John P Marquand

It's Loaded, Mr. Bauer John P Marquand

The time is toward the beginning of WWII, before the U. S. became involved, but Germany had already begun marching through Europe. Winslow Greene is a very nerdy geologist who works for a gold-mining company. They are extracting ore from a vein up in the Andes. Greene has to go down to the coast for some reason. He is to meet the new stenographer, Henrietta Simmons, and get her sent upriver to the mining site. She is totally unprepared for the rough life she will be living, so he helps her get a new outfit and orients her slightly into the ways of her new position. He also finds himself falling for her, and she him. This novel has the pace and thrills of Mr. Marquand's Moto stories, with something of the flavour of his famous novels. In a sense, Winslow Greene is the protagonist of all Mr. Marquand's books, seen here triumphant instead of in gentle eclipse.