the hardy boys are fictional teenage brothers and amateur detectives. they live in the fictional city of bayport on the atlantic coast with their father, internationally famous private detective fenton hardy. the boys are in their late teens, have their own car, and are in the same grade in high school. friends chet morton and biff hooper sometimes help the hardys solve their cases. the boys have enough money to travel around the united states and even the world in pursuit of cases. frank and joe are very much alike, but "frank was the thinker while joe was more impulsive, and perhaps a little more athletic."