MYSTERY SERIES
BOOKS 1-15
When did I write these idiosyncratic essays about the Mystery books?
I wrote eight of them in the summer and autumn of 2012. Then I posted the ones about Hidden House and Vanished Prince in 2013. Missing Necklace was added three years later, in 2016, leaving only four more to write… Once Holly Lane went up in 2017, that left three outstanding… Pantomime Cat was written in 2019, and several of the initial eight were tidied up and extended at that point. And I could see the finishing line… Which came in 2020, when Strange Messages and Banshee Towers were added.
So why this additional essay in 2026?
Well, I've just written a short story called 'The Mystery of the Time Artist' (because it was time I 'introduced' On Kawara to Enid Blyton, both having been enormous influences on my own creative life), which has got me walking the streets of Peterswood once more. I needed to refer to my collection of Mystery books in order not to cock up a few things. And before I knew it, I was standing on furniture in order to get this shot: 
Only two of that lot have got dust-jackets, so I removed them for the picture. Disappearing Cat has a ragged one and Holly Lane has a complete one. That's why the cloth cover of Holly Lane is a deeper colour than all the others. Life lesson? A dust-jacket is really a light-jacket, protecting one's precious book from the fading effect of sunlight. Which is another word for time.
So the above books (apart from Holly Lane) are a bit faded on the outside. Four of them are first editions. Invisible Thief, from 1950; Strange Bundle, from 1952; Tally-Ho Cottage, from 1954; and the unloved Banshee Towers, from 1961.
However, all 15 of these books are full of underlinings and highlightings from beginning to end. They also have my notes on the endpapers. So here are the notes from the first three books.
From Burnt Cottage:
From Disappearing Cat: 
And from Secret Room:
This collection was put together in 2006, when I was writing the book that was eventually called Looking For Enid.
Let's look at the rest of the notes in book order, starting with Missing Necklace:
That's the lot.
If you've been counting, you'll realise that there is one missing. That's because I seem to have misplaced my copy of Strange Bundle. I've ordered a replacement for £5 and while waiting for it to arrive I have removed the dust jacket from the copy that belongs to the collection I am about to discuss. It's that copy that accounts for the bright yellow near the edges of a couple of the above shots of endpapers.
In 2010, I had the opportunity to buy the collection of Mystery books that Enid's daughter, Gillian, had put together. These all have dust jackets:
I hadn't looked at them for some time and certain perspectives struck me this time around (in 2026).
Firstly, how annoying was the 14th book! It was a copy that had been published in 1971 (three years after Enid's death) and so was most unlikely ever to have been shelved at Green Hedges.
So I've just spent £50 replacing it with a lovely copy, as you can see:
Good. A full set of dust-jacketed books. The first seven by Joseph Abbey who also did the line illustrations inside the book. Then a cover experiment by Jean Mair that must have been deemed a failure. Then four covers (and internal drawings) by Treyer Evans and three by Lilian Buchanan.
I did speculate in one of the essays (Strange Messages) that Gillian may have gone to the offices of Enid Blyton Ltd (Or Chorion as it became) and removed books of her mother's that she felt she was entitled to. Approximately half of the 15 books look as if they were labelled up for Enid Blyton Ltd, and half have been bought from a bookseller. In other words, Gillian only took her half of the collection, as it were, she left half the books to be claimed by Imogen.
Now when I look at it, a more definite pattern strikes me. Of the six earlier, rarer titles, Gillian seems to have taken books 2, 4 and 6. Which implies Imogen was allotted, or took, books 1, 3 and 5.
Here are Gillian's special books:
As a child, she wrote her name (G. Darrell-Waters) in Disappearing Cat; Spiteful Letters is not written in; and Enid has written on the end papers of Hidden House that, if found, the book should be returned to Green Hedges. If only that were possible! 
Joseph Abbey seemed to struggle at his trade. Look at all the hand to head that is going on in that last illustration. One gets the impression that he can't just draw people in new poses, he has to copy ones he's already mastered.
But I'm not knocking Joseph Abbey. In fact, I would use his handiwork if my Looking For Enid ever needed another cover:
Back to the collection of dust-jacketed hardback Methuens. How Gillian put together her set was complicated. As you can see, from the book itself (three images up), Disappearing Cat spent years on the shelves of Green Hedges without a dust-jacket, exposed to the elements. As did Hidden House. Only Spiteful Letters has benefitted from a dust-jacket all its shelf life. In other words, Gillian would have asked a bookseller to find dust-jackets for two of the three, precious, original books.
I have decided to strip the dust wrapper from the copy of Hidden House that was shelved at Green Hedges. 
Now at some stage I acquired a third copy of Hidden House and that is it in the middle of the above photo. With my own Methuen on the right and Gillian/Enid's on the left.
The three books were published: first edition, November 25, 1948; second edition 1949; and third edition, reprint 1952.
Now the dust jacket that Gillian had acquired lists the Mysteries down to Pantomime Cat, which was published in 1949. So the dust wrapper must have originally gone with a copy of the second edition. 
So that's how I will be shelving the books. With the good orange cover being protected by the dust wrapper. Of course, that leaves the precious first edition whose end papers have been written in by Enid Blyton without protection. So I keep that in a drawer in an otherwise empty piece of furniture.
I also have a third copy of Methuen's Pantomime Cat. But I fear that if I say any more along these lines then the readers of this website are going to declare me a mad/bad/sad obsessive. 
I will be locked up in jail by PC Goon and the key to said jail will be thrown away. So I had better leave it there.
2
Now here's a funny thing. I've long wanted to produce a map of Bourne End that successfully represented the entire series of Mysteries. And today I think I have made progress in that direction. Here it is:
What I've done is use the colour that I associate with each Methuen hardback, and place a circle of that colour on the most significant location in each book. Let me go through them all:
Burnt Cottage. An easy one. The blue circle is over Old Thatch, just north of the river, the house in Bourne End where Enid lived from 1931 to 1938. It's where her two girls were born, Gillian and Imogen, who by the time Enid was setting out to write the first of the Mysteries - three miles away in Beaconsfield, in 1943 - were the right sort of age to be Find-Outers.
Disappearing Cat. I've marked this down as taking place in Beaconsfield (off the top edge of the map), as the garden of Green Hedges and its neighbouring house corresponds to the main locations in the book.
Secret Room. The old house that Pip can see into after climbing a tree, is where most of the action in this book happens.
Spiteful Letters. The letters are posted from Sheepsale, a fictional town located in the Chilterns (again off the top edge of the map) that has to be travelled to by bus.
Missing Necklace. Important action takes place on the High Street, where gang members communicate on public benches. But it could be argued that the main location is down by the river, where the fair takes place.
Hidden House. Thanks to Russell Calvert who explained to us where the hidden house stood (by following Ern along streams), in a wood that existed in Enid Blyton's time.
Pantomime Cat. The theatre is on the High Street in the middle of town, close to Goon's police house.
Invisible Thief. Back to those benches on the High Street where Fatty and Goon sit alongside each other, both dressed as tramps.
Vanished Prince. The campsite on the other side of the river.
Strange Bundle. I've marked Mr Fellows' house, from where he runs to the river and throws his puppet into the Thames. Really this book should be represented by a line (from house to river) rather than a circle, but you get the picture.
Tally-Ho Cottage. The Larkins and their poodle stay in a house on the river, it's just a matter of how far along the north bank it is.
Holly Lane. Unmarked. The main location is a house called Green Trees on Holly Lane. All I can say (for now) is that it is somewhere in Peterswood aka Bourne End, but Enid does not give many clues as to its location.
Missing Man. Fatty has several runs along the towpath from Bourne End to Marlow. But tis is another book that would better be described as a line, leading from Fatty's house and shed where much of the action takes place.
