Bill Berenger A Resourceful Hero

Bill Berenger's First Case


The pace of the first of Bill Berenger's four adventures is breath-taking. Eighteen chapters and 287 pages are crammed with excitement and incidents. There is scarcely ever a pause for reflection and yet the book succeeds in being a story of detection as well as a yarn of high adventure.


The hero, Bill Berenger, is the senior cadet on the Red Diamond Line's merchant -ship, the Chideock Mote, which, at the beginning of the story, is having its cargo unloaded in the port of Santa Monica, the capital city of the republic of San Isidore. Naturally San Isidore is one of the those South American states so beloved of storytellers that is on the brink of a revolution. However, make no mistake about it, Douglas Duff's creation of this fictional world is not a half-hearted one. Rapidly though the action moves, the reader is given the feeling of a real city and of real people, as though the author were drawing from his own memories of Spanish American life. In particular his descriptions of Bill's time amongst the poor people that haunt the Santa Monica harbour area are vividly convincing.



The affection that comes over for the honest fisherman Pedro Hernandez and his kind-hearted wife is matched by his disgust at the treatment he receives from Ignacio, the thief and police informer. The broken-down shacks, the junk yards, the rotting wharfs, the shabby mansions, the tumbling tenements, the Spanish forts, towers and the majestic cathedral, all form an important part of the backdrop of Bill's quest for the truth which becomes a fight for survival.


The plot starts slowly with the arrest of the second and third officers of the Chideock Mote for the murder of an Armenian store keeper and the impounding of the ship until all the evidence is collected. For some as yet undisclosed reason it becomes clear that the ship itself has a vital role to play in the coming insurrection. Bill Berenger makes up his mind that it is his duty to use his local knowledge, his ability to speak the Spanish dialect and the training he received from his father in police methods, in order to save the day. However, first he has to make a difficult moral choice. Jumping ship or desertion will mean placing himself outside all the normal laws and guarantees of British justice. It will also mean leaving his comrades in the lurch. If he fails, he faces at the worst death and, at the best, the sure knowledge that he can never return again to his safe and comfortable world.


An investigation of the murder scene carried out by torchlight gives Bill a series of clues which he investigates with both intelligence and thoroughness. The very manner of the Armenian's death is striking. He has been kicked in the windpipe by an expert, a man with skill in Savatte or foot-boxing. All the clues point towards a local underworld boss with the nickname Red Iago. Even when all Bill's evidence is placed in front of the Minister for the Marine, he refuses to let the two officers go. It is clear that there is corruption in high places. The official government and police force are riddled with informers and traitors. It is almost impossible to know whom to trust. Even Bill himself, still in disguise, is recruited to be an assassin, carrying a briefcase full of explosives to the home of the one honest man, Miguel de Valdez.


There are many exciting episodes in this story. Best of all perhaps, is the moment when Bill is attempting to escape from the Presidio prison amongst the chaos of a prison riot. He stands perched on the battlements of the ancient fortress ready to dive into the dark waters below, not knowing if there are rocks immediately underneath him. He has the comforting thought that if he lands safely it will be at the very point where sharks are fed regularly every day ! Later there is a high-speed chase in patrol boats in Santa Monica's narrow harbour.


Strangest of all, perhaps, is the fact that the book reaches page 227 before Douglas Duff decides to introduce the heroine into the story. Her name is Janet Eve Wallace and she is a young American whose father owns important oil concessions in the hinterland of San Isidore. She is a girl of courage and determination, leaping across rooftops and down staircases with only a moment's hesitation. The book ends with the two young people looking forward to meeting up again.



Berenger to the Rescue


Where the first story in the quartet was set in the big city of Santa Monica, this adventure is very much one of the wide open spaces. In fact the sheer scope of the action is one of its most attractive features. The detective element is contained in the first few chapters and, it has to be admitted, this is the weakest part of the whole book.


Bill Berenger is back in England once more, hoping for some shore leave so that he can see his newly acquired girlfriend, Janet Eve Wallace, visiting London with her millionaire parents. However, an invitation that can't be turned down takes the unfortunate cadet to Cornwall and the home of the chairman of the shipping line, Sir Alan Pascoe. Sir Alan's son, Geoffrey, has been kidnapped and Bill is asked to help track him down. The kidnappers are the revolutionary organisation, the Green Camisardos, who are once again trying to overthrow the democratically elected government of San Isidore. Sir Geoffrey's ships are to be used to import over 600 German mercenaries and, if he does not cooperate, the head of his son will be sent to him by registered post. Worse than all of this is the news that Red Iago, the villain of the first book, has escaped from the island prison of Isola Jehannum.


Once more Bill begins his investigations by meticulously noting all the details of Geoffrey's disappearance. His conclusions lead him to believe that the kidnappers must be staying at the nearby luxury Headlands Hotel. Immediately he decides to gain employment there as a "Boots". First of all, however, he makes a trip to London and this is where the plot creaks with improbability. As he travels up on the Cornish Riviera Express by chance he finds himself seated at the same dining table as three of the enemy kidnappers ! Of course, they don't realise who he is and chat away in Spanish, little realising that he is word-perfect in that language. In London there is little time for romance with Janet Eve, though there are signs of increasing affection between the hero and heroine. "Bill took her hand and started to tell her exactly what he thought of her, and no one has ever looked more annoyed than did Janet Eve Wallace when her father and mother came into the room…."



In fact Duff only regains control of the plot when Bill too is taken prisoner and he and Geoffrey Pascoe face the perils of an Atlantic Ocean voyage on board a luxury yacht with a "bucko" mate and a "bluenose" captain. A hurricane further complicates matters. The crew comes near mutiny and some are ruthlessly shot down by the mate as he assumes command after the death of the captain. As the coastline of South America draws near, Bill and Geoffrey make their own plans for escape and a journey in an open boat, shipwreck, pursuit by hostile Indians, rivers full of alligators are only some of the perils that have to be faced as they make their way to safety.



