History Recap / HardyBoysCaseFiles13TheBorgiaDagger

* ParentalSubstitute: The BigBad, Dr. Harriet Lansdale, who delivered Tessa at birth, has been this to her especially since her parents passed away. This is why Tessa mostly meekly goes along with her plans and even intends to take the rap for the entire Borgia dagger plot to protect her, only deciding to stand up to her when she tries to kill Frank, Joe, Callie, and Harley.

* CrazyJealousGuy: Harley Welles, Tessa's boyfriend, becomes more and more unhinged as the story goes on and Tessa becomes increasingly lukewarm towards him, although he believes that she's faking her feelings for Frank as an excuse to break up with him and cut and run with his share of the money. It culminates in Harley attacking her with the dagger and then trying to strangle her, to the point that Tessa calls him a "beast" and "an animal" by the end.

* ClingyJealousGirl: Downplayed. Callie understandably does ''not'' like Tessa--both for trying to steal her boyfriend and for being spoiled rotten--and has several moments of being annoyed with Frank about the whole thing too, like when he chooses to go to the party Tessa invited him and Joe to instead of going on a date with her. Nonetheless, she still chooses to help the other girl on the case along with Frank and Joe, and overall doesn't get overly insecure about her relationship with Frank, aware that he truly loves her and isn't interested in Tessa at all.

* EntertaininglyWrong: Harley is correct that his girlfriend and partner in crime, Tessa, has loss interest in and fallen out of love with him. However, he thinks that her motive is greed and she was only pretending to fall in love with Frank as her excuse to dump Harley and cut him out of his share of the auction money she promised him, when, in fact, her love for Frank is completely genuine and is what caused her to have a change of heart, and also motivates her to save them all from Dr. Lansdale.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Tessa for Frank. Although she's very beautiful, she's also a SpoiledBrat not willing to take "no" for an answer and repeatedly tries to play homewrecker to his relationship with Callie (including pretending to think that Callie is his sister when they first meet), and shows little shame about the fact that she's pursuing him despite already having her own boyfriend, all of which creates quite a bit of tension between everyone in the group. Frank tries several times, via sidestepping her attempts to hit on him, to politely get the point across that he doesn't reciprocate and only has eyes for Callie, finally outright telling her so after her AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. And then she still gives him a ForcefulKiss.

* CrazyJealousGuy: Harley Welles, Tessa's boyfriend, becomes more and more unhinged as the story goes on and Tessa becomes increasingly lukewarm towards him, although he believes that she's faking her feelings for Frank as an excuse to break up with Harley and cut and run with his share of the money. It culminates in him attacking her with the dagger and then trying to strangle her, to the point that Tessa calls him a "beast" and "an animal" by the end.

* ClingyJealousGirl: Downplayed. Callie understandably does ''not'' like Tessa--both for trying to steal her boyfriend and for being spoiled rotten--and has several moments of being annoyed with Frank about the whole thing too, like when he chooses to go to the party Tessa invited him and Joe to instead of going on a date with her. Nonetheless, she still chooses to help her on the case along with Frank and Joe, and overall doesn't get overly insecure about her relationship with Frank, aware that he truly loves Callie and isn't interested in Tessa at all.

* ScoobyDooHoax: The Borgia dagger, an artifact in the art collection that Tessa took back from the museum, is said to be cursed, and she's subjected to multiple murder attempts once she reveals that she has touched it, prompting her to hire the Hardys to protect her. It turns out that she, Dr. Lansdale, and Harley were staging all the incidents to create a ton of publicity around the dagger so it would sell for a fortune at the auction and solve her money problems; Tessa only hired the boys as "bodyguards" as an excuse to be around Frank.

* CursedItem: The titular dagger is said to be this, cursing its owner to die within weeks after touching it. Tessa has done so, and does indeed become the target of several attempted killings...or so it seems. The attacks on Tessa are revealed to be a ScoobyDooHoax by her, Harley, and Dr. Lansdale to perpetuate the legend of the "cursed" Borgia dagger so they can sell it for a much higher price at the upcoming auction and split the profits.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Tessa has been this since her parents passed away and she inherited their fortune, but she's spent it all by the start of the book, and instigates the plot in an attempt to drive up the price of the Borgia dagger at an auction so she can continue to be this. Unfortunately for her, her plan fails, and she's neither rich nor jobless by the end, having begun working as an actress (opposite Squinder, of all people).

* ItsAllAboutMe: Tessa, an IdleRich SpoiledBrat heiress who's blown through all her inheritance money, has this attitude for most of the book. She forces the Bayport Museum to return the Carpenter family's art collection to her--even though it was intended to be a permanent donation--just so she can sell it for money, and is largely unsympathetic when the museum curator is understandably upset about this. The events of the book happen because Tessa plots a ScoobyDooHoax with her boyfriend to sell a family artifact for even more money that she promises to share with him, only to start emotionally cheating on said boyfriend after falling for Frank, and being very pushy about her feelings for him despite knowing he's dating someone else, all while showing very little care about how her actions are hurting Harley, Callie, and Frank. She only really starts feeling remorse for what she's done and apologizes for it when everything blows up in her face at the climax.

* ParentalSubstitute: The BigBad, Dr. Harriet Lansdale, who delivered Tessa at birth, has been this to her especially since her parents passed away. This is why Tessa mostly meekly goes along with her plans and even intends to take the rap for the entire Borgia dagger plot to protect her, only deciding to stand up to her when she tries to kill Frank, Joe, and Callie.

* EntertaininglyWrong: Harley is correct that his girlfriend and partner in crime, Tessa, has loss interest in and fallen out of love with him. However, he thinks that she was only pretending to fall in love with Frank as her excuse to dump Harley and cut him out of his share of the auction money she promised him, when, in fact, her love for Frank is completely genuine and is what caused her to have a change of heart, and also motivates her to save them all from Dr. Lansdale.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Tessa finally outright admits her love for Frank shortly before the climax when they're alone together. Frank does his best to let her down easy, but still firmly makes it clear that he doesn't return her feelings, nor does he approve of Tessa repeatedly hitting on him while knowing he's in a committed relationship with someone else, also two-timing her own boyfriend in the process.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Tessa for Frank. Although she's very beautiful, she's also a SpoiledBrat not willing to take "no" for an answer and repeatedly tries to play homewrecker to his relationship with Callie (including pretending to think that Callie is his sister when they first meet), and shows little shame about the fact that she's pursuing him despite already having her own boyfriend, all of which creates quite a bit of tension between everyone in the group. Frank tries several times to politely get the point across that he doesn't reciprocate and only has eyes for Callie, finally outright telling her so after her AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. And then she still gives him a ForcefulKiss.

* BrickJoke: It's a RunningGag throughout the story that Tessa and Edwin Squinder, one of her former employees she fired, are {{Sitcom Archnemes|is}}es who ''really'' don't like each other. It's also shown several times that Squinder is a small-time actor who's ''very'' melodramatic. In the denouement, the boys see on TV that Tessa, who had to get a job to support herself, has become an actress and is starring opposite Squinder in a new TV show, wherein their characters are having a very over-dramatic argument.

* CursedItem: The titular dagger is said to be this, cursing its own to die within weeks if they touch it. Tessa has done so, and does indeed become the target of several attempted killings...or so it seems. The attacks on Tessa are revealed to be a ScoobyDooHoax by her, Harley, and Dr. Lansdale to perpetuate the legend of the "cursed" Borgia dagger so they can sell it for a much higher price at the upcoming auction and split the profits.

* HeelRealization: Tessa's partner in crime and longtime boyfriend Harley going off the deep end and trying to kill her in a jealous rage while also accusing her of faking her love for Frank as an excuse to betray him, which happens as a result of Tessa attempting to push her feelings onto Frank (despite him having a girlfriend already) and giving him a ForcefulKiss. All of this combined seem to hammer it home for Tessa how badly her selfishness has messed up all her plans and hurt everyone around her, and she finally regrets and apologizes for her actions, and then redeems herself further soon after by saving the Hardys and Callie from Dr. Lansdale.

