This One's on Me

After his adventures in the First World War made him a hero you'd think that Bartholomew Bandy would want to settle down quietly. But his rumrunning episode in the U.S.A., with all the unfortunate shooting and wounding, followed by the troubles in Canada when he caused havoc as an MP in Ottawa (not to mention landing his plane on the swimming Prime Minister) have made it necessary for him to leave for Europe. In his only asset, a giant seaplane, he sets off via Iceland. There he meets the redoubtable Sigga Jonsdottir, a beautiful blonde woman doctor with a contempt for weak men, especially those who shrink from mixed nude bathing in the local hot springs. His eventual arrival in England makes a great splash, Literally. He lands in the Channel to rescue a downed pilot and loses his plane. Hard times follow, and in the end he becomes a lowly porter at St. Pancreas Hospital, administering the odd enema to old enemies. His fortunes are restored, however, when the rescued pilot proves to be the son of a Maharajah who is The Second Richest Man in the World. How Bandy creates an air force for the Indian State and works with Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald against the Chief of Air Staff is the stuff of -- well, of Bandy's stranger than fiction, funny and exciting memoirs. Book jacket.