Biggles Takes Charge

About the book

Algy pays a visit to an old friend, with a view to returning a key he has been given and gets caught up in helping Prince Karl of Moldavia (also known as Charles Zarrill) when agents from behind the Iron Curtain try to kill him. Zarrill's cousin is the Grand Duke Boris Nicolas Zarrill Detziner-Romanov and the young Prince is desperately trying to find him. After a confrontation with the baddies, lead by a certain Erich von Stalhein, Algy takes the Prince down to Monte Carlo and enlists the help of Biggles (who doesn't appear in the book until page 90!) and Marcel Brissac. Later, joined by Bertie and Ginger, Boris is eventually traced. The team then embarks on a hazardous mission to recover the Royal Family's jewels from Moldavia and they find themselves in a bullet holed dingy, sinking on a Moldavian lake, desperately awaiting rescue. It is this event that is depicted on the dust cover of the book.