The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters

Enid Blyton's The Mystery of the Spiteful Letters is a village detective story for 9 year olds about nasty letters that nobody signs.

What happens

Easter's come round and the gang are back in Peterswood. Then a red-haired telegraph boy cycles up with a telegram for Pip. It says Fatty has flown off to solve a mystery in a place called Tippylooloo!

Bets is in tears. Mr Goon the policeman, who happens to be passing, is delighted. (The telegraph boy also lets his bike fall on Goon's shin. Oops.)

You can probably guess where that one's going. Fatty's disguises have got a LOT better.

Then a real mystery turns up in Pip's own house. Gladys, the young housemaid Pip and Bets adore, is found with red eyes one morning. By the time they get home that evening her room is empty and Goon's big black woollen glove is lying under a chair in the study.

Their parents have promised Goon to keep them out of it. So Bets does the detecting herself, sitting quietly in the kitchen rocking-chair while the cook and the cleaner gossip in the yard.

Gladys has been sent a letter with no name at the bottom, all in capitals. Mrs Cockles the cleaner calls it a "nonnimus" letter, which Bets proudly repeats (Fatty kindly puts her right).

The five tease, squabble and egg each other on, and that's the fun of it. Fatty opens a leather notebook and prints CLUES and SUSPECTS at the top of the pages. Then he pulls a live white rat out of his pocket in front of Goon. Isn't that exactly what you'd want a detective to carry about?

This is the fourth Find-Outers case and the children chat happily about how the last one went. If your reader's new to the gang, it's best to start with the earlier books.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Showing off his grease-paints, Fatty says that one day he'll make himself up as a black boy to give everyone a fright. It's played as a joke and nobody in the book questions it. There's also plenty of teasing about weight and about Goon's looks, and the mystery itself starts with a cruel letter that makes a young woman cry.

A reader who'd be hurt by that joke might want you close by. A child who loves clues, suspects and a properly grumpy policeman will probably race through the rest.

What to read next

If they're hooked on the gang, The Mystery of the Hidden House is a later case that starts with the other four following a sulky boy off a train, quite sure he's Fatty in disguise. He isn't. He's Goon's nephew Ern, and he writes poetry.