The Mystery That Never Was

[Bertie]

I couldn't see an existing thread on the book so I've started one as I recently bought it and have just finished reading it. I don't think I've read it before - if I have, it was when I was younger and don't remember it at all.

For a later book, I found it an enjoyable read. It's comparable to the standard of the likes of Banshee Towers and Ragamuffin Mystery for me - the big difference being, as regards enjoyment, that they both had far superior books earlier in their series to compare them to negatively and make them feel a disappointment. Whereas this, for a later, stand alone book, just felt like a perfectly decent bonus read.

It didn't read like a particularly original book - with a lot of similarities to previously used plots and characters. It was similar to books like Good Old Secret Seven and The Mystery of Cliff Castle. While the made up mystery that turns into a real one was like a few Find-Outers books - as was the early attempts to spot a character in disguise and guessing wrong. And signalling from a tower was similar to a good few Famous Five stories.

Also, the wise cracking lead character, Nicky, and his dog, Punch - with a penchant for taking shoes - felt like Snubby and Loony at the start. And then his bossy leadership as the book developed also made him a bit like Peter at times. While Kenneth's nosy sister, Penny, and her friend, Winnie, were more likeable versions of Susie and her friend Binky in the Secret Seven.

So it seemed like an amalgamation of a number of former storylines and characters. And was written in the 60's, so certainly wasn't peak Enid. But for a later book I thought it was a good read and enjoyed it.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I read this book as a child, Bertie, but it wasn't one of my regular reads.

I did read it to give the Cave of Books a review. Posted here
https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/boo ... +Never+Was

I remember it being a nice simple read, maybe I'll pick it up and give it another go.

Also it is very similar to one of Enid's short stories - The Secret of Skytop Hill, which I read a good few years back, and if I remember rightly there was an underground adventure in that story too. It was from Enid Blyton's Treasury - which my copy is 1947, so maybe Enid thought from this story she'd make another story on - Skylark Hill, which is of course in The Mystery That Never Was.

[Splodj]

The book is discussed indirectly on the thread 'Publisher rejected Blyton tale for being Xenophobic'.

The thread title is a copy of the Telegraph's headline, but reading the actual article it appears that Macmillan thought the book was not up to standard generally.

It was easy for a publisher to reject a one-off, but I wonder what would have happened if this book had been in a series. If Macmillan had published all in the series hitherto would they have still rejected it and let another publisher in?

[Bertie]

Thanks for that link, Julie.
I do remember reading your review now, a couple of months ago, when I thought I'd bought the book along with Holiday House and Strange Ruby. Turned out I hadn't, and so only bought it last week, and I'd forgotten all about the supposed 'racism' by the time I read it in the last couple of days.
I really don't see anything racist about the book. There are some books in which Enid does unfortunately use terms that are, nowadays, clearly considered inappropriate / unacceptable. But there was nothing like that in this book.
I enjoyed your review. A very good description of it, and I agree with the overall opinion of the book.

[Lenoir]

This is a book that I never came across for some reason, so it never was read by me.
There are a few fetes coming up (after a 2 year gap as well), so I will look out for it and others.

[Splodj]

Was the text revised to remove some of the things objected to by Macmillan? My 1983 Armada copy says: 'First published in the UK in this edition in 1976 by William Collins ...' No mention of 1961.

[Hannah]

I liked the book when I first read it - but I didn't know that it was a stand alone book. In the German translations they've fitted it into the Barney series, so of course there have been quite a lot of alterations regarding who says/does what.

[Kate Mary]

I've always liked The Mystery That Never Was, it was one of the first Enid Blyton adventure stories I ever read. I was an avid reader of Princess comic back in the 60s and I have a dim recollection of reading the story when it was serialized in Princess before the book was published. I enjoyed it so much that I asked for the book for a Christmas present.

[Bertie]

I liked the book when I first read it - but I didn't know that it was a stand alone book. In the German translations they've fitted it into the Barney series, so of course there have been quite a lot of alterations regarding who says/does what.

That's interesting to hear, Hannah.
I can definitely see how they could do a lot of that without too much rewrite - early Nicky and Punch are very similar to Snubby and Loony, Ken could easily be Roger, and Penny / Winnie lines to be Diana's. Was Barney's lines more those of Uncle Bob? And did Barney sleep rough in the ruined house at any point, like with Rockingdown Mystery and Ring O'Bells Hall?
And did they just ignore the whole 'Mystery That Never Was' element of it initially being a made up trick on someone that suddenly becomes real? Or did they have Snubby make it up as a trick on the rest of them or something?

[Hannah]

It's been a while since I've read it and I've only read the original book once, I think - so I can't say who exactly got whose lines.
There's still an Uncle Bob who comes to visit and for whom they make up a mystery.
The book comes after Rat-a-tat in the German series so Barney has found his father and comes to visit as a "normal" guest.

[Bertie]

Ah, thanks Hannah.
I can see it fitting in if it's a bit like Rilloby Fair, where Snubby made up the Green Hands gang to Uncle Robert (without knowing the old man on a train was a relative! )
But when that happened, Roger and Diana didn't approve of, or encourage, Snubby inventing a mystery like that. So I can't really imagine them joining in with fooling 'Uncle Bob'. Or Barney, either - especially the more serious, grown up Barney after he finds his father.
But making up mysteries or coded messages is certainly something that Snubby would do - and does do, in Rilloby Fair and Ragamuffin Mystery.

[Wolfgang]

In this case Roger and Dina agree to come up with a case for their uncle, but the main contributor of ideas is Stubs (Snubby).

[Bertie]

Thanks, Wolfgang.
I wouldn't have thought it was really going with character to have Roger, Diana or Barney getting up to things like that. Any more than, say, Julian and the Famous Five. But it's definitely in keeping with Snubby, and perhaps they came up with a 'justifiable' reason like in the original book (to try to give Uncle Bob, a private investigator not seeming himself, something to puzzle about and work out). Or maybe the German translations just figured if it's good enough for Nicky, Snubby and the Find-Outers to do it, then it's OK for Roger and Diana!

[Hannah]

But it's definitely in keeping with Snubby, and perhaps they came up with a 'justifiable' reason like in the original book (to try to give Uncle Bob, a private investigator not seeming himself, something to puzzle about and work out).

Yes, they do. Their aunt/mother says that he's bored and getting dismally ("trübsinnig", I'm not sure what's the best translation) and that she wished he had something interesting that he could himself engage in.

[Bertie]

Thanks for that, Hannah. That's pretty much the same as in the original book - with Nicky's mum worried about Uncle Bob's low mood, and saying that having a complete mental rest was making him more sombre and that he'd be better having something to focus on instead. So the children come up with the whole coded message / mystery idea.
I can see how Snubby would be the perfect character choice for that from the other series. And, of course, Punch is very like Loony, as opposed to the likes of Buster or Timmy.