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The Adventures of Nick & Carter #1
The Crooked Colonel
Thursday, January 1, 1970
After a night of revelry at their newest hotel, the Hopkins Excelsior, in Viña del Mar, Chile, Nick and Carter head up the coast for some surfing along with their nephews, Kermit and Ernie.
Once there, they meet up with two interesting characters.
The first is a sweet gal in her early 20s who shows up in the strangest places but always at the right time.
The other is a strange and very much out-of-place American military officer.
One thing leads to another, and before Nick and Carter know what's happening, they find themselves embroiled in a conspiracy that could have serious international implications.
From the coast of Chile to a Spanish town in the hills of the Basque Country and all the way to the halls of Buckingham Palace, Nick and Carter are hot on the heels of The Crooked Colonel!
278 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 17, 2019
19 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Frank W. Butterfield
123 books106 followersFrank W. Butterfield, not an assumed name, loves old movies, wise-cracking smart guys with hearts of gold, and writing for fun.
Although he worships San Francisco, he lives at the beach on another coast.
Born on a windy day in November of 1966, he was elected President of his high school Spanish Club in the spring of 1983.
After moving across these United States like a rapid-fire pinball, he currently makes his home in a hurricane-proof apartment with superior water pressure that was built in 1926.
While he hasn't met any dolphins personally, that invitation is always open.
Although he worships San Francisco, he lives at the beach on another coast.
Born on a windy day in November of 1966, he was elected President of his high school Spanish Club in the spring of 1983.
After moving across these United States like a rapid-fire pinball, he currently makes his home in a hurricane-proof apartment with superior water pressure that was built in 1926.
While he hasn't met any dolphins personally, that invitation is always open.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 20, 2019
I have read the previous series, with its lovely portrait of San Francisco between the 50s and 70s, the wonderful love between Nick and Carter and Nick's unrelenting need to help those who need it. And now, in this new series, we found a Nick and Carter more mature, old and wiser? maybe, but still deeply in love and ready to jump into new adventures.
Now, we are in the 70s, and they have opened a new hotel in Chile. As usual in this time of the year, they leave New York and they are spending Christmas and New Year there with the usual gang. But, of course, there is no way that they will spend a calm, soothing time, isn't it? Soon enough an annoying American shows up; shots are fired; horses are ride, and they find themselves mixed in a true mess :P
Funny, with great action and filled with suspense, this is a wonderful beginning to a new series, and up to the usual gorgeous standards of Mr Butterfield. A heartfelt recommendation.
I received an ARC of this book, and this is my honest and voluntary opinion.
Now, we are in the 70s, and they have opened a new hotel in Chile. As usual in this time of the year, they leave New York and they are spending Christmas and New Year there with the usual gang. But, of course, there is no way that they will spend a calm, soothing time, isn't it? Soon enough an annoying American shows up; shots are fired; horses are ride, and they find themselves mixed in a true mess :P
Funny, with great action and filled with suspense, this is a wonderful beginning to a new series, and up to the usual gorgeous standards of Mr Butterfield. A heartfelt recommendation.
I received an ARC of this book, and this is my honest and voluntary opinion.
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November 21, 2019**I received a review copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it**
This was a fast paced story filled with twists and turns that kept me reading well into the wee hours. This author has a fantastic gift of storytelling with historical detail that he seamlessly weaves in with fiction and presents in a spectacular way that really makes you feel like you are there watching the story play out in front of you.
I have thoroughly enjoyed every single book Mr. Butterfield has written and I'm particularly fond of Nick and Carter. This is an exciting start to this new series. I cannot wait for the next installment and all the new adventures to come!
This was a fast paced story filled with twists and turns that kept me reading well into the wee hours. This author has a fantastic gift of storytelling with historical detail that he seamlessly weaves in with fiction and presents in a spectacular way that really makes you feel like you are there watching the story play out in front of you.
