Percival Christopher Wren

A Mixed Bag of Novels Part B: Cupid in Africa & Mysterious Waye - The Collected Novels of P. C. Wren Percival Christopher Wren

A Mixed Bag of Novels Part B contains Cupid in Africa and Mysterious Waye. Cupid in Africa, with a subtitle of "The Baking of Bertram in Love and War", is the story of a young man who though from a military family is anything but militaristic. But when World War I breaks out he volunteers for the Indian Army. The first part of the book has a number of amusing situations that this unmilitaristic young man encounters upon joining his regiment as it leaves India for the African front. The "baking" of Bertram continues as he discovers the foibles of military life including the horrible conditions of active service in the jungles of Africa. The descriptions of the food and living conditions read true to life. Mysterious Waye is the story of how a gang of criminals, mostly retired from crime, are now involved in operating a legitimate nursing home. A mysterious character by the name of John Waye appears and seeks asylum from the crooked doctor who is the proprietor of the nursing home. Waye informs the criminals that he has killed a former partner of theirs, and then blackmails them into giving him a somewhat unwilling asylum. The major portion of the first part of the novel is the story of how Waye confronts the criminals, legitimate medical staff, and the patients at the nursing home until finally one of the criminals is killed when he attempts to poison a patient. The second part of the story explains why and how Waye has been hunting the criminal gang.