The Biff Brewster Series
by Andy Adams


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Biff Brewster, sixteen, is a tall, strongly built blond youth who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, with his parents and the eleven-year-old twins, Ted and Monica. Because his mother and father believe that travel is as important to education as formal schooling, Biff is encouraged to travel to various countries during the vacation months. His experiences in these lands, and the young people he meets there, form the basis of a new series for adventure-loving readers. In every journey there is a strong element of mystery, usually a direct result of conditions peculiar to the region in which he is traveling. Thus, in addition to adventure, these books impart carefully researched information about foreign countries. - Contemporary Advertisement

Published by Grosset and Dunlap from 1960 to 1965.
Initially issued with dustjackets & gray textured binding (volumes 1-10), subsequent volumes and some earlier volumes were issued in picture cover editions.
Foreign editions (British, Norwegian) exist.
Authors: Walter Gibson 1,4,7,9,13; Edward Pastore 5,8; Peter Harkins 6,10,11,12; Anonymous: 2,3
Although Edward Pastore also wrote 1 and 9, the publishers were unhappy with them and hired Walter Gibson to rewrite them.
Gibson was the creator of the pulp hero, The Shadow. Harkins co-wrote the first three volumes of the Rick Brant series.

Biff Brewster Brazilian Gold Mine Mystery Cover Art

01: Brazilian Gold Mine Mystery (1960)

"Guard this letter as you would your life!" With these words ringing in his ears, Biff Brewster boards the Brazil-bound plane to join his father on a safari to the headwaters of the Amazon River-a safari that, to Biff's amazement, becomes a deadly contest for fabulous riches.

From the beginning, Biff, his father, Biff's friend Kamuka, and the rest of the party find their path menaced by an enemy who never reveals himself. Is it Nicholas Serbot, the suave stranger whom Biff first meets on the plane? Or is it Joe Nara, the eccentric old prospector, the only white man alive who knows the route to the almost legendary El Dorado gold mine?

Biff and Kamuka find their days crowded with the hazards and thrills of jungle travel as they trek through a wilderness echoing with the threat of "Macu"-the dreaded headhunters. And waiting for them at the end of the trail are a shock and a surprise beyond their wildest dreams.

Biff Brewster Mystery of the Chinese Ring Cover Art

02: Mystery of the Chinese Ring (1960)

Burma! Biff Brewster can hardly believe he'll soon be flying to Burma to visit his Uncle Charlie. Not even when a green jade ring comes hurtling through his bedroom window is he fully aware of the excitement and danger awaiting him.

Is the ring a good-luck charm or a bad omen? Biff suspects that Uncle Charlie's sudden departure from Cape Canaveral to Burma might well have international implications, and that the ring is a warning.

But even with a warning, Biff is still a boy alone in a strange country. As be disembarks at Rangoon, the young adventurer walks straight into an attempted kidnapping. Using his wits, Biff escapes from his captors only to learn that his uncle is somewhere in the heart of Red China, perhaps in serious trouble.

Horrified at the news, Biff persuades Chuba, a Burmese boy, to lead him through the jungle swamplands and across the Chinese border. Once in forbidden enemy territory, Biff uncovers the strange meaning of the jade ring, learns of the secret mission which has brought his uncle to Red China, and discovers a startling project of vital importance to the United States.

Biff Brewster Hawaiian Sea Hunt Mystery Cover Art

03: Hawaiian Sea Hunt Mystery (1960)

Why is Biff Brewster's father so eager to leave for Hawaii? Is there more than just a mining engineers' conference afoot? The elder Brewster is strangely silent, and Biff can only guess at the cause of his father's sudden anxiety.

In this third exciting mystery adventure of the Biff Brewster series, the entire Brewster family flies to festive, exotic Honolulu where a startling newspaper headline involves Biff and his lather in a hair-raising race to locate a kidnapped scientist, a sunken sloop, and a cache of precious Cesium, a rare mineral essential to rocket propulsion and the conquest of the moon.

With the help of his new friend, Likake Mahenili, Biff soon learns that more than sharpened wits are necessary to defeat the mysterious forces working against them.

The cunning of a ruthless rival engineer and the violence of the reef-filled waters of the islands combine to challenge the courage and stamina of the boys. Likake, an expert swimmer and diver, teaches Biff the skills he will need to protect himself against the defiant winds and tides which already have claimed the life of one colleague. A vitally important scientific project and a life are at stake as Biff Brewster and his father crash headlong into the danger and breathtaking suspense of their adventure in Hawaii.

Biff Brewster Mystery of the Mexican Treasure Cover Art

04: Mystery of the Mexican Treasure (1961)

Where there is adventure, generally there is danger! Biff Brewster has had enough of both to know this well-but in spite of his thrilling experiences in Brazil, Hawaii, and China, he is hardly prepared for the treachery and intrigue awaiting him in Mexico.

Biff's father has been called to Mexico to act as consultant to a group of archaeologists who are searching for what may prove to be one of the most fabulous treasure-houses of Aztec antiquities uncovered to date. But a weird and shocking telephone call brings early warning to the Brewsters: trouble ahead!

More than once, Biff and his friend Miguel must pit courage and ingenuity against possible disaster. A talking statue, a legendary war god, a rare fire opal, a dagger, and a mask-all become forces of destruction which threaten the lives of everyone involved in the hazardous excavation.

Obviously, someone else is in search of the treasure, someone who will stop at nothing to claim it for his own evil purpose.

Biff Brewster African Ivory Mystery Cover Art

05: African Ivory Mystery (1961)

When Biff Brewster's uncle, a member of the United States Diplomatic Service in Tanganyika, suggests that his nephew join him on an African safari, adventure-loving Biff accepts without a moment's hesitation.

But what starts out as a hunting safari ends up as a dangerous mission for Interpol to round up a ruthless ring of ivory smugglers who have left a trail of wantonly murdered elephants across the African veldt.

Biff Brewster is no stranger to adventure, but Africa presents him with a lifetime supply of excitement and thrilling experiences. Stampeding zebras, dog-faced baboons, fleet-footed cheetahs, wild dogs, and death-dealing cobras challenge man's right to invade their primitive domain. Biff's friend Monda, the native boy, proves himself master of the plains when he saves Biff from an enraged water buffalo.

Yet it is Monda himself who leads Biff to wonder if anyone is to be trusted on this strange safari into danger. More than once, Biff and his uncle come close to losing their lives to their vicious opponents-both animal and human-but in the end Biff, risking his life, finds the missing piece to the intricate jigsaw puzzle of suspense and intrigue when he unmasks a most surprising host of master criminals.

Biff Brewster Alaska Ghost Glacier Mystery Cover Art

06: Alaska Ghost Glacier Mystery (1961)

Biff Brewster has learned from hard experience to expect the unexpected, and even before he sets foot on Alaskan soil, he is tingling with anticipation. Biff has come to fabulous Alaska with his mining engineer father, who is on assignment for the United States Government. Mr. Brewster has brought with him four mysterious boxes, each containing a single item of vital importance to American scientists. Delivery must not be delayed.

But "delivery" in Alaska is a word full of hidden danger-Biff and his father must transport the boxes by air and place their lives in the hands of the bush pilot who flies them across the most treacherous terrain known to man. But Biff has implicit faith in the pilot, and in Tish, a friendly Eskimo boy. When a fierce squall forces them to land on a 75-foot thickness of ice, they have only their two feet to carry them across vast Ghost Glacier to a mine in the ice.

What immensely valuable commodity forces the Brewsters to face a glacier split by hidden crevasses and swept by biting cold winds? Radioactive ore! Is it legend or fact that leads America's top engineers to Ghost Glacier in search of the precious ore? And if radioactive ore is present, can Biff and his father expect sabotage?

Biff Brewster Mystery of the Ambush in India Cover Art

07: Mystery of the Ambush in India (1962)

Mysterious India is the scene of Biff Brewster's latest adventure. With Kamuka and Likake, his companions of the exciting days in Brazil and Hawaii, Biff is traveling by freighter to meet his father. But a puzzling message directs the boys instead to the teeming New India Bazaar in Calcutta. There Biff sees for the first time the Indian boy Chandra, who later saves Biff's life by means of a desperate, clever trick.

In the shadowy warehouse of D. Chand & Bros., Biff is entrusted with the fabulous blood-red ruby, the Light of the Lama. Accompanied by Kamuka and Chandra, Biff sets out along the Grand Trunk Road to return the ruby to its rightful owner, the Chonsi Lama, ruler of the lost city of Chonsi.

Ambushed in a ruined temple by converging bands of murderous thugs, attacked by a man-eating tiger, and menaced by the Yeti-the "Abominable Snowman," the boys overcome almost insurmountable odds to accomplish their mission.

When at last they come into the presence of the Chonsi Lama, an unpredictable and terrifying enemy almost costs them their lives.

Biff Brewster Mystery of the Caribbean Pearls Cover Art

08: Mystery of the Caribbean Pearls (1962)

A mirror-image "twin" with a Continental accent, a pair of matched black pearls coveted by a sinister would-be claim-jumper, and a mammoth Carib Indian confront Biff Brewster when he leaves his Indianapolis home to answer an urgent SOS from his uncle, Charles Keene.

Keene, on a trouble-shooting assignment in the Netherlands, Antilles, sends the SOS in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to save a valuable pearl fishery, belonging to his friend, Brom Zook, from being "staked" by thieves. Zook, who must prove his right to the pearl fishery claim within the set time limit, has mysteriously disappeared.

Biff and Derek, Brom Zook's seventeen-year-old son, accidentally board the same plane in Miami and innocently exchange "identities" to play a joke. However, the joke backfires when Biff is kidnapped at the Willemstad Airport by the unscrupulous adventurers who want the pearl fishery.

But Biff, no stranger to mystery or challenging situations, uses his head and his courage at the crucial moments. His adventures in captivity, his use of "voodoo" to engineer escapes, his repeated changes of identity with his "twin" Derek, their search for the lost pearl fishery and its rightful owner, and their final triumph over their adversaries are component parts of the tale told in Mystery of the Caribbean Pearls.

Biff Brewster Egyptian Scarab Mystery Cover Art

09: Egyptian Scarab Mystery (1963)

A "living" mummy haunts Biff Brewster's every step on the expedition seeking the lost tomb of Egypt's ancient Prince Reth. Fighting time to find the treasure crypt designed by Pattak the Tomb Builder, the archaeologists plead with the Egyptian government to postpone construction of a dam which will flood the site. But time is not the only enemy of the expedition. For Pattak himself-whose mummy is missing from a London museum-seemingly has returned to life to oppose the violation of his masterwork!

The curator of the museum, determined to prove his theory that the "forgotten Pharaoh" was banished from the Valley of Kings, arms Biff with a precious golden scarab to guard him in the Valley of Ghosts. Biff successfully braves the perils of the mummy's menace, only to find himself challenged by worshippers of Thoth, an even older deity of the dead, who supposedly lost the battle of the gods centuries ago.

Trapped by the duplicity of a friend, Biff uses ancient magic to extricate himself and his companions, only to learn that it takes modern miracles to keep the "mummy" from hoarding the treasure for himself alone!

Biff Brewster Mystery of the Tibetan Caravan Cover Art

10: Mystery of the Tibetan Caravan (1963)

Pursuit by communist agents, capture by dreaded Khamba tribesmen who cripple their prisoners, and an unplanned expedition into the Himalaya Mountains challenge Biff Brewster in his attempt to smuggle the Glowing Buddha, sacred symbol of the Dalai Lama, out of Red-occupied Tibet.

