The Enid Blyton Society

I wonder if number 2 is hidden room (Fatty caught after falling asleep), though it could be strange messages as well.

Do you mean Secret Room, Wolfgang? I too was thinking about Secret Room for Number 2.

Number 3 appears to show a tyre and bats. My first thought is that it could be Hidden House (cars feature prominently, as do night-time escapades). On the other hand, a tyre track also features in Holly Lane. Car numbers are important in Banshee Towers too - and I suppose bats might be said to fit the spooky title.

Number 6 shows Goon (I assume it's Goon) lying on the road after falling off his bicycle. That happens at the beginning of The Mystery of the Strange Bundle. There may be other books in which Goon also falls off his bicycle though.

Another possibility for Strange Bundle is Number 5, as Fatty goes out at night asking about his "sleepwalking uncle" and sees Goon on his bicycle.

Daisy wrote:I wonder if number 8 can be Spiteful Letters with the telegraph boy on the bike - not sure of the relevance of the bush with one strange decoration on it though!

Maybe Number 8 is Holly Lane and that's a green tree outside Green-Trees! I agree that it could also be Spiteful Letters though.

Anita Bensoussane wrote:

Daisy wrote:I wonder if number 8 can be Spiteful Letters with the telegraph boy on the bike - not sure of the relevance of the bush with one strange decoration on it though!

Maybe Number 8 is Holly Lane and that's a green tree outside Green-Trees! I agree that it could also be Spiteful Letters though.

Oh yes Anita, and that strange item in the bush could be the window-leather.

Anita Bensoussane wrote:Do you mean Secret Room, Wolfgang? I too was thinking about Secret Room for Number 2.

Of course you're right Anita .

I like how they have redone Enid’s signature in Russian but kept her handwriting!

As I only joined here in May, I have only just come across this topic and was intrigued by the translation in the first post which gave 'Тайноискателей' translating as 'Taynoiskateley', which still meant nothing to me. However, inserting that word into Google, it translates as 'Secret Investigators'. I wondered why it doesn't give that in the first place? However, just putting the word 'Тайноискателей' into the translator on its own, it auto-detects it as Bulgarian. How very odd????

Very interesting boatbuilder - thank you. I thought this was a good point which I missed too:

kirstymaclaren wrote:I like how they have redone Enid’s signature in Russian but kept her handwriting!

Ah, a mystery that's been left partly solved. I wonder why everybody gave up.

pete9012S wrote:

I do know that number one is The Mystery Of The Burnt Cottage.

What makes you think that, Pete? Didn't you notice the two little red shoes in the bottom left corner? I'll bet my eyeteeth that #1 is Mystery of the Strange Bundle.

2. The cover shows Ern sweeping pots and pans off the shelf to scare the two baddies. (The picture may need to be enlarged to see the details.) So it's The Mystery of the Strange Messages.

3. Almost sure it's Hidden House. The one with the stolen cars. I'm sure they encounter bats too, in the old mill on Christmas Hill.

4. Tally-ho Cottage, without doubt. Mr Hoho-ha can be seen in the background.

5. This one has me foxed. Let me come back to it later.

6. Spiteful Letters, where Goon tumbles off his bike. I think he does so in Strange Bundle as well, but that title is accounted for.

7. Pantomime Cat. The open safe is a giveaway. By the way, it also shows Fatty wielding a poker that he wrested from Goon who was going to hit Buster with it. I didn't recognise this at first.

8. I'm almost certain it's Vanished Prince. The boy seems to have ROLLO printed on his jacket. (Do illustrators actually read the books then? I'm surprised.) Oh, and the 'ornament' on the bush is just the bike's rear-view mirror.

9. The cover shows a convict and a (partly obscured) woman holding a cat, so I'm betting my last Rouble that it's The Mystery of the Missing Man.

Good thoughts, Fatty. I didn't realise the two red things in the bottom left-hand corner of the first cover were shoes!