The Riddle of the Stone Elephant

I grew up read the Rick Brant Science Adventure series. It was sort of a cross between the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift. That's not really fair as the science part of Rick Brant was generally well thought out and realistic whereas Tom Swift was pretty silly. In the groups that talk about Rick Brant, people often refer to the Ken Holt books. This is one of those and it is well written and engaging. All these early YA series are pretty dated, this one was published in 1949. While you might not have to remember 25 cent gas and film photography to enjoy the book, it will probably help. The mystery was engaging and was solved by gathering clues and making connections, not just because the bad guys were stupid. So I recommend the book and probably the series. Also, a lot of these series were aimed at teenage boys. There is only one woman in this book, she runs the boarding house. Her major contributions were to deliver messages and bake cookies.