#663: Minor Felonies – The Mystery of the Hidden House (1948) by Enid Blyton

April 28, 2020February 27, 2021 / JJ / 6 Comments

I was recently moved to suggest that The Secret of Hangman’s Inn (1956), the sixth title in the Ken Holt series by husband-and-wife team Bruce Campbell, was the point at which that series found its feet and jumped to life. Today I’m going to promulgate that The Mystery of the Hidden House (1948), the sixth title in the Five Find-Outers series by one-woman publishing sensation Enid Blyton, is the point where this series finds its feet and jumps to life. Coincidence? Yes, undoubtedly.

Continue reading →

#640: Minor Felonies – The Mystery of the Missing Necklace (1947) by Enid Blyton

March 3, 2020February 27, 2021 / JJ / 11 Comments

Here we go again, with Fatty, Pip, Bets, Larry, and Daisy (and Buster, of course) up against Mr. Goon in the race to solve yet another mystery. And yet for all its familiar elements, change is afoot…

Continue reading →

#577: Minor Felonies – The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters (1946) by Enid Blyton

October 8, 2019March 21, 2025 / JJ / 24 Comments

In the most recent episode of our podcast, I mentioned how Agatha Christie’s The Moving Finger (1942) was the book which made me appreciate how threatening a poison pen campaign could actually be. And four years after Christie used the conceit to drive a town mad, surprise Crime Writers’ Association member Enid Blyton made it the background for some childhood japes. What fun!

Continue reading →

#519: Minor Felonies – The Mystery of the Secret Room (1945) by Enid Blyton

April 30, 2019February 27, 2021 / JJ / 11 Comments

My discovery of Enid Blyton’s Five Find-Outers books simply adds to the problem that is my TBR, because every time I read one of them I want to sit down and read them all. Sure, First World Problems, but it’s crazy to think how excited I am — and my fourth decade, too — about a bunch of books written by the Faraway Tree Lady.

Continue reading →

#468: Minor Felonies – The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat (1944) by Enid Blyton

December 4, 2018February 27, 2021 / JJ / 8 Comments

There’s clearly a Sophomore Clause for youthful detection collectives: Must Involve a Missing Animal. The Three Investigators sought a stuttering parrot, and now the Five Find-Outers are herding cats having solved a case of arson first time out.

Continue reading →

#422: Minor Felonies – The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage (1943) by Enid Blyton

August 7, 2018February 27, 2021 / JJ / 21 Comments

As is my standard modus operandi, I started Enid Blyton’s Five Find-Outers series midway through with something featuring an impossible crime, and now return to the beginning to read them in order.

Continue reading →

#316: Stand Back, Detective Novelist at Work in The Mystery of the Invisible Thief (1950) by Enid Blyton

November 21, 2017February 27, 2024 / JJ / 43 Comments

No discussion of children’s literature is complete without at least a passing reference to the 14,762 books Enid Blyton wrote in her career. Somehow I’d heard of this one and its implied impossible disappearance, and it seemed perfect for my Tuesday posts in November on precisely this type of book. Generally you know what to expect from Blyton — a poorly-dated whiff of imperialism, comfortable middle-class adventures, ginger beer — but prepare for a bit of a shock: the rigour of the detection in this is something to behold.

Continue reading →