The Mystery of the Hidden House
By Enid Blyton
Methuen & Co., 1948
This is the sixth novel in The Five Find-Outers mystery series. It is noteworthy among fans of the series as it marks the first appearance of Ern Goon.
The story starts with the younger Find-Outers quite excited that Fatty is arriving by train that morning. When Fatty does not disembark, they quickly realize that he is testing them -- he has surely dressed up in one of his famous disguises, and is trying to sneak by them! A quick inspection of the passengers finds a likely suspect; a boy of about the right build (that is, fat). They run after him, shouting "Hey, Fatty!", only to find that he isn't Fatty at all -- in fact, they have just insulted the nephew of their arch-nemesis, the village policeman, Mr. Goon.
Mr. Goon immediately goes around to each of their families, but to their surprise it's not to get them in trouble; Ern is a bit simple, and Mr. Goon is eager that the Five not drag him into any of their mischief. They are to leave him alone, and their parents also forbid them from looking into mysteries these holidays, just for good measure. Naturally, they hatch a plan to lure Ern onto a deserted hillside at midnight, and beat him up. Not to be mean, you see, but because everyone deserves a good adventure. But also, so they can mock him behind his back; this is the 1940s, and morality hasn't been invented yet, so it's all okay.
Ern is saved this fate when the fake adventure they set for him is discovered by his uncle. Mr. Goon mistakes the adventure as real, and stakes out the hillside, resulting in Fatty accidentally giving him the walloping intended for Ern. Ern, meanwhile, has wandered off in the wrong direction, and has stumbled on a real mystery. The Five are left carefully juggling a fake mystery to distract Ern and Mr. Goon from the real mystery, while hiding all this from their parents.
Ern is a bit of a highlight of this mystery. He is rather simple, and dealing with either Mr. Goon or the Five would be a bit of a challenge for anyone. Ern is basically everyone's pawn, and never quite knows what is going on. He also has a charming habit of writing 'portry' (oh, also, they constantly mock the way he speaks, because it is so very low class), and we constantly hear the first line of one of his melancholy 'pomes' before the others quickly cut him off. Ern makes a good showing of himself in the end, and is fairly popular among readers; he will be back in a number of future books.
Overall, a good addition to the series, but an awful place to start in the series. The Find-Outers are often a bit morally questionable -- they are brats by any definition -- but they usually do not spend the majority of the story tormenting some poor gormless kid. Other than that, it's a fun story, and a good elaboration on what might otherwise become a fairly repetitive chain of mysteries.
Ern Goon will reappear in The Mystery of the Vanished Prince, The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage, The Mystery of the Strange Messages, and The Mystery of the Banshee Towers.
The previous book in the series was The Mystery of the Missing Necklace, and the next is The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat, although as a general rule these novels do not need to be read in order.