Rereading the Find-Outers books

[Irene Malory Towers]

I am glad I am not the only one who loves the Missing Man - it has so much humour and a great plot, like Tally Ho, whereas the Vanished Prince has great humour but not such a great plot. I love Eunice's appearance and yes she is dominating and I wouldn't want her appearing in any more stories but just the one is fine. It brings a welcome change to the interplay of the Find Outers which was becoming slightly stale and by the next book (Strange Messages) the quirkiness and friendly banter of the group had dissipated compared to the earlier books. I also didn't like Holly Lane as much as the others - I thought the characters were not so well defined and the humour becoming strained, particularly in following the wrong man thinking he was Fatty as that mistake had been done several times before, although Fatty reading Goon's hand as a Fortune Teller is hilarious.

[Splodj]

I think the Tally-Ho plot could have been improved by the FFO themselves seeing the Lorenzos in Maidenhead and even doing some tracking of the crate that had been sent there to be picked up. Then they would have had a stronger reason (than the poodle and 'rumour' in the newspapers) to mount a spying operation for their return.

[Wolfgang]

Thank you, Spiodj and Wolfgang.

Stets zu Diensten, M'Lady.

[Moonraker]

Fatty’s sardonic wit keeps shining through.

Daisy: “…I bet they didn't like staying with their Aunt Sophie—she's frightfully strict and proper. They'll be full of pleases and thank-yous and good manners for a few days!"
"It'll wear off," said Fatty.

Classic!

[Nair Snehalatha]

I feel in Secret Room, Fatty could have escaped the beating from the man when he was found in the secret room, if he had just.said he was tramp looking for shelter.Anyway Secret Room makes lovely reading-- I like it more as it is set in winter-- like Hidden house

[Splodj]

But I believe there is an enormous plot hole in Secret Room which I have identified on the dedicated thread.

On page 99 of Methuen, or page 87 of Dragon, Fatty says to the others: "if I'm caught, I shall throw a note out of the window of whatever room I am locked up in" and "It will be in invisible writing, of course."

But when a note is thrown out of a window they disregard this.

[Splodj]

Larry even says: "if you don't turn up, one of us will snoop round the grounds and wait for a letter written in invisible ink."

[Nair Snehalatha]

I think the Find Outers did not check for invisible writing as the first reading of the letter.excited and convinced them.But Bets smelt.a rat when.she found that Fatty signed himself as Freddie
--And then ofcourse the smell of oranges. Secret.Seven are lovely reads too--.Am reading Secret Trail-- The Secret Seven all go to the same school-- the boys in one , the girls in the other-- ever Susie, Jack's naughty sister-So they meet daily-- they even do their homework together sometimes-- All so very.beautiful and loving.

[Splodj]

I've just noticed that Moonraker had already mentioned the Secret Room plot hole in the general Errors thread.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this before about Banshee Towers, but I don't understand the bit when Engels complains to the police about Fatty breaking and entering (even though a window had been left open!).

First, how did he know who Fatty was? Second, why would he do this when he had decided not to contact the police and instead 'cruelly' tie up Fatty and Ern and imprison them instead?

A partial explanation might be that Engels had discovered their escape, but he would still be unwise to involve the police after what he did to them.

(I am aware it could be said that to there is little point examining Banshee Towers closely because it was generally plot holed below the waterline anyway.)

[Inspector Jenks]

I just finished rereading “Burnt Cottage” and quite enjoyed it. Fatty was a bit boastful at times but even then was more likable than Julian in his most pompous moments. And Fatty’s observation about Hicks’ airplane comment was very clever; I am currently working my way through the entire run of Columbo and that immediately struck me as an insight worthy of the great Lieutenant himself!

[Wolfgang]

But actually it's quite unfair to the reader - (s)he doesn't know this detail, so there's no chance to guess the culprit.

[Splodj]

A bit like Pantomime Cat where the culprit's twin sister is revealed right at the end. It could have been subtely slipped in earlier; after all, his mother was mentioned!

[Moonraker]

To me, Pantomime Cat was patently obvious as Boycie's* only pointer was the cat-suit. Anyone could have worked that out, as I did, aged 8.

*Typing from memory, so spelling might be incorrect

[Hannah]

A bit like Pantomime Cat where the culprit's twin sister is revealed right at the end. It could have been subtely slipped in earlier; after all, his mother was mentioned!

In that case we would have known more than the Find-Outers. That wouldn't have been fair either.

[Judith Crabb]

This year I've started re-reading the Find-Outers series in chronological order. (Great fun.) I've just finished the Hidden House, and noticed some discrepancies in the characters' ages over the first six titles. Can anyone direct me to a post or review which deals with this (or a Journal article for that matter as I now have access to Aussie Sue's complete run)?