The Mystery of the Secret Room facts for kids
The Mystery of the Secret Room (1945) is an exciting children's mystery novel by Enid Blyton. It's the third book in her popular Five Find-Outers series. Joseph Abbey created the pictures for the book, which was published by Methuen.
The Mystery Unfolds
The story begins with Fatty becoming the leader of the Five Find-Outers. He shares some cool new skills he's learned. These include how to escape from a locked room without a key and how to write secret messages using invisible ink, like orange or lemon juice! Fatty has also been practicing different disguises.
A Tricky Disguise
The Five Find-Outers have a lot of fun trying out Fatty's new tricks, especially the disguises. One day, Pip puts on a wig and some funny sticking-out teeth. He looks so different that he catches the eye of Mr. Goon, the local policeman, who chases him all over the village!
To get away from Mr. Goon, Pip runs into the garden of an empty house. He quickly climbs a tree to hide. From the tree, Pip sees something very surprising: a fully furnished room at the very top of the house! The rest of the house seems empty and abandoned. This makes the Find-Outers very curious.
Discovering the Secret Room
The children decide to investigate. They want to find out who owns this mysterious house, called Milton House. They also need to know why there's a secret room and who uses it. The mystery is on!
The children discover that the house belongs to a man named "John Henry Smith," who lives far away. Fatty calls Mr. Smith and tells him that someone knows about his secret room. Fatty expects Mr. Smith to come to Peterswood to check on Milton House.
Catching the Crooks
Fatty puts on his wig and teeth disguise and goes to the house at midnight. He manages to get inside and finds a notebook with a secret code in the hidden room. But then, he is caught by some men who are foreigners! They force him to write a letter to the other children to trap them.
Fatty writes the letter, but he also writes a secret message in invisible ink. This hidden note warns his friends and tells them to call the police. Luckily, Bets notices that Fatty's letter smells like oranges. She remembers that orange juice was used for the invisible ink! The children quickly realize Fatty is in danger and call their favorite policeman, Inspector Jenks.
Meanwhile, Fatty bravely escapes from the locked room. He meets Inspector Jenks outside the house and gives him the code book. The police quickly catch the bad guys, who turn out to be international thieves! With the villains caught, everything is safe again.
