History Literature / FiveFindOuters

* RunningGag: There are several minor ones (including Fatty using his ventriloquism skills to prank Goon), but the most enduring (and the funniest) is Ern's 'pomes', his constant WritersBlock, and Fatty always being to improvise a funny continuation to them. Also Fatty coming home to Peterswood later than the others, who try to find him in disguise at the station; sometimes Bets figures out who he is [[note]] although this is often presented as a lucky guess on her part, as she incorrectly guesses that several other people who arrive before Fatty are him in disguise and so is likely guessing that anyone and everyone who she does not know is actually him in disguise [[/note]] but usually none of the others spot him.

* RunningGag: There are several minor ones (including Fatty using his ventriloquism skills to prank Goon), but the most enduring (and the funniest) is Ern's 'pomes', his constant WritersBlock, and Fatty always being to improvise a funny continuation to them. Also Fatty coming home to Peterswood later than the others, who try to find him in disguise at the station; sometimes Bets figures out who he is (after incorrectly guessing that several other people who arrive before Fatty are him in disguise), but usually none of the others spot him.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Fatty is rather lucky in that whenever he gets locked in a room (which happens a lot), there is a significant gap (say, half an inch) between the bottom of the door and the floor, in addition to which, the person locking him in always leaves the key in the lock. Both factors need to be present for his escape technique to work.

* CoolGarage: variant. Fatty's 'shed at the bottom of the garden' is quite possibly a prototype of a man cave. It's Fatty's personal sanctuary, home to all his disguises, and the Find-Outers' headquarters. Ern even secretly moves into it in ''Banshee Towers''.

* AdultsAreUseless: Wherever there is a problem the Find-Outers must resolve it.

** Not with the mysteries, but Fatty's parents, particularly his mother, always have his back when it comes to Mr Goon throwing around unjustified accusations. One heartwarming moment in ''Banshee Towers'' has Fatty putting up Ern in the Find-Outer's headquarters (the shed at the bottom of the garden) because Ern's too terrified of Goon to stay in his house; Mrs Trotteville finds Fatty raiding the linen closet for blankets and when he reassures her that he's doing A Good Deed, trusts him enough not to question him further.

* FatBastard: Mr Goon. Totally averted with Fatty.
* FlatCharacter: Daisy, in comparison to the other Five.

* OneSteveLimit: Played with. There are two Elizabeths in the series, but use very different nicknames: series regular 'Bets' Hilton, and ''Tally-Ho Cottage'' guest star 'Liz' Woosh.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: All of the Five. Their actual first names are sometimes mentioned — at least once a novel in Fatty's case, very rarely in Daisy's. A less obvious case is Ern, who is only ever known by the abbreviated version of his name (Ernest), a trait shared by his twin brothers Sid and Perce and his cousins Liz and Glad -- although not by their Uncle Theophilus (Goon).
* PoliceAreUseless: Goon, big time. Several times he befriends the criminals (and, being the idiot he is, he never realises that his new friends ''are'' the criminals), and refuses to rescue Fatty from their clutches. This gets taken UpToEleven in ''Missing Necklace'' when his actions inadvertently cause Fatty's capture, which Goon ''actually witnesses'' but chooses to do nothing to stop the villains -- making him a DirtyCoward as well as an incompetent copper. He is also [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals abusive towards Buster]], at one point striking him with a fire-poker. He is also very fat and unable to run fast. The children always end up solving the crime before him.

* TheButlerDidIt: in ''Spitefull Letters'' the vindictive anonymous letter writer turns out to be [[spoiler: Mrs Moon, the cook at the Hilton's household.]]
* ThoseTwoGuys: seems to run in Goon's extended family. Ern has twin younger brothers, Sid and Perce, and his cousins Liz and Glad might as well be.

* PoliceAreUseless: Goon, big time. Several times he befriends the criminals (and, being the idiot he is, he never realises that his new friends ''are'' the criminals), and refuses to rescue Fatty from their clutches. This gets taken UpToEleven in ''Missing Necklace'' when his actions inadvertently cause Fatty's capture, which Goon ''actually witnesses'' but chooses to do nothing -- making him a DirtyCoward as well as an incompetent copper. He is also [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals abusive towards Buster]], at one point striking him with a fire-poker. He is also very fat and unable to run fast. The children always end up solving the crime before him.
** Averted with Inspector Jenks, who is also promoted several times during the series.

* SpotlightStealingSquad: The early books set up the Find-Outers around the Larry, Daisy and Pip trio, with Larry as the leader and Fatty and Bets as unwanted hanger-ons. By the third book Fatty takes over as leader and the rest of the series is pretty much "The Fatty Show" with Bets as his sidekick, while the others hang in the background. By the end of the series, readers know just to wait for Bets to drop an innocent observation that triggers Fatty cracking the case.

The Five Find-Outers are five children living in the UsefulNotes/HomeCounties village of Peterswood who solve mysteries together during the school holidays in a series of novels by Creator/EnidBlyton. They are are Laurence "Larry" Daykin, Frederick Algernon "Fatty" Trotteville, Philip "Pip" Hilton, Margaret "Daisy" Daykin and Elizabeth "Bets" Hilton. There's also a dog, Buster, who belongs to Fatty.

