Kids' mystery series / first mysteries read?

I was talking to a friend last night about kids' books and realized that some of my favourites as a kid were mysteries, like the Famous Five and Secret Seven series by Enid Blyton. Has anyone else read these? I wonder what it would be like to reread them. What other mysteries geared at kids are out there and/or what were the first mysteries you read? Do you think they'd stand the test of time? I then started reading Agatha Christie in my early teens and read most of them, but as I've mentioned before I think they're pretty dated now (AC had some pretty old-fashioned ideas!)...

Nancy Drew books, of course! I don't know how well they've stood up through the years, I haven't re-read them...

Oh I can't believe I forgot about those! I devoured them as well, but haven't reread them either.

I read Nancy Drew, of course, and also Encyclopdia Brown. I started with Agatha Christie pretty young, too. I still like Christie--I think she is just brilliant. She had some books that seemed pretty old-fashioned, but her characters were strong, and she did not shy away from strong characters. They were more a product of their time than anything, and I think somewhat nostalgic.

I know I read others, but I can't think of them now. Encyclopdia Brown was the greatest, though. I bought a big book of his stories for my daughter not too long ago, and she loved them, too. She told me the stories were very interesting, because they had lots of plot twists. I think she is mighty cute, but I am biased (she is 10).

My brother always read my Nancy Drews, and I read all his Hardy Boys mysteries. They were strangely alike...

I loved Enid Blyton when I was a child. I eventually introduced them to my son who enjoyed them just as much. However I don't find them readable any more - maybe I just haven't seen my old favourites. Agatha Christie still entertains as much as when I started to read her books 50 years ago. It's like stepping into a different world. As soon as the plot becomes a little foggy in my memory, I re-read them. Unfortunately, if I have seen the story on a television series, the plot is etched on my memory forever. By the way, the best performances were those where Agatha had a say. She would never have cast Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple, or Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot.

Trixie Belden was another favorite of mine as a kid, the mysteries were pretty good.

#7 Oooh, that reminds me. I seem to recall reading several mysteries with Janet Lennon of the Lennon Sisters as the protagonist. In retrospect I suspect they weren't terribly good.

DianeS
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I liked the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series. A couple of years ago I found two or three of them at an antiques store and bought them, and still thought they were pretty good stories.

Also, I had a few Happy Hollister books and a few Bobbsey Twins books that had belonged to one of my parents and loved them, but haven't reread them.

Plus of course the Nancy Drew books, Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, and Encyclopedia Brown. But when I was in about junior high, somebody started doing updated Nancy Drews, set in the late 80's - I don't remember much about them, except I really didn't like them, and I usually liked everything I read.

Shannon

The Three Investigators are great. I still read 'em!

I think the Bobbsey Twins were the first, my grandmother had at her house a bunch of my mom's books from her childhood (the 1940's). I belonged to the Nancy drew book club at an early age, they sent 2 books a month & when they ran out of Nancy they sent the Hardy Boys. I also read Encyclopedia Brown. But I am not sure which came first. I vaguely recall reading a book in the Boxcar Children series as well.

I consumed all the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books I could get my hands on, plus plenty of Encyclopedia Brown, and the Boxcar Children when I was a bit younger (though I can't recall if all of those were mysteries, but I know some of them were). And of course Agatha Christie when I was in junior high.

I was a very little girl reading the Bobbsey Twins who investigated mysteries of sorts. Soon graduated to Nancy Drew. I'm old enough to remember a series called Cherie Ames, a nursing student who also investigated mysteries.

I loved Nancy Drew. I read a couple of Hardy Boys. I have one of Carolyn Keene's Dana Girls mysteries on my shelves, too. Cherie Ames sounds familiar but don't remember reading her.

By 6th grade I was reading Erle Stanley Gardner (Try reading out loud to your 6th grade teacher from a Perry Mason mystery in 1964. Your mother will get a note asking if she knows you're reading books with swear words in them. Of course she does, she's the one who gave you the books!)

>13 larraine: I remember Cherie Ames too (although I read them decades after they were first published)!

>14 karenmarie: I also read tons of Erle Stanley Gardner, though I was in high school by then. Used to buy them at the annual English book fair in Quebec City for a quarter a piece...

#15 avisannschild - I wish I still had all my ESGs! Sold them for a quarter a piece when I moved to NC 17 years ago.

Nancy Drew was probably first. Then I started raiding my father's stash of mysteries.

Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon were favorites of mine when young, along with Cherie Ames and (I think) a stewardess series. I reread a Nancy Drew a couple years ago and was really disappointed. I thought the writing and plotting were very poor.

On the other hand, I reread the first and third Trixie Beldon mysteries, The Secret of the Mansion and The Mysterious Visitor and was pleasantly surprised at how well they were written. I enjoyed reading them again.

My very first mystery series was called The Three Detectives. One of them was called The Green Ghost. The series featured three teenage boys with an underground clubhouse; one of them was named Jupiter Jones - not a name you forget!

After that, it was Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden, of course. Then I didn't get back into mysteries until 5 or 6 years ago.

My favorite series was Cherry Ames because she was a nurse (professional) who traveled (adventurous) and because back in the day, girls did not do those 2 things usually. I tried Nancy Drew and the Bobbsie Twins (not sure on the spelling) but they didn't appeal like Cherry Ames did. I recently have begun collecting the entire series.