1973 was the year that I began selling books in an indoor market before leasing a shop. It was also the year that a 53 book series began called THE PENETRATOR (no jokes, TP ) ).
Written under the house name of Lionel Derrick they were the brainchild of 2 authors called Chet Cunningham and Mark Roberts who took turns to pen the books individually. They were published by Pinnacle from 1973-1984 when the rule of diminishing sales foreclosed the series. Mark Hardin is The Penetrator and he is a freelance agent and has many adventures in the USA and around the world. Hardin is a Vietnam veteran and a highly skilled fighter and has many conquests. The first half of the series is brutally violent but this seems to tail off at about the half way point - Hardin is often in very dangerous situations and although the writing is fairly lightweight there is fair amount of tension. The first book is called THE TARGET IS H and others with interesting storylines are BLOOD ON THE STRIP, THE HELLBOMB FLIGHT, THE SKYHIGH BETRAYERS, SATELLITE SLAUGHTER, CRUISE INTO CHAOS (which uses the plotline from the Frank Sinatra movie Assault On A Queen) and QUAKING TERROR. If you are after an undemanding read these are perfect entertainment
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
The secret agent Derek Flint needs no introduction to most AJBers as James Coburn starred in two 60's movies, the very successful Our Man Flint and the not so successful follow up, In Like Flint.
What some may not know is that both films were turned into "movie tie-in books" which were only published in the USA. The first was written by Jack Pearl and was published in 1965 by Pocket Books and has a selection of pics from the movie on the cover. The book is a little different from the movie in that it was based on the original draft script which was changed somewhat upon filming.
In Like Flint was published in 1967 by Dell and was written by Bradford Street. The cover is a still from the movie of girls in bikini's and a headshot of James Coburn at the top of the cover. This one follows the finished film script more closely.
Both books should be available for about 10-20 GBP each which is significantly less than what I used to get pre-internet days.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
You display a great breadth of knowledge on this subject CHB. I've never heard of many of these books & am really enjoying learning about them. Hopefully at some point in the not too distant future you may consider adding Harry Flynn to your list!
I am looking forward to reading Harry Flynn's first assignment, Stag. How is it being sold? I have Google Books on my tablet but am sure I can download an app if it is going to be on Kindle.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Today's offering is called The Lady From L.U.S.T. . This series had a rather odd publishing history in that the first 13 books were published by Tower Books, the next 3 by Belmont Books and then the next 2 by Belmont-Tower from 1967-1972. It then had a 3 year hiatus until she came back with 7 (yes, 7) books in 1975 and then that was it.
Eve Drum is The Lady From L.U.S.T. (League of Undercover Spies and Terrorists) which is a very odd name and has the code name Oh-Oh-Sex (yes it's that sort of series)! Eve is sent on missions to combat various criminal organisations such as DRAGON and HATE. Some of the titles are: THE 69 PLEASURES, TO RUSSIA WITH LUST, KISS MY ASSASSIN, THE POISONED PUSSY, THE BIG SNATCH and BLOW MY MIND.
They were written by Rod Gray which was a pen name for Gardner Fox who wrote hundreds of comicbooks for DC including Batman, The Flash and Justice League Of America. Most of the stories are of a sexual nature rather than action but if you leave your brain out of gear most of them are passable entertainment. To last 25 books in a series is no mean feat and they did sell very well. Most of the early books had painted covers and were good to look at but when the series was bought back in 1975 photo covers were used mostly to little effect.
Expect to pay around at least 10 GBP per book with many getting 30 - 50 GBP or even more.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
THE MAN FROM SADISTO is a 20 book series published from 1965-1968. Written by Clyde Allison (whose real name is up for debate but he published many sleaze novels under this name also), they were spy spoofs of lots of secret agent series of the time. SADISTO is a spy agency which stands for Security and Administration Division of the Institute for Special Tactical Operations ( beat that one ) ). Trevor Anderson is the top agent with code number 0008 and he is a legend between the sheets and out in the field. Some of the titles are OUR MAN FROM SADISTO, NAUTIPUSS, GAMEFINGER, SADISTO ROYALE, 0008 MEETS GNATMAN (where he goes to Gotham City and meets Gnatman and Robina), FOR YOUR SIGHS ONLY, 0008 MEETS MODESTA BLAZE, FROM RAPTURE WITH LOVE and PLATYPUSSY. Along the way Anderson comes up against organisations such as TATU and KRUNCH and villains such as Dr. Demo, Eva de Struxion, The Girl With The Golden Loins and Oddjib.
