A Hero for Leanda

by Andrew Garve

Mike Conway, an ocean-going yachtsman down on his luck in a tropical port, welcomes the chance to repair his fortunes when he is approached to undertake a dangerous and illegal, but highly lucrative mission.

For Victor Metaxas, who planned the enterprise, it is an expansive, millionaire's gesture on behalf of his country. For the hero-worshipping Leanda, who helped him, it is a passionate crusade.

This proves to be the biggest obstacle that Conway, a self-styled "mercenary," has to contend with. When the yacht Thalia slips out of Mombasa Harbour at the start of the adventure, the prospects seem reasonably good-but there are complications, villainous and romantic, ahead-and the trickiest part of the whole project turns out to be the journey back.

Andrew Garve has once more set a gripping and original story against an unusual background. "A Hero for Leanda" triumphantly achieves the high standards of realism and suspense which this author always sets himself.

Genres: Mystery

Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

AKA: Paul Somers, Roger Bax

Andrew Garve was the pen name of Paul Winterton (1908-2001). He was born in Leicester and educated at the Hulme Grammar School, Manchester and Purley County School, Surrey, after which he took a degree in Economics at London University. He was on the staff of The Economist for four years, and then worked for fourteen years for the London News Chronicle as reporter, leader writer and foreign correspondent. He was assigned to Moscow from 1942 to 1945, where he was also the correspondent of the BBC’s Overseas Service.

After the war he turned to full-time writing of detective and adventure novels and produced more than forty-five books. His work was serialized, televised, broadcast, filmed and translated into some twenty languages. He was noted for his varied and unusual backgrounds – including Russia, newspaper offices, the West Indies, ocean sailing, the Australian outback, politics, mountaineering and forestry – and for never repeating a plot.

Andrew Garve was a founding member and first joint secretary of the Crime Writers’ Association.

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two kinds of suspense: of the story itself, and about what the author is up to. A Hero for Leanda stimulated both kinds in me, the latter predominating for over a hundred pages, as I wondered when the inevitable twist would come, turning the predictable plot into a slam-bang page turner, and fearing it might not come. Well, it came, was a surprise, and shifted the moseying plot into high gear, which didn't let up until the last, short chapter, where it puttered to a close. For this underwhelming last chapter and the lateness of the plot twist I've knocked off one star. But approximately the last quarter was delicious, the kind of thing for which one reads Garve.

[Eden Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

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The thrillers of Andrew Garve are quickly becoming my favourites - good writing with a twist, and each distinctly different. A Hero For Leanda is set at sea, an incredible journey that will appeal especially to those who like to sail.

Mike Conway lost everything when his yacht was wrecked off the coast of Ghana, victim of a freak windstorm. Tara had been is only home, his only companion across ten thousand miles of ocean. A practical man, his only choice was to find work, and he accepts a proposition from a stranger in a bar, too good to be true - a new yacht in exchange for a dangerous adventure.
Metaxas is a wealthy French businessman, a native of Spyros, a country in political disarray. The political leader of their liberation movement, Alexander Kastella, has been held by the British on the island of Heureuse, deep in the Indian Ocean. Along with all expenses, Metaxas will give Conway the yacht Thalia and twenty thousand pounds, in exchange for bringing Kastella back, to change the future of Spyros.
Challenge accepted, and along with a skilled crew member, the beautiful Leandra Sophoulis, they sail out of Mombasa to Heureuse, 1,000 miles from nearest land. Against the odds, they capture and return with Kastella, but the danger has just begun.
Leanda is dedicated to the liberation, but she is shocked by Kastella's true nature. The trip turns harrowing when storms break out as they sail around the clock, without a compass or fresh water, and tensions run high as Kastella places them under continual gunpoint.
Things look dire, and they are only at the halfway mark with 500 miles to go.

This is a tense and gripping thriller, based on the three central characters trapped in a boat, weeks from help or land. I have only skimmed the surface of the story, which is filled with inventive twists - none so great as the conclusion, which shocked and satisfied me. There is an abundance of terminology that will appeal to those who sail, adding a great deal of realism. Each Andrew Garve novel I have read has been different, but always the characters have been well drawn and the action solid.
Highly recommended for adventure.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in 1958 and that us how the book reads. There is an air of Humphrey Bogart to the story (and there may be some parallels to "The African Queen," though, having seen it as a kid I barely remember it). The dialog is certainly dated, including exclamations like: "You swine!"

Kind if a fun caper, and might be even more fun for someone who knows about sailing (I am clueless on the subject). The detail on sailing a small boat on the ocean is endless. In addition, the discussion of tactics used by a revolutionary group on what seems an Aegean island is eerily prescient for what happened later in the 20th Century.

Pretty average story in most respects, but it is indeed worth hanging in there for the ending, which is marvelous. But this is to some extent more a long joke with a punchline than a carefully crafted semi-thriller.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a gift, otherwise I wouldn't have cracked this pulp fiction from the 1950's open. It was not actually a bad story, and parts of it rang quite true to me (for example, the casual racism of the expatriates on a small tropical island). A quick and easy read and entertaining, if light on character development and heavy on ethnic and gender stereotypes.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent adventure with plenty of suspense . I could not enjoy it fully because of my absolute ignorance about sailing but still it was very gripping and entertaining . A good twist at the end as well that I did not see coming . Maybe the sailing guys will spot the clues in advance but I missed them completely because I was expecting a violent confrontation to finish it .

[pineapplefr3ak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sailing and international intrigue in a tidy, fun number

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a re-read, due to a snowstorm shutting down the town.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good bit of fun sailing in the Indian Ocean.