# The House on the Cliff — Character guide

> Key figures in The House on the Cliff by Franklin W. Dixon.

- [Frank Hardy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/frank_hardy.md): Frank is the steady half of the brotherly detective team, the one who pieces together why a haunted farmhouse would make a perfect smuggler's hideout and who modestly downplays his own role in rescuing a drowning man. In
- [Joe Hardy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/joe_hardy.md): Joe rides shotgun to Frank's cooler head, the one who refuses to let his father laugh off the strange events at the old Polucca place and who presses the point until the tool thefts stop looking like a schoolboy prank. I
- [Fenton Hardy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/fenton_hardy.md): Fenton Hardy is the seasoned professional the brothers are trying to impress, a man never too busy to set down his papers and hear them out, though he's quick to dismiss a haunted-house tale as a schoolboy joke. He recog
- [Snackley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/snackley.md): Snackley is the shadow behind the haunted-house rumors, a man who murdered Felix Polucca rather than split the smuggling profits and who now runs his gang through the tunnels beneath the cliff. He is cold enough to raise
- [Chet Morton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/chet_morton.md): Chet is part of the gang that tags along to the old Polucca place and comes home badly shaken, which quietly confirms for Frank and Joe that something real is behind the shrieks and falling walls. He's the voice of comic
- [Tony Prito](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/tony_prito.md): Tony is the boy with grease on his overalls and an engine on his mind, trading his father's motorboat for a seat on the Hardy boys' expedition to the Polucca cliffs. He navigates the Napoli through rough water and shifti
- [Mr. Jones](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/jones.md): Jones exists in the story as a wounded unknown: found near the cliff, nearly killed, and hidden away at the Kane farmhouse while the Hardy boys try to piece together who he really is. Frank suspects he's a Secret Service
- [Felix Polucca](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/polucca.md): Old Polucca never appears alive in the early chapters, but his legacy saturates the cliff: a tumbledown house, a sinister reputation, and rumors of smuggling that make Bayport residents avoid the place. When the boys ret
- [Jerry Gilroy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/jerry_gilroy.md): A friend of the Hardy boys who aids in their search.
- [Biff Hooper](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/biff_hooper.md): A friend of the Hardys, athletic and helpful.
- [Malloy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/malloy.md): A police officer involved in the investigation.
- [Redhead Blount](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/redhead_blount.md): A smuggler with red hair, part of the criminal gang.
- [Li Chang](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/li_chang.md): A Chinese man who assists the Hardys with information.
- [Mr. Kane](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/mr_and_mrs_kane.md): A couple whose house is central to the mystery.
- [Detective Smuff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/detective_smuff.md): A bumbling detective who complicates the case.
- [Chief Collig](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/chief_collig.md): The local police chief who works with the Hardys.
- [Phil Cohen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters/phil_cohen.md): A friend of the Hardy boys, occasionally helping.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_house_on_the_cliff_se/characters