The books were published by the Greenleaf Group under ever changing names such as Ember, Candid and Nightstand - presumably to keep dodging the law suits ) . They are very collectable and the lowest prices are around 50 GBP each with many at 200 GBP or more. Are they worth the price? Probably not, the covers are great, the writing is pulpish but ultimately they are fun so if you can find one at a more reasonable price anywhere then give it a go.
I would imagine that TP would find some of these titles of interest
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Whilst Roger Moore was going up against Scaramanga in 1974, New English Library published the first of 3 books in a series called THE GIRL FROM H.A.R.D. Virginia Box is agent H-223 working for the Hemisphere Administration for Regional Defence (it must have been difficult to think up of acronyms) ) . Her boss is called Baird Rodd (the first of several nudge-nudge-wink-wink names in the series) who sends her on various missions. Some of the other characters who cross her path are Sir Ian Whipps, Perfect Laye and Willi Kumm. These were written by James Moffatt who churned out dozens of books under various pen names for NEL including the infamous SKINHEAD series credited to Richard Allen. They were all written in a sparse pulpish manner and sold incredibly well but The Girl From HARD was probably his least successful venture. All the same you can expect to pay around 10 GBP for the first two and the third book is very scarce and can fetch 50 GBP or more. It's also the sort of book you can find at car boot sales very cheaply so keep a good lookout for them.
Moffatt's non-spy book series especially his teenage gang books get excellent prices. I can remember when Woolworth's (remember them?) bought out the entire NEL back catalogue when they merged with Hodder and had scores of books in each branch in sale bins at I think 20 pence each. I spent a whole day travelling around outer London in my trusty Transit van visiting every Woolworth shop I could find buying up every copy left in each shop. The faces on some of the cashiers was priceless ) .
Thank you Barbel and TP for your kind words.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Another British series began in 1965 about agent STEVE CARRADINE. Carradine works for the British Secret Service and he is the usual early 30's handsome ladykiller an expert in fighting skills and languages. His missions take him all over the globe. What makes the series worthwhile is that the writing is good and the plots and villains are memorable.
6 adventures were published in the UK by Badger Books and written by Manning K. Robertson which was a pen name for John Glasby. The covers are distinctly styled on American pulp books and have 3/6d (pre-decimal pricing) printed on the covers. They can usually be picked up for about 5 GBP each. Some of the titles are SEEK AND DESTROY, TWELVE HOURS TO DESTINY and NIGHT PASSAGE TO KANO.
Badger Books was a small company that published hundreds of pulp paperbacks from the mid 50's to 1967 - running on a shoestring budget most of the output was delivered by just two authors - with the aforementioned John Glasby authoring about 300 books! When the company folded the Steve Carradine series ended as well.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,749Chief of Staff
This is a very interesting thread - full of books I'd never heard of before - so thanks for the information -{
THE PEACEMAKER a 4 book series which ran from 1974-1975. This is one of those series which is hard to define whether to include or not but even though our hero, Barrington Hewes-Bradford is not actually a spy he does encounter spy-like adventures. Barrington is the multi-millionaire boss of several companies including The Peacemaker Foundation. The foundation employs a huge task force of intelligence gathering operatives who compile dossiers on troublemaking despots and Barrington then goes into the field to sort them out. The villains are all well drawn and the women are beautiful and available.
They were published in the USA by Berkley and written by Adam Hamilton who is actually a female called Marilyn Henderson who also wrote for the Nick Carter series and under various pen names of both sexes. The covers are fairly standard with the titles all ending in Pursuit - Zaharan, Yashar, Xander and Wyss. As these are the alphabet in reverse presumably the 5th one would have began with the letter V but low sales meant the series was cancelled. They can be found reasonably easily at online bookshops for about 5 GBP each.
