Favourite Five Find-Outers book

The books! Over seven hundred of them and still counting...

Your favourite Five Find-Outers book

1. Burnt Cottage
4
4%
2. Disappearing Cat
2
2%
3. Secret Room
12
12%
4. Spiteful Letters
14
13%
5. Missing Necklace
13
13%
6. Hidden House
6
6%
7. Pantomime Cat
8
8%
8. Invisible Thief
12
12%
9. Vanished Prince
2
2%
10. Strange Bundle
6
6%
11. Holly Lane
1
1%
12. Tally-Ho Cottage
10
10%
13. Missing Man
3
3%
14. Strange Messages
9
9%
15. Banshee Towers
2
2%
 
Total votes: 104

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Daisy
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Favourite book/series: Find-Outers, Adventure series.
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Daisy »

I think they were inspired to put those false clues there because otherwise Luke would have been incriminated and they felt the whistle was put there on purpose. I know they managed to remove it but the idea of laying false clues had been sown.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Rob Houghton »

I don't mind the laying of false clues in any of the books - after all, it was never done maliciously - just by children who felt it was a bit of fun and would cause some amusement (or help their friend Luke in the case of Disappearing Cat). I think too many people are looking at this with adult eyes, rather than as how children would see it! When I was young and I read Pantomime Cat, I thought it was brilliant that they were all tricking the new gullible PC Pippin. Children don't think of the consequences, and anyway, they often think they are being rather clever, rather than troublesome!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I always loved the laying of false clues in various books as it was great fun to see what items the children included and what happened as a result of their actions.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Machupicchu14
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Machupicchu14 »

Which thanks God, always had a good outcome so it is fun to read.:D I especially like how the false clues in the Pantomime Cat eventually led to the real mystery.
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(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
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Courtenay
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Courtenay »

Rob Houghton wrote:I don't mind the laying of false clues in any of the books - after all, it was never done maliciously - just by children who felt it was a bit of fun and would cause some amusement (or help their friend Luke in the case of Disappearing Cat). I think too many people are looking at this with adult eyes, rather than as how children would see it! When I was young and I read Pantomime Cat, I thought it was brilliant that they were all tricking the new gullible PC Pippin. Children don't think of the consequences, and anyway, they often think they are being rather clever, rather than troublesome!
Good point. I found the laying of false clues a bit troubling the first time I tried reading Pantomime Cat (as an adult), but I came back to it some time later in a better frame of mind and appreciated it as an important part of the plot. I don't think it really worried me in Disappearing Cat — the children in that case were deliberately trying to protect Luke and give poor old Goon something to puzzle over, and at least they all took the precaution of keeping a duplicate of each of the "clues" so they could later prove they were false if necessary, which makes for an amusing scene later on!
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Deej92
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Favourite book/series: Five Get into Trouble (Famous Five)
Favourite character: Dick

Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Deej92 »

Rob Houghton wrote: I think too many people are looking at this with adult eyes, rather than as how children would see it!
Yes, that's a good point. You do read things very differently as an adult. The potential consequences of the children placing false clues would never have come into my head as a child reading the book. Overall though, the children more than make up for this by solving mystery after mystery and beating Mr Goon to the chase all the time! :lol:
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Rob Houghton »

Yes - as a child, I saw Mr Goon very much as the child characters did - as someone who needed bringing down a peg or two, teaching a lesson, and outsmarting. I never once felt sorry for any of the adults in these circumstances, but was always on the side of the children. 8) As an adult, I do sometimes think the children are being annoying or nasty or disrespectful - but I didn't think this at all as a child!
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Deej92
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Deej92 »

Rob Houghton wrote: I never once felt sorry for any of the adults in these circumstances, but was always on the side of the children.
Me too, this was even more the case in the books in which Ern appeared in, as Mr Goon was especially rotten to him and I've always hated the way he forced Ern to spill the beans about the children's mysteries. So it was always good to see the children and especially Ern win over Mr Goon!
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Stephen
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Stephen »

Funnily enough, I'm pretty much the other way round. As a child, I thought it was a bit off that the children were antagonizing a police officer. No matter how much they disliked him, it was his job to uphold the law and they really shouldn't have interfered with that. I always felt rather sorry for him when he would try his hardest, still get upstaged by the kids, and then get belittled by Inspector Jenks at the end.

But now as an adult, Mr Goon reminds me so much of a colleague who's bullish, rude, impatient, pig-ignorant (and rather rotund). The children might still come across as nuisances, but quite frankly Mr Goon is not my idea of a friendly village bobby, and is clearly unfit for the job he's doing!
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What is your favourite Mystery book?

Post by Yak »

Merged with an older topic.

As mentioned I am rereading the series at the moment and am trying to think of my favourite book. I like the later ones better in general, when the children are a little older. Missing Necklace is a very definite favourite, or the one with Eunice in it .. was that Missing Man?
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John Pickup
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by John Pickup »

Missing Necklace was always one of my favourites in this series but I do like Pantomime Cat which isn't usually so popular.
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Yak »

I like Pantomime Cat too, although it's one of the earlier ones.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Rob Houghton »

John Pickup wrote:Missing Necklace was always one of my favourites in this series but I do like Pantomime Cat which isn't usually so popular.
Missing Necklace was the first one I ever read. the second one I read was Pantomime Cat. Both are top favourites, along with Strange Messages, Holly Lane and Tally ho. :-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Eddie Muir
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Favourite book/series: Five Find-Outers and Dog
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Eddie Muir »

I’m with John and Rob where my favourites are concerned:

1 The Mystery of the Missing Necklace
2 The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat
Last edited by Eddie Muir on 29 Nov 2017, 21:19, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Favourite Five Find-Outers book

Post by Courtenay »

I still haven't finished reading them all, so can't give a definitive answer yet!! :wink:
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