GIMLET MOPS UP
Book First Published in August 1947 - 185 pages
I believe this Gimlet book was never serialised elsewhere. If anybody knows differently then please E-MAIL ME
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.
Full (Wrap Around) First Edition Dust Jacket
Cover Illustration on First Edition
Frontispiece
Click on the Frontispiece to enlarge it
Paperback