[Biggles 98] • Biggles Sees Too Much

Whilst on holiday in Polcarron, Biggles sees four men get out of a Daimler car and go shark fishing. When the boat returns it contains four different men. Biggles later recalls that one of the men was wanted criminal 'Limpy' Logan. Returning to investigate with Algy, Bertie and Ginger, the Daimler driver is spotted. However, he is suspicious of Biggles and Bertie and makes enquiries about them at their hotel, 'The Fishermen's Arms'. The next thing to happen is that Biggles receives a parcel bomb at the hotel. Hearing the ticking, Biggles manages to throw it out of the door just before it explodes and this is the picture on the dust cover of the book. The Daimler car is registered to a Julius Brunner of Penlock Grange. His brother, Stephen runs 'The Fishermen's Arms'. Ginger is dropped off to keep watch on Penlock Grange and accidentally meets the owner, Julius Brunner. Brunner invites Ginger in to shelter from the rain, and then drugs his tea. Meanwhile, Tom Draper, the barman at 'The Fishermen's Arms' has been sacked and he confides in Bertie about the strange goings-on at the hotel. There are shifty looking people coming and going in twos and threes and they never have any luggage when they arrive. Later Tom is killed when he falls off a cliff and the suspicion is that he has been murdered. Biggles goes looking for Ginger at Penlock Grange and overhears an incriminating conversation between Stephen and Julius Brunner. Ginger is released after being told that he had been taken ill. Bertie and Algy follow the Daimler to Portwin Cove and see two men being taken to a boat. Biggles and Bertie have trouble at their hotel as Stephen Brunner wants them out but Biggles refuses to leave. Algy uses an aeroplane to follow the boat from Portwin Cove and it takes its passengers to a small rocky island just off the Channel Islands. Air Commodore Raymond and the Assistant Chief Constable of the county arrive to assist and a coastguard boat captained by Frank Cole is put at Biggles' disposal. The villain's boat is chased to their island where it is wrecked in rough seas. After Biggles' party comes under fire, they withdraw and wait for the sea to calm. Returning after an air reconnaissance, Biggles finds bodies everywhere as the villains have fallen out with each other and a shoot out occurred. Amongst the dead are the driver of the Daimler and Stephen Brunner. A French fisherman is caught in the crossfire and two surviving crooks are eventually arrested by the French police. Back at Penlock Grange, Inspector Gaskin finds that Julius Brunner has shot himself with a shotgun. This book was of course, the last of the Biggles series. Biggles' last published words (until the private publication of the uncompleted book Biggles Does Some Homework) are "The trouble with me is I see too much. All I do is knock my pan out working overtime. I'll be more careful in future" although the final line belongs to Bertie when he reminds Biggles "You can't always win, old boy, so you might as well forget it".