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Barney Mysteries #4
Rätsel um den geheimen Hafen
Brief Summary by Robert Houghton: On a summer holiday in the seaside town of Rubadub, Roger Diana, Snubby and Barney witness sinister goings on – explosions at the secret submarine base, suspicious characters at the old inn, lights flashing at night. Suddenly they are plunged right into the middle of another mystery and of course are determined to solve it! Barney finds work in a Pierot show to be near his friends, and begins to realize that this theatrical setting gives him an excellent opportunity to find his long lost actor father – but who is the saboteur at the submarine base, and who can be trusted? It seems that almost everyone at the inn has something to hide!
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First published January 1, 1951
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About the author
Enid Blyton
5,132 books6,299 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 - 30 of 39 reviews
January 6, 2020
... reading with my 11 year old daughter...
That ending was amazing!
That ending was amazing!
November 24, 2019
There’s something almost pathetically charming here, underneath all the Blyton trappings: there’s a mysterious Navy base conveniently near the children’s vacation spot, of course, and any number of mysterious guests at their inn, but there’s something so weirdly sincere about Barney’s search for his father and that wide-eyed naïveté that he still has, even though he’s been homeless and wandering for years.
February 20, 2021
Akhirnya Siva berjaya bertemu dengan ayahnya 🤗🤗
September 19, 2025
This book contains some of the darkest twists in perhaps any Enid Blyton novel. The pure misery that Barney must have felt when he realises he's been betrayed, that not only is his master a spy and a criminal but that the promise of meeting his father was a lie, it's heart-breaking. The fact that as adult readers we might be able to see this coming and notice Mr Marvel preying on a young boy's naivety does nothing to lessen the blow.
I think this is a wonderfully dark novel and which deals with many different themes. Barney's loneliness and isolation, the fact that his life of sleeping under bushes is not idolised but presented as isolating. Dummy's mistreatment and persecution on account of his disability. There's all sorts of abuse going on here. I even forgive the book for its happily-ever-after ending, at least it came around in a fairly sensible fashion and I suppose we need to cut poor Barney a break at some point!
I think this is a wonderfully dark novel and which deals with many different themes. Barney's loneliness and isolation, the fact that his life of sleeping under bushes is not idolised but presented as isolating. Dummy's mistreatment and persecution on account of his disability. There's all sorts of abuse going on here. I even forgive the book for its happily-ever-after ending, at least it came around in a fairly sensible fashion and I suppose we need to cut poor Barney a break at some point!
February 28, 2021
In this fourth ‘Barney’ mystery, Blyton perfects the formula of having a mystery unfold around her young protagonists, to be fallen into as much as investigated. The clues appear innocuous for much of the story and then come together in a rush.
June 26, 2024
I loved this just as much as I would have if I'd read it years ago with the first three. I really didn't know what to make of all the characters, and the twist came as a very nasty shock! Poor Barney! But the ending made me really happy. Interested to see what the rest of the series will look like now!
(And that blowhole and the scenes around it is just the best.)
(And that blowhole and the scenes around it is just the best.)
September 3, 2011
The 'R' mysteries, featuring Roger, Dinah, Snubby, Barney, Loony the spaniel and Miranda the monkey, are some of Enid Blyton's best. Although I was not so discerning as a child, I do find some objectionable elements in Blyton's books as an adult -- there is no denying the overtones of sexism and racism. Of course, the world view of Blyton's books is very much of its time, and I believe books should be read in their context. Besides, much should be forgiven to such a genius storyteller. Anyway, I don't think this series will offend even the most politically sensitive reader. The characters are so likable, funny (especially Snubby, I just love him!) and natural -- never priggish as so many Blyton children are. And in this lovely series, The Rubadub Mystery is the very best, full of danger, excitement and adventure, and yet very poignant. Barney is a circus boy in search of his father. Now in his teens, he seems to have found him at last... I loved this book when I was young, and still do.
August 7, 2021
Rubadub village seems the perfect place for a seaside holiday - but who is signalling from the rooftop of the old inn? And what does it have to do with the top secret naval base nearby? Roger, Diana, Snubby and Barney are determined to find out.
This book is the climax of Barney’s quest for his father which runs through the series. The theme of mystery and treachery in the adventure plot - who is pretending to be a guest at the inn but secretly signalling to sabotage the naval base? - is brilliantly intertwined with the quest for Barney’s father, where the same questions of who can be trusted and who is deceiving are also played out. The conversation where Barney says that sometimes one can be deceived about a bad person pretending to be good and Snubby that goodness can’t be mistaken lies at the heart of this book where so many different characters are seen in a new light as the story unfolds. As ever, the children find themselves caught up in a serious situation. where far from being the improbable heroes of Blyton stereotype, they are only too glad to hand over to experienced adults.
As a child reading this book I was as deeply shocked as Barney at how he was deceived by the conjuror, and as happy and emotional as Diana when all came right at the end when his father was finally found. Again although it couldn’t have happened without the children - Snubby, alternatively annoying, full of bravado, realistically scared and truly funny, finds that his ridiculous trick of pretend banjo playing is the key to unlock a memory - it’s an adult, Miss Pepper, who manages things sensibly.
