Mahmoud Salem

Salem was the author of many well-known books in Arabic, targeting children and adolescents. Total number of his books is nearly 300.[6][7] Salem started out translating English children's books like The Five Find-Outers before writing the 1968 book The Burning Shack Case under Dar El Maref's police stories line up, which ended up becoming a big seller and beginning The Five Adventurers series, that follows the adventures of a group of young children – Tewfik (Takhtakh), Nossa, Loza, Moheb, Atef and their dog Zinger as they solve different mysteries and crimes ranging from robberies to stopping criminal groups and terrorists. In 1972, It was released in an Egyptian television miniseries starred by Egyptian film star Salah Zulfikar.[8]

In a 2007 interview, Salem spoke about how the five adventurers were actually an attempt to restore his memories as a lonely introverted boy who moved with his family into Northern governorates due to his father's work as naval officer.

The original series written by Salem ran from 1968 until 1972 when he was let go due to his Nasserism leanings before being continued with the later books in the series done by other writers as well as other kid detective books being published. Due to his career at that point being at a standstill in Egypt, he was forced to move to Lebanon to continue his writing career.

It was during his exile in Lebanon where he would work on a new book series, The 13 Devils.[3] It was series of mystery novels, in which 13 characters from different Arab countries deal with plots of foreign intelligence service.[3] In 2007, one of his stories was filmed.[6]