Book 27, by Helen Wells
Illustrated by "Mayan"?
Grosset & Dunlap, 1968
"Some days we do work intensively. As a rule, though, there isn't a great deal of nursing you can do for a ski doctor. Not like medical cases. So you are going to have plenty of free time for skiing. And romancing," he teased her.
--From Cherry Ames, Ski Nurse Mystery, p. 35
Cherry secures a temporary assignment at a Swiss ski resort, where she finds intrigue--and a handsome young ski instructor.
Chapter 1: The Odd Man
In Switzerland, Cherry lunches with old Spencer classmate Marie Swift; when another diner, Jacob Lenk, falls ill, the two nurses help him but he disappears abruptly the next day. Cherry travels to Eagle's Peak ski resort, where Marie has arranged a job for her.
Chapter 2: Emergency Hospital
Cherry meets Dr. Paul Portman, who runs the small emergency hospital where she will work. A hostile patient named Harry Hendrix, with a badly cut left hand and a gun concealed in his jacket pocket, makes Cherry uneasy.
Chapter 3: Val's Ski School
Cherry has a skiing lesson with Val Nicholas--she is living at his family's guest house--and meets his friend, an amiable ne'er-do-well named Toni Peter; Cherry tries to contact Jacob Lenk to find out if he is all right.
Cherry is a fair to good skiier (p. 34) who's braved the slopes in Colorado and Vermont (p. 40).
Chapter 4: Trouble with Toni
Skiing with Val, Cherry meets Joe Wardi of the rescue patrol, who reports that Toni has been taking crazy chances while skiing. Madame Sully, a flamboyant aging actress, arrives at the Nicholases' guest house, and Cherry runs into Jacob Lenk again, with Toni--but Lenk seems quite changed.
Chapter 5: A Disturbing Surprise
Cherry is curious about Madame Sully, who accuses Cherry of stealing her gold bracelet watch. She suspects that the much-changed "Lenk" is really Harry Hendrix, and wonders about the connection between Sully, Hendrix, and Toni when she finds Madame Sully's notebook of names and addresses in Toni's room.
Chapter 6: Rescue Patrol
Cherry tells Val her suspicions; they speculate that Toni might be involved in smuggling between Switzerland and Italy. Toni is hurt in a skiing accident, and Cherry furtively reads a postcard that he is writing.
Except for the 1978 paperback revision of Rural Nurse, the book cover for Ski Nurse Mystery is the only one in the series that depicts Cherry in an outfit other than a nursing or military uniform.
Chapter 7: Cherry Crosses a Border
In Italy, Cherry visits the address on Toni's postcard; she finds further evidence that Hendrix is impersonating Jacob Lenk. Later, Cherry and Val trail Toni to a deserted area, where he makes a mysterious exchange.
Chapter 8: The Mysterious Prisoner Joe Wardi discovers a sick, dazed man being held prisoner in a remote farmhouse on Spirit Mountain--news that greatly upsets Toni, who tries to steal insulin for the sick man. Toni confesses that he is part of a ring smuggling stolen watchworks, along with Madame Sully and Hendrix.
Chapter 9: Dangerous Journey Toni admits that the watchworks were smuggled in special ski poles; Cherry joins a rescue expedition on the difficult journey on skis to Spirit Mountain, and, with Toni's help, uses a ruse to enter the farmhouse.
Cherry is multilingual in this book: She can speak a bit of Italian and French, but is better at Spanish (pp. 19-20). Could her skill in Spanish be the result of Rita Martinez's lessons back in Panama?
Chapter 10: Secret of Spirit Mountain
Cherry tries to administer insulin to the prisoner--the real Jacob Lenk, a diabetic. Gun-wielding Hendrix foils the rescuers and threatens to burn down the farmhouse, but Val and Joe overpower him.
Chapter 11: Good-by, Snow Bunny
With the criminals captured, Lenk explains how he was kidnapped and impersonated to further the smuggling racket. Cherry and Val visit Toni, who resolves to change his life after he serves his short prison sentence. Cherry learns that she has been accepted for a "special position" at a college hospital back in the United States.
Cherry Ames, Ski Nurse Mystery
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