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The Barney Mysteries is a series of six children’s aventure novels written by the famous British author Enid Blyton. The six novels in this series include The Rockingdown Mystery published in 1949, The Rilloby Fair Mystery published in 1950, The Ring O’Bells Mystery published in 1951, The Rubadub Mystery published in (1951, The Rat-a-Tat Mystery, published in 1952 and the The Ragamuffin Mystery, published in 1959. These novels are also known as the “R” series as each novel starts with “R”.
The common theme running through these novels is of lost or deceased parents of the protagonists. Roger and Diana, siblings are the children of Mr and Mrs Lynton. Their irritating cousin Snubby alias Peter who comes to stay with them during summer vacations has no parents. Another character, Barney who makes an appearance in all the novels lives a nomadic lifestyle, working in fairs and circuses, and is on the search of his missing father. His monkey Miranda plays an important role in all the mysteries. He is on a quest to find his missing father. He finds his father by the end of the fourth novel.
Miss Pepper, firm but likable is another character that appear in all the novels. She takes care of the children when Mr and Mrs Lynton are away.