In the previous books the children’s holidays were well away from the seaside, perhaps to distinguish them from Blyton’s other series, and here they have an entirely realistic and believable stay in a hotel where they have to think about not disturbing other guests and coming to dinner on time, rather than being given the improbable freedoms of other Blyton adventure stories. These books, where the children are realistically quarrelsome and scared as well as eager to carry out a bit of detective work, are among the best she wrote, and this is perhaps the best of them.
It’s also worth mentioning ‘Dummy’, a character with what today would be called a learning disability, who is sometimes described in a way that today would seem insensitive and inaccurate. But Blyton gives him agency and makes it clear that he has a valuable part to play in the world - indeed, this is all part of the book’s wider discussion about not relying on first appearances.
This book is the climax of Barney’s quest for his father which runs through the series. The theme of mystery and treachery in the adventure plot - who is pretending to be a guest at the inn but secretly signalling to sabotage the naval base? - is brilliantly intertwined with the quest for Barney’s father, where the same questions of who can be trusted and who is deceiving are also played out. The conversation where Barney says that sometimes one can be deceived about a bad person pretending to be good and Snubby that goodness can’t be mistaken lies at the heart of this book where so many different characters are seen in a new light as the story unfolds. As ever, the children find themselves caught up in a serious situation. where far from being the improbable heroes of Blyton stereotype, they are only too glad to hand over to experienced adults.
As a child reading this book I was as deeply shocked as Barney at how he was deceived by the conjuror, and as happy and emotional as Diana when all came right at the end when his father was finally found. Again although it couldn’t have happened without the children - Snubby, alternatively annoying, full of bravado, realistically scared and truly funny, finds that his ridiculous trick of pretend banjo playing is the key to unlock a memory - it’s an adult, Miss Pepper, who manages things sensibly.
In the previous books the children’s holidays were well away from the seaside, perhaps to distinguish them from Blyton’s other series, and here they have an entirely realistic and believable stay in a hotel where they have to think about not disturbing other guests and coming to dinner on time, rather than being given the improbable freedoms of other Blyton adventure stories. These books, where the children are realistically quarrelsome and scared as well as eager to carry out a bit of detective work, are among the best she wrote, and this is perhaps the best of them.
It’s also worth mentioning ‘Dummy’, a character with what today would be called a learning disability, who is sometimes described in a way that today would seem insensitive and inaccurate. But Blyton gives him agency and makes it clear that he has a valuable part to play in the world - indeed, this is all part of the book’s wider discussion about not relying on first appearances.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2018
Good, although not as perfect as books 2 and 3 of the series. Something important for the series happens at the end, but let's not get into spoiler territory.
Roger, Diana and Snubby go on holidays to a seaside inn, and as always the author has to find a way to get them together with Barney. There is a secret naval base near the town, were the Navy tests new submarines.
The adventure is slow to start in this one. There are some strange things going on, but it's a long while before we can definitely say "yes, we are in the middle of an adventure". However, the story until them is pleasant enough, while we share the children's holidays.
Apparently, this book was conceived as the last in the series, but later the author decided to write two more. I'm curious to see how the events at the end of this book influence the last two books.
Roger, Diana and Snubby go on holidays to a seaside inn, and as always the author has to find a way to get them together with Barney. There is a secret naval base near the town, were the Navy tests new submarines.
The adventure is slow to start in this one. There are some strange things going on, but it's a long while before we can definitely say "yes, we are in the middle of an adventure". However, the story until them is pleasant enough, while we share the children's holidays.
Apparently, this book was conceived as the last in the series, but later the author decided to write two more. I'm curious to see how the events at the end of this book influence the last two books.
September 6, 2020
I can say this is my favorite book among this series. Buku ini cukup tebal sebanyak 293 halaman dan isinya pun beraneka ragam dari sisi anak-anak, liburan, petualangan, action, misteri, humor juga masalah ayah Barney. Dari sini plot twistnya yang membuat saya ikut percaya percaya aja sebelum kebenaran terungkap. Banyak juga scene yg menarik dan bisa dibilang Snubby yg paling menonjol. Ceritanya juga ditutup dengan ending yg mengharukan. Barney deserved it, really. Mungkin templatenya sama dengan cerita-cerita Enid Blyton yg lain tapi disini lebih padat mungkin dan sangat seru untuk dibaca. Sayangnya ini buku terakhir yg saya baca dari 6 buku series komplotan ini dan untungnya saya baca yg ini karena buku ini lebih cocok jadi penutup dari series ini daripada buku yg keenam😬
July 24, 2021
The kids go off to Rubadub, right next to a secret submarine base. After some weird nighttime explosions, Diana, Snubby and Roger are determined to find out what's going on. Barney and Miranda soon appear, and Barney gets a job with Marvel the Magician, who promises to help him find his father. Barney also meets up with an old friend of his long-dead mother's, the ex circusman Dummy, now with a child's mental age due to a head injury. A very exciting scene where Barney gets to meet his *father* is possibly one of Enids most emotional scenes ever, but is surpassed by the final scene, where thanks to Miss Pepper, he is finally reunited with his real father
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2024
I found this a little difficult to get into as I haven't read any of the previous books in the series so it made it a little difficult to keep up with who was who at the start. It's a little rambling with all the action towards the end but not as predictable as most of the authors other series.
