Kids these days. That’s what everyone thinks when Findlay Wheat says he’s been chased by a ma wielding lunatic through the koa forest. A ma is a stealthy Hawaiian slingshot, and nowadays nobody uses them anymore — tourists wear them as belts! Why should anyone be chasing Fin? And why would some tourist shove a handful of shredded paper into his boat’s radiator? But someone has done both — chased him and scuppered his double-hulled sailboat. No more tourist cruises means no money for Cornell by term time. And if a Wheat doesn’t enroll for that first year at Cornell, the three subsequent years of tuition the Wheat Family Trust supplies will never happen. Fin’s got just six days to figure out how to raise two thousand dollars.
Why would someone try and stop him from going to school?
Maybe it was the two men who had made off with a quarter of a million dollars worth of antibiotics from the Honolulu airport. Maybe it was the deputy sheriff, Duke, who doesn’t seem to believe a word Fin says, and is acting awfully suspicious. Maybe they’re in it together — and only Fin and his best mate, Piwee, can stop them.
Or, maybe …not.
Another smashing mystery from Cyrus T. Fisher, published in 1956, and likely only available in libraries or in used bookstores. It was last reprinted in 1984.
Look for other titles by Cyrus T. Fischer — he’s worth reading.
For other YA novels from the 40’s – 50’s, please visit The Pulse for more great titles.
Buy this book from an independent used/out of print bookstore near you!
Sounds cool! Sort of Carl-Hiaasen-esque.
Oh, this guy’s even better than Hiaasen. I’ll lend it to you sometime, if you can’t find your own, but Alibris has it, and a couple of other places. If you like adventures like I do — and as a good exercise in learning to write water-tight mysteries — I’d track down some Fischer novels.