Every bit as fun and as exciting as you remember. I grew up with these books. They taught me to love reading and had a strong influence on me as a writer. Revisiting them as an adult has been like meeting up with friends you haven't seen in a dozen years; I am now old enough to have friends I haven't seen in as many years. I'm thrilled to find Jupe as stout as ever, Pete as adverse to danger as I recalled, and Bob as meticulous as he'd been when I was a kid.

The Mystery of the Headless Horse by Michael Collins. [b:The Mystery of the Headless Horse|2558772|The Mystery of the Headless Horse (Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators, #26)|William Arden|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1208680872l/2558772._SX50_.jpg|956577]
An Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators Mystery. Book 26 in the series.
If you've never read any of these, they are, in my opinion, the *best* of the young adult mysteries. Beginning in 1964 and the last in 1987. Regular stories, find-your-fate went to 1990.
These stories really incorporated all that we love from from cartoons like Scooby-Doo and movies like The Goonies and detective work inspired from the Hardy Boys.
Stories of haunted castles, treasure maps, hidden treasures galore, mummies, ghosts and more.

In The Mystery of the Headless Horse, the boys make friends with a Mexican American boy, Diego Alvaro, and his older brother Pico, at their school. Their ancestors were the first land holders in California and their history goes back to Cortés.
Over the years, their many thousands of acres of land has been whittled down to one last ranch.
But now their greedy neighbor, and father of the Three Investigators' arch nemesis "Skinny" Norris, is set on getting their last piece of land - by any means necessary!
The Alvaro's only hope is to find a priceless family heirloom, a Jewel encrusted sword, a present from the King of Spain to Cortés and then from Cortez to the Alvaro ancestors.
This relic would bring enough money to save their land. But it's been lost since 1846! Can the Three Investigators find it?
Adventures in historical societies and libraries pouring over old dusty maps, diaries, and documents, discovering intriguing stories and finding more questions than answers. But always finding more clues!
An excellent mystery, one quite deserving of the Three Investigators!

Ich habe gerade ein ganz schlechtes Gewissen diesem Buch nur zwei Sterne zu geben, aber ich habe mich wirklich durchgequält und kann es nicht mehr richtig erklären, wieso es mich so genervt und gelangweilt hat.

Ich habe die Vermutung, dass ich das Hörspiel als Kind einfach viel zu oft angehört habe und den Fall daher in und auswendig kannte. Aber wieso mich das Buch gar so gelangweilt hat erklärt das trotzdem nicht. Irgendwie mäanderte das Buch nur so vor sich her, während sie nach dem Schwert suchen. Da kommt nie irgendwie Spannung auf.

Und irgendwie, ja, ist mir Skinny auch zu böse in diesem Buch. Seine ganzen Anti-Mexikaner Aussagen waren mir ein bisschen zu viel.

Skurril fand ich, dass die Bezeichnung "der schlanke Junge" etwa 50 mal in diesem Buch vorkommt, fast schon als Eigenname. Als wär das so eine eindeutige Beschreibung für jemanden, besonders da es nicht immer für die gleiche Person verwendet wurde.

Überraschenderweise fand ich die letzten 50 Seiten dann doch noch mal etwas besser und unterhaltsamer.