The Mystery of the Vanished Prince
by Enid Blyton (Methuen, 1951)
An odd instalment in which the Find-Outers do very little investigating. (Pip finds one lucky clue and they stumble upon people who explain the mystery!) The modern reader cannot help feeling uncomfortable at the children’s casual assumptions of social and racial superiority.
The Mystery of the Invisible Thief
by Enid Blyton (Methuen, 1950)
A high point of the series. In retrospect, the denouement is obvious—not least of all because Blyton has twisted a plot contrivance from the previous two books!—but the clues are cleverly seeded and remain overlooked amidst a resplendence of Goon-baiting.
The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat
by Enid Blyton (Methuen, 1949)
One of the weaker Five Find-Outers books. Blyton recycles an earlier plot device and half-explored ethical point (the children manufacture false clues leading to and disrupting a real mystery investigation) while neglecting an obvious line of inquiry, which Bets belatedly tumbles to.
The Mystery of the Hidden House
by Enid Blyton (Methuen, 1948)
Fatty and Co. invent a mystery to dupe Goon’s nephew, who then stumbles upon the real thing. Blyton takes the story into more adult territory (corporal punishment, kidnapping) and hints at a lesson in consequences, though never quite bringing out the moral.
The Mystery of the Missing Necklace
by Enid Blyton (Methuen, 1947)
Entertaining but something of a misstep. Fatty proves fallible, Goon shows himself to have brains, and the Five Find-Outers shadow and disrupt a police investigation rather than go about solving the mystery themselves. (Also, the gang members’ secret communications seem needlessly convoluted.)
The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters
by Enid Blyton (Methuen, 1946)
The Five Find-Outers hit their stride and Fatty, assured beyond his years, comes to the fore as their cheeky, disguise-wearing, outrageously daring leader. The mystery in this instance remains slight but the plot is cleverly structured around the children’s interactions with Goon.
The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat
by Enid Blyton (Methuen, 1944)
In this second book, Blyton still has the Five Find-Outers (and dog) as a fairly generic group of kids happening upon a mystery and solving it largely through happenstance. A spot of Goon-baiting aside, they are yet to come into their own.
The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage
by Enid Blyton (Methuen, 1943)
The first Five Find-Outers novel works well as a standalone, though lacking the assuredness and personality of later volumes. As Blyton feels her way, many elements of this great series emerge in nascent form. Only Fatty’s disguises (and latterly Ern) are missing.
The Ragamuffin Mystery
by Enid Blyton; ill. Gilbert Dunlop (Collins, 1959)
The final ‘Barney’ mystery is a fast, pleasant read, set in Wales and introducing another memorable animal (a goose named Waddle). Although there’s a sense of adventure, the children trip along rather than detect, and have too much access to adult help.
The Rat-a-Tat Mystery
by Enid Blyton (Collins, 1956)
The fifth ‘Barney’ mystery is, if anything, even slighter than its predecessors. Not much detecting goes on! Yet the children have fun—overseen on this occasion by Mrs Tickle—and the animals cause their usual mayhem. The story flies by pleasantly enough.