A publisher bets an author that he won't be able to write a romantic adventure novel while on a walking trip from New York to San Francisco. The author takes the bet, and runs into some adventures of his own while on his journey, including meeting up with the publisher's grandchildren and a couple of ex-convicts who are trying to recover some stolen loot.—[email protected]

Writer Dick Gordon bets his publisher, Randall, he can trek cross-country from New York City to San Francisco and write a book about it in six months. Near the end of his travels, with nothing happening worth writing about, he wanders into a mountain cabin in California, and finds Judy Randall and her kid-sisters, daughters of his hard-hearted publisher, but he doesn't know it. Then a couple of crooks, Gorman and Dawes, posing as a Kentucky colonel and his wife, show up looking for stolen loot hidden there. A few other people also come by and add to the complications.—Les Adams <[email protected]>