Fenwick Travers and the Panama Canal: An Entertainment

by Raymond M. Saunders

Fenwick Travers, the delightful rapscallion who always manages to become a hero while running away from trouble, is at it again.
The story begins when Fenwick, just back from the Philippines and happily living a life of ease and dissipation, suffers some gambling losses and gets mixed up in an army procurement swindle. In need of a change of air, he is off to Panama to plant the seeds of rebellion against Colombia, which is blocking construction of the Panama Canal, the pet project of Fenny's presidential sponsor, Teddy Roosevelt. Getting the peaceful Panamanians to rebel without overtly involving the United States is a ticklish business requiring a devious agent provocateur. Who better than our Fenwick?

Genres: Historical Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1995

Reviews

[John Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written 20 years ago this is the last Fenwick Travers entertainment. This time Travers is sent by Teddy Roosevelt to help decided where a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans will go. Well of course it ends up in Panama, but just how Fenny gets all the parties to arrive at this requires a small revolution.

I'm not sure why there weren't more of these except to say that its hard to figure out how a captain in the U.S. army could be so knowledgeable about every subject under the sun. Well its an entertainment after all and was to be an American Flashgun of sorts. Oh well good book, funny and full of Boy's Own adventures. Great fun and dare-doing. Ain't Flashman of course but then who could top Fraser?

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads like an Indiana Jones movie. The main character has none of the moral scruples of Harrison Ford's character, but he gets into and out of just as many harrowing situations in improbable fashion. Its a fun read and I will probably be picking up the other books in thee series down the road.

[Devon Start · Rating 4 out of 5]

not as good as flashman, but the same idea. only this one is an american

[Beauregard Shagnasty · Rating 3 out of 5]

People seem to enjoy bashing these because they're not Flashman, and okay, they aren't. But they're enjoyable.