The Hardy boys hear their father and a person named Emmet Strand talking about his daughter Holly, who has joined the group of Rajah.

On a mission to rescue their good friend Holly from the cult of the lunatic Rajah, the boys unwittingly become the main event in one of the madman's deadly rituals--human sacrifice.

The Hardy Boys try to escape the ritual, during which, Joe is framed that he kills a person very close to the Rajah, known as Vivasvat.

As the book progresses, the Rajah, taking revenge at the Hardy Boys, starts a riot in the city.

Cult of Crime was reviewed in the San Jose Mercury News,[1] The Philadelphia Inquirer,[2] and The Charlotte Observer.