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Mystery Stories: The Secret Of Cliff Castle & Smuggler Ben
In good condition. Yellowed by age.
- GenresChildrens
192 pages, Paperback
Published April 1, 1982
1 person is currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Enid Blyton
5,214 books6,354 followersSee also:
Ένιντ Μπλάιτον (Greek)
Enida Blaitona (Latvian)
Энид Блайтон (Russian)
Inid Blajton (Serbian)
Інід Блайтон (Ukrainian)
Enid Mary Blyton (1897–1968) was an English author of children's books.
Born in South London, Blyton was the eldest of three children, and showed an early interest in music and reading. She was educated at St. Christopher's School, Beckenham, and - having decided not to pursue her music - at Ipswich High School, where she trained as a kindergarten teacher. She taught for five years before her 1924 marriage to editor Hugh Pollock, with whom she had two daughters. This marriage ended in divorce, and Blyton remarried in 1943, to surgeon Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters. She died in 1968, one year after her second husband.
Blyton was a prolific author of children's books, who penned an estimated 800 books over about 40 years. Her stories were often either children's adventure and mystery stories, or fantasies involving magic. Notable series include: The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Five Find-Outers, Noddy, The Wishing Chair, Mallory Towers, and St. Clare's.
According to the Index Translationum, Blyton was the fifth most popular author in the world in 2007, coming after Lenin but ahead of Shakespeare.
See also her pen name Mary Pollock
Ένιντ Μπλάιτον (Greek)
Enida Blaitona (Latvian)
Энид Блайтон (Russian)
Inid Blajton (Serbian)
Інід Блайтон (Ukrainian)
Enid Mary Blyton (1897–1968) was an English author of children's books.
Born in South London, Blyton was the eldest of three children, and showed an early interest in music and reading. She was educated at St. Christopher's School, Beckenham, and - having decided not to pursue her music - at Ipswich High School, where she trained as a kindergarten teacher. She taught for five years before her 1924 marriage to editor Hugh Pollock, with whom she had two daughters. This marriage ended in divorce, and Blyton remarried in 1943, to surgeon Kenneth Fraser Darrell Waters. She died in 1968, one year after her second husband.
Blyton was a prolific author of children's books, who penned an estimated 800 books over about 40 years. Her stories were often either children's adventure and mystery stories, or fantasies involving magic. Notable series include: The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Five Find-Outers, Noddy, The Wishing Chair, Mallory Towers, and St. Clare's.
According to the Index Translationum, Blyton was the fifth most popular author in the world in 2007, coming after Lenin but ahead of Shakespeare.
See also her pen name Mary Pollock
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 29, 2018
Two books in one here, with Enid Blyton's usual fare of English children on summer holidays getting up to adventures. In these books the children (different in each book) thwart some jewel thieves in an old abandoned castle, and also some wartime spies in old smuggler's caves, each adventure fitting in between the rigid mealtimes of dinner and tea! Lightweight stuff that is good for 6-8 year olds, and my children enjoyed them both as bedtime stories.
April 30, 2021
There are two mystery stories in this book by Enid Blyton. They are charming simple stories but the mysteries and situations have plenty of danger and drama for any younger reader, even this old (er) grandmother.
In the first book "The Secret of Cliff Castle", Peter and Pam visit their cousin Brock in the country for a couple weeks. On top of the cliff is a deserted castle. This has all the elements of a good story as the children explore the castle and discover that there are some unlawful people using it for their own nefarious purposes. My only beef with the story is that Brock, who has lived near this castle all his life, says he never went near it because it was too spooky and he was afraid but later it says several times how brave he is and is afraid of nothing. The other thing is that it mentions that the back side of the castle is on top of a sheer cliff up from the water with no way to it from that side. When the children find an exit down through the castle (as you knew they would), it didn't seem to be a problem for them to get back on stable ground.
The second book "Smuggler Ben" is also about children on a holiday near the sea. Hilary, Frances, and Alec along with their mother come to stay at Sea Cottage for a holiday. They meet a local boy who is called Smuggler Ben because he loves stories about smugglers, who used to use the caves in the area for smuggling. Together the children discover a tunnel that leads from a cave on the shore to the top of the cliff and also sound the alarm to capture some nefarious people who plan to use the cave. It wasn't quite clear to me exactly what these people were going to do but it was a good adventure anyway.
Enid Blyton was the author of many mystery and adventure stories and I haven't yet found one that I didn't like. These are British stories, by the way.
In the first book "The Secret of Cliff Castle", Peter and Pam visit their cousin Brock in the country for a couple weeks. On top of the cliff is a deserted castle. This has all the elements of a good story as the children explore the castle and discover that there are some unlawful people using it for their own nefarious purposes. My only beef with the story is that Brock, who has lived near this castle all his life, says he never went near it because it was too spooky and he was afraid but later it says several times how brave he is and is afraid of nothing. The other thing is that it mentions that the back side of the castle is on top of a sheer cliff up from the water with no way to it from that side. When the children find an exit down through the castle (as you knew they would), it didn't seem to be a problem for them to get back on stable ground.
The second book "Smuggler Ben" is also about children on a holiday near the sea. Hilary, Frances, and Alec along with their mother come to stay at Sea Cottage for a holiday. They meet a local boy who is called Smuggler Ben because he loves stories about smugglers, who used to use the caves in the area for smuggling. Together the children discover a tunnel that leads from a cave on the shore to the top of the cliff and also sound the alarm to capture some nefarious people who plan to use the cave. It wasn't quite clear to me exactly what these people were going to do but it was a good adventure anyway.
Enid Blyton was the author of many mystery and adventure stories and I haven't yet found one that I didn't like. These are British stories, by the way.
February 2, 2025
Enjoyed a lot✴️✴️
May 19, 2025
Refreshed my childhood memories after ages.
April 27, 2016
As always, Enid delivers a fun, adventure filled story in the first two books in this collection. Mine also contained the story of Donald and his quest for a pet dog or cat, which is a story I've read in other collection before. It's inclusion in an Enid Blyton mystery hardcover was well, a bit of a mystery. It's a good story, but not in the same vein as the first two.
Basically these are stand alone mystery stories, featuring children doing extraordinary things to thwart crime and become heroes. I did feel like these had been edited from the original, as sometimes the wording seemed off. It just didn't feel like authentic Enid to me, so watch out, you might be better off reading the originals as opposed to the newer, pretty hardcover edition I found. Still just a bit of fun, five stars.
Basically these are stand alone mystery stories, featuring children doing extraordinary things to thwart crime and become heroes. I did feel like these had been edited from the original, as sometimes the wording seemed off. It just didn't feel like authentic Enid to me, so watch out, you might be better off reading the originals as opposed to the newer, pretty hardcover edition I found. Still just a bit of fun, five stars.
April 3, 2019
I don't know if it was just that it was one of the many stories that my grandmother read to me or if I just loved Blyton's stories, but this is one of my favourite sets, and re-read many a time. Probably better loved is cliff castle. Her usual flare of kids getting up to both fun and no good, getting into mysteries and trouble but not the evil, bad kind, and loads of adventures and easy reading fun. Not part of a series so don't have to read a whole set to enjoy.
July 23, 2016
simple old stories...not much logic or explanation. simply plot moves forward and ends with a happy note.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews