The Rubadub Mystery

[Anita Bensoussane]

Are the songs Snubby played at the show real? One was called 'If I could only give you the moon'. Can't seem to find it anywhere.
Think the other song was 'What time is it when it's 12 o'clock'..again, can't seem to find it.

They remind me of some of George Formby's enjoyably daft song titles but, like you, I can't find any evidence that Snubby's ditties are real, Pete, so I imagine Enid Blyton made them up. Of course, some of the popular songs of the day that were played on banjos and ukuleles were rather risqué!

Is this the 1990 Armada edition not in the cave? Not a good quality pic, but it's not a bad cover in my humble opinion.

That 1990 Armada cover is extremely eye-catching. I wonder whether the artist is a fan of Stuart Tresilian, as the composition and colours remind me somewhat of Tresilian's artwork for the Adventure series.

The book doesn't seem to go past 2003 according to the cave which surprised me. I thought this book would still be being published in ever new and zany covers, but it seems not!

A quick look online revealed:


International edition??
https://www.amazon.com/Rubadub-Mystery- ... 1444952676" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They've take a few liberties with that cave and blow hole there!

That's interesting, Pete. I hadn't seen that before and I'm wondering whether it is an international edition as you suggest, or whether the series was actually meant to be re-released in the UK in 2019 (the date given in the Amazon listing) but was held back - perhaps because Hachette decided to concentrate on Malory Towers to tie in with the stage play and TV series? Although the characters look cartoony and a little too young, I think it's an attractive and dramatic cover.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Ah - sorry, I only just noticed the listing does say "international edition"!

[pete9012S]

Whatever that term means Anita.

It's taken a few hours for my emotions to come down after Rubadub's Railway Children like ending.


I then made a start on the next book, Rat A Tat - don't ask me why I started my Barney re-reads on Rubadub!!

But, sitting in my Fatty like workroom in the garden with blazing hot sun it just didn't feel right,


So, I'm saving Rat A Tat for very last, starting Ragamuffin now , which although divides opinion, I've always really enjoyed.


The after Ragamuffin I will start at book one till I reach Rubadub - skip Rubadub and read Rat A Tat last.



Clear as mud, but hey, who gives a Rat A Tat anyway!!

[StephenC]

The Rubadub Mystery attracts comment like no other Enid Blyton book, and rightly so too, as I consider it to be her greatest work, written in the early fifties, at a time when she was producing some of her best work, especially in the Famous Five and Secret Seven series. No other EB book has such great support characters, and who are fleshed out, and not merely cardboard caricatures. I have always wished that the Mystery series, finished with this book, instead of continuing with two sequels that pale in comparison. The dialogue between all the characters in Rubadub, is Enid at her best. Great stuff. And yes, I wondered about those song titles too. Rubadub is one of a select group of EB books that I have read several times in my life, and continue to enjoy and find something new to discover, every time I reread it. Just finished rereading Five Go To Mystery Moor, and I still regard it as Enid's best FF book.

[Irene Malory Towers]

I agree Stephen and would have preferred Enid Blyton to have stopped there. In fact I can't bear to read the last two in that series which I think are greatly inferior to the Rubadub Mystery. It is my favourite book of all time along with Tom's Midnight Garden and Charlotte Sometimes. I am even thinking of buying a new dust jacket if I can get it as mine is falling apart.

[Lucky Star]

The Rat-a-Tat and Ragamuffin Mysteries do seem a little like afterthoughts in this series but I still feel they are good and worthwhile books in their own right. The problem of course is that the first four books have had as a background the ongoing story of Barney's situation and his search for his father. This backstory rises to an extraordinarily powerful climax in Rubadub and leaves us with a feeling that the story is done and there's no more to be told. In a sense that is true and it helps that the book is such a powerful thriller anyway. It's far and away Enid Blyton's most skillful and enthralling piece of writing with it's seamless blend of Barney's intensely personal quest and a brilliant, almost Noir plot.

