Cirrus@Austlit

'Twenty chests of minted Spanish gold in a sunken galleon—this is the lure that brings historian Renn Lundigan to a tiny island off Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

'Renn enlists islander Johnny Akimoto to teach him scuba diving, but soon realises there's a far greater danger in the reef than the sharks. Gambling den owner Manny Mannix has followed him to the island, and now he threatens not only Renn and Johnny, but also the beautiful young scientist Pat Mitchell.

'Gallows on the Sand is a fast-paced story of high adventure, with the rich characterisation that made Morris West one of the bestselling writers of his day.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'Kit Hunter, young star of the show jumping world, reaches Singapore on her way home from her adventurous Australian tour. At a race meeting she meets another big cattle man from Australia who wants to buy horses from the Moor Grange Stables.

'It seems foolish to refuse the chance - since the object of Kit's original trip was to arouse Australian interest in Moor Grange stock - yet the Colonel is urgently needed at home in Devon.

'Kit and Mary decide to return to Australia by themselves, and advise the cattle man on his needs - only to find themselves plunged into another adventure, far removed from their original plans - the strange mystery of the mine whose secret was guarded by a ghost!'

(from Dust Jacket)

'Mick McCreary is an oilman out of a job. His only possessions are a plane ticket to Singapore, a month's pay in Indonesian rupiahs and the luck of the Irish.

'When the mysterious Mr Rubensohn approaches him with the offer of a breathtaking salary for a drilling operation on a remote island—no questions asked—he thinks that luck is running with him once more.

'But then he meets the beautiful Lisette, and within twenty-four hours he is involved in murder, intrigue and an international fraud of frightening proportions.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Allen & Unwin, 2017).

'"Over the last yeal or two, somebody has got away with probably five million dollars worth of diamonds, rubies and pearls from the playboys and girls of the French and Italian Rivieras."

'A man in the United National S.l. group reports this in a letter to Robert Malone, undercover agent in the Commonwealth Police. The letter also alludes to an Australian mentioned by an "old beachcomber" in a Marseilles dive and encloses a Wynyard-Palm Beach bus ticket, a list of foreign names and a photograph of a Trench nightclub singer, picked up in the same dive.

'Malone divines that there is some connection between these diverse items when he recognises the singer of the photo as an entertainer at the Bagatelle Club at King's Cross and decides to begin his inquiry with her.'

Source:

'Reviews in Brief', Sydney Morning Herald, 21 November 1953, p.10.

'Kit Hunter, now widely known as a champion horsewoman, goes to Australia, with Colonel Hamden, and her friend Mary Trent, for the famouse Sydney Show. The Show is a thrilling annual event - a blend of superb rodeo, and state fair. After a wonderful sea voyage through the East they arrive in Australia a few days ahead of the show's opening date. Kit and her companions accept an invitation from a wealthy travelling companion to visit a huge, and fabulously wealthy sheep station in the "outback". The station is enormous, with its own cinema, bathing pool, and private plane service. After a thrilling holiday a great bushfire breaks out. With the plane out of action a desperate battle has to be fought against the huge fire, and Kit races the flames on a borrowed horse to reach the nearest town - to bring warning and get help. In the nick of time, the trio get back to Sydney for fresh showjumping triumphs at the show.' (From Dusk Jacket)