The final installment of Enid Blyton's fifteen-book Five Find-Outers and Dog series, in which a group of British schoolchildren spend their holidays playing detective, The Mystery of Banshee Towers sees Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip, and Bets involved in a case of art forgery and fraud. When the children, together with their friend Ern Goon, go to nearby Banshee Towers to see an exhibit of sea paintings, they have no idea that they are stepping into a mystery. But when Ern notices a slight change in one of the paintings, on their second visit, Fatty knows something isn't right...

It seems a shame that the series should close with The Mystery of Banshee Towers, as it provides a rather weak finale. The shortest book of the lot, it seems the least developed, and has one of the most obvious resolutions. Although the entire series features Fatty as the "star," the other four Find-Outers almost disappear here. I did enjoy the scenes involving the two dogs, Buster and Bingo, but I was otherwise unimpressed, and I got the sense that Blyton didn't intend for this to be the conclusion. ( )

9788423998876