The Clue of the Coiled Cobra

Ken Holt #5

by Bruce Campbell

The mystery begins when Ken and Sandy are driving home after covering a dog show for the Brentwood Weekly Advance. At a bus stop restaurant they offer a hitch-hiker a lift. When the boys realize that the mystery man had a bus ticket but used them for transportation anyway, the plot thickens. A private investigator, Andrew Richards, appears at the Allen's office and says that the hitch-hiker is wanted for the Plunket payroll robbery. He is identified as Fenton. Richards tells the boys that the cash from the robbery was never found, and that it may be hidden somewhere in the vicinity.

Despite getting mugged by unknown assailants Ken and Sandy trail Fenton to Kenshoa Park where they are outsmarted by their elusive prey. Still, it is apparent that this park holds the key to the whole affair and that the coils of a cobra figure prominently. While searching for clues in Kenshoa, during a carnival, the sleuths run into the Rands, Hiran and Limpy. The aura of evil hangs about them. But how do they fit in with Fenton and the heist ? It is only after Ken and Sandy are held captive in a cave and outwit their cobra guards, that the fascinating truth is finally revealed.

Genres: Mystery

214 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Bruce Campbell is a pseudonym used by the husband-and-wife team of Sam and Beryl William Epstein for their Ken Holt mysteries.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ken Holt was the son of a famous reporter who was on the road a lot of time and, since his mother had died, lived with the Allen family, who owned and produced a local newspaper. Sandy Allen became his best friend and sidekick on many adventures. There were eighteen books in the series that appeared from 1949 - 1963. This one opens with the pair covering a dog show for the paper, after which they give a hitch-hiker a ride on the way home, and this leads them into their fifth volume of mysterious adventures. The trail leads them to Kenshoa Park where they investigate at a carnival, become involved with a private investigator, learn their hitch-hiker is wanted for connection with a payroll robbery, are drugged and held captive in a cobra cave, and all manner of such exciting fare. This is one of the funniest books in the series, filled with good lines. I also always liked the cover of the original edition; Ken is viewing the snake with true wide-eyed wonder while Sandy, standing next to him, looks like he's preparing to practice a tap-dancing routine.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining and fun. I wonder if this series inspired anyone to be a reporter. Also funny.

[itchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

pop is such fun

plus, the bit about the belts is a riot

p5: the greyhound bus was a thousand feet ahead by now and gaining fast.

p123: the stubby gun in fenton's hand, it's barrel fitted with a silencer, pointed at the ground just beside ted rand's feet.
p142: from somewhere in the trees fenton's revolver coughed.
curiously, i found a precursor to robert ludlum's supressor-on-revolver

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reminded me of the Hardy boys, but a more enjoyable read. Ken Holt and Sandy are reporters. They run into a mystery on the way back from a dog show when they pick up a stranger to drop off in town. Although they are doped several times by the criminal they manage to solve the mystery in the end.

I really liked Ken and Sandy's personalities. Sandy is always hankering for food, and they make jokes about the worst situations they get themselves into. All in all, it is a very 50ish kind of book.

[Kylie Westaway · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Clue of the Coiled Cobra, Bruce Campbell
Published by World Distributors (Manchester) 1956

I bought the first edition of this book because the jacket was absolute gold. The jazz hands, the alliterative title, the neatly pressed trousers, the ‘for BOYS’. Added to which, the introductory blurb introduces the protagonists as ‘Ken Holt, son of a world-famous foreign correspondent, and Sandy Allen, of the red-headed Allen clan’ which is just hilarious.
“This is Ken, his dad is famous! This is Sandy, his dad has red hair!”

Ken and Sandy are on their way home from reporting on a dog show when they stop at a cafe and pick up a penniless hitchhiker. After they give him a lift to town, they discover he’s left a bus ticket in the back of the car and are suspicious as to why he’d need a lift after he’d already paid for the bus?

The action soon picks up, when they are contacted by a detective who tells them their hitch-hiker, Fenton, has just gotten out of jail for committing a payroll robbery and they never found the loot, a cool $150,000. Ken and Sandy decide to track down Fenton and recover the missing money, but they are not alone. Fenton’s old cellmate Ted and Ted’s brother Limpy are also after the cash, and they wait in a darkened street to ambush Ken and Sandy and find out what they know.

Action ensues!! Sandy throws a trash can at Limpy’s head! Wakes up all the neighbours! Limpy and Ted make a run for it!

The brothers do a decent job of figuring out where Fenton has hidden the cash. It all boils up when they track Fenton to a fair where he has poisoned the cobra handler to take his job and steal his snakes. The cash is hidden in a nearby cave and the boys, Ted and Limpy are trapped in a cave with a cobra.

Absolutely hilarious scene where Fenton gets the boys to tie each other up using their belts, which then results in them having to chase after him while holding up their trousers which are falling down. He steals their convertible to get away on a switchback mountain road, so they CRASH HIS CAR over a CLIFF so it will land on the road further down the mountain and block Fenton’s getaway.