The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage: Book 1 (The Mystery Series)

I read the Five-FindOuters series when I was a kid - and am very very glad to see they are still around.These are great for a 1st grader and get them started on the path to enjoying reading.This is a nice well written story with a good dose of reality - way better than the crap that comes out of Disney.

Loved this little mystery book. Donated it to our children's library.It is about a group of children and their dog deciding to solve the mystery in a small English village. It is set in an innocent time, but still enjoyable for probably the higher elementary grades or younger if read to.

Sometimes you're in the mood for a particular type of story that only Enid Blyton can deliver: pre-teens who say things like "jolly good", who are given astounding amounts of independence on their school holidays, that eat things like potted meat sandwiches, and who solve mysteries in their small English village. I felt like a trip down memory lane and so ended up with several of "The Find-Outers" books from the library.Truthfully I was always more of a "Famous Five" girl growing up, but the Find-Outers have one crucial asset that makes the books so memorable: the character of Frederick Algernon Trotteville (or "Fatty" to his friends"): an overweight, boastful, wealthy boy with a sharp intellect that serves him well when solving mysteries. Next to him, the rest of the friends (Pip, Daisy, Larry and Bets) are relatively interchangeable.Blyton always adds comedic tension to the proceedings by pitting Fatty against the buffoonish village policeman Mr Goon, as pig-headed as he is mean-spirited. Young readers will always delight in watching any child get the better of an adult, especially one as odious as Mr Goon.In this first book, we see the initial formation of the Find-Outers, and the start of their rivalry with Mr Goon. Friends Larry, Daisy, Pip and Bets can see flames light the sky from their own homes, and on investigating the sight realize their neighbour's shed is on fire. Mr Hick is a bad-tempered and unpleasant man, and so there are many suspects who might have wanted to commit arson; burning down his shed and several valuable old papers along with it.But it's not until the four children meet Frederick Trotteville (or Fatty as he's almost immediately nicknamed) that they realize they can try to find out for themselves. They don't particularly like him at first, as he's always boasting about his great intellect and exploits at school, but his little Scotty dog Buster is adorable and Fatty certainly knows what he's talking about when it comes to solving a mystery. Soon they're all tracking down suspects, searching for clues, and looking for a reason why anyone would want to burn down Mr Hick's shed.Like I said earlier, the other children are rather interchangeable, the exception being Bets. As the youngest of the children, she often has to have things explained to her (and sometimes Blyton goes overboard – no eight year old is idiotic enough to keep saying "glue" when she means "clue") and occasionally solves the mystery purely by accident (usually by making some innocuous comment that triggers something in Fatty's brain).Yes, there are some elements of Blyton's stories that have dated, but she had a knack for pacing and dialogue that just can't be denied. The particular strength of "The Find-Outers" is the intrigue of the mysteries, the logical steps the children take to solve them, and the irrepressible cheek of Fatty, who is truly one of Blyton's best ever characters.

These were my favorite when I was little and now my son reads them with great interest. You cannot go wrong with Enid Blyton. They are far more decent in language than the some of the latest kids books.

I agree with the other reviewer who mentioned typing errors. It kind of made the book difficult for my daughter to read as she kept asking what words meant such as 'back5' when it should be backwards.I loved these books when I was young. Perhaps a little twee for the young reader today but still a fun read.

Good old fashioned mystery story that I read many times as a little girl. My sympathy is with Bets of course but it goes back to simpler days of the 1930's a great children's story

Nostalgic. . Used to read this book when i was a kid now i read this book to my kid.. rekindled the old nostalgic memories of childhood. . Really enjoyed reading the book all over again.

The story is fabulous! The amount of misspelled words and punctuation mistakes is staggering in this kindle edition. at least 5 mistakes per page. Kindle editions should be reviewed before publishing.

My kids are fan of this author and they rarely skip a book of him.

Lovely read. My daughter loved it.

I remember reading and loving all of these mystery books as a child and have now started buying and reading them to my 8 year old and she is enthralled. We read 2-3 chapters a night and spend half of the next day discussing the "glues" and working on solving the mystery. For me this is the best of the Enid Blyton series and a great introduction for chlidren to the book world of crime and mystery.This is the first of the series introducing the 5 find outers and the 'orrible PC Goon, lots of "glues" suspects and a good ending make this a great start and, with a few exceptions the whole of series is well worth getting.

An amazingly enthralling read. Great fun from beginning to end!

小さな町を舞台にした子供探偵団のような物語。この著者の本は何冊か読んだけれど、どの本もとても読みやすい。それでこの本なのだけど、挿絵はない。行間が空けてあるのも読みやすい理由のひとつだろうね（かといって、もちろん内容がスカスカなのではない）。個人的なことだけど、このシリーズは子供のころに日本語版で読んだことがあるような気がする。今でも日本語版が出版されているのかどうかは知らないけれど。