Biggles and the Penitent Thief by W. E. Johns was first published in 1967 by Brockhampton. The events in the book take place mostly in Labrador, Canada.
Synopsis[]
"Dusty" Miller, who had once served under Biggles during the war approaches him with a problem. His son, Tommy, had been wrongfully imprisoned and the experience had embittered him. Upon his release he had fallen in with a gang of jewel robbers, but, as always, the gang had fallen out. Now Tommy is the only one who knows exactly where the stolen jewels are hidden. Biggles has a dilemma. The police do not make deals with criminals, but here is a chance to recover some valuable stolen property, and Tommy appears to be willing to make a fresh start.
Plot[]
Note: The sections below contain spoilers. In particular, the plot subpage (click here) has an extended summary of the narrative in the book
Characters[]
The Special Air Police/Scotland Yard[]
- Air Commodore Raymond
- Biggles
- Aly Lacey
- Ginger Hebblethwaite
- Bertie Lissie
Others[]
Aircraft[]
- Merlin
- Unnamed helicopter - belonging to the RCMP, operated by Ian Fraser
Ships[]
Places[]
Visited[]
- Iceland - transit
- Greenland - transit
- Labrador, Canada
Mentioned[]
- Coopers Creek, Labrador, Canada
Other Research Notes[]
References to the other stories[]
Incongruities[]
Chronology[]
Editions[]
- Brockhampton, hbk/dj, 1967
- Children's Book Club, hbk/dj. date unknown.
- Knight Books, 1972.
International titles[]
- Danish: Biggles og de forsvundne juveler (Grafisk Forlag 1969)
- Malay: Biggles dan pencuri bertaubat (Eastern Universities Press 1978)
- Swedish: Biggles i Kanada (Wahlströms 1980)
- Norwegian: Biggles og juveltyvene (N.W. Damm & Søn 1988)
- Czech: Biggles a kajícný zloděj (Riopress 2002)
- Dutch (Belgium): Biggles en de pechvogel (Miklo 2002)