Thanks to Sir Miles for his kind words and to those who have PM'd me.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
SECRET AGENT xx96 is a 4 book series about a spy called Phil Scott. He works for the US government and the series has many similarities with the previous mentioned Man From SADISTO series. Also published by Greenleaf Publications these were written by Dean Hudson in 1966-1967. Hudson was reputedly the famed author Evan Hunter who wrote the 87th Precinct series under the name of Ed McBain amongst may other acclaimed novels. Hunter apparently denied this but his agent confirms that he sold many books to Greenleaf including many pornographic books. The titles were LOVE DEFECTOR, THE SEXPERT, THE VIRGINS OF CADABRA and THE N.U.D.E. CAPER.
The books are very rare and are seldom seen for sale, expect to pay a minimum of 100 GBP and prices of 500 GBP and more have been known. For serious collector's only as they are not worth the entrance price.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
From 1967-1971 there was a 9 book series about an agent named Tim O'Shane also known as THE MAN FROM T.O.M.C.A.T.
O'Shane is the usual mid-thirties, highly skilled, multi-lingual spy we have become used to and he joins the Tactical Operations Master Counterintelligence Assault Team from the Marine corps where he was a Captain. The stories have some good if a little OTT plots interlaced with frequent bouts of sexual adventures.
Published by Award Books some of the catchpenny titles are THE DOZEN DEADLY DRAGONS OF JOY, THE OMINOUS ORGY and THE PEKING PORNOGRAPHER. They were written by Malllory T Knight a pen name of the author Bernhardt J Hurwood who also wrote the movie tie-in book of Kingdom Of The Spiders and edited many horror book anthologies.
They are a good light read and most of the titles can be picked up for 5-10 GBP each.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
The name's Blond, Jane Blond THE GIRL FROM B.U.S.T. was a 3 book series about Jane Blond - Agent 40-27-40 and you don't have to be much of a spy to know how that code number came about ) . Some low grade humour and lots of sex are the attributes to these adventures as Blond goes up against the criminal organisation S.T.R.O.K.E. The titles were THE GIRL FROM B.U.S.T., JOY RIDE and THE GREAT SEX RACE. The acronym for BUST was Bureau of Underground Spying and Treachery.
Published in 1966-67 by Bee-Line in the USA and written by Inge Carnelle (almost certainly a pen name) there is really nothing much to recommend apart from some cheap titillation and the fact that they are extremely rare on the second hand market and fetch some eye watering prices.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
KANE'S WAR a 7 book series gets into the spy-fi category because he works at least part time for the CIA as well as running a charter boat service in the Caribbean. Ben Kane is a Vietnam veteran highly skilled in the art of fighting and attractive to women (where have we heard that before?). Cord Weaver sends him on various missions against terrorists and drug gangs etc. The stories are fast paced with lots of graphic sex and violence. They are very entertaining and well written for this type of series.
Published by Ivy / Ballantine Books in 1987-1988 they have great covers. Written by Nick Stone which is almost certainly a pen name, probably for Nicholas Cain a writer of several character book series about Vietnam but was never confirmed. The titles are standard action type - DEATH WAVES, CRACKDOWN and DEAD HEAT being 3 of them. They can be picked up for around 5 GBP and at that price are well worth a look.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE was a 4 book series based on the famous TV series. Published by Popular Books during 1967-1969 the books are highly readable and are available through used book shops at a very affordable price. The titles are MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and the final 3 all titled CODE NAME: followed by JUDAS, RAPIER and LITTLE IVAN. John Tiger and Max Walker wrote 2 each - Tiger is the pen name of Walter Wager who also wrote for the I-Spy series.
Two young adult books were also published in 1969 by Whitman and written by Talmage Powell who had a long history of writing private investigator books.
4 comic books were published by Dell. There was one published numbered #5 but it is an exact reprint of issue #1.
The original TV series ran for 171 episodes with Steven Hill as the leader in Season One and Peter Graves taking over in Seasons 2-7. It was relaunched a few years later but I did not see any of the episodes but they were not generally held in high regard.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Prolific author John Creasey wrote a staggering 600+ books in his lifetime creating many popular character series but for this post we concentrate on DR. PALFREY. Palfrey an ex-spy is now head of the Z-5 organisation and investigates strange occurrences in a series of 34 books from 1942 - 1979. The early novels involved fighting against the Nazi's and after the war he comes up against megalomaniacs and manmade disasters. The stories are always interesting and exciting with much detail. Some of the titles are THE MAN WHO SHOOK THE WORLD, THE MISTS OF FEAR, THE INSULATORS and THE THUNDER MAKER. Some titles differ for the American versions. The TV series Department S is much like many of the books.
When the early books were reprinted in the 60's Creasey revised some of them so for collector completists two versions are available. Other character series he created were Gideon Of The Yard, The Baron, The Toff and Inspector Roger West. Creasey wrote under a myriad of nearly 30 pen names and his books sold millions of copies. Even so some are extremely scarce and although many can be picked up for a pound or two there are a quite a few that can fetch 1000 GBP or more. His books were a major seller for me throughout my career.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
THE BARONESS was a 8 book series published in 1974-1975 by Pocket Books. Penelope St. John-Orsini is a twice widowed freelance agent for the government, taking on tasks that fall outside of the FBI and CIA. The plots are pretty much standard fare but there is some good action and graphic sex scenes. Written by Paul Kenyon which is a pen name for Donald Moffitt who began by writing stories for men's magazines and who is now a respected sci-fi writer under his own name these are ok actioners with decent covers. Some of the titles are DIAMONDS ARE FOR DYING, OPERATION DOOMSDAY and SONIC SLAVE. Prices tend to vary on these and some can be picked up for about 5 GBP but some of the later ones which had lower print runs can fetch 50-100 GBP which frankly are not really worth it but some collectors are quite willing to shell out such amounts to complete sets.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
GREGORY HILLER was an agent for the CIA in a 5 book series published by Belmont from 1964-1966. What makes this short series interesting is that Hiller is really a Russian agent called Piotr Ilyushin. Sent on a mission to America as he resembled an American army officer he gradually finds out that he actually likes the American way of life and switches sides. The books are titled THE SPY WHO LOVED AMERICA, A SILENT KIND OF WAR, THE SPY IN WHITE GLOVES, THE SPY WHO DIDN'T and THE RELUCTANT SPY. Written by Jack Laflin the series reads like a typical 60's spy yarn but Hiller's gradual integration into Western ways is pretty interesting. They are available for a reasonable price on the second hand market and well worth a look and have some nice covers.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
THE MAN FROM C.A.M.P. treads a new path in spy-fi as the hero Jackie Holmes, is gay. Working as an agent for CAMP ( the acronym is never revealed) Holmes is sent on missions to stop organisations that are a threat to homosexuals. B.U.T.C.H. is the main culprit he is forced to combat and the acronym for that is Brothers United To Crush Homosexuality. During the course of his adventures he beds many other agents some of whom have never experienced gay sex before. The books were published by Corinth/Phenix and written by Don Holliday which was a pen name for Victor Banis. 10 books were published between 1966 and 1971. Some of the titles are THE WATERCRESS FILE, RALLY ROUND THE FAG and BLOW THE MAN DOWN. The market for these books was very small and print runs were low and they are now highly collectable in this more enlightened age. Expect to pay at least 100 GBP each and some titles have been known to get 500 GBP and more.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
CHB. You do realise that you're responsible for me compiling a list of these books which I now carry with me when visiting antiques centres? My wife isn't best pleased that I am now trawling through all the paperbacks looking for items off that list! To get myself out of really hot water I have taken the liberty of blaming you for all my dawdling! )
I thought my ears were burning ) . I hope you have found some of these titles in your travels, used book shops, antique shops, second hand shops, charity shops and car boot sales are perfect venues for these books although I will expect that you have noticed the dwindling number of used book shops in the UK over the past decade or so. I will write a piece for these boards one day about the rise and fall of the used book shop!
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Rod Damon is THE COXEMAN a sex crazy agent for the Coxe Foundation a top secret spy organisation that even the CIA have no knowledge about. Damon has a military background who becomes a professor of sociology researching sexual relationships. He has a relationship with a college co-ed who turns out to be just 16 which is when Damon is given the choice to become a secret agent or go to prison. From 1967-1973 Damon has 34 adventures of which some of the titles are BILLION DOLLAR SNATCH, THE CUNNING LINGUIST, THE MASTER BAITER and TURN THE OTHER SHEIK. Damon's boss is known as Walrus-Moustache and he is sent on missions across the globe encountering such characters as The Big Head and Venus Flytrap and villainous organisations such as HECTATE and SELL. Written by Troy Conway who is really famed spy-fi author Michael Avallone the series was published by Paperback Library. Prices tend to vary from the very cheap (2 GBP) to the very expensive (250 GBP+) and some of the books are really good but others are only so-so.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
There won't be many spy-fi fans who haven't heard of REMO WILLIAMS otherwise known as THE DESTROYER. Williams is an agent for CURE and is a Vietnam veteran turned police officer who is sentenced to death for killing a drug pusher. His execution is faked and he is now the perfect man for undercover work as he legally does not exist - he is trained in martial arts by Chiun, an 80 year old master of assassination. Published by Pinnacle in the USA and Corgi Books in the UK the series ran from 1971 - 2012 and an amazing 150 books were churned out. Created by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir they wrote most of the early books but other writers came on board such as Molly Cochran and Will Murray. Lightweight but fun plots combined with fine action make this series a great collection to own although the latter books are less inspired.
Christopher Wood wrote the movie tie-in book based on the 1985 film which was directed by Guy Hamilton so that is a great Bond connection there! A 1988 TV pilot episode was made in the hope of turning the books into a series but it was never taken up and I have never seen it.
13 comic books were published by Marvel.
Most of the books can be found fairly cheaply and are usually in plentiful supply at car boot sales and flea markets. The series was a major seller for me although prices remained pretty low throughout the years.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
BLACK SAMURAI is an 8 book series published by Signet during 1974-75 and written by Marc Olden. Robert Sand is the title character and like The Destroyer he is taken under the wing by a martial arts expert who trains him for seven years turning him into a ruthless fighting machine. He is introduced to a former US President who makes him a presidential agent and sends him on various missions to thwart the bad guys. Some of the titles are THE GOLDEN KILL (Some similarities to GF), THE DEADLY PEARL and THE WARLOCK. The action scenes are usually very well written and exciting and it's nice to see a black hero that out-shafts, John Shaft.
A 1977 movie called The Black Samurai starring martial arts kingpin Jim Kelly was released but by all accounts it was dreadful.
The books can be picked up for around 5 GBP each but the final entry #8 had a low print run and can fetch 50GBP+
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Steve Crown is an agent for the American secret organisation COUNTER FORCE. Written by Dan Streib who also contributed to the Nick Carter series amongst others the 9 book series was published by Fawcett from 1983-1985. From a wealthy background Crown is a tall fighting fit 29 year old with great intellect. Crown's missions have several Bondian elements including bombs on space shuttles, the hi-jacking of a nuclear submarine, the worlds deadliest assassin targeting Crown for death and several other nefarious plots. Beautiful women abound and this is a likable if somewhat ordinary series. Some of the titles are DEATH SHUTTLE, THE KARATE KILLERS(the same as an UNCLE film title), THE MIND BREAKERS and THE BODY HUNTERS.