* ScoobyDooHoax: The Borgia dagger, an artifact in the art collection that Tessa took back from the museum, is said to be cursed, and she's subjected to multiple murder attempts once she announces that she plans to sell it, prompting her to hire the Hardys to protect her. It turns out that Tessa and Harley were staging all the incidents to create a ton of publicity around the dagger so it would sell for a fortune at the auction and solve her money problems.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Tessa for Frank. Although she's very beautiful, she's also a SpoiledBrat not willing to take "no" for an answer and repeatedly tries to play homewrecker to his relationship with Callie (including pretending to think that Callie is his sister when they first meet) and shows little shame about the fact that she's pursuing him despite already having her own boyfriend, all of which creates quite a bit of tension between everyone in the group. Frank repeatedly tries to politely get the point across that he doesn't reciprocate and only has eyes for Callie, finally outright telling her so after her AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. And then she still gives him a ForcefulKiss.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Tessa finally outright admits her love for Frank shortly before the climax when they're alone together. Frank does his best to let her down gently, but still firmly makes it clear that he doesn't return her feelings, nor does he approve of Tessa repeatedly hitting on him while knowing he's in a committed relationship with someone else, also two-timing her own boyfriend in the process.

* ClingyJealousGirl: Downplayed. Callie understandably does ''not'' like Tessa--both for trying to steal her boyfriend and for being spoiled rotten--and has several moments of being annoyed with Frank about the whole thing too, like when he chooses to go to the party Tessa invited him and Joe to instead of going on a date with her. Nonetheless, she still chooses to help Tessa on the case along with Frank and Joe, and overall doesn't get overly insecure about her relationship with Frank, aware that he truly loves Callie and isn't interested in Tessa at all.
* CrazyJealousGuy: Harley Welles, Tessa's boyfriend, becomes more and more unhinged as the story goes on and Tessa becomes increasingly lukewarm towards him, although he believes that she's faking her feelings for Frank as an excuse to break up with him and cut and run with his share of the money. It culminates in him attacking her with the dagger and then trying to strangle her, to the point that Tessa refers to him as "an animal" by the end.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Callie is once again the third focal character after Frank and Joe, with her relationship with Frank getting a large amount of focus. She's also the one who deduces that Tessa and Harley must have had an accomplice right before Lansdale arrives and reveals herself, and gets to play a vital role in saving the day by disarming her before she can shoot Tessa.

* ForcefulKiss: After Frank politely rejects her AnguishedDeclarationOfLove for him, Tessa appears to accept it, only to suddenly plant a kiss on him unexpectedly. Unfortunately, this is witnessed by Joe, Callie, and Harley, and is the last straw that sends the latter over the edge.

* HeelRealization: Tessa's partner in crime and longtime boyfriend Harley going off the deep end and trying to kill her in a jealous rage while also accusing her of faking her love for Frank as an excuse to betray him, which happens as a result of Tessa attempting to push her feelings onto Frank (despite him having a girlfriend already) and giving him a ForcefulKiss. All of this combined seem to hammer it home for Tessa how badly her selfishness has messed up all her plans and hurt everyone around her, and she finally apologizes for her actions, and then redeems herself further soon after by saving the Hardys and Callie from Dr. Lansdale.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Tessa, an IdleRich SpoiledBrat heiress who's blown through all her inheritance money, has this attitude for most of the book. She plots a ScoobyDooHoax with her boyfriend to sell a family artifact and get her money back, only to start emotionally cheating on said boyfriend after falling for Frank, and being very pushy about her feelings for him despite knowing he's dating someone else, all while showing very little care about how her actions are hurting Harley, Callie, and Frank. She only really starts feeling remorse for what she's done and apologizes for it when everything blows up in her face at the climax.

* MistakenForCheating: Played with. Tessa's ForcefulKiss on Frank is witnessed by Harley and Callie (their respective partners); however, while Callie is confused by it, she seems to grasp pretty quickly that Tessa initiated it and so it doesn't cause problems between them. This is averted with Harley, though, as there was no "mistaken" at all; Tessa ''was'' cheating on him, and this is the final straw that causes him to turn on her.
* ParentalSubstitute: The BigBad, Dr. Harriet Lansdale, who delivered Tessa at birth, has been this to her especially since her parents passed away. This is why Tessa mostly meekly goes along with her plans and even intends to take the rap for the entire Borgia dagger plot to protect her, only deciding to stand up to her when she tries to kill Frank.
* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Tessa has been this since her parents passed away and she inherited their fortunate, but she's spent it all by the start of the book, and instigates the plot in an attempt to drive up the price of the Borgia dagger at an auction so she can continue to be this. Unfortunately for her, her plan fails, and she's neither rich nor jobless by the end, having begun working as an actress (opposite Squinder, of all people).
* RichesToRags: Tessa Carpenter, once a rich heiress, squandered all the money left to her by her deceased parents, such that she had to fire all of her hired help because she couldn't pay them anymore and took back an art collection her family donated to a museum so she could sell it for cash. She was behind the plot along with Harley and Dr. Lansdale so she could try to sell the Borgia dagger for additional money, but by the end, her plan is foiled and her family mansion is damaged by fire, forcing her to actually work for a living. Still, she manages to land on her feet, and the boys learn at the end that she's become an actress.
* ScoobyDooHoax: The Borgia dagger, an artifact Tessa inherited from her parents, is said to be cursed, and she's subjected to multiple murder attempts once she announces that she plans to sell it, prompting her to hire the Hardys to protect her. It turns out that Tessa and Harley were staging all the incidents to create a ton of publicity around the dagger so it would sell for a fortune at the auction and solve her money problems.

* CallingTheOldWomanOut:

* HeelRealization: Harley going off the deep end and trying to kill Tessa in a jealous rage

* ParentalSubstitute: The BigBad, Dr. Harriet Lansdale, who delivered Tessa at birth, has been this to her especially since her parents passed away. This is why Tessa mostly meekly goes along with her plans, only deciding to stand up to her when she tries to kill Frank.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Tessa finally outright admits her love for Frank shortly before the climax when they're alone together. Frank does his best to let her down gently, but still firmly makes it clear that the feeling is not mutual and he doesn't approve of Tessa repeatedly hitting on him while knowing he's in a committed relationship with someone else, also two-timing her own boyfriend in the process.

* CrazyJealousGuy: Harley becomes more and more unhinged as the story goes on and Tessa becomes increasingly lukewarm towards him, although he believes that she's faking her feelings for Frank as an excuse to break up with him and cut and run with his share of the money. It culminates in him attacking her with the dagger and then trying to strangle her, to the point that Tessa refers to him as "an animal" by the end.
* EntertaininglyWrong: Harley is correct that his girlfriend and partner in crime, Tessa, has loss interest in and fallen out of love with him. However, he thinks that she was only pretending to fall in love with Frank as her excuse to dump Harley and cut him out of his share of the auction money she promised him, when, in fact, her love for Frank is completely genuine and is what caused her to have a change of heart, and also motivates her to save them all from Dr. Hester.
* ForcefulKiss: After Frank politely rejects her AnguishedDeclarationOfLove for him, Tessa appears to accept it, only to suddenly plant a kiss on him unexpectedly. Unfortunately, this is witnessed by Joe, Callie, and Harley, and is the last straw that sends the latter off the deep end.
* GirlOfTheWeek:

* ParentalSubstitute:

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove:

* CrazyJealousGuy:
* EntertaininglyWrong: Harley is correct that his girlfriend and partner in crime, Tessa, has loss interest in and fallen out of love with him. However, he thinks that she was only pretending to fall in love with Frank as her excuse to dump Harley and cut him out of his share of the auction money she promised him, when, in fact, her love for Frank is completely genuine
* ForcefulKiss:

* LoveAtFirstSight: