Famous Five return to solve last case

New Enid Blyton stories featuring original characters from some of her most famous books are to return in a series of novels, her estate said yesterday.

The Famous Five, The Faraway Tree and Malory Towers will all be revisited in 20 new books planned by the author's estate.

The Famous Five will be the first to return, with The Famous Five's Survival Guide. The new book sees the grown-up Julian, Dick, Anne and George, revisit the only case they failed to solve in their childhood – The Mystery of the Royal Dragon of Siam.

In September The Faraway Tree will make a come back in a new adventure for the first time since 1951. New stories from The Wishing-Chair, Malory Towers and The Secret Series books come out next year.

Blyton's creations were criticised as being sexist and racist during the 1960s, but have recently come back into favour. She wrote 700 stories during her 40-year career, and eight million Blyton books are still sold every year.