They can be found for about 5 GBP each from online booksellers.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
John Drake needs no introduction to spy-fi fans as he was the lead character in the 1960's TV series DANGER MAN (or SECRET AGENT in the USA). 6 books were published as TV tie-ins but they were all actually original stories rather than being based on particular episodes. In the first book he works for NATO and in the others for a branch of British Intelligence called M9. Drake liked working alone and was not really interested in romantic conquests as he preferred to get the day job done first. He relied on his fighting abilities rather than use guns which he disliked and used sparingly. The books were published between 1962 - 1966 by various publishers in both the UK and USA. Some of the titles were TARGET FOR TONIGHT, HELL FOR TOMORROW and THE EXTERMINATOR. They were written by 5 different authors and unfortunately the characterisation does differ between the books so it is maybe best to treat them as one-off books. The third book, Hell For Tomorrow, was written by the prolific Peter Leslie who also contributed to many series such as Man from UNCLE, Girl From UNCLE, Mack Bolan, The Mercenary and The Avengers. 3 UK annuals were also published from 1965-1967. The TV series ran for 86 episodes during the 1960's and some say that John Drake was also the secret agent in The Prisoner but this was never confirmed. Most of the books can be purchased for under 10 GBP.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I'm not sure if 2 books can be classified as a series but anyway Nailan "Nails" Fenian is an agent for the CIA and in the first book THE SPY AND THE PIRATE QUEEN he is sent to Asia to stop Madame Wong Shan and in the second book ASSASSINS' HIDE-AWAY he goes to Columbia to thwart the Red Chinese criminal Colonel Chow Yang. Fenian is your standard pulp spy-fi agent and both his adventures play out like the standard 1960's Bond clones. Published by PEC in 1967 and written by Hal D Steward they have great pulp covers of which are probably better than the contents inside. Reasonably hard to find in the UK they can be purchased for around 15-20 GBP each. Sales were low so the series stopped before it had really began.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Comments
Written under the house name of Lionel Derrick they were the brainchild of 2 authors called Chet Cunningham and Mark Roberts who took turns to pen the books individually. They were published by Pinnacle from 1973-1984 when the rule of diminishing sales foreclosed the series. Mark Hardin is The Penetrator and he is a freelance agent and has many adventures in the USA and around the world. Hardin is a Vietnam veteran and a highly skilled fighter and has many conquests. The first half of the series is brutally violent but this seems to tail off at about the half way point - Hardin is often in very dangerous situations and although the writing is fairly lightweight there is fair amount of tension. The first book is called THE TARGET IS H and others with interesting storylines are BLOOD ON THE STRIP, THE HELLBOMB FLIGHT, THE SKYHIGH BETRAYERS, SATELLITE SLAUGHTER, CRUISE INTO CHAOS (which uses the plotline from the Frank Sinatra movie Assault On A Queen) and QUAKING TERROR. If you are after an undemanding read these are perfect entertainment
What some may not know is that both films were turned into "movie tie-in books" which were only published in the USA. The first was written by Jack Pearl and was published in 1965 by Pocket Books and has a selection of pics from the movie on the cover. The book is a little different from the movie in that it was based on the original draft script which was changed somewhat upon filming.
In Like Flint was published in 1967 by Dell and was written by Bradford Street. The cover is a still from the movie of girls in bikini's and a headshot of James Coburn at the top of the cover. This one follows the finished film script more closely.
Both books should be available for about 10-20 GBP each which is significantly less than what I used to get pre-internet days.
I am looking forward to reading Harry Flynn's first assignment, Stag. How is it being sold? I have Google Books on my tablet but am sure I can download an app if it is going to be on Kindle.
Eve Drum is The Lady From L.U.S.T. (League of Undercover Spies and Terrorists) which is a very odd name and has the code name Oh-Oh-Sex (yes it's that sort of series)! Eve is sent on missions to combat various criminal organisations such as DRAGON and HATE. Some of the titles are: THE 69 PLEASURES, TO RUSSIA WITH LUST, KISS MY ASSASSIN, THE POISONED PUSSY, THE BIG SNATCH and BLOW MY MIND.
They were written by Rod Gray which was a pen name for Gardner Fox who wrote hundreds of comicbooks for DC including Batman, The Flash and Justice League Of America. Most of the stories are of a sexual nature rather than action but if you leave your brain out of gear most of them are passable entertainment. To last 25 books in a series is no mean feat and they did sell very well. Most of the early books had painted covers and were good to look at but when the series was bought back in 1975 photo covers were used mostly to little effect.
Expect to pay around at least 10 GBP per book with many getting 30 - 50 GBP or even more.
The books were published by the Greenleaf Group under ever changing names such as Ember, Candid and Nightstand - presumably to keep dodging the law suits
I would imagine that TP would find some of these titles of interest
Seriously a fascinating read. These books sound
amazing. -{
Moffatt's non-spy book series especially his teenage gang books get excellent prices. I can remember when Woolworth's (remember them?) bought out the entire NEL back catalogue when they merged with Hodder and had scores of books in each branch in sale bins at I think 20 pence each. I spent a whole day travelling around outer London in my trusty Transit van visiting every Woolworth shop I could find buying up every copy left in each shop. The faces on some of the cashiers was priceless
Thank you Barbel and TP for your kind words.
