The Ragamuffin Mystery

I think by the time Blyton got to this final and sixth of her "R" or "Barney" mysteries she was phoning in the plots. It's an enjoyable read but once again there's a family crisis, a beachside holiday, Snubby's hi-jinks, secret passages, mysterious noises, mysterious criminals and annoyingly cliched locals (in this case the Welsh who are very badly portrayed). There's less sense of place than in the earlier books, however it's still a pleasant, escapist read. Interestingly the series is continued in German with a translation of a stand-alone Blyton from another series and an original work in that language! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Barney_Mysteries

The last Barney Mystery is a pleasant if rather light tale. It's shorter than the average Blyton novel. We have a typical setup, with Roger and Diane on holidays with their mother and Miss Pepper traveling with a car and caravan. A convenient illness in the family forces their mother to rush away with the car to look after an injured relative. The children and Miss Pepper are stranded, but soon Barney and his dad come to the rescue, and leave all the children and Miss Pepper to complete their holiday in a small seaside Welsh village, with Snubby soon to join them.

The pre-adventure part is nice, although not particularly different from previous Blyton novels. The adventure is fine too, although rather short and lightweight, accounting show more for the novel's short length. The best part for me was the scene where Snubby gets all his clothes dirty and is forced to buy some second-hand outlandish clothes. Dressed like a ragamuffin, he's confused with a similar-looking local ragamuffin who was supposed to be carrying a message, and there the adventure starts. Other highlights are little Dafydd and his goose, and Mrs. Jones and her constant talking about her husband's "very good cooking". I felt sorry about her.

Snubby is my favorite character in this series and never fails to provide some amusing moments. It's a pity that, unlike Barney, he doesn't find a parent.

Anyway, another entertaining novel in the series, although a bit slight. Blyton's final novels tend to be not very good, since they were written when her faculties were declining, but this one was published a few years earlier than the last novels of other series, so the problem is less noticeable. It's true, however, that it feels less original, as if many recurring elements were being reused. show less

Another Enid Blyton adventure book.

Novels/novelettes

Novels/novelettes

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