Trieste

Johnny Fedora #4: “Trieste” by Desmond Cory. British Intelligence has arrested a man they believe is Gregor Panagos, a communist agitator planning something to cause a war in Jugoslavia, but all that is known is “the balloon goes up August 30.” They send Trout to investigate, and he requests the help of Johnny Fedora, who is no longer attached to the service, but works for them occasionally. Together, they go into Trieste, where they have trouble with the local police, and a highly trained assassin named Palli. I’ve read some Johnny Fedora novels where Fedora just stands around looking deadly, and does nothing till the end of the novel. This is pretty much that plot, although he doesn’t actually stand around looking deadly. In fact through the first hundred pages, he does very little of anything. It’s Trout doing all the work. Thankfully the second half of the book picks up, and Johnny is in a fight to the death in one scene, then another where he must assassinate the assassin. The story was a fun read, but Johnny isn’t really in good form in this one. The author even tries for a bit of humor between Trout and Johnny.

A.K.A. Jane

Jane Nichols #1: “A.K.A. Jane” by Maureen Tan. Janie Nichols works for MI-5 in Her Majesty’s Secret Service (hoping to capitalize on the James Bond books). During one assignment a red haired man, later identified as Jim O’Neil, kills her partner/lover. The first 100 pages cover her early missions and backstory. At which point she resigns to concentrate on writing a series of P.I. stories featuring her character, Andrew Jax and his secretary Millicent Jones. Her publisher pays her travel and expenses to America to promote her new book (I mean they go all out, paying hotel, Bread & Breakfast, and finally setting her up in a private home. Plus giving her a car rental, fully funded – wow!), and accompanied by her agent, no less. While there she sees the red haired killer and decides to take him out. The following two hundred pages now cover this segment of the story. Curiously, a few years ago I reviewed a Cozy Mystery novel with a similar plot to the final two hundred pages. Though this isn’t a copy of that story I think we can classify it as a Cozy Spy yarn rather than a men’s action novel. The writing is good, and the characters are interesting. However, readers looking for a fast action novel, they won’t find this a page-turner. But it is an interesting novel, and readers of Cozy mysteries will certainly like it.

Dead Man's Handle

Modesty Blaise #12: “Dead Man’s Handle” by Peter O’Donnell. A group called the Hostel of Righteousness, headquartered on the island of Kalivari in the Cyclades, is run by an ex missionary, now Satanist, Thaddeus Pilgrim. His team of assassins takes assignments in the form of prayers. When the situation is taken care of they wait for big donations. In the meantime, they have a few scams also working for them to bring in millions of dollars. For instance, sinking a heavily insured ship supposedly loaded with cargo. Killing all sailors on board. They fear that one sailor may have talked about the scam to his wife, so send a team to assassinate her. However, she’s with Willy Garvin, who takes out the assassin. Now they want Willie, but not dead. The next team sets up a kill, breaking the girl’s neck, and when Will comes in he only sees one assassin. The second knocks him out from behind. Drugs him and takes him to Kalivari where he is brainwashed to kill Modesty when she comes after him. This was another typical Modesty Blaise adventure, with plenty of fast action. All the stories have similar plots, and similar characters. They are just presented differently, and with different names. Some nut case that decides they want Modesty and Willy, but in the end they are taken out by their targets. The reader knows what’s coming next, but this does not dampen the story. It’s the action and coordination between Modesty and Garvin that drives the plot. The villains are merely there to provide entertainment for them. This was the final novel in the series, and a good one. A final book of short stories is next, but I all ready know what will happen, and hesitate to read it. The author kills his characters off in “Cobra Trap” to prevent anyone else from ever writing new stories with his characters. I can understand his reasoning. I’ve seen what some writers have done with other characters in public domain, and I would hate to see Modesty and Garvin turned into something Peter O’Donnell hadn’t intended. Still, I hate to read that last story.

Hangman's Hat

“Hangman’s Hat” by Paul Ernst: Pocket Books, 1953. As good as his “The Bronze Mermaid” in 1952 was, this novel is even better. Paul Ernst, the pulp author famous for such series as THE AVENGER, writing as Kenneth Robeson, is writing paperback mysteries now, and is good at them. In “Hangman’s Hat” we have two Army buddies from WWII, one from the East Side, the other from the Gravy Train – in particular, the Leighton Soup Empire. William Harper (yes, I caught the name of Doc Savage’s aide) is from the East Side, while Brooke Leighton is the son of soup king, Junius Leighton. After the war, old man Leighton wants Bill Harper to continue looking after his wayward son, keeping him out of trouble. Harper is the only man big and tough enough to keep the big boy under control. Then one night it all comes tumbling down. One of his girlfriends is found murdered, and witnesses claim to have seen Brooke at her apartment. And he isn’t anywhere to be found. Then rumor mentions a second person may have been with Brooke, throwing suspicion on Harper. With Lt. Ryan keeping a close watch on Harper, he and Brooke’s little sister, Shirley do some snooping, trying to find her brother and force him to turn himself in. They don’t believe he’s guilty, even if everything points to him. A $60.00 hat may bring the case to a close, but not before a second murder, and several bumps on the head. This was a fun story, and one of the best up to this point. I only had part of the mystery figured out, and at times doubted my own suspicions.

Duel For Cannons

Dirty Harry #1: “Duel For Cannons” by Dane Hartman (Ric Meyers). Texas sheriff Boris Tucker and his family are in California on vacation, to get away from the maddening political corruption in San Antonio. However, Boss Hannibal Striker (a wetback named Ed Villavada) is in control of the political system as well as crooked cops, and sends a gunslinger named Sweetboy Williams to kill him. Tucker is a friend of Harry Callihan, however, and Sweetboy wants to lead Dirty Harry to San Antonio for a real gunfight at the Alamo. Leaving enough clues for Harry to follow, it doesn’t take long for Dirty Harry’s brand of justice to start taking hold. This was the first of a new paperback series based on the popular film series of the same name, which would run for a total of 12 issues. Thoroughly enjoyable, as San Antonio was once my own stomping grounds, and the areas covered by Harry were quite familiar. The story was fun, too. Apparently, two authors wrote the series: Ric Meyers and Leslie Alan Horvitz. I found the stories by Meyers to be the better of those written for the series. This one in particular is one of the best.