GIMLET GETS THE ANSWER
First Published in September 1952 - 192 pages
Original first edition dust jacket showing the price of 6/6.
This
book starts with a short author's note about Cyprus (plus a map). The story then
starts with Major Charles of the Intelligence Office briefing Gimlet, Cub,
Copper and Trapper about a gangster called Nicolou "Knifey" Kniftos.
Knifey had been forced to leave America when he fell foul of other gangsters
and settled on Cyprus. Here his behaviour has been suspicious and now he has
been back to America and is returning to Cyprus in a private yacht called the 'Sandra',
with six other well known gangsters. Major Charles wants to send Gimlet to
Cyprus to find out what he's up to. Gimlet sets his men to watch various ports
in Cyprus and the 'Sandra' arrives at Famagusta, watched by Cub. A party
gets off the yacht and after collecting a car from a garage they drive off.
Without a car, Cub is unable to follow. He sends a telegram to Gimlet and when
he arrives, Cub swims out to the yacht to see what he can overhear. The yacht
belongs to a wealthy American named Silas K. Rocheter, an art collector.
Leaving Copper and Trapper to watch the yacht, Gimlet and Cub go hiking by
Knifey's home in Cyprus called 'Casa Stefanita'. It is on a mountain in
the middle of nowhere but they find nobody home. Making their way further up
the mountain they come upon a primitive cottage and a thin wild dog. Here lived
a man who was a charcoal burner, but his cottage is now deserted. 'Camel'
cigarettes indicate the presence of an American and Gimlet finds a bullet
lodged in the wall. Later, they see Knifey and the others come down the
mountain and they look dirty as if they have been digging. The next day, Gimlet
and Cub return and they meet Nestor, the son of the charcoal burner, looking
for his father. Later, from a distance they see him murdered! Gimlet realises
that the father is dead as well. The starving dog leads him to the grave. The
death of Nestor is reported to the police and Gimlet finds out that his father
used to also enjoy digging for old relics. Gimlet and Cub explore 'Casa
Stefanita' and Cub gets a shock when he climbs onto the roof of a storage
building and sees the face of a dead woman through the skylight. Later, going
back up the mountain, Gimlet and Cub have a confrontation with Knifey and
Rocheter. Towards the top of the mountain, Gimlet and Cub find some ruins and
hear strange noises from a large hole in the ground. There are steps going into
it and Gimlet descends, leaving Cub at the top. Time passes and when Gimlet
does not return, Cub descends in order to look for him. Below ground are two
passages, one blocked by a rock fall and the other leading out to a cave. This
cave overlooks another cave, where the gangsters are working. Gimlet is nowhere
to be found. Returning to the ruins at the top, Cub finds Copper has come
along. The yacht, 'Sandra' has sailed round from Famagusta and moored
near to 'Casa Stefanita' and Copper has brought word of this. Cub
realises that Gimlet must be trapped behind the blocked tunnel below and with
Copper's help goes back down to free him. This is the picture on the dust cover
of the book. Gimlet is rescued and Copper is sent to get food supplies. When
Gimlet and Cub use the cave to eavesdrop on the gangsters they hear that Copper
has been seen. One of the gangsters, called Toni, is sent to kill Copper but he
is attacked by the thin wild dog on the mountain and falls off a cliff. Later
Knifey comes looking for Toni and he finds his gun. This makes Knifey highly
suspicious. When the gangsters leave for the night, Gimlet and Cub get a chance
to explore their cave and find out what the mystery is all about. They are
astonished to find a large number of ancient statues consisting of men, women
and children. Cub now realises that this is what he saw through the skylight,
not a dead woman. Returning via the surface to Copper, fog descends and our
heroes spend an uncomfortable night on the mountain. The next day, Gimlet goes
to see the Governor of the island to tell him what is happening. Later, Trapper
arrives and there is a shoot out with the baddies. Trapper has been sent up by
Gimlet to warn them of a pending earthquake and to tell them to get off the
mountain! Meanwhile, Copper is down in the underground passages and has to be
warned to get out. Cub and Trapper run down the passages, closely followed by
Knifey and his gang, when the earthquake strikes. Cub and Trapper get through
and out, but the baddies are caught in the ensuing rock falls. Rocheter
survives and tells the full story. Gimlet returns and things end
satisfactorily. The recovered statues stored at 'Casa Stefanita' are
sent to the Cyprus museum, the rest having been reburied by the earthquake for
future discovery.
Click here to see the story illustrations from this book
Gimlet Gets the Answer
Subtitle - none
Publication Details - originally published by Brockhampton Press
Ltd.
Frontispiece
Click on the Frontispiece to enlarge it
NB – This is the only one of the ten Gimlet books NEVER to be
released in paperback. I have no idea
why that is the case(!)