I wonder if Enid Blyton intended Rubadub to be the final book and if she only wrote the last two under popular pressure? I'm sure it's been discussed before but I can't remember. in any case I also wonder whether, if the series had finished with Rubadub, we would not be here saying it's a pity she didn't write more so that we could see what happens to Barney afterwards! Something of a Catch-22.

[Lenoir]

Yes, I'm sure we would have said it's a pity there weren't anymore! So I think it's good that she did write two more, even though they might not be as well liked as the first four.
She was asked to write more in the series, after the readers realised that the series was planned to end after the Rubadub Mystery.

Getting off the subject slightly, it was the same after the first six Famous Five books. The readers implored her to continue. I think that's why she had them returning to Kirrin island in the sixth Fives book, thinking that was a good way to round off the series.
In the end we got a lot more, and some of the best among them, and the series still ended with a return to Kirrin Island with "Five are together again". So, we might not think the last book is up to standard, but at least the series ended the way she wanted it to, with a last trip to the place that started the series, the iconic island.

[Debbie]

My favourite Barney mystery is Rat-a-Tat partially because I love a good snow story and being snowed up was a very exciting idea when half an inch seemed a huge amount of snow in our area. It's probably also because it was the only one I owned as a child, and the first I read, so I didn't judge it against the others at all, but I keep a fondness for it.

I did read Rubadub from the library, and finding it quite upsetting when Barney is cheated out of finding his father, which rather coloured the book for me. As an adult I can appreciate the great writing that went into that book, but it's a rare really emotional moment in an EB book. I can't remember any other one feeling quite so bad. Generally you knew that all would pull okay in the end, but that felt very final at the time.

[Rob Houghton]

Yes - The Rubadub Mystery was intended as the last book in the Barney series...I think Enid mentions this in her preface to The Rat A Tat Mystery. It was the perfect ending to the series, and the two following books lost their emotionally dramatic intensity due to Barney becoming 'a normal boy' just like any other Blyton boy.

Rubadub is for me the best book of its type Enid ever wrote. I say 'of its type' because I don't think you can compare the various genres. The Valley of Adventure (or Sea, I'm never sure!) is her best 'Adventure' book, in my view - The Rubadub Mystery is her best mystery story - but it wins hands down overall because it is twinned with a powerful back story which is very emotional. I would always class it as my favourite Enid Blyton book of all, and I must have read it about 12 times at least.

[pete9012S]

I recently finished a re-read of Rubadub, Rob and again I found it so moving it took me three or four days to get my emotions back under control.
Amazing when you think I must have read the book easily over half a dozen times over the years!

[John Pickup]

I must have read Rubadub at least 10 times. The book by Enid I've read the most is easily Valley Of Adventure. I bet I've read that between 20 and 30 times over the years and I never tire of it. Which book of Enids have you read the most, Pete?

[pete9012S]

It might be Tally-Ho Cottage John. It never ever ceases to make me laugh out loud.
Also Five On A Treasure Island has got to be another. I must have about a dozen or more different versions of that book!

[Rob Houghton]

At risk of going off topic, lol - I think the Enid Blyton book I've read the most is probably The Rilloby Fair Mystery - which I have read two or three times more than Rubadub, as it was the first Barney book I ever owned in hardback when I was 10. Its a book I love, and I rate it as one of the funniest in the Barney series.

[Anita Bensoussane]

We've got a thread here about which Enid Blyton books people have read the most:

https://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/for ... f=4&t=4366" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[IceMaiden]

On pages 172 & 173 original edition Miss Pepper says that Peke dogs 'often see off much larger dogs' and 'aren't afraid of anyone or anything'.. is this true??

Yep it sure is. They're known as the little dog with the heart of a lion due to their brave and fearless nature. Indeed the name Pekingese means 'lion dog' as that is what they are, the lion dogs of China, bred to resemble miniature lions which were seen as fitting pets for Chinese royalty.