Twin Peaks Prop – Sonny Jim Jones’ Hardy Boys Book

Books are some of my favorite things to identify in Twin Peaks as they are a bridge between the real world and the fictional wonderful and strange world. In Part 6 of Twin Peaks: The Return, Sonny Jim Jones is seen reading a book in bed when his dad Dougie Jones returns home from Lucky 7 Insurance. Thanks to quick glimpse and some behind-the-scenes footage, I found the exact book he’s reading – a Hardy Boys mystery book about breaking up a counterfeiting ring centered at an old mill on the outskirts of town.

SONNY JIM JONES’ BOOK IN TWIN PEAKS – PART 6

In Part 6, Sonny Jim Jones is seen reading a book in bed as his father Dougie Jones is brought home from work at Lucky 7 Insurance.

After Dougie sits on Sonny Jim’s bed, he closes the book to reveal the cover. It didn’t take long to find a match.

The book he is reading is a Hardy Boys mystery titled “The Secret of the Old Mill” by Franklin W. Dixon.

Sonny Jim eventually places the book face down on his nightstand to reveal the back cover.

This is the back cover of the version Sonny Jim was reading. On his nightstand, it’s placed in the opposite direction.

“THE SECRET OF THE OLD MILL” BY FRANKLIN W. DIXON

“The Secret of the Old Mill” was written by Leslie McFarlane as the third book in the series of Hardy Boys mysteries. It was first published on June 1, 1927 for the Stratemeyer Syndicate under the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon. The story features The Hardy Boys, Frank and Joe, breaking up a counterfeiting ring centered at an old mill on the outskirts of Bayport.

Charles Leslie McFarlane (October 25, 1902 – September 6, 1977) was a Canadian journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He took a job at job at the Springfield Republican newspaper in Springfield, Massachusetts before answering a want ad placed by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, an American book packaging company that produced a number of book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series.

McFarlane wrote 19 of the first 25 Hardy Boys books between 1927 and 1946, and 21 books overall.

In 1962, this book was rewritten by Alistair Hunter as part of a project to to revise the first 38 volumes of the series.

The book Sonny Jim reads in the show was published by Grosset & Dunlap sometime around 1987-1990 with cover artwork by Joseph Rudolph “Rudy” Nappi created in 1962.

According to AmericanIllustrator.org, Nappi (1923-2015) was a well-known commercial illustrator and who was one of the greatest pulp fiction artists of his time. During his decades-long career, he created hundreds of covers for magazines and books such as Love Nest, Girl-Hungry, Queer Patterns, and The Bedroom Bolero.

The book I found (and seen in the Behind the Curtain footage from Part 6) has a flashlight on the cover which shines on the number 3 indicating it’s the third book in the series.

You can see another look at the book from the Behind the Curtain footage.

This Hardy Boys book seems to be one of several Sonny Jim was reading. It’s difficult to tell what other books are in his collection but you can see a stack of blue spines stacked on the nightstand.

WHICH PAGE IS SONNY JIM READING IN “THE SECRET OF THE OLD MILL”?

I was curious which pages Sonny Jim was reading in the episode, so I rotated the image and tried matching the spacing of the words to a page in the latter half of the book.

Based on spacing of words, it appears Sonny Jim is reading page 102. Without speaking to Pierce Gagnon who played Sonny Jim, it’s difficult to say there is any significance to why that page was selected.

Nevertheless, I’m happy to add this mystery book to my ever growing Bookhouse and collection of identified props.