The new Mitchell Brothers series features two teenage hockey-playing, crime-solving brothers in Northern Ontario in the 1930s. For his first foray into children’s fiction, renowned hockey writer and commentator Brian McFarlane dons the mantle worn by his father, Leslie, who – under the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon – wrote the original trend-setting sleuthing series, the Hardy Boys.

McFarlane sets the story in Haileybury, against the backdrop of an actual forest fire that burnt down much of the town in 1935. He evokes the town and its cast of Leacock-like comic types with affectionate familiarity. His treatment is a retro throwback to the conventions and values of the Hardy Boys, perhaps too much for the book’s own good. The novel uneasily straddles the fine line between nostalgic revival and dated dinosaur.

Initially indistinguishable, the brothers’ contrasting characters emerge as the story progresses. Max Mitchell, the high-achieving older brother is serious and responsible while Marty is an easygoing cut-up. Both are virtuous to a fault.

When a fierce fire engulfs the town, Max guiltily fears it was caused by the campfire he and his brother abandoned when they were chased off by gunshots fired by two mysterious strangers. The fire, the terrifying confusion, and the boys’ heroics during the evacuation are vividly dramatized. When they’re accused of starting the fire, the brothers set out to find out for sure whether they did or not. Soon their investigation involves the strangers, a bank robbery, and the theft of many of the townspeople’s strongboxes.

Though he’s given to heavy-handed telegraphing of plot points in a story of interest mainly to boys, McFarlane does demonstrate a flair for mystery, juggling and resolving several plot lines with panache.