Geoffrey is only eleven and it is clear that Duff has used this lack of years as a device to draw in the younger readers. The young lad behaves courageously and also suffers tremendously.
It is also at the end of the story when you have time to reflect that you realise that Bill Berenger has adopted at least four different disguises (including the habit of a nun !) and killed up to a dozen men. He has crossed many different terrains – the midnight streets of Pimlico, the windswept moorlands of Cornwall, the sands and jungle of the coastal plain, the high sierras of the Irredentas, the cataracts of a mountain river in full spate, and that all these landscapes have been convincingly and interestingly described. Whatever the disadvantages of using a fictional country, Douglas Duff gives you a wonderful impression of a mighty continent whose scale is quite awe-inspiring. And I haven't even mentioned the underground Inca man-traps !



Bill Berenger Wins Command


On board the British cargo vessel, the Messack Mote, a murder has taken place. A harmless old man has been put to death. The fact that he was the Chief of Staff of the San Isidore Armed Forces means that the event is political dynamite. Already the Red Diamond Company has developed an unenviable reputation for danger and disaster in the great republic of San Isidore. Its ships disappear and accidents happen with inevitable frequency on their railroads and in their mines. Though promoted to second mate, Bill Berenger finds that before joining his new ship in Santa Monica, he must try to solve the crime that threatens to condemn the British company to further censure and eventual oblivion. Once again Douglas Duff starts his book with detection in a confined space and then opens it up into a rip-roaring adventure.


Apart from the Captain of the Messack Mote the other officers are sceptical of the efforts of "Young Sherlock", as they sneeringly call Bill. To their consternation his systematic method of listing the clues and the suspects once again pays dividends. No sooner have he and the captain made the necessary arrests than Bill decides that the only way for him to overcome the saboteurs who are ruining the Red Diamond line is to go under cover disguised as Blomberg, one of the murderers. And from that point onward it is a search for the mysterious "El Grande" who has his own plans for taking over the giant South American republic.


In very quick order Bill becomes a burglar and then a truck driver. He gradually uncovers the clues in the grand conspiracy but his only safety lies in everyone believing that he is dead. This includes Janet Eve, his girlfriend. Both Bill's friend, Valdez, and Janet Eve' s parents believe Bill is dead and can't face telling her. So one day, when a letter arrives out of the blue, the girl is both dismayed and then rejuvenated. Things have now progressed so far in their relationship that he calls her by a special pet name "Jayee".


As the convoy of trucks climbs higher up the roads in the Cordilleros Ultimos Bill realises that all his predictions about what was about to happen have gone astray and that he is getting further and further away from any help and from the girl that he loves. To get back down to civilisation once again involves some of the most exciting writing in the whole series – sufficient to say it involves an ice-yacht, a frozen water fall and an encounter with savage forest Indians. The finale of the story happens at sea in "The Port of Missing Ships" and, at the end of the adventure Bill is told he will have to make up his mind whether he wants to be a detective or a sailor. Jayee has already made up her mind that he will be neither and Bill is wise enough not to contradict her.
All the usual ingredients are present but, whilst the mountain adventures are up to the old standard, the last section on board ship is an anti-climax.



Berenger's Toughest Case


Having outwitted Red Iago in two adventures and disposed of El Grande in the third, Bill takes on the most dangerous villain of all in the fourth and final story. This man is called the Fire Seraph and he is completely insane.



Summoned to the head office of the Red Diamond Line Bill is told by the Chairman that it is his job to ensure that the Melplash Mote with its cargo of United Nations atomic weapons gets safely to the Republic of San Isidore. "And if she doesn't," Bill put in grimly, "I suppose I shall be blown sky-high." "If that happens, you won't need to worry about anything ever again," Sir Adrian replied, his smile becoming very friendly.And the usual roller-coaster of events is set in motion.



Kidnappings on the streets of London, time-bombs in the ship's hold, bombings by a flying boat, fire in an explosives store, and attacks by sharks. Bill comes through them all as usual. The Fire-Seraph's plans for a Latin American super-state come to nothing and Bill finds himself home at last on the estancia owned by his father with all his loved ones, including Jayee, around him. The adventure is not yet over, for the Fire Seraph has eluded capture and wishes to take a dreadful revenge on the man who thwarted all his plans. A horde of over six hundred wild men from the mountains surrounds the remote ranch and then begins to move in closer.



It seems that to save everything precious in his world Bill has to sacrifice himself to certain death. And there let us leave him, saying farewell to Jayee."I still think you're wrong, Bill," she said quietly, "but I understand what is driving you, and oh, my dear, if you are killed by those devils out there, I shan't care how soon it is before they break in and make an end of me."


An Overview of the Series


In the opinion of this reviewer the first two stories in the series are by far the best. The contrast between the city adventures of the first case and the great outdoors of the second demonstrates Duff's versatility. I can recommend these without reservation. The third story has its moments, including the splendid ice-yacht episode and the last shows signs of tiredness and, without doubt, is the weakest. It's time that Bill settled down with Jayee and raised a family in San Isidore, a country that should at last be free from the perpetual danger of armed revolution.


It should be noted that quite a few of the details of these Berenger stories had already been given an airing in "Peter Darington – Seaman Detective". This includes calling the heroine Janet ! On another lighter note Duff obviously enjoyed an in-joke for one of the apprentices in "Berenger Wins Command" was called Dick Valder. Valder is, of course, Douglas V. Duff's unusual second name. #