While The Clock Ticked - Plot Summary (original Edition)

Plot Summary (original Edition)

When Raymond Dalrymple starts to receive death threats he seeks help from Fenton Hardy, however Mr. Hardy is out of town so Frank and Joe offer to help. Mr. Dalrymple did not want to give the Hardy boys the case, instead he simply told them to investigate the old Purdy house out on the Shore Road. While walking on the shore road they are almost hit by a big touring car with the curtains down, they then meet a motorcycle cop who was chasing the car which supposedly carried river thieves.

The next day Mr. Dalrymple returned, having decided to let the Hardy boys take the case. He explains that he recently purchased the Purdy house and had been using a secret safe room there to find solitude, however he had received death threats delivered to the secret room while it was securely locked. The Hardy boys explore the Purdy house that night and see a man who looks like Mr. Dalrymple enter the house before they hear screams coming from the house and meet Hurd Applegate, who the boys met while solving The Tower Treasure mystery, running from the house.

Mr. Applegate is too excited to explain what he was doing there, so the Hardy boys have to go back and explore the home another day. Upon further exploration they find an unused wing of the home which has recently had locks added to the doors. The police are called who find the locked rooms filled with stolen goods, stolen by the river thieves. While the police thought this resolved the case, the Hardy boys kept an eye on the Purdy house and found a stranger coming to the house, who then runs away after another scream is heard.

While investigating the house again the Hardy boys are taken hostage by a crazy old man named Amos and another man who looks almost exactly like Mr. Dalrymple. Surprisingly they are rescued by Mr. Applegate and a bomb, which was attached to the ticking grandfather clock, is safely disarmed. Mr. Dalrymple arrives with the police and Amos falls to his death while trying to escape. The Hardy boys examine the device he was using and solve the mystery of how he managed to deliver the death threats to the secret room, as well they locate stamps which Mr. Dalrymple's doppelganger had stolen from Mr. Applegate.