Genre: Mystery Age Range: Chapter Book Star Rating: 4 stars Series: yes - second book
Synopsis:
Lady Candling lives next door to Pip and Bets, and owns some very expensive, pedigree Siamese cats.
When her most famous cat, Dark Queen, goes missing, the gardener’s generous assistant, Luke, seems the obvious suspect as he was working nearby. But could it have been the cat’s carer, Miss Harmer, Lady Candling’s nervous companion, Miss Trimble, or the angry gardener, Mr Tupping?
Luckily the Five-Find-Outers are on the case.
Synopsis taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
I was feeling pretty down and not feeling like doing much, and saw this on the shelf downstairs, tucked among my parents reading material. No one is quite sure why one of the books from when I was in primary school was among the dictionaries and theology. Still, it’s a book I read and loved, and I wanted something easy and nostalgic, and this absolutely fit the bill.
It was very nostalgic to return to this after more than a decade when I devoured her books (my dad I worked out that I’d read 80 of Enid Blyton’s books by the age of 8). I love the very old fashioned feel of the world and the mystery. After the book kicked off, I remembered what happened, but it was fun to see it play out. Given I was just reading this for the nostalgia, I didn’t mind at all.
It should be noted that this was written in 1944, and is very much of its time for the lifestyle of affluent British country dwellers – gardeners, boarding school hols, afternoon tea (though no ginger beer, unlike in Famous Five!) The speech is very much of the time “Why, I say!” and all that.
One of the characters (initials F. A. T.) is called Fatty by his friends. There weren’t any comments about his weight in this one, but the descriptions are very light, and I don’t know how well to trust my recollections of the first book (where there is comment on the name).
These books were so addictive when I was little, and I’m getting that slight feel of wanting to read more now (alas, all other books are gone, and it’s the Secret and Mystery castles I must want to read, the adventures for older pre-teens).
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 