 |
The Wallace Boys Series |
| All summaries have been adapted from the publisher's summaries. | ||
|
||
| #1 Skulduggery in the South Atlantic | ||
The first adventure in the series starts aboard a ship visiting the Island of St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean where the Wallace Boys are going to stay with their uncle, the Governor. While on board the RMS St Helena, Bruce discovers that there are a pair of stowaways in one of the lifeboats, and he gets thrown off the back of the ship for his pains.When the brothers, together with St Helenian Jimmy Fowler, arrive on St Helena, they discover that all is not well. Their search for the stowaways, Isaacs and Lambert, who have eluded detection, leads them to Longwood House where Napoleon spent his years on the island following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, and thence to the Gates of Chaos, an extremely treacherous part of the island. |
 |
|
| Matters reach a head when the Governor starts behaving strangely and the three boys find that weapons, including Russian-made AK-47s, have been smuggled onto the island. It is clear that a coup is being planned. Can the boys foil the attempt? | ||
|
||
| #2 The Sands of the Skeleton Coast | ||
|
Nigel, Bruce, and St Helenian friend Jimmy Fowler risk their necks by accepting a ride aboard a motor yacht, the St Valery, for their return to Cape Town. The owner, Barry Jones, wants to make a detour to see the terrifying Namibian Skeleton Coast where numerous ships have come to grief, including the Dundee Star on which Barry’s father worked during World War II. Aboard the wreck is a cache of diamonds, and Barry knows just how to get it. Nothing, it seems, will stop him!
This desperate adventure takes the boys to the edge of danger where they fight the most dangerous of the world's deserts with its mysterious plant and animal life—the weird Welwitschia, the grotesque elephant’s foot, the desert lions, the brown hyena, and the Namib sidewinder snake. |
 |
|
| They even encounter a galleon several kilometers inland of 'the coast that walks'! All the while, they are dogged by the presence of Isaacs and Lambert. | ||
|
||
| #3 Trouble in Tristan | ||
|
The Wallace Boys and St Helenian friend, Jimmy Fowler, are still aboard the St Valery with Barry when she gets hijacked after leaving the Namibian port of Luderitz. The hijacker is a young German, by the name of Gustav Stoltenhoff, who has just joined the yacht for the final leg of the journey to Cape Town. He is, however, desperate to reach the tiny South Atlantic island called Inaccessible in the Tristan da Cunha Group.
Gustav is a descendant of one of the few people ever to live on Inaccessible Island, and he has recently learned that a German U-boat put into the island late in World War II on its way to find refuge in Argentina. Aboard the submarine was a treasure of artworks looted by Hermann Goering. |
 |
|
| After the treasure has been loaded aboard the St Valery in a secret cave, the three boys and Barry are marooned on the island. In their attempt to get rescued, they encounter most of the island’s amazing bird population—albatrosses, spectacled shoemakers, the tiny Inaccessible rail, rockhopper penguins, and the vicious skua. | ||
|
||
| #4 The Legacy of Lobengula | ||
|
Back home on their parents' farm in Zimbabwe, the Wallace boys team up with Muyunda Munalula, of the Lozi tribe in Zambia. For nearly as long as he can remember, Muyunda has worn a pendant around his neck. When it gets tampered with, Muyunda relates how his great-grandfather gave him the pendant. His great-grandfather told him how as a little boy he had joined the retinue of Lobengula, the last of the Matabele kings. After being defeated, Lobengula fled to the north where he died. Lobengula's faithful followers, including Muyunda's great-grandfather, hid his treasure in a cave in the Batoka Gorges. The pendant reveals the location of the treasure. The Wallace Boys and Muyunda set off to find this treasure on horseback, making their starting point the magnificent Victoria Falls. The boys visit Scottie, a family friend, who proudly shows them the fantastic sights in his Fox Moth biplane. |
 |
|
| The boys learn that their foes Isaacs and Lambert are also after the treasure. Eventually, the boys reach the long-lost cave, but they may not be able to retrieve the treasure before Isaacs and Lambert interfere. | ||
|
||
| #5 Killers Against Kariba | ||
|
The Wallace brothers and their best friend, Muyunda, plan a quiet camping trip on Lake Kariba on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, but things turn a little hairy! While photographing hippos one night, Bruce sees a mysterious boat, loaded with uniformed men and an assortment of weapons, crossing the lake. Bruce tells the other boys, who at first do not believe that anything is amiss. Finally, the boys decide to investigate, which results in both Bruce and Muyunda being captured by guerrilla fighters intent on overthrowing the Zimbabwean government. Nigel must find a way to rescue them. Nigel's plan involves setting fire to the surrounding bush, nearly incinerating his brother and friend in the process! |
