BLOOD AND HONOR

A rousing sequel to the prolific Griffin's Honor Bound (1994), which introduced Cletus Howell Frade, a US Marine Corps fighter pilot (born in Argentina to an American mother) on assignment for the OSS in WW II Buenos Aires. This time out, Clete heads back to neutral Argentina in the spring of 1943 after an extended leave spent with his maternal grandfather, an autocratic oil tycoon. Ostensibly returning to bury his father (a wealthy colonel assassinated by Nazi agents fearful that he might overthrow the Castillo regime and take Argentina to war on the side of the Allies), Clete remains under orders from the cloak-and-dagger crowd. His mission: to keep a noncombatant vessel from using Argentina's coastal waters to rearm and refuel German U- boats on patrol in the South Atlantic. Fluent in Spanish, the personable young leatherneck moves in the capital city's highest social and military circles. While scheming how to do his duty without causing an international incident, Clete is tipped off by a Luftwaffe chum attached to the Third Reich's embassy that the supply ship will be carrying a massive amount of money earmarked to establish Nazi brass in postwar South America. A member of his undercover team also learns of a big-money racket whereby Jews may be ransomed from European death camps and resettled in Latin nations like Uruguay. With time out to put his flying skills at the disposal of insurgent Argentinean officers (whose ranks include Juan Domingo Per¢n) in their successful coup, and to help plan a wedding that will unite him with the high-born se§orita he has made great with child, Clete finds a way to turn the tables on the villainous Nazis without upsetting any diplomatic applecarts; and he manages also to exact a satisfactory measure of revenge for the untimely death of his father. An immensely entertaining adventure set in an equally intriguing milieu.