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En farlig fånge har rymt ur fängelset. Antagligen finns han i närheten av den lilla byn Peterswood och inspektör Jenks är mycket bekymrad när han talar med konstapel Goon.
De fem deckarna Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip och Bets får ochså reda på saken, och den utmaningen kan de inte motstå. De älskar att lösa mysterier...
Det finns bara en enda hake. Fattys familj har besök av en proffesor, som deltar i en kongress i byn, och hand dotter Eunice. Eunice är för mycket till och med för fatty - hon lämnar inte honom i fred ett ögonblick!
Och aldrig kunde han ana att så många människor var intresserade av skalbaggar! Kan rymlingen dölja sig bland deltagarna? Eller finns han kanske vid det stora nöjesfältet som nyligen satts upp i andra änden av byn?
Frågorna är många - och hur ska deckarna och Spårhunden undkomma Eunice?

The thirteenth installment of Enid Blyton's Five Find-Outers and Dog series, in which a group of British schoolchildren spend their holidays playing detective, The Mystery of the Missing Man sees Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip, and Bets on the hunt for a dangerous escaped convict, believed to be in the Peterswood area. As the children race to find the man before their nemesis, local police bobby PC Goon, they must also contend with the unexpected and unwelcome guests staying at Fatty's house. How will the Find-Outers ever get anything done, when their leader is expected to entertain the annoying Eunice, and her coleopterist father?

I found this entry in the series mildly amusing, mostly because I thought the character of Eunice was an excellent reflection of Fatty. She is essentially his female counterpart - accomplished in everything she does, very competent, somewhat managing and full of herself. The fact that she is seen as horrid, while Fattty is not, provided a source of unintentional humor, even as it highlighted Blyton's double standards, as it concerns gender roles.

The "mystery" itself held little interest, as I was able to guess the identity of the convict from his very first appearance. I was interested to note, after having had two separate discussions of the nickname "Fatty," that weight actually does enter into the story here. Fatty, an accomplished tennis player, is "slimming" throughout this book, hoping to make the first tennis team at school. Although I stand by my position that Blyton isn't ridiculing heavy children, there is definitely the sense here that the nickname "Fatty" is an in-joke, only really acceptable when used by the Find-Outers. ( )