Strange Messages. Unmarked. Where is Fairlin Hall? I need to peruse the book again. Anyone else got any ideas?
Banshee Towers. Who cares? I have marked this location as off the bottom of the map, but that is more of a symbolic location (down, down, down), as the book is really not up to scratch.
Where do I go from there? I'm not sure. Time will tell if this map gives me (and others) satisfaction.
*
I didn't have long to wait for good feedback. How about this from Pete who let chatgpt (whatever that is) loose on the map:
Then Russell Calvert got back to me with some sensible suggestions. Suffice to say his advice made me realise that I need to split my map into two. Here is the first one:
Note how Banshee Towers has switched from off the south edge to off the north edge of the map. It is much more likely to be on the high ground of the Chilterns than elsewhere. And Russell argues that the main setting for Spiteful Letters is the home of the Hiltons, as it's the cook there that is sending out the letters, the wicked thing!
I'll get back to the map of the six inner Bourne End locations of Mysteries within a few days. But for now I have to carry on with the main thrust of this essay.
3
The above photo (clock my addition) was taken at Green Hedges, Beaconsfield, in May of 1949. A Methuen copy of The Mystery of the Missing Necklace is in the pile of books at the author's feet. 
The Mystery of the Hidden House was published just six months before this photo was taken, but there is no sign of it. And the seventh novel, The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat, would be published in November, 1949. So, in May, Enid may have been gearing up to write that.
In other words, the photo was taken when Enid was in full Mystery flow. She was setting the Thames on fire between Marlow and Bourne End. The river that burns brightly (Blytonly) still.
At this stage she had still to create the scene in Invisible Thief where Fatty and Goon sat beside each other on a public bench on Peterswood High Street, both dressed as tramps. One knowing everything about the scenario, and the other not having much of a clue what was going on.
Enid sitting on her seat at Green Hedges. Fatty and Goon sitting together on a bench three miles away, thanks to an act of her under-mind's imagination. Dressed as tramps. Hilarious.
But more than that. Poignant too.
What have we here?
Is that Imogen or Bets (with her back to us) gazing at Enid? Enid is thinking about the balloon lady in Mystery of the Missing Necklace. (Those flowers behind her don't wither away, they turn into balloons in front of her and pop, pop, pop… Those balloons are popping to this day.)
Of course, the balloon lady in Mystery of the Missing Necklace is really Fatty. And Fatty reveals this to Bets in the story. "Oh, Fatty is it really you?" she whispers.
I think it would be a good idea if Enid were to bend down and pick her copy of Missing Necklace from the floor. She doesn't want to lose track of where these books are, as she very occasionally has to refer to them to make sure she stays consistent to the local geography.
Suddenly, Imogen picks up the book for her and places it in a special drawer. 
Is that a good idea? Will Imogen not simply forget about it?
Imogen prefers her mother's Mystery books without their covers, unlike her sister. So she strips it off and really likes what she sees:
But what's this? Is it Goon in disguise, or Fatty?
I'm pretty sure it's Goon.
What does it say in the background about Goon?
'Mr Goon is on the job too, but although he is cleverer than usual, the village policeman doesn't quite keep up with Fatty and the others!'
Hang on, this is a fast-evolving scenario. Where are we now? Who has put in an appearance?
What is going on? Do these two know each other? Could it possibly be Fatty that is dressed up as Badger from Wind in the Willows?
Let's follow them…
"Look what I've found," said Goon, referring to the battered old, hardback book. "You don't think it could have any value do you?"
"You might get tuppence for it," said Fatty. "If you took it to a London bookseller."
"How about if I took it back to this Enid Blyton. After all, Beaconsfield is just up the road."
"I don't think she'd thank you for handing her back a book whose cover is so faded and where it's been written in with such a leaky pen… But I'll take it off your hands if you like."
"Not so fast. I'm wondering about that inside cover. It reminds of something. A recent case where bank notes were sewn inside curtains in that house on Holly Lane."
"Really?"
"Doesn't look like bank notes to me," said Fatty. "More like knicker elastic."
