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Guns in the Heather
In a fast-moving tale of international espionage, Jonathan Flower is lured by a false telegram from the school he is attending in Edinburgh. With his father, he is involved in a grim hunt in which they are stalked by a ruthless band of foreign agents.
- GenresMystery Thriller
191 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
About the author
Lockhart Amerman
6 books1 followerThe Rev. Lockhart Amerman of Sewickley, Pennslyvania, was a Presbyterian minister. He served for more than 20 years on the Sewickley Ministerial Assn., of which he was a past president.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 14, 2019
I picked up this vintage YA espionage novel at a library sale, and turns out it’s hilarious. Our young hero is an American whose father does espionage work around the world. At the time of our story they are stationed in Scotland. Naturally, the machinations of a devious villain soon draw our dauntless hero into the coils of a dramatic plot. Our hero is not particularly invincible but he is at least game. Things that made me laugh:
- There is a scene in which our hero must shoot at villains through the door of his school, and his father communicates with him by playing hymn tunes on the chapel organ. The first one is, “Fight the Good Fight.”
- Multiple people wear kilts for multiple action scenes.
- When he needs to appear especially stupid, our hero plays-up his American accent and uses the kinds of American phrases that Brits know from the movies.
- Our hero quotes and misquotes like Lord Peter Wimsey. His narration style also remind me of Edith Nesbit’s Oswald Bastable.
- Consider this dialogue between our hero and his father about the villain:
“‘And meanwhile, we are the bait to draw him on?’
‘Yes. That’s about it. I hope you don’t mind.’
‘Mind? I think it sounds terrific. What do we do--to lure him to his doom?’”
So, this one was a lot of fun and well-worth the fifty cents or whatever I paid at the library sale.
- There is a scene in which our hero must shoot at villains through the door of his school, and his father communicates with him by playing hymn tunes on the chapel organ. The first one is, “Fight the Good Fight.”
- Multiple people wear kilts for multiple action scenes.
- When he needs to appear especially stupid, our hero plays-up his American accent and uses the kinds of American phrases that Brits know from the movies.
- Our hero quotes and misquotes like Lord Peter Wimsey. His narration style also remind me of Edith Nesbit’s Oswald Bastable.
- Consider this dialogue between our hero and his father about the villain:
“‘And meanwhile, we are the bait to draw him on?’
‘Yes. That’s about it. I hope you don’t mind.’
‘Mind? I think it sounds terrific. What do we do--to lure him to his doom?’”
So, this one was a lot of fun and well-worth the fifty cents or whatever I paid at the library sale.
August 8, 2017
I read this book during the "quiet reading time" at class in middle school, so it was a book that took me longer to read than most since I only got twenty minute increments to read it in. I also reread it a couple different times. It's a fun book-simple spy adventures with a fun protagonist and a pretty good villain too. That said, I think it's supposed to be part of a series, and I've never even seen the rest of the books in the series.
January 18, 2023
I first read Guns In The Heather at age 14, having obtained the Scholastic Book Club paperback. The to-me-exotic setting in Scotland, the madcap secret-agent adventures, the fact that Posy, like me at that age, was just beginning to be fascinated by girls and fancy cars, all crystallized into this becoming one of my all-time favorite books.
Jonathan 'Posy' Flower is the teen-age son of a secret agent, Major Oregon Flower, who is very much in the James Bond mold, except for being American rather than British. Major Flower's work has taken him to Great Britain, so Posy is doing a term at a boarding school in Edinburgh. Just as the school term is ending, and the students are scattering to their homes for the summer, the criminal gang being targeted by Major Flower decides to take Posy hostage as a bargaining chip. With some unexpected help, Posy escapes from their clutches. He and his father then lead the gang on a wild chase into northwest Scotland, ending up in a medieval castle where the father of one of Posy's school friends is the Laird, and the action comes to a fulfilling climax.
For parents wondering about the appropriateness of this book for their children, there are no sex scenes at all. There is no recreational drug use, however, the villains do dose Posy with some knock-out drug early in the book. During a second attempt to administer a dose, Posy turns the tables and gets the bad guy to drink his own potion. There is violence, although none of it is fatal. Gunshots are fired in at least four scenes, but with only minor injuries. There is hand-to-hand fighting, with characters who end up having been bashed with a golf club or with a whiskey bottle.
For a book written in the 1960's aimed at boys, there is surprisingly little direct sexism. At least two of the female characters advance the action by taking matters into their own hands, not waiting for or depending on male intervention.
Lockhart Amerman was a Presbyterian minister. He wrote three young-adult novels starring Jonathan Flower. I have read the other two, and this one is the best of the bunch. I give the book five stars. I have re-read it several times - it has become the literary equivalent of comfort food for me - and I will undoubtedly re-read it again sooner or later.
Jonathan 'Posy' Flower is the teen-age son of a secret agent, Major Oregon Flower, who is very much in the James Bond mold, except for being American rather than British. Major Flower's work has taken him to Great Britain, so Posy is doing a term at a boarding school in Edinburgh. Just as the school term is ending, and the students are scattering to their homes for the summer, the criminal gang being targeted by Major Flower decides to take Posy hostage as a bargaining chip. With some unexpected help, Posy escapes from their clutches. He and his father then lead the gang on a wild chase into northwest Scotland, ending up in a medieval castle where the father of one of Posy's school friends is the Laird, and the action comes to a fulfilling climax.
For parents wondering about the appropriateness of this book for their children, there are no sex scenes at all. There is no recreational drug use, however, the villains do dose Posy with some knock-out drug early in the book. During a second attempt to administer a dose, Posy turns the tables and gets the bad guy to drink his own potion. There is violence, although none of it is fatal. Gunshots are fired in at least four scenes, but with only minor injuries. There is hand-to-hand fighting, with characters who end up having been bashed with a golf club or with a whiskey bottle.
For a book written in the 1960's aimed at boys, there is surprisingly little direct sexism. At least two of the female characters advance the action by taking matters into their own hands, not waiting for or depending on male intervention.
Lockhart Amerman was a Presbyterian minister. He wrote three young-adult novels starring Jonathan Flower. I have read the other two, and this one is the best of the bunch. I give the book five stars. I have re-read it several times - it has become the literary equivalent of comfort food for me - and I will undoubtedly re-read it again sooner or later.
January 22, 2014
I really liked it. Apparently it is the first in a series starring Jonathan Flower, son of a US secret agent. This one was turned into a made-for-TV Disney movie starring Kurt Russel. I really would like to see it. I hope to find old copies on Amazon of both the books and the movie.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews