Showing results by narrator "John Rayburn" in All Categories

It was a lonely English courtyard where attorneys received traditional apprenticeship … one of the ancient Inns of Court. The bludgeoned body of a well-dressed elderly man was found there at midnight, an apparent murder victim. Investigative newspaper reporter Frank Spargo was one of the first to arrive at the crime scene and he was puzzled about why such a prosperous looking man had been wandering there at that time of night. The only item found on the body was a small paper with a young barrister’s address.

It was a clear, apple-green evening in May, and Four Winds Harbour was mirroring back the clouds of the golden west between its softly dark shores. The sea moaned eerily on the sand-bar, sorrowful even in spring, but a sly, jovial wind came piping down the red harbor road along which Miss Cornelia’s comfortable, matronly figure was making its way towards the village of Glen St. Mary. Miss Cornelia was rightfully Mrs. Marshall Elliott, and had been Mrs. Marshall Elliott for thirteen years, but even yet more people referred to her as Miss Cornelia than as Mrs. Elliott.

Teenagers Joe and Frank Hardy had ample mental ability to reach conclusions and act accordingly. Some of that ability was handed down by their former police detective Fenton Hardy, and the overall concept was enhanced by their perceptive cleverness. If you want to be tense with excitement, here’s a chance. They discover a counterfeiting operation in an old mill, are trapped and face a struggle to escape. Eventually, they overcome the misdeeds and wind up with some of the phony money.

This is the story of two young brothers from the backwoods of Maine … Randy and Earl Portney. Having a difficult time financially, unable to pay their rent, even how to keep on eating, they weren’t sure how to resolve their dilemma. Then, virtually out of the blue, they got an unexpected invitation letter from their Uncle Foster. He was going to head out for the big search for gold in Alaska and he wanted to know if the boys would go with him.

As usual for the much-traveled young Biff Brewster, he had major components of adventure and intrigue when his Uncle Charlie contacted him to come to the Caribbean and help with a search for some valuable pearls in and around Martinique. They were first found by Brom Zook, father of Derek Zook, who first surprisingly met with Biff by accident. They were thoroughly astounded to find they looked identical enough to be twins. As the search Biff planned to join his uncle on, they became involved with an evil man named Dietz.

This story begins with travel time for the entire Brewster family as they plan a trip to Hawaii. It includes Bruce (“Biff”), his Mother, and Dad, with the younger twins, Ted and Monica. It’s really exciting for the twins because they have never been outside the continent. One of Dad Tom Brewster’s chief reasons for the journey is a planned meeting with Dr. Johann Weber, scientist and staff consultant for Ajax Mining Company. They were expecting to meet Weber on arrival but a shocking surprise was ahead.

Some months back Biff’s father went to India to legally open up some gold mines that had been absorbed by the India Republic. The setting for same was in exotic and mystical segments of India, with much action to be in and around the vicinity of the Himalayas. At first it was more of a sight-seeing tour than adventure with Biff accompanied by two friends from earlier times … Kamuka, met at the headwaters of the Amazon River in Brazil, and Likake (“Lee”) Mahenili of Hawaii. They headed out by sea and still had one more night to spend on shipboard as they reached Calcutta.

Biff’s father and uncle were both well-traveled and accustomed to unusual situations and they felt it could be a matter of learning and enjoyment for the sixteen-year-old boy. He was big, strong, and very intelligent, so his relatives felt such a trip could add to a future for the lad. It turned our far differently than expectations. A jungle wilderness jam-packed with hazards and thrills. That’s what eventually confronted Biff going through territory inhabited with dreaded head-hunters. It had begun when Biff boarded a plane bound for Brazil and was handed an unexpected letter.

An unusual call from Chinese merchant Ling Tang began an on-going set of circumstances for young Biff Brewster. He was planning a trip to Rangoon in Burma to visit his Uncle Charlie. It seemed such a trip for Biff would be a good way to spend the remainder of his summer vacation from school. It was a pleasant thought for beginning something very different to look forward to. However, “different” isn’t a strong enough description of what was going to happen.

A subtitle of this book is “The Lost World Under the Sea,” and it’s somewhat based on the famed legend of Atlantis. That was an ancient city or continent that was supposedly inundated by the sea. Whether it actually existed has been a question that has lasted for thousands of years. Greek philosopher Plato wrote about it around 360 BC, so even his possible information was second-hand. Tsunamis (sea storms) have existed for centuries and if there really was an Atlantis, any survivors may have fled inland and built new cities.