I have thoroughly enjoyed every single book Mr. Butterfield has written and I'm particularly fond of Nick and Carter. This is an exciting start to this new series. I cannot wait for the next installment and all the new adventures to come!
November 27, 2019
The Crooked Colonel (Adventures of Nick & Carter 1)
By Frank L. Butterfield
Published by the author, 2019
Four stars
Is that Lord Edley on the cover?
So, the first of the “Adventures of Nick & Carter” books is here – and, you know, it kind of feels like the books that preceded it. Which, honestly, is a relief. It seems to be more of a re-branding on the author’s part, because “mysteries” wasn’t really quite what was going on, once that remarkable series began to evolve.
Interestingly, this around-the-world adventure has as much mystery as the previous series offered Frank’s many readers, but it’s more political intrigue here. We go from Chile to Brazil to France to England…in the aftermath of Nick and Carter realizing that “there’s no place like home,” and that home is the big pile of rocks on Nob Hill. Plus, there is my favorite part of all of these books: the exploration of the deeper recesses of both Nick’s and Carter’s psyches. Our boys are in their late 40s (47 and 49 now) and it’s early 1970 (the year I turned 15 and went to the UK with my 50-year-old father so that I could tour English stately homes). They have been rich globetrotters (jet-setters, but for the fact that they are on the margins of the Jet Set socially, by choice) for fifteen years now. Carter speaks French and only uses the Georgia farmboy act when it suits him. Nick is at peace with himself, and knows who he is. They are, in this crazy fictional America that Frank Butterfield has made to feel like reality, truly among the most famous people on earth. Being rich and gay makes them both heroic and hated – and that truth surfaces in the most confusing and complicated way in the course of this strange story.
As always, Frank educates himself as he unrolls his plot arcs, and ends up being our teacher as well. Tolstoy and Joyce might have been greater literary artists, but neither of them taught us any more about the convolutions of human nature than Mr. Butterfield.
This book, by the way, was worth it for one scene that takes place in London at the end of the book.
By Frank L. Butterfield
Published by the author, 2019
Four stars
Is that Lord Edley on the cover?
So, the first of the “Adventures of Nick & Carter” books is here – and, you know, it kind of feels like the books that preceded it. Which, honestly, is a relief. It seems to be more of a re-branding on the author’s part, because “mysteries” wasn’t really quite what was going on, once that remarkable series began to evolve.
Interestingly, this around-the-world adventure has as much mystery as the previous series offered Frank’s many readers, but it’s more political intrigue here. We go from Chile to Brazil to France to England…in the aftermath of Nick and Carter realizing that “there’s no place like home,” and that home is the big pile of rocks on Nob Hill. Plus, there is my favorite part of all of these books: the exploration of the deeper recesses of both Nick’s and Carter’s psyches. Our boys are in their late 40s (47 and 49 now) and it’s early 1970 (the year I turned 15 and went to the UK with my 50-year-old father so that I could tour English stately homes). They have been rich globetrotters (jet-setters, but for the fact that they are on the margins of the Jet Set socially, by choice) for fifteen years now. Carter speaks French and only uses the Georgia farmboy act when it suits him. Nick is at peace with himself, and knows who he is. They are, in this crazy fictional America that Frank Butterfield has made to feel like reality, truly among the most famous people on earth. Being rich and gay makes them both heroic and hated – and that truth surfaces in the most confusing and complicated way in the course of this strange story.
As always, Frank educates himself as he unrolls his plot arcs, and ends up being our teacher as well. Tolstoy and Joyce might have been greater literary artists, but neither of them taught us any more about the convolutions of human nature than Mr. Butterfield.
This book, by the way, was worth it for one scene that takes place in London at the end of the book.
December 3, 2019
Okay, I like this change in the format - and hey, this book includes the Queen of England, what's not to love about that...
November 28, 2019
I was given a copy to review.