The mission, originally undertaken by Biff's father, grows more dangerous hourly when the Reds, who have tried for years to get their hands on the statue, set a trap, planning to let Mr. Brewster locate the Buddha, then snatch it from him. Warned of the plot, Biff sets out to prevent his father from unwittingly leading the Reds to the legendary phantom caravan which-if it exists- supposedly guards the sacred statue.

The color, violence, and mystery of the Forbidden Land are revealed to Biff as he and his Tibetan companion, Taz Norkay, push deeper and deeper into its uncharted trails.

Beset by enemies, befriended by strange monks, Biff and Taz finally are confronted by an aged "specter" whose magnetic, hypnotic eyes radiate unfathomable strength. Biff's success-his tangible contribution to the cause of the Free World-concludes a thoroughly satisfying story of harrowing adventures high in the Himalayas.

Biff Brewster British Spy Ring Mystery Cover Art

11: British Spy Ring Mystery (1964)

Biff Brewster and his British schoolmate, lively Peter Balsam, have been eagerly planning a bicycle trip to Peter's grandmother's home in Devonshire, with a stopover at the Atomic Laboratory where both their fathers are involved in an ore extraction problem. The boys' itinerary has been carefully mapped out so as to include the sights of London as well as the beautiful English countryside.

But strange happenings keep threatening their trip: a mysterious postman connected with a stolen mailbox, a trench-coated shadow on their trail, the puzzling purchase of a rare book, a queer little scientist, and the ominous black-bearded man...

As Biff and his pal cycle along, they become increasingly aware that something they don't understand is going on, and they seem to be in the center of it.

Inspector Duggin of Scotland Yard thinks so too, but it is not until the boys wind up their exciting journey with a desperate adventure on the moor that the truth finally comes to light.

Biff Brewster Mystery of the Arabian Stallion Cover Art

12: Mystery of the Arabian Stallion (1964)

Awakening suddenly by a high lingering call, Biff Brewster watches the dawn light on the homes, oil derricks, and processing towers of Aramco City, as well as the vast Arabian desert. Little does Biff realize that within a short while, he and his new friend Ahmed will be traveling via "Cadillac" camel on that same desert, fighting exhaustion, heat, thirst, and a sandstorm.

When Biff learns of the disappearance of Suji, the golden stallion, a royal gift to Ahmed, he offers to help in the search. A trail of horses' hoofs leads the two boys to an isolated village in the middle of the desert where they stumble upon a deserted minaret. From its top, they view a black Cadillac and a strange outline of an oil mechanism fingered in the sand; they overhear a man in a white abbas speaking with another in Arab dress; and an odor peculiar to oil reaches their nostrils.

Biff and Ahmed suspect that all this might have something to do with the Arabs' oil-field pressure problem which the boys' fathers are researching. But, with their slim chance for survival, will Biff and Ahmed be able to get this puzzling information to the men?

Biff Brewster Mystery of the Alpine Pass Cover Art

13: Mystery of the Alpine Pass (1965)

When, for no known reason, a photographer snaps a picture of Biff Brewster playing chess with his uncle in a Berne hotel, a chain reaction is set in motion that eventually takes Biff higher than the highest Alps.

Biff has come to Switzerland to join Uncle Charlie in a secret survey of the Swiss mountain railways and aerial tramways. But it seems that certain persons either know or suspect their objective.

Why does the mysterious bearded stranger thrust a huge gold coin into Biff's hand in Market Square? And who is the sallow, scowling man who follows them in Interlaken? Most baffling of all, how does the man they suspect manage to vanish from an aerial tram high over the mountain passes?

Before Biff and his new friend, Tim Larkin, find the answers to these questions, they have a hair-raising adventure, find time for some dangerous skiing, help rescue some mountain climbers caught in an avalanche, and wind up working for Interpol.

Biff Brewster Kindle Edition - For Sale
Brazilian Gold Mine Mystery
Mystery of the Chinese Ring
Hawaiian Sea Hunt Mystery
Mystery of the Ambush in India