The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters

A fun, light read.  This book starts out with Fatty in disguise, which is always one of the best parts of this series. From there it meanders a bit through a somewhat contrived story of anonymous letters being received by residents of Peterswood. The purpose of the letters is never really explained, but it doesn’t really matter because the story keeps moving and we get to see the gang in action taking trips, following Mr. Goon, questioning suspects, etc.

 

“Without Fatty we’re like rabbit pie without any rabbit in it,” said Daisy dolefully.

Daisy and Larry are the first ones to firmly suspect the real culprit, for a change, though later when the clues are examined, they strangely don’t put two and two together.  Fatty wins the day as usual and all ends well.

The Island of Adventure / The Castle of Adventure

Needless to say, our local public library (in the US) does not have much in the way of Enid Blyton books. I was fortunate to find the Island of Adventure and the Castle of Adventure double book.  This was actually what kicked off my quest to re-read the Blyton books again.  I did not recall ever having read the Adventure series, so everything is pretty much new for me with these series.

I mentioned that I am buying second-hand hardcovers. I made one exception, by purchasing the full set of the Adventure series from Navrang. They shipped them quickly via UPS, and the books are arriving today!

“Shut the door, idiot!” roared the voice from nowhere, ”and don’t sniff! Where’s your handkerchief?” 

Back to the books – the first two of the series are great. I read Island while we were on a vacation on the Oregon shore, and one could easily envision a Craggy Tops perched halfway down a cliff next to the roaring sea with the mysterious Isle of Gloom nearby. Blyton seemed to brush over character development a bit - after a while the characters of Phillip and Jack seemed to just meld into basically the same character to me. Other than that the books are great. I’m not sure I’d say these are two of the best adventure stories ever written by Enid Blyon as the book blurb says, but they were enjoyable nevertheless.

The Mystery of the Secret Room

With this third book, Blyton is back in top form again!  

The Five Find Outers discover a furnished room at the top of an old empty house and set out to solve the mystery.  The house is empty, but yet not for sale - who is the mysterious owner and what is the house being used for?     

“Je ne comprends pas,” said the boy again, and twisted his cap round and round furiously… “My name it ees – Napoleon Bonaparte”

There is lots of action, excitement and danger to go around and keep things interesting.  The start of Fatty’s disguises, invisible ink, the mysterious John Henry Smith, the secret letter, so many great moments.  I read most of the book while traveling in a car on vacation, and the time flew by.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Cat

The second book in the series turns out to be a little bland.  Most of the action centers around a stolen cat, and there are not as many moments of tension, surprises, or suspects as in the first book.  Not surprisingly, this book was not very memorable, and re-reading was almost like reading it the first time.  It could be summarized as a “filler”.

“Siamese cats have bright blue [eyes],” said Fatty. ”I know, because my aunt once had one – a beaty, called Patabang.”

It starts becoming clear that Fatty and Bets really are the main characters (and to a lesser extent, Buster, mostly as a deus-ex device).  Still, it is a pleasant read, and there are some great trademark Blyton moments.  Fatty bringing out the envelope of clues to show Mr. Goon was worth a good chuckle.  A circus makes an appearance, along with a red caravan.

Golly! Famous Five Makeover!

I just don’t like the Hodder artwork on the Famous 5 paperbacks that are available in the States.  Now here is one more reason that I am glad to be going the second hand route to get my Blytons (with a couple of exceptions – more on that later).  

http://jeffreyhill.typepad.com/english/2010/07/famous-five-get-a-makeover.html

In the original text, for example, Dick says: ‘She must be jolly lonely all by herself.’ This has been updated to read: ‘She must get lonely all by herself’

What will be next?  ‘Clear Orf!’ will be changing to ‘Go Away!’?

The Mystery of the Burning Cottage

The Five Find-Outer Mystery series was one of my favorites from the set of Blyton books.  I must have read and re-read these a million times, always coming back to them.  It made perfect sense to start the re-reading of Blyton books with these series.

After looking at the various options, I wanted to purchase a hardcover set.  Given that these books are not readily available in the US, I decided to purchase used copies of the 2004 Hardcovers.  The cover artwork isn’t too bad (though I would have much preferred some of the older artwork), and they are available in good to like-new condition via Amazon sellers.

The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage is the first in the series.  After so many years, it was a great re-introduction to the cast of characters, like meeting old friends again (I almost keep expecting them to pop up on Facebook next). 

BookRascal - Purchase: $2.81, Shipping: $3.99

It’s strange to remember so many phrases and parts of the book precisely, but others were either forgotten and only vaguely remembered.   The starting lines were among the latter – shades of Edward Bulwer-Lytton perhaps.

It was a half past nine on a dark April night that all the excitement began

Good old Clear Orf!   What a great nickname, somehow I had completely forgotten it!

Clear Orf, you! Clear Orf!

So many great characters are introduced in the book.  The regular gang of course, Mr. Goon, and the first meeting with Inspector Jenks.  Among the secondary characters, Mr. Smellie (another completely forgotton character!), Mrs. Minns, and even the tramp (such an honest fellow) stood out for me.

The book builds up steadily, and by the end, it was gripping even though I “knew” the ending.  Bets’ discovery of the footprints, and Fatty’s observations of the airplanes were among the most thrilling moments!

Finally, so many funny moments.  The laugh out loud moments of Larry and Mr. Goon inspecting the tramp’s shoes, and Fatty’s dash from Mr. Smellie’s closet were among the best.

All in all, a wonderful story and walk through memory lane.

The Boy Who Read A Lot

Many years ago there was a little boy who loved to read.  Books, especially ones for children, were hard to come by where he lived. One day he discovered books by an author named Enid Blyton. They were magical. Over the years he collected and read as many of these books as he could get his hands on.  Time passed and eventually the books were lost or given away, and the memories receded.

One day something magical happened again.  A portal opened up and the all the old books, as well as many new undiscovered ones appeared.  This is the story of that rediscovery.