <BR> <BR>Btw, Wayne, just saw a few Irish guys with their van at a gas station in our town today - and had to think of you. I found that remarkable, because I think I have never seen any vehicle with an Irish country code plate anywhere near here, lol! I paid after them and was hoping for a few Irish Euro coins as change, but unfortunately I had no luck. ;-)

[F13 (F13)]

Tina, nice to know the characters are still popular. I like to dig out the stories as well some Enid Blyton books when i'm feeling nostalgic for simpler times <IMG SRC="http://www.electric-ent.com/bbs/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":)"> After doing a bit of looking on the web, I discovered that some German fans actually made their own film of "Skeleton Island"! <BR> <BR>Interesting story about the Irish tourists - do you remember what letter[s] were on their plates? The format for our number plates is "Year-County Abbreviation-4 or more numbers" e.g. 02-WH-8731 <BR> <BR>Of course, if you would like any Irish Euro coins, just let me know and I will send you some.

[Tina (Trina)]

wow, they really made an own film about it? That's really cool. <BR> <BR>I don't remember the letters on the number plates unfortunately. I think, the year was 99, but I can't remember the letters. All I remember is that the plates really had that format, lol. But it's interesting. <BR> <BR>As far as the Euro coins are concerned... well, do you also collect the coins from different countries when you get any? We could maybe exchange some, that would be great.

[Stefan (Auric)]

Me too, me too! <IMG SRC="http://www.electric-ent.com/bbs/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":)"> <BR> <BR>Hey Tina, wanna exchange Euro coins with me? :D

[Tina (Trina)]

How do yours look? Do you have a special edition? ;-)

[Stefan (Auric)]

hehehe... wished I had... :o)

[F13 (F13)]

Tina, if you'd like to exchange coins, just let me know.