''Five Have a Mystery to Solve'' is the 20th novel in the Famous Five series by

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have be ...

. It was first published in 1962. As the penultimate novel in the Famous Five series, it follows the usual formula of finding secret passages, drinking

ginger beer Traditional ginger beer is a sweetened and carbonated, usually non-alcoholic beverage. Historically it was produced by the natural fermentation of prepared ginger spice, yeast and sugar. Current ginger beers are often manufactured rather than ...

, hunting treasure, and foiling evil-doers.

Plot

The Five are invited to stay at a holiday cottage near the coast. There they meet and make friends with Wilfred, a boy with an almost magical knack of attracting animals. Offshore is Whispering Island where, according to Lucas, a former guardian of the island who now works at a golf-course on the coast, strange goings-on have been reported. The Five and Wilfred hire a boat and row across to the island where, despite the Five's resolve to avoid adventures, they find themselves stranded. Wilfrid has discovered that someone is stealing the island's old treasures. The Five climb into the ground of a supposedly-empty stone house, and find themselves locked into a strange cellar along with Wilfred and the stolen treasure. Before the thieves come back, they manage to escape through a ventilation hole. Unable to locate the hired boat, which the thieves attempt to take for their own use, the Five decide they will have to risk sleeping on the island. Fortunately, Anne and Timmy the dog manage to shoo the thieves away from the boat, and Anne persuades the others to row back to the mainland. The Five and Wilfred spend a day with the police, recounting what has happened. The novel closes with the Five lying sunbathing on a hillside near the holiday cottage, with all the local animals and birds gathering round to listen to Wilfred playing his flute.

Real locations and characters

Whispering Island is thought to be based on

Brownsea Island Brownsea Island is the largest of the islands in Poole Harbour in the county of Dorset, England. The island is owned by the National Trust with the northern half managed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust. Much of the island is open to the public and ...

in Poole Harbour. Lucas is thought to be based on the grounds man of the

Isle of Purbeck The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the n ...

golf-course, which Blyton's husband owned.

Film adaptation

A 6-part

Children's Film Foundation The Children's Film Foundation (CFF) was a non-profit organisation which made films for children in the United Kingdom originally to be shown as part of childrens' Saturday morning matinée cinema programming. The films typically were about 55 ...

film serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

was produced in 1964, directed by

Ernest Morris Ernest Morris (1913–1987) was an English film director. Selected filmography * ''Three Crooked Men'' (1958) * ''Night Train for Inverness'' (1960) * ''The Court Martial of Major Keller'' (1961) * ''Three Spare Wives'' (1962) * ''What Every Wo ...

. The film starred David Palmer (Julian), Amanda Coxell (George),

Darryl Read Darryl Michael Roy Read (19 September 1951 – 23 June 2013) was a British singer, guitarist, drummer, actor, poet and writer. In the late 1960s, Read was a member of Crushed Butler, considered by some to be amongst the forerunners of proto punk ...

(Dick), Paula Boyd (Anne), and Michael Wennink (Wilfrid). Filmed mainly on location in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, and at

Bushey Studios Bushey Studios was a British film studio located in Melbourne Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire which operated between 1913 and 1985. The studios were built by the film enthusiast Hubert von Herkomer in the grounds of his country house, Lululaund. T ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

. On one occasion, Blyton visited the set during the filming and spent the day with all the cast and crew.

References

External links

*
Five Have A Mystery To Solve at www.enidblyton.netEnid Blyton Society pageFive Have a Mystery To Solve at www.imdb.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Five Have A Mystery To Solve 1962 British novels Hodder & Stoughton books Famous Five novels British novels adapted into films 1962 children's books