The Mystery of the Secret Room (1945) is the third in the Five Find-Outers series of the children’s novels by Enid Blyton. Illustrated by Joseph Abbey, it was published by Methuen. In the cold and foggy Christmas holidays, it doesn’t seem as though the Five Find-Outers will have anything exciting to investigate. Then they stumble on a single furnished room in an otherwise deserted house. They try to find out who the house belongs to, but they’re not making much progress!
Fatty is made the leader of the Five Find Outers, as he explains that he has been studying how to get out of a locked room when the key is not on his side, to write letters with invisible ink (or orange/lemon juice) and has been practising disguises.
The Five have fun with Fatty’s new techniques, particularly disguises. Pip disguises himself with a wig and some sticking out teeth and attracts the attention of Mr Goon, who chases him across the village. In an attempt to escape Mr Goon, Pip runs into the grounds of an empty house and climbs a tree. He is very surprised to see a fully furnished room at the top of an otherwise empty and apparently abandoned house. The Find Outers get to work to discover who owns Milton House, and why there is an apparently secret room. Who uses it and why?
