John Wentley Investigates (1939) is the second of three John Wentley tales written by boys' adventure writer, John Francis Cyril Westerman. I have only read the one.
JFC Westerman is, these days, an unknown story-teller but, looking at the British Library catalogue, he published around 30 books primarily in the 30s and early 1940s and in so doing was for twenty years or so, actively writing at the same time as his father - also a teller of adventures - the more familiar Percy Westerman whose total output was at least five times his son's.
The narrative in this book is linear and trite. The storyline concerns a global aeroplane-based conspiracy (don't be confused by the racer on the dust wrapper) stealing not only gold and specie but also the 'planes and pilots to undertake this nefarious business. Wentley's former employer has lost a couple of 'planes and their crews and pilot John, accompanied by the somewhat hapless George is sent to sort out the mess. Which he does.
Without spoiling the plot (as if you care), a key element of the criminal gang's success (the gang is called the 'Hovering Eagle', incidentally) is the possession of a device capable of projecting a tractor beam which draws aeroplanes to it. (The existence of mysterious rays operated by crooks is also a common theme in Percy's books).
I've read a lot of Percy and even from this single incursion into the son's oeuvre I can see two stylistic differences between the pair. The first is that Percy commonly uses boys or very young men as his central characters - directly associating the target reader with the fiction. John Wentley, however, is older - mid to late 20s and is, in fact, rather a pale shadow of the younger Biggles. Unfortunately he's not supported by the cast of characters - Algy, Bertie and Ginger - that WE Johns created. George, sadly, is just not very interesting and also has an annoying habit of doing himself down despite being an accomplished pilot.
The second difference is in the dialogue. Where Percy uses (somewhat dated) slang phrases: 'My festive' comes to mind, JFC uses none - at least not in this book - and so there's none of the dashing raffish airman, merely a clever young man sorting things out.
From the number of pages, 256, one would not immediately say John Wentley Investigates is short enough to qualify for this blog. But the type is large and the line spacing significant so it takes no time to read.
John Wentley Investigates - 256pp. My copy published by The Children's Press (London and Glasgow).
The narrative in this book is linear and trite. The storyline concerns a global aeroplane-based conspiracy (don't be confused by the racer on the dust wrapper) stealing not only gold and specie but also the 'planes and pilots to undertake this nefarious business. Wentley's former employer has lost a couple of 'planes and their crews and pilot John, accompanied by the somewhat hapless George is sent to sort out the mess. Which he does.
Without spoiling the plot (as if you care), a key element of the criminal gang's success (the gang is called the 'Hovering Eagle', incidentally) is the possession of a device capable of projecting a tractor beam which draws aeroplanes to it. (The existence of mysterious rays operated by crooks is also a common theme in Percy's books).
I've read a lot of Percy and even from this single incursion into the son's oeuvre I can see two stylistic differences between the pair. The first is that Percy commonly uses boys or very young men as his central characters - directly associating the target reader with the fiction. John Wentley, however, is older - mid to late 20s and is, in fact, rather a pale shadow of the younger Biggles. Unfortunately he's not supported by the cast of characters - Algy, Bertie and Ginger - that WE Johns created. George, sadly, is just not very interesting and also has an annoying habit of doing himself down despite being an accomplished pilot.
The second difference is in the dialogue. Where Percy uses (somewhat dated) slang phrases: 'My festive' comes to mind, JFC uses none - at least not in this book - and so there's none of the dashing raffish airman, merely a clever young man sorting things out.
From the number of pages, 256, one would not immediately say John Wentley Investigates is short enough to qualify for this blog. But the type is large and the line spacing significant so it takes no time to read.
John Wentley Investigates - 256pp. My copy published by The Children's Press (London and Glasgow).