Andy Adams

Pseudonym of Peter J. Harkins. Not to be confused with the author of westerns of the same name. Born in Massachusetts in 1916. He worked variously as a singer, vaudeville performer, scriptwriter, joke writer and radio announcer, as well as author.

Harkins began writing children's books in collaboration with his friend Hal Goodwin, when they penned the first three books of the Rick Grant boy's adventure series under the pseudonym of John Blaine. He also wrote some books in the Biff Brewster adventure series using the Andy Adams pen name. This was an adventure series aimed at boys, although appears to be of more substance than the usual books in the genre, with Biff being less gung-ho and more tolerant of other cultures than a lot of the jingoistic fictional heroes of the time. One book in the series features Arab horses, although is more of a mystery than a horse story.

Harkins was a lover of horse-racing and in the 1970s was secretary of the Arkansas Thoroughbred Breeder's Association.

Pony Books:

MYSTERY OF THE ARABIAN STALLION
(GROSSET & DUNLAP [USA] 1964)
(1st UK edition BANCROFT/PIED PIPER 1965)
Reprinted in the UK as part of the Pied Piper library in 1965.
SUMMARY: Part of the longer non-pony Biff Brewster series (this is number 12 in the series).
Set in Saudi Arabia. Biff' is in Saudi, where his father is trying to solve a problem on the oil fields there. Biff's new friend Ahmed has been given a golden Arab stallion by the King as a reward. When the valuable horse goes missing Biff offers to help Ahmed try and find him, and the lads stumble upon a mystery which could have something to do with the problems Biff's father is investigating.

The full Biff Brewster series can be found here

Collector's Info:
Published in both the USA and UK. Although not a common title, neither is it extremely hard to find, although the American edition in particular can be quite pricey.