Apart from tackling criminals, the children have to face the wrath of the bumbling village policeman, PC Theophilus Goon, who bears a grudge against them (especially Fatty) for solving crimes before him. Recurring characters include Inspector Jenks, Goon's superior who (unlike him) is friend of the children, and Ern, Goon's nephew who sometimes comes to stay with him for the school holidays.

Apart from tackling criminals, the children have to face the wrath of the bumbling village policeman, PC Theophilus Goon, who bears a grudge against them (especially Fatty) for solving crimes before him. Recurring characters include Inspector Jenks, friend of the children, and Ern Goon, PC Goon's nephew who sometimes comes to stay with his uncle for the school holidays.

* CutAndPasteNote: In one of the books, Goon starts receiving these from an anonymous source, trying to get him to look into a specific house. Goon, who initially assumes that it's the kids playing a prank on him (which is how the kids find out about the letters in the first place), is particularly annoyed by the fact that his name is always written in lower-case. This becomes a plot point that allows one of the kids to figure out which newspaper is being used for the words. [[spoiler:The reason for the lower-case "goon" is because the full word is "Rangoon".]]

* FakeMystery: In ''The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat'', the Five Find-Outers plant a bunch of suspicious trail as a prank to lead Goon into a wild goose chase. This gets played for drama later on when a real case inevitably shows up and the false clue they planted winds up almost incriminating an innocent suspect.

* HeroWorship: Bets for Fatty. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by Bets being four years younger than the others, and the only one who doesn't go to boarding school; [[BigBrotherMentor only child Fatty]] sees her as a treasured little sister rather than a tagalong pest like Pip (whose younger sister she actually is) or too far apart in age to have much in common, like Larry and Daisy.
* HiddenDepths: she may be the youngest, but if Fatty's having trouble working out the clues, a remark by Bets will usually put him on the right track - she's the one who tells Fatty where to find the titular ''Missing Necklace'', for example, and it's her noticing something odd about her favourite painting at ''Banshee Towers'' that kicks off the plot. She's also the only Find-Outer who has ever seen through one of Fatty's disguises -- although to be fair, by the time Fatty showed up in disguise after promising the others that he would do so, she had already incorrectly guessed that several strangers were Fatty in disguise.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: All of the Five. Their actual first names are sometimes mentioned — at least once a novel in Fatty's case, very rarely in Daisy's.
* PoliceAreUseless:
** Goon, big time. Several times he befriends the criminals (and, being the idiot he is, he never realises that his new friends ''are'' the criminals), and refuses to rescue Fatty from their clutches. This gets taken UpToEleven in ''Missing Necklace'' when his actions inadvertently cause Fatty's capture, which Goon ''actually witnesses'' but chooses to do nothing -- making him a DirtyCoward as well as an incompetent copper. The children always end up solving the crime before him. He is also very fat and unable to run fast.

* ThoseTwoGuys: seems to run in Mr Goon's extended family. Ern has twin younger brothers, Sid and Perce, and his cousins Liz and Glad might as well be.

* YouMeddlingKids: Some of the villains say this. Goon occasionally complains about the children interfering in his job, despite the fact that he never manages to solve the cases on his own.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: reading the first book, ''Burnt Cottage'', it's a bit strange to see Larry, Daisy and Pip having trouble getting along with Fatty, or constantly challenging him about his boasting (which is always true).
* ElectiveBrokenLanguage: Downplayed in ''The Mystery of the Vanished Prince'': Bets and her friends pose as Princess Bongawee and her retinue as a part of a prank. They speak broken English and their own made-up language.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: While it's never stated outright, surely Mr Goon has some issues with being named 'Theophilus'?

* FoodPorn: The children's tea-time food is described often. A popular place for them to eat is a tea-shop, where they order buns and cocoa. There is also a dairy mentioned in ''The Mystery of the Vanished Prince'', where they have ice-creams.

* FakeMystery: In ''The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat'', the Five Find-Outers plant a bunch of suspicious trail as a prank to lead Mr. Goon into a wild goose chase. This gets played for drama later on when a real case inevitably shows up and the false clue they planted winds up almost incriminating an innocent suspect.

* HiddenDepths: she may be the youngest, but if Fatty's having trouble working out the clues, a remark by Bets will usually put him on the right track - she's the one who tells Fatty where to find the titular ''Missing Necklace'', for example, and it's her noticing something odd about her favourite painting at ''Banshee Towers'' that kicks off the plot. She's also the only Find-Outer who has ever seen through one of Fatty's disguises (although to be fair, by the time Fatty showed up in disguise she had already incorrectly guessed that several strangers were Fatty in disguise).

** Goon, big time. Several times he befriends the criminal, and refuses to rescue Fatty from their clutches (on one occasion his actions even led inadvertently to Fatty's capture, which Goon ''actually witnessed'' but chose to do nothing). The children end up solving the crime before him. He is also very fat and unable to run fast.

* RunningGag: There are several minor ones (including Fatty using his ventriloquism skills to prank Mr Goon), but the most enduring (and the funniest) is Ern's 'pomes', his constant WritersBlock, and Fatty always being to improvise a funny continuation to them. Also Fatty coming home to Petersville later than the others, who try to find him in disguise at the station; sometimes they find him (usually Bets), sometimes they don't.
* SixthRanger: in several books, Goon's nephew Ern shows up; he becomes almost as big a fan of Fatty as Bets. His attempts at poetry is the series' longest RunningGag. Whenever he visits, Ern spends as much time as possible far away from his uncle, because Goon's treatment of him varies between shouting, more shouting, threatening to 'box his ears' or similar, and (at one point) actual corporal punishment.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Averted; Peterswood may be fictional but it is mentioned several times that it is located in the county of Buckinghamshire, not far from Marlow.
* YouMeddlingKids: Some of the villains say this. Goon occasionally complains about the children interfering in his job, despite the fact that he never could resolve the cases on his own.

The Five Find-Outers are five children living in the UsefulNotes/HomeCounties village of Peterswood who solve mysteries together during the school holidays. They are are Laurence "Larry" Daykin, Frederick Algernon "Fatty" Trotteville, Philip "Pip" Hilton, Margaret "Daisy" Daykin and Elizabeth "Bets" Hilton. There's also a dog, Buster, who belongs to Fatty.

One of the more popular of Creator/{{Enid Blyton}}'s series, which may be due to the sense of old-time and nostalgia in the books (the series was started in the 1940's). Unlike Timmy in the Literature/TheFamousFive, Buster does not officially count as one of the Five, which is why they are sometimes referred to as the Five Find-Outers and Dog.

** Mr Goon. Several times he befriends the criminal, and refuses to rescue Fatty from their clutches. The children end up solving the crime before him. He is also very fat and unable to run fast.

Apart from tackling criminals, the children have to face the wrath of the bumbling, interfering village policeman, P.C Theophilus Goon, who bears a grudge against Fatty for solving crimes before him. Recurring characters include Inspector Jenks, friend of the children, and Ern Goon, PC Goon's nephew who sometimes comes to stay with his uncle for the school holidays.

One of the more popular of Creator/{{Enid Blyton}}'s series, which may be due to the sense of old time and nostalgia in the books (the series was started in the 1940's). Unlike Timmy in the Literature/TheFamousFive, Buster does not officially count as one of the Five, which is why they are sometimes referred to as the Five Find-Outers and Dog.

The Five Find-Outers and Dog are five friends living in Peterswood Village who solve mysteries together with a dog, Buster. The Find-Outers are Laurence "Larry" Daykin, Frederick Algernon "Fatty" Trotteville, Philip "Pip" Hilton, Margaret "Daisy" Daykin and Elizabeth "Bets" Hilton. Buster the dog belongs to Fatty.

One of the more popular of Creator/{{Enid Blyton}}'s series, which may be due to the sense of old time and nostalgia in the books (the series was started in the 1940's).

* CutAndPasteNote: In one of the books, Goon starts receiving these from an anonymous source, trying to get him to look into a specific house. Goon is particularly annoyed by the fact that his name is always written in lower-case. This becomes a plot point that allows one of the kids to figure out which newspaper is being used for the words. [[spoiler:The reason for the lower-case "goon" is because the full word is "Rangoon".]]

* HeroWorship: Bets for Fatty. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by Bets being four years younger than the others, and the only one who doesn't go to boarding school; [[BigBrotherMentor only child Fatty]] sees her as a treasured little sister rather than a tagalong pest like Pip or too far apart in age to have much in common, like Larry and Daisy.

* HiddenDepths: she may be the youngest, but if Fatty's having trouble working out the clues, a remark by Bets will usually put him on the right track - she's the one who tells Fatty where to find the titular ''Missing Necklace'', for example, and it's her noticing something odd about her favourite painting at ''Banshee Towers'' that kicks off the plot. She's also the only Find-Outer who has ever seen through one of Fatty's disguises.

* SixthRanger: in several books, Goon's nephew Ern shows up; he becomes almost as big a fan of Fatty as Bets. His attempts at poetry is the series' longest RunningGag. Whenever he visits, Ern spends as much time as possible far away from his uncle, because Goon's treatment of him varies between shouting, more shouting, and threatening to 'box his ears' or similar.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: The early books set up the Find-Outers around the Larry, Daisy and Pip trio, with Larry as the leader and Fatty and Bets as unwanted hanger-ons. By the third book Fatty takes over as leader and the rest of the series is pretty much "The Fatty Show" with Bets as his sidekick, while the others hang in the background. By the end of the series, readers know just to wait for Bets to drop a innocent observation that triggers Fatty cracking the case.

* FairPlayMystery: all of them, though ''Banshee Towers'' is more of a 'howdunnit' than 'whodunnit'. Even the book where an alibi is pulled off via TwinSwitch has an earlier remark about twin jokes in the theatre.