SIX CLASSIC MYSTERIES

Softcover set of the first 6 books in the Five Find-Outers series

by ENID BLYTON

See other books by Enid Blyton click here

New set of 6 softcover books, published 2009.

The Five Find-Outers and Dog (not to be confused with The Famous Five), also known as the Enid Blyton Mystery Series, is a series of children's mystery books written by Enid Blyton and first published between 1943 and 1961. Set in the fictitious village of Peterswood (Bourne End), close to Marlow, Buckinghamshire, the children encounter a mystery almost every school holiday, always solving the puzzle before Mr Goon, the unpleasant village policeman, much to his annoyance. This is widely regarded as the most popular of Blyton's series.

1. The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage - Who set fire to Mr Hick’s cottage? The five children, Larry and Daisy Daykin, Pip and Bets Hilton, and newcomer Frederick Algernon Trotteville (later nicknamed Fatty from his initials), meet at the scene of the fire and end up solving the mystery together.
2. The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat - Luke, a friend of the Five Find-Outers is working in the garden when Lady Candling's valuable cat is stolen. The Five Find-Outers and Dog work to solve the case.
3. The Mystery of the Secret Room- The Find Outers get to work to discover who owns Milton House, which seems to be abandoned, and why there is an apparently secret room.
4. The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters - The Five Find Outers - Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets, and their Scottie dog, Buster, are shocked when someone starts sending anonymous spiteful letters to several people in their village of Peterswood. The children decide that they must discover who is sending the letters. They make a list of suspects - could the letter writer be Mr. Nosey a busybody or Miss Tittle a lover of gossip - or someone else?
5. The Mystery of the Missing Necklace - Together again in the summer holidays, the Five Find Outers are finding the hot summer rather dull - until they learn that Peterswood is apparently the headquarters of a gang of poachers who are carrying out burglaries outside of the village.
6. The Mystery of the Hidden House - Pip, Bets, Larry and Daisy have been banned from solving any mysteries because of Ernest "Ern" Goon, Clear-Orf's nephew. However, when Ern goes missing on the road to "Harry's Folly", the Five Find-Outers and Dog investigate.

About the author

Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was a British children's writer known as both Enid Blyton and Mary Pollock. She was one of the most successful children's storytellers of the twentieth century. Once described as a "one-woman fiction machine", she is noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups. Her books have enjoyed popular success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 400 million copies. By one measure, Blyton is the sixth most popular author worldwide: over 3400 translations of her books were available in 2007 according to UNESCO's Index Translationum; she is behind Lenin and almost equal to Shakespeare.

One of her most widely known characters is Noddy, intended for beginning readers. However, her main forte is the young readers' novels, where children ride out their own adventures with minimal adult help. In this genre, particularly popular series include the Famous Five (consisting of 21 novels, 1942 – 1963, based on four children and their dog), the Five Find-Outers and Dog, (15 novels, 1943-1961, where five children regularly outwit the local police) as well as the Secret Seven (15 novels, 1949 – 1963, a society of seven children who solve various mysteries). Her work involves children's adventure stories, and fantasy, sometimes involving magic. Her books were and still are enormously popular in Britain, Malta, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Australia; and as translations in the former Yugoslavia, Japan, and across most of the globe. Her work has been translated into nearly 90 languages.

Blyton only intended to write about 6 to 8 books in the Famous Five series but, owing to their high sales and immense commercial success, she went on to write 21 full-length books featuring the characters. By the end of 1953, more than 6 million copies of these books had been printed and sold. Today, more than two million copies of the books are sold each year, making them one of the biggest-selling series for children ever written. Nearly all of the novels have subsequently been adapted for television.

See other fiction bundles and box sets click here

Six Classic Mysteries book bundle: Books 1-6 in the Five Find-Outers series by Enid Blyton