 |
|
| Together again, the three boys have to race against time to reach the immense Kariba Dam Wall before a bomb explodes, bringing the wall down. | ||
|
||
| #6 Kidnapped in the Kafue | ||
|
This adventure takes place in the Kafue National Park of Zambia. Here the Wallace Boys and Muyunda visit Muyunda’s uncle, the Chief Game Warden in the park. Apart from Muyunda's uncle's bizarre behavior, the boys discover very soon that they are on the trail of a vicious gang of poachers who have teamed up with a group of terrorists. The boys must decide how to approach the problem. Should they go after the poachers' traps or center in on the terrorists? The boys get firsthand experience with Africa’s magnificent wildlife, including a cantankerous elephant that chases cars and buffaloes used as decoys. The story leads the three boys on a harrowing adventure in an ancient Land Rover, named by the boys "Lazarus," to track down the poachers, the terrorists, and what is upsetting Muyunda’s uncle. |
 |
|
|
||
| #7 Crash in the Caprivi | ||
|
Muyunda invites his two friends, the Wallace Boys, to Mongu in Western Zambia to witness the colorful Kuomboka Ceremony in which the Lozi people move from their homes that are flooded by the rising Zambezi River to their winter quarters. Muyunda participates in the ceremony during which he sees someone behaving very strangely. This same person takes the same plane flight the boys are on and forces the pilot to fly along the narrow corridor of land known as the Caprivi Strip to the Etosha Pan in Namibia. After a hair-raising landing on the flat surface of the salt pan, the boys find themselves up against Isaacs and Lambert once again! The return flight, now with a hoard of diamonds, crashes. The pilot is out of action with a broken leg, and Bruce is taken hostage, to ensure that Isaacs and Lambert will remain free after they cross the Kalahari. |
 |
|
| A Bushman boy of their own age leads Nigel and Muyunda across the Kalahari to the Okavango Delta in Botswana where they hope to rescue Bruce from Isaacs and Lambert. | ||
|
||
| #8 Mischief in 'The Mousetrap' | ||
|
Nigel and Bruce leave Africa and go to the United Kingdom. The boys have taken a year-long leave of absence from the university so that they can pick up, refurbish, and sail a yacht to St. Helena that their uncle has purchased. The boys immediately fall into an adventure in London, giving Scotland Yard a helping hand along the way! A leading actor, known as the Colonel, in Agatha Christie’s world-famous, long-running play—"The Mousetrap"—helps "lost" youngsters on the streets of London. One such youngster is Timothy, who is searching for his missing brother. The Wallace Boys suspect that the Colonel is not all that he appears to be. They fear for Timothy's safety. When Timothy disappears, the boys launch an investigation of the Colonel's business activities. |
 |
|
| Evidence is what the boys need, but the boys face a dangerous foe who has endless resources at his command. | ||
|
||
| #9 Hostage in the Highlands | ||
|
Nigel and Bruce go to the far northwest part of Scotland where they intend to refurbish a yacht, the ten-meter Silver Spray, prior to sailing her out to the South Pacific. They meet up with Richard Hannay, a boy of their own age, the grandson of the famous John Buchan character in The Thirty-nine Steps.
The Silver Spray is up on Loch Machray overlooked by a magnificent island castle on Eilean Donan. But no one can visit the island, for it is certain death for anyone who dares. Like Gruinard Island, this island too was infected with the deadly anthrax bacteria during a biological experiment during World War II. Bruce then lands accidentally on the island in thick fog! Bruce fears that he will soon die from anthrax exposure! |
 |
|
| The boys soon learn that all is not as it appears, and that the island hides several secrets, including a royal hostage. | ||
|
||
| #10 Assignment in the Alps | ||
|
Nigel and Bruce have been given an assignment by the Foreign Office of the United Kingdom. The boys have been tasked with trying to help the faltering monarchy of the small Alpine Kingdom of Ruritania. The kingdom is on the verge of a coup, and the king is set to abdicate his throne, in part because the kingdom has run out of money. The Wallace Boys find themselves in a desperate search for gold and art treasures taken from the fabulous Schloss Falkenstein and hidden in a remote mountain lake by the Nazis at the end of World War II. If the boys can find the treasure in time, the king will not have to abdicate his throne. To do this the boys must team up with the crown prince, the Archduke Karl-Franz. They must then get the help of a band of gypsies, climb a glacier at night, and paraglide down to the lake. |
 |
|
| But there is a deadline which is drawing dangerously near. Can they make it in time? | ||
|
||
|
Back to Wallace Boys Back to Main Page |
||