First and foremost, I want to say that I LOVE THIS SERIES starring Nick Williams and Carter Jones. I love how the author has created a family of characters, all with such precise strengths that we readers can engage in the plot-line too. We know who the lawyers are, who buys the hotels and apartment buildings, who the gardener is, and so forth. I love the characters and their friendships and love affairs.
That being said, this story did not wow me. There may be a point at which, some of what I perceived as disjointed, will be connected but during this read, it was simply disjointed. And the recap for Lord and Lady Gerald seemed unnecessary. Why rehash the book that we've just read?
I still recommend the series very highly. These are some of the most fun reads I've ever had!
First and foremost, I want to say that I LOVE THIS SERIES starring Nick Williams and Carter Jones. I love how the author has created a family of characters, all with such precise strengths that we readers can engage in the plot-line too. We know who the lawyers are, who buys the hotels and apartment buildings, who the gardener is, and so forth. I love the characters and their friendships and love affairs.
That being said, this story did not wow me. There may be a point at which, some of what I perceived as disjointed, will be connected but during this read, it was simply disjointed. And the recap for Lord and Lady Gerald seemed unnecessary. Why rehash the book that we've just read?
I still recommend the series very highly. These are some of the most fun reads I've ever had!
August 31, 2021
This is probably the least interesting Nick and Carter story I have read to date. The plot was so thin you could almost see through it. It didn't make sense. (Why would the French government want Nick and Carter to spring a man from a Spanish jail? Why don't they have their own government agents do it? If all it takes is a small bribe then what's the big deal?) The first several chapters and plotline seemingly had nothing to do with the second half and plotline of the book. Also, early in the book, the author uses the wrong names for characters (It is the Duchess of Boston, not the Duchess of Denver. It is Dirk, not Mark.) And, again, there were many instances of missing small words and wrong tenses of words. Note to author: You need better beta readers if you're not going to edit and proofread your own work.
December 4, 2019
epub, via Patreon; 222 pages
The Mysteries have now turned into Adventures and Carter has achieved equal billing but the mixture remains much as before. Nick continues to acquire property (a hotel in Chile, where the book opens), a modern fishing boat... and the two globe-trot. The action shifts from Chile to Paris, Biarritz, the Basque country and then England (Buckingham Palace, no less) before our intrepid heroes return to San Francisco.
The plot is more complex than is occasionally the case but that is no handicap. These books are a comfortable fit - and now they are set in times that I am starting to recognise (I finished my degree in 1970, when this one is set) there is an air of increasing familiarity. Lord Gerald features - I've not yet reached his appearance in the Mysteries but he is an intriguing character.
Splendid stuff still!
The Mysteries have now turned into Adventures and Carter has achieved equal billing but the mixture remains much as before. Nick continues to acquire property (a hotel in Chile, where the book opens), a modern fishing boat... and the two globe-trot. The action shifts from Chile to Paris, Biarritz, the Basque country and then England (Buckingham Palace, no less) before our intrepid heroes return to San Francisco.
The plot is more complex than is occasionally the case but that is no handicap. These books are a comfortable fit - and now they are set in times that I am starting to recognise (I finished my degree in 1970, when this one is set) there is an air of increasing familiarity. Lord Gerald features - I've not yet reached his appearance in the Mysteries but he is an intriguing character.
Splendid stuff still!
March 12, 2022
More Stories
Built with known characters, we have a new storyline with a slightly different direction. It’s still Nick and Carter but with more gritty detail, and some political intrigue. Well written, though not without the occasional error, introducing some new characters and POV. Ends well with the primary story threads resolved.
Built with known characters, we have a new storyline with a slightly different direction. It’s still Nick and Carter but with more gritty detail, and some political intrigue. Well written, though not without the occasional error, introducing some new characters and POV. Ends well with the primary story threads resolved.
December 10, 2019
I loved this new adventure for Nick and Carter. Can't wait to see what comes next.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews