Caught in their motorboat the Sleuth by a sudden storm at sea, Frank and Joe Hardy are relieved to see the lights of a yacht. But their SOS ignored. The shrill sound of a siren fills the night air and moments later a helicopter drops an object alongside the Sleuth: a wallet containing two thousand dollars! The next day, a truck carrying a shipment of high-powered rifles has been stolen. These two apparently unconnected events are clues in a tangle of mystery which turns out to be one of the detective brothers’ most exciting adventures.

Their SOS ignored in a storm, the Hardy boys find a wallet containing two thousand dollars alongside their boat and are launched into a mystery involving diverse clues.

A sleek new hydrofoil is scheduled to start ferrying passengers between Bayport and Cape Cutlass. But business enemies of the hydrofoil owner have stirred up a hornets’ nest of violent opposition among small boat owners. Fearing sabotage, he begs Frank and Joe Hardy to guard the Flying Express on her maiden trip. Startling developments plunge the teenage detectives into a dangerous chase by sea, air, and land in pursuit of a gang of hardened criminals who operate by the signs of the Zodiac. Tension mounts when the Flying Express vanishes – and so does Sam Radley, Mr. Hardy’s skilled operative. Peril stalks Frank and Joe’s every moves as they hunt down the terrifying gangleader Zodiac Zig and his vicious henchmen.

With two mysteries to solve, Frank and Joe must climb aboard their iceboat the Sea Gull to reach Cabin Island, where a belligerent stranger orders them off. Sabotage to the boat, danger to themselves, and a ghostly prowler do not daunt the Hardy boys in their search for Johnny Jefferson and for clues to stolen antique medals. How the teenage investigators outwit a ruthless foe and succeed in solving both mysteries makes for mounting suspense in this brisk-paced adventure.