BIGGLES AND THE BLACK MASK
Book First Published on 22nd June 1964 - 159 pages
I believe
this Biggles book was never serialised elsewhere. If anybody knows differently then please E-MAIL ME
The first edition dust jacket showing the original price of 8
shillings and 6 pence
Biggles decides to investigate
Roderick Canson, an ex-RAF Officer, whom he knew to
be a thief. Canson has just been granted a licence to
operate an air Charter Company and Biggles is suspicious as to what he is up
to. Ginger is sent on a holiday to Nice in France with the new company. He follows
Canson and is attacked and nearly killed. Returning
to the UK, Ginger is kidnapped by Canson and held in
a large country house. Here he meets Mr X, a man who wears a black mask to
conceal his identity. The dust cover shows Ginger being brought before Mr. X,
with a large picture of the man in the mask. Biggles and Bertie investigate
Ginger's disappearance. Biggles follows Ginger's route to the hotel room where
he was staying and finds that he has left a coded message for them. Bertie
keeps watch on Canson's airfield and follows his
distinctive Rolls Royce from the air. This leads him to a large country house.
Biggles suspects that Ginger is being held in the house and with the help of
Inspector Gaskin and a burglar of his acquaintance known as 'Badger', Biggles
and Bertie break into the house, after doping the guard dogs. They do this
because Canson has threatened to murder Ginger if
they don't drop their investigations. Ginger is rescued and Canson
flees in his plane to Nice, where, with the help of Marcel Brissac,
he is arrested. The air Charter Company is a front for smuggling counterfeit
currency. Returning to raid the large country house, Biggles is in for a big
surprise as to what is behind the scheme and who the man behind the mask is.
The original cover artwork for this book was once in my own private
collection
Click here to see the story illustrations from this book
Biggles and the Black Mask
Subtitle - A Story of Biggles and the Air Police
Publication Details - published by Hodder and Stoughton
Frontispiece
Click on the above to see it in more detail