GIMLET MOPS UP
Book First Published on 6th October 1947* - 185 pages
* This information is taken from a letter
from A. P. Watt & Son to W. E. Johns in my collection
I believe this Gimlet book was never serialised elsewhere. If anybody knows differently then please E-MAIL ME
The first edition dust jacket showing the original price of 6
shillings. I have digitally restored
this dust jacket – click on the DJ to see it before restoration
The 1950 reissue edition dust jacket showing the original price of
6/6 shillings. I have digitally restored
this dust jacket – click on the DJ to see it before restoration
Cub,
Copper and Trapper are asked to meet Gimlet at 10 Brummel Square, London. Here,
they find not only Gimlet, but also General Sir Saxon Craig (who they had known
as "Numero Neuf" in Gimlet
Goes Again). The General
wants our heroes' help in tracking down the members of a Nazi Underground Movement,
who call themselves the "Werewolves". Although the war is now over,
they are sending prominent Britains death warrants and then kidnapping them.
After a mock trial, the victim is executed. Gimlet reveals that he has received
such a death warrant for his war time activities, particularly killing Von Roth
at Chateaudun in King of the
Commandos. Gimlet returns to
the Hotel Europa where he has been staying and suspects that an attempt will be
made to kidnap him. He stations his men in his room to be ready but they all
come under the influence of gas. Two intruders enter the hotel room wearing
wolf head masks and try to carry Gimlet away but they are foiled and captured.
The General is called but the two werewolves commit suicide. Cub follows a
taxi, which he believes was waiting to pick up Gimlet and the werewolves, but
he crashes when he is forced off the road. Gimlet's next lead occurs when his
friend Captain Frederick Ashton, (the former keeper of the Cheval Noir
pub in France from King of
the Commandos) receives a
death warrant. Travelling down to Wongerford Manor in Sussex, Gimlet and his
team plan to protect Ashton whilst he is acting as the Master of the local
hunt. Two werewolves isolate Ashton and stun him but Gimlet and his men manage
to save him. Calling on the
services of the Special Air Police, Ginger Hebblethwaite uses an aircraft to
follow one of the werewolves' cars to an old church in Whitechapel Road. The other werewolf is surrounded in
woods but manages to get away with the help of an amphibious aircraft. Cub goes
to join the congregation of the Whitechapel church but finds himself in hot
water and is saved by Copper. Meanwhile, Gimlet has to return to his home
village of Lorrington where he is due to judge a village competition. Here, Gimlet
is drugged and snatched by the werewolves from right under everybody's noses.
Cub, Copper and Trapper arrange to get help from the General and then raid the
Whitechapel church. Here they find a mock Courtroom and chase a gang of
werewolves down an underground passage into the sewers. Gimlet is with them and
with his hands bound he is thrown into the Thames to drown. Cub jumps in and
pulls him out in the nick of time. The werewolves escape by boat on the foggy
river. Some muddy flying boots are found in the church and these prove to be a
vital clue. A werewolf returns to blow up the church and succeeds in doing so. Enlisting the help of Biggles from the
Special Air Police, aerial recognisance of the Norfolk Broads reveals a
suspicious area that may be the base from where the amphibious plane is
operating. Biggles briefs our heroes on his observations from page 150 to page
155, making this book another candidate for the title of 'Biggles book'. The area in question on the Norfolk
Broads consists of an apparently abandoned windmill. Gimlet and his commandos
make a sneak raid on the place and find the werewolves' base. They attack in
time to catch the plane returning to its base and manage to completely destroy
it. When the werewolves refuse to surrender, Gimlet uses an incendiary grenade
to set the windmill alight. The climax of the book is (rather unhelpfully)
depicted on the book's cover. The werewolves are all killed and their base is
destroyed.
Click here to see the story illustrations from this book
Gimlet Mops Up
Subtitle - An adventure of King of the Commandos and his three
Musketeers, Corporal "Copper" Colson, "Trapper" Troublay
and "Cub" Peters.
Publication Details - originally published by Brockhampton Press
Ltd.
Cover Illustration on First Edition
Frontispiece
Click on the Frontispiece to enlarge it
Click on the Paperback above to find out all about the GIMLET
Armada paperbacks and see the many DIFFERENT illustrations in them