Enid Blyton’s The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage is a village detective story for 9 year olds that starts with flames lighting up the sky one April night.<\/p>\n
Larry spots the glow from his bedroom window just as he’s getting into bed. Within minutes he and his sister Daisy are running down the lane, with Pip and little Bets close behind. Mr Hick’s thatched workroom at the bottom of his garden is blazing and nobody can save it.<\/p>\n
Mr Hick arrives back off the London train and goes nearly frantic about his precious old papers. By the next morning the whole village is saying it wasn’t an accident. Somebody used petrol.<\/p>\n
So Daisy has an idea. They’ll be detectives!<\/p>\n
There’s a new boy in the group too, whether the others like it or not. He’s Frederick Algernon Trotteville, plump and very boastful, and his initials spell FAT (you can guess what they call him from then on). They mostly let him join because of Buster, his little black Scottie. Bets, who’s only eight, has to beg not to be left out.<\/p>\n
Then the real fun starts. A hiding place in a muddy ditch full of trampled nettles. A scrap of grey flannel caught on a thorn. Footprints with criss-cross rubber soles. Meanwhile Bets keeps asking about “glues”, which is very funny every single time.<\/p>\n
And Mr Goon, the village policeman, only ever seems to say one thing to children. “Clear orf!” So of course they call him Clear-Orf.<\/p>\n
It feels very much like being part of a secret gang, with meetings in the summer-house and evidence hidden behind a loose board. Who’d want to burn down a man’s workroom? Quite a few people, it turns out (Mr Hick isn’t exactly popular). There’s a sacked manservant, a neighbour he’s been rowing with and a tramp he caught stealing eggs.<\/p>\n
Worth knowing before you hand it over. This is an old-fashioned book and the teasing about Fatty’s weight is very much of its time. The others call him a “conceited fat creature” and a “silly fat sausage” when he’s not listening. Mr Goon kicks out at Buster as well. If you’ve got a child who gets comments about their size, that might sting a bit. Plenty of readers will just enjoy watching Fatty hold his own (he’s the one who spots the flannel).<\/p>\n
If they’re after more children with a summer holiday and something to puzzle out, try Five on a Treasure Island by the same author. Julian, Dick and Anne are packed off to Kirrin Bay to stay with a cousin they’ve never even met.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Enid Blyton’s The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage is a village detective story for 9 year olds that starts with flames lighting up the sky one April night. Larry spots the glow from his bedroom window just as he’s getting into bed. Within minutes he and his sister Daisy are running down the lane, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14525,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":7433,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Five on a Treasure Island","lr_seo_hook":"A summer-house gang, a Scottie dog and a fire somebody started on purpose.","lr_series_id":155,"lr_series_name":"The Mystery Series","lr_series_position":1,"lr_series_label":"","lr_author_order":"309"},"book_tag":[22],"age_group":[24],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[309],"class_list":["post-14526","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-mystery-books","age_group-books-for-9-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-enid-blyton"],"yoast_title":"The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage by Enid Blyton | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"A summer-house gang, a Scottie dog and a fire somebody started on purpose. For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n