Go Ahead Secret Seven

Go Ahead Secret Seven was the fifth book of the Secret Seven Series. It was followed by the book Secret Seven on the Trail and preceded by the book Good Work Secret Seven.

Plot
The Secret Seven are forced into having a meeting after Susie teases Peter about the Society not having had a meeting for ages.They decide to practice their detective work. The girls are sent to the bus stop to practice their observation skills on travellers, while Peter and Jack hide near a highway to observe their surroundings. Meanwhile Colin and George are sent to shadow some unsuspecting members of the public.

Unfortunately George shadows the wrong person and is unceremoniously dragged home to his parents, who force him to resign from the Secret Seven. Dejected, he gives the others his news and a new temporary member is elected until they can get poor George back—Scamper finally becomes a 'real' member of the Society! During the next meeting, without George, the Seven report on their 'observations'. Janet sees a strange man getting off a bus to Pilberry—he has a crooked hand, which immediately points to another of Blyton's scarred 'bad guys'. Peter and Jack see a man treating a poodle badly, and Pam and Barbara's observations at the train station are dismissed by Peter

It's Colin's shadowing that night that leads to the real adventure. The man he follows drags his dog on a walk, and goes down a dead-end laneway, but returns without the valuable bull-terrier.The next day they hurry to the laneway to investigate.

That is, after they go to Starling's Hotel to plead with the man who George was shadowing to reconsider and speak to his parents. The man refuses, and poor George stays out of the Society...but Peter keeps George in the loop and tells him everything the Seven are up to.

A thorough search of the dead-end lane where the dog disappeared comes up with only a coal hole, but when Colin puts his head down into the hole and whistles, barks come up from the dark chamber. They boys have to get home—homework is beckoning—but on the way back they come across the man Janet saw with the crooked hand coming out of the building that belongs to the mysterious coal hole. They also see the man from Starling's carrying a dog lead but with no dog!

The Seven decide a dog-stealing ring must be involved, and do a little investigating. Both the grey poodle and the bull-terrier are advertised as missing, and Peter, Colin and Jack decide to explore that coal hole. Then the mystery really heats up, and George reappears just in the nick of time to rescue the other boys from a mean old man and his cages. The bad guys are duly apprehended, George is readmitted to the Society, and the Inspector again has high praise for the Seven.



