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The seventh entry in Enid Blyton's fifteen-book Five Find-Outers and Dog series, in which five British schoolchildren spend their holidays playing detective, The Mystery of the Pantomime Cat sees Fatty, Larry, Daisy, Pip, and Bets tackling their most complex case yet. When Mr. Goon, the village police bobby and the children's nemesis, goes on vacation, the Find-Outers play a trick on his replacement, PC Pippin. Imagine their surprise when the false clues they've laid out for him, lead him to a real mystery!

The manager of the Little Theatre has been drugged, and the theater safe robbed. It looks as if Boysie Summers, the developmentally disabled young man who plays the Pantomime Cat, must be the guilty one, but the Find-Outers don't believe it. Can they prove Boysie's innocence? And will their innocent prank land good-hearted PC Pippin in hot water?

This installment of Blyton's series was fairly enjoyable, despite the clunky prose and formulaic plot that seem to characterize many of her books. Blyton does manage to inject some genuine humor into her accounts of the children's confrontations with Mr. Goon, and it was refreshing to see Fatty actually regretting some of his mischievous "interfering." ( )

Are you the best at solving mysteries? Are you awesome at doing anything? Well, I am. Hi, I’m Frederick Trotteville but my friends call me Fatty, and I’m the leader of the Find-Outers. The other members are Laurence Daykin (also known as Larry), Laurence’s sister Margaret Daykin (also known as Daisy), Philip Hilton (also known as Pip), and my favorite, Pip’s younger sister, Elizabeth Hilton (also known as Bets). I have no more time for further introduction. The policeman Mr. Goon is on vacation. Pippin is holding Mr. Goon’s job. We try to trick Pippin but it leads up to a real mystery. The pantomime cat Boysie looks like the suspect, and the little theater’s manager is angry at whoever did it. If you want to know what happened, then read the Mystery of the Pantomime Cat. ( )