The Curious Case of Enid Blyton's Five Find Outers and Dog Mystery Series
- benjthompson1
- Aug 8, 2024
- 3 min read
In the small rural sleepy town of Peterswood in Buckinghamshire, life is quite and mainly sedate - that is until a group of teenagers come back home from their boarding school in their holidays. One of their most enjoyable past times is winding up the rather sour local policeman Mr Goon but even more than that - they love to solve 'mysteries'. There's been the case of the secret room, the spiteful letters, the missing necklace to name just a few. These five children (Fatty, Larry, Pip, Bets and the little Scottie dog called Buster) call themselves The Five Find Outers And Dog.
Although Enid Blyton released the first in what has become known as 'The Mystery Series' in 1943, they continue to be loved by children and grown-ups alike. I brought this set of books in 2004 for my daughter to read but ended up reading them myself again and again for the last 20 years. I absolutely love the way the kids interact with each other and although they come from the same privileged class, they behave and act in different ways. The way the parents bring up their children reminds me of the way some of my friends parents acted. One was so layed back, the others somewhere in the middle and my mother was extremely strict (I come from a single parent family).
Personally, I like this series far better than the Famous five, who Blyton based on these kids. The way they tease the policeman because he hates children and dogs and says "Gah!" and "Clear-Off" to everyone he meets - hence the nickname - "old clear-of". Enid Blyton wrote 15 books in total and was in the middle of box 16 when she sadly died. Although over the years she has caused some controversy over the way she treated the people around her, you can not deny that she was an excellent author with a great imagination. I like to think of her as the Dame Agatha Christie of the children's literary world. My personal favourite of this series is The Mystery of the Strange Messages. It contains a diamond heist, international criminal gangs, the search for the jewels and money and nasty mysterious notes being delivered by hand to those who pose a threat to their criminal operation. The leader of the Find Outers, Fatty (Fredrick Algernon Trottervile) one again saves the day with the help of his trusty assistants. They try fingerprint testing, letter and paper analysis, security protection and even a bit of pluming!
The books in this series are:
The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage
The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat
The Mystery of the Secret Room
........ Spiteful Letters
........ Missing Necklace
........ Hidden House
........ Pantomime Cat
........ Invisible Thief
........ Vanished Prince
........ Strange Bundel
........ Holly Lane
........ Tally-Ho Cottage
........ Missing Man
........ Strange Messages
........ Banshee Towers
The final book published, number 15 - Banshee Towers, well sums up this amazing series and in particular the nasty old policeman Mr Goon:
"He (The Chief Inspector) departed, leaving Mr Goon feeling rather like a pricked balloon, with the air slowly departing from him. Well, he'd better go down and see those 'Find-Outers', as they call themselves. Silly name- but no doubt about it, somehow or other they did solve mysteries, and find out extraordinary clues."
It is well worth having a look around the internet or second hand book stores for the complete set of 15 books because when you start reading you will want to read the whole lot. So, to all those out there that still prefer The Famous Five, I leave you in the words of Mr Goon the policeman:
GAH!
Spot-on! Especially Fatty's disguises lent this series a humour that was at times lacking in the Famous Fives. I cannot remember swooping down on a new F Five with that gleam that met Banshee Towers or the Pantomime Cat, etc. Old Ern and his pomes added a bit of social-class pathos too!