April 21, 2024
Out of all the "Barney mysteries" this was the one I was most eager to re-read! Been a long while since I read it in book form so delighted to find a kindle version. Some great characters in this one and a extremely happy ending.
June 22, 2019
LOVED THIS BOOK!!
September 16, 2019
A good old fashioned children's adventure. This is the book where Barney finally meets his father. Shed a tear when that happened.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 5, 2020
Något som kan bli bättre?
- Ingenting, den var superbra! 5/5 Stjärnor.
- Ingenting, den var superbra! 5/5 Stjärnor.
May 30, 2020
One of Blyton's best with very funny humor, a great mystery, and a surprisingly emotional ending.
July 16, 2020
Very exiting
July 29, 2022
Quite boring
December 17, 2022
Man patika ka Bārnijs atrada tēvu.
January 26, 2023
The ending was so heartful. Love it.
August 11, 2025
Lovely story of not only unearthing a spy but also filling a longstanding mystery.
September 4, 2025
It didn't have the same vibe of magic and mystery as the previous books
March 21, 2017
Love this old-fashioned mystery.
October 1, 2021
The most disappointing sequel among the first four R series books so far.
I kept reading and reading (and I've read it chapter by chapter in English and in German in order to find out why so many Blyton fans think that this is the best volume in the series...well, it's not!) hoping for some suspense to come along, but the rather boring story just meandered and never picked up pace.
"Ring 'O Bells Mystery" and "Rockingdown Mystery" are far superior. I even liked the often criticized "Rat-a-Tat Mystery" a lot better than this one.
I've read "Rubadub Mystery" the last time in 1989, so I thought if I compare both books, the German translation and the English original, maybe the English original has a few extra paragraphs to offer that would improve the whole boring story, but that was not the case.
Also, I didn't care for the location this time.
2 stars for the fact that Barney finally found his father. But Enid Blyton should have erased 100 pages of hotel and Pierrot descriptions and instead added those 100 pages to describe more of the reunion between Barney and his dad. That would have been a lot more compelling!
I kept reading and reading (and I've read it chapter by chapter in English and in German in order to find out why so many Blyton fans think that this is the best volume in the series...well, it's not!) hoping for some suspense to come along, but the rather boring story just meandered and never picked up pace.
"Ring 'O Bells Mystery" and "Rockingdown Mystery" are far superior. I even liked the often criticized "Rat-a-Tat Mystery" a lot better than this one.
I've read "Rubadub Mystery" the last time in 1989, so I thought if I compare both books, the German translation and the English original, maybe the English original has a few extra paragraphs to offer that would improve the whole boring story, but that was not the case.
Also, I didn't care for the location this time.
2 stars for the fact that Barney finally found his father. But Enid Blyton should have erased 100 pages of hotel and Pierrot descriptions and instead added those 100 pages to describe more of the reunion between Barney and his dad. That would have been a lot more compelling!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2012
I loved this book! I wondered how Barney meet up with his father, and now I know! It was a simple mystery to solve this time though, and Barney had more to do with it than Snubby, Diana or Roger. I liked it though, because I guessed the baddies long before the children did. Another fun adventure, and I do wonder why there are only six in this series- Barney is such a good character that I wish she had written more! I'd like to get Barney, Snubby and Fatty from the Find Outers in a room, then we'd have some fun!
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May 27, 202116 Feb 2021
Blyton is a formulaic writer and while I do often enjoy her formula, it gets a little less fun with each passing book. This one was a particular disapppointment because I had never read it before and idiotically assumed that Add that to the usual hilariously loud virtue signalling in these books and I was left feeling very irritated. I had read ahead to the bits I wanted to know and nothing else in the story really kept my interest.
Blyton is a formulaic writer and while I do often enjoy her formula, it gets a little less fun with each passing book. This one was a particular disapppointment because I had never read it before and idiotically assumed that Add that to the usual hilariously loud virtue signalling in these books and I was left feeling very irritated. I had read ahead to the bits I wanted to know and nothing else in the story really kept my interest.
March 11, 2013
turning point untuk Barney, hampir di bagian akhir Barney mulai menyadari betapa merananya hidup seorang diri-harapan bertemu ayahnya yang dirasa mustahil dan mulai menerimanya sebagai kepahitan namun ketika Ayahnya muncul, it's really saved him. Dan sebagai pembaca, saya sangat berbahagia dia bertemu Ayahnya, seperti perasaan Diana, Roger, dan Snubby.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews