BIGGLES SORTS IT OUT
Book First Published in February 1967 - 184 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 10
shillings and 6 pence
Assistant-Commissioner Air
Commodore Raymond asks Biggles to investigate the theft of a collection of
rubies from Lord Langdon. Langdon suspects the thief is his former footman,
Richard Browning, who has disappeared after being warned for being too familiar
with Langdon's daughter, Caroline. Interviewing Lady Caroline gets Biggles
nowhere as she is clearly protecting Browning. Biggles discovers that Browning
is writing to Lady Caroline via her former nanny, Mrs. Smith and the letters
are coming from Africa. The stamp on the letter is smudged but four letters
"W-I-N-D" can be made out. Clues lead Biggles to suspect the letter
is from Windhoek on the edge of the Kalahari Desert in South West Africa. Biggles
and Bertie fly to Africa in an attempt to find Browning. Searching the
Kalahari, they are shot at and this leads them to land at an old abandoned
fort, called Fort Schwarz. Here they find a chained up leopard (the picture on
the dust cover, together with a picture of (presumably) Biggles, a spear and a
bullet). They also meet Mick Connor, Browning's former partner who says he
knows nothing of Browning's whereabouts and is most unhelpful. Returning to
their plane they have a confrontation with a wounded rhinoceros. That night
Biggles goes to investigate the fort under the cover of darkness, and a native
shoots at him with a bow and poisoned arrow. The following morning, Connor
leaves the fort giving Biggles and Bertie a chance to search it thoroughly.
Here they find Browning, injured after a plane crash and he tells them his
story. Browning is in fact, the long lost son of Lord Langdon who got the job
as footman to find out what his father was like. Browning says the rubies
belong to his sister Lady Caroline and he only took them to hide them so that
Lord Langdon couldn't sell them off. Lady Caroline knows their whereabouts, he
says. Connor returns, having only left the fort in order to trap Biggles and
Bertie. He cuts up rough but is killed by a native with a bow and poisoned
arrow because he has previously murdered a native. Biggles returns to England
to confront Lord Langdon with the result of his enquiries and enable the family
to bury the hatchet.
There are no story illustrations in this book
Biggles Sorts it Out
Publication Details - published by Brockhampton
Press
Frontispiece
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