Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's the Fourten-Carat Car! Written almost twenty years before Ian Fleming's Goldfinger, these are the adventures -- romantic, pugilistic, and automotive -- of the dashing, unpredictable, and outright comic Ivan Gorchev and his irascible private secretary, Mr Vanek. When the fearless (also reckless, and possibly downright feckless) Gorchev becomes unwittingly embroiled in a struggle between two ex-legionnaires and the Master': determined criminal gang to gain possession of a car made almost entirely of gold in an effort to decide the fate of a small African country, anything becomes possible. Even Gorchev'a falling in love and as a result--joining the Foreign Legjon. And adopting an ageing lion. Not to mention winning the Nobel prize for physics. Part-thriller, part-romance, but mostly quickfire vaudeville humor, this book has to be seen to be believed. Or better yet, bought and read!