The character of Bertram “Bertie” Wooster told the stories in first person style. He had a valet who stole some of his silk sox and was discharged. The agency sent replacement Reginald “Reggie” Jeeves. He arrived, mixed a hangover cure that was much needed and accepted, and the two were together from then on. Bertie, rich and toil-free, disliked hard work, some bossy women, and most children. He had a somewhat dingbat friend, Bingo Little, who fell in love with every girl he met.

Even the coming of an autumn dusk could not subdue the color of this land. Shadows here were not gray or black; they were violet and purple. The crumbling adobe walls were laced by strings of crimson peppers, vivid in the torch and lantern light. It had been this way for days, red and yellow, violet—colors many had hardly been aware existed back in the cool green, silver, gray-brown of Kentucky. So this was Tubacca! Back in ‘59 this had been a flourishing town, well on its way to prominence in the Southwest.

Unassuming in plot and style, Heidi may none the less lay claim to rank as a world classic. In the first place, both background and characters ring true. The air of the Alps is wafted to us in every moment; the house among the pines, the meadows, and the eagle poised above the naked rocks form a picture that no one could willingly forget. And the people, from the kindly towns-folk to the quaint and touching peasant types, are as real as any representation of human nature need be. Every goat even, has its personality.

IIn the summer of 1850, a topsail schooner slipped into the cove under the rocky promontory of Trinidad Head in California and dropped anchor at the edge of the kelp (algae)-fields. Fifteen minutes later her small-boat deposited on the beach a man armed with long squirrel-rifle and an axe, and carrying food and clothing in a brown canvas pack. From the beach he saw the schooner raise anchor and stand out to sea before the northwest trade winds. When it disappeared from his view, he swung his pack to his broad back and strode resolutely into the timber at the mouth of a little river.

This is a classic mystery novel by the creator of the fictional Chinese detective Charlie Chan. The tale you’re about to hear is in London just before WWI. American visitor Geoffrey West is attracted to a beautiful young lady and he decides to try and get her attention by putting a personal ad in the so-called "Agony Column" of a London newspaper. She sees it and responds by demanding he send her several letters so she can make up her mind as to whether she has any interest in him. Before anything else happens, Geoffrey winds up being thought possibly guilty of a vicious murder.

Frederick Faust (pen name Max Brand) was said to have written in excess of twenty-five million words as he seemed to have a button to push to generate fictional ideas. Of course, it’s known that much of his work was issued under pen names, around twenty of them, a great many of them wild Westerns. This one that features a drifter named Donnegan. He gets off a train and takes on a job with a rich man who doesn’t seem to care much about the difference between rights and wrongs.

What you’re about to hear takes place in West Inch, a city on the English-Scottish border. The title is an unusual reference to a shadow forming over the city that’s said to be about the influence and reputation of the infamous Napoleon. This is all a change of literary output by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, famed for his stories about Sherlock Holmes. He had gotten a little tired of that character and turned, at least for a while, to a man named Jock Calder, who was one of the soldiers at the scene of military activity, including the battle of Waterloo.

A weapon used to murder a wealthy business man was apparently an ancient dagger stolen from a museum. It supposedly was from Peru and had a centuries-old inscription that was thought to tell whereabouts of a massive gold stash in the South American country. It was said to have a curse on it for anyone using it to track down the treasure. Professor Craig Kennedy, noted user of science to solve such cases, was contacted to see what he could do. Would his thinking prowess be enough? The finger of blame points at several possibilities as to the guilty party, or possibly parties.

Being able to unravel and analyze the findings of others was a rare attribute of University Professor Craig Kennedy. He coupled this with use of various gadgets and devices that were commonplace in the early twentieth century. They seem primitive by much of today’s standard equipment but were actual forerunners to what are matter-of-fact equipment, enhanced and extended in the present day. His ability to analyze his findings resulted in the well-earned recognition of “The Scientific Detective.” He was always accompanied by young newspaper reporter Walter Jameson, who kept tabs on plot details.

This was a time that was a major part of western history, a sort of baptism of sweat and blood. Great buffalo herds covered mile after mile, and hide hunters swarmed the plains. They were hard-riding and reckless and killed buffalo by the tens of thousands, bringing on near extinction. The invasion was part of the great western migration, and it caused major confrontations with such Indian tribes as Comanche, Kiowa, Arapaho, and others.