"You think so?"
"I think this Enid Blyton has hidden some knicker elastic that belongs to herself or one of her kids."
"Well maybe she'd like the book back in order to retrieve it?"
"You might be right. But let's investigate a bit further. Turn over."
"Strange," said Goon. "This is reminding me of another case now."
"Called The Mystery of the Hidden House, by any chance," offered Fatty.
"Maybe," said Goon, nodding slowly.
"Let's see how the book starts."
Fatty read: "THE FAT BOY AT THE STATION. That's the title of the first chapter."
Goon: "I know that 'fat boy'. He haunts my dreams."
Fatty: "I will read out the first few sentences. Just til we get the gist…
'It's today that Fatty's coming back,' said Bets to Pip. 'I'm so glad.'
'That's the sixth time you've said that in the last hour,' said Pip. 'Can't you think of something else to say?'
'No, I can't,' said Bets. 'I keep on feeling so glad that we shall soon see Fatty.'
Goon: "Is that it?"
Fatty: "It's how the Mystery starts."
"Sounds like rubbish to me," said Goon. "With a big fat nothing happening."
"One of the chapters is called 'Ern's Clues'."
"Let's get into that then."
"What do you think?"
"Gah. False clues."
"Even 'end of good cigar'?"
"In my experience, cigar ends are always false clues," reckoned Goon. "Or 'fake news' as my favourite politician puts it."
"Hmm, " said Fatty. "I think we need to go back a few pages. Here we are… That word 'Theophilus' is definitely a meaty clue."
"Oh, yeah?" said Goon. Not seeing how his own name could be much of a clue to a despicable crime.
"It's an anagram. From those letters you can get 'I HELP SOUTH' or 'I PUSH HOTEL."
"But what does any of that mean?"
"Not necessarily anything. One has to come up with the right combination of letters and words."
"Say two of the words of the clue were 'UP' and 'HOLE'," Fatty went on. "That would leave letters 'H.T.I.S.' to make a third word. Can you think what it might be?"
"HITS."
"That could give us 'HITS UP HOLE'. Any other options?"
"THIS."
""That could give us 'UP THIS HOLE. Anything else?"
"SHIT, I suppose."
"Well, yes. Villains swear. And that would give us 'SHIT UP HOLE' or 'UP HOLE SHIT' but probably 'UP SHITHOLE' .
"Jesus," said Goon. "We're up against a pretty crude crowd." 
'We mustn't lose sight of the list of clues that Ern found," said Fatty. "Let's move on a bit, see where the Find-Outers take 'em…"
"Fatty has written a poem," said Fatty.
Goon told himself not to give away the fact that he despised Frederick Algernon Trotteville. Not to this badger-fellow. So he simply said: "Let's hear it then."
"Oh, have you heard of Ernie's clues,
Ernie's clues, Ernie's clues,
A broken lace, our Ernie found,
A smoked cigar-end, on the ground,
A match, a packet, and a hanky,
Honest truth, no hanky-panky!
A rag, a tin, some knicker elastic,
Ern likes a bit of straight-down slapstick."
Goon went for a wander. Then he came back and asked Fatty, still immersed in the book: "Maybe there's something in this elastic idea."
"Shall we take a sneak peek at the last page?" asked Fatty.
"Why not?"
"What's it say?" asked Goon.
""Flashing lights…moveable floors…Christmas Hill… dark dire deeds…clues in plenty…spiral stairways…a dark, dark house… and there was Ern, crowned with laurel leaves, a hero! He was just going to recite a marvellous poem. 'Lovaduck!' said Fatty, and woke up."
"Doesn't make much sense," said Goon.
"I'll take the book back to Green Hedges, shall I?" said Fatty. "If nothing else, it means Ms. Blyton will be able to trust her knickers again."
"Sure. Thanks."
"G'night, Goon."
"What did you say?"
"I said: 'But O, methinks, how slow this old Moon wanes.' "
.