6 adventures were published in the UK by Badger Books and written by Manning K. Robertson which was a pen name for John Glasby. The covers are distinctly styled on American pulp books and have 3/6d (pre-decimal pricing) printed on the covers. They can usually be picked up for about 5 GBP each. Some of the titles are SEEK AND DESTROY, TWELVE HOURS TO DESTINY and NIGHT PASSAGE TO KANO.
Badger Books was a small company that published hundreds of pulp paperbacks from the mid 50's to 1967 - running on a shoestring budget most of the output was delivered by just two authors - with the aforementioned John Glasby authoring about 300 books! When the company folded the Steve Carradine series ended as well.
They were published in the USA by Berkley and written by Adam Hamilton who is actually a female called Marilyn Henderson who also wrote for the Nick Carter series and under various pen names of both sexes. The covers are fairly standard with the titles all ending in Pursuit - Zaharan, Yashar, Xander and Wyss. As these are the alphabet in reverse presumably the 5th one would have began with the letter V but low sales meant the series was cancelled. They can be found reasonably easily at online bookshops for about 5 GBP each.
Thanks to Sir Miles for his kind words and to those who have PM'd me.
The books are very rare and are seldom seen for sale, expect to pay a minimum of 100 GBP and prices of 500 GBP and more have been known. For serious collector's only as they are not worth the entrance price.
O'Shane is the usual mid-thirties, highly skilled, multi-lingual spy we have become used to and he joins the Tactical Operations Master Counterintelligence Assault Team from the Marine corps where he was a Captain. The stories have some good if a little OTT plots interlaced with frequent bouts of sexual adventures.
Published by Award Books some of the catchpenny titles are THE DOZEN DEADLY DRAGONS OF JOY, THE OMINOUS ORGY and THE PEKING PORNOGRAPHER. They were written by Malllory T Knight a pen name of the author Bernhardt J Hurwood who also wrote the movie tie-in book of Kingdom Of The Spiders and edited many horror book anthologies.
They are a good light read and most of the titles can be picked up for 5-10 GBP each.
Published in 1966-67 by Bee-Line in the USA and written by Inge Carnelle (almost certainly a pen name) there is really nothing much to recommend apart from some cheap titillation and the fact that they are extremely rare on the second hand market and fetch some eye watering prices.
Published by Ivy / Ballantine Books in 1987-1988 they have great covers. Written by Nick Stone which is almost certainly a pen name, probably for Nicholas Cain a writer of several character book series about Vietnam but was never confirmed. The titles are standard action type - DEATH WAVES, CRACKDOWN and DEAD HEAT being 3 of them. They can be picked up for around 5 GBP and at that price are well worth a look.
Two young adult books were also published in 1969 by Whitman and written by Talmage Powell who had a long history of writing private investigator books.
4 comic books were published by Dell. There was one published numbered #5 but it is an exact reprint of issue #1.
The original TV series ran for 171 episodes with Steven Hill as the leader in Season One and Peter Graves taking over in Seasons 2-7. It was relaunched a few years later but I did not see any of the episodes but they were not generally held in high regard.
silly silly ME.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
When the early books were reprinted in the 60's Creasey revised some of them so for collector completists two versions are available. Other character series he created were Gideon Of The Yard, The Baron, The Toff and Inspector Roger West. Creasey wrote under a myriad of nearly 30 pen names and his books sold millions of copies. Even so some are extremely scarce and although many can be picked up for a pound or two there are a quite a few that can fetch 1000 GBP or more. His books were a major seller for me throughout my career.
I thought my ears were burning
Christopher Wood wrote the movie tie-in book based on the 1985 film which was directed by Guy Hamilton so that is a great Bond connection there! A 1988 TV pilot episode was made in the hope of turning the books into a series but it was never taken up and I have never seen it.
13 comic books were published by Marvel.
Most of the books can be found fairly cheaply and are usually in plentiful supply at car boot sales and flea markets. The series was a major seller for me although prices remained pretty low throughout the years.
A 1977 movie called The Black Samurai starring martial arts kingpin Jim Kelly was released but by all accounts it was dreadful.
The books can be picked up for around 5 GBP each but the final entry #8 had a low print run and can fetch 50GBP+
They can be found for about 5 GBP each from online booksellers.