Why is George all alone at the beginning? Why hasn't she accompanied her cousins to Faynights for another caravan holiday? The beginning of any book in a series usually has the children either together and waiting for something to happen or meeting up and getting into the action. A bit of a change can be introduced if some kind of sickness or accident happens fairly near the start. It can allow a little straying from the formula and a few can be searched out — a mumps scare in Summer Term at St Clare's and measles in The Sea of Adventure. There was influenza in The Mystery of the Strange Bundle and the same in Ring O'Bells Mystery and a quite nasty accident in The Mountain of Adventure. The late appearance of a regular character can also add a little apprehension and a desire to see an old friend. Fatty of the Find-Outer books arrived late once or twice and Gwendoline in the Fifth Malory Towers book also took a little extra leave. Gwen ... an old friend? Verbal interchange amongst sick children can also supply a little variation early in the story as was displayed in the already mentioned Sea of Adventure and for that matter an illness can be used as an excuse to send children to faraway places where all kinds of things can happen.
