Affair In Hong Kong

Affair In Hong Kong by Dorothy Daniels. Once in a while you find a good story where you least expect it. Dorothy Daniels is known for her Gothic Romance novels, but she is also noted for being the wife of pulp scribe Norman Daniels. Dorothy assisted her husband with his pulp writing for twenty years, and then went on to help him in the paperback field after the pulps ceased. She was very familiar with mysteries and intrigues in novel writing. In fact, when this book came out, Norman was writing the Baron of Hong Kong series, and had written the Man From A.P.E. espionage series prior. Both series were very similar. I found one of the Man From A.P.E. novels very strongly similar to Dorothy’s writing, so it’s not surprising to find a nice little intrigue in this current novel. Airline Stewardess, Janis Lowell falls in love with one of her frequent passengers, Bruce Doran. When Bruce asks her for a date, her heart is all a flutter, but during the dinner, he has her perform a small favor that makes her think of espionage. Then later, when a Chinese gentleman mysteriously dies before boarding the plane, she learns it is murder, and she may be involved in some way. A Chinese espionage agent is after something the dead man supposedly concealed, and Janis knows where it is. But why is Bruce acting so strangely. Even though he tells her he loves her, and wants to marry her, does he know more than he’s revealing? And what is in the strange package she has in her possession that the Chinese will kill for? There isn’t a lot of action, like fights and gun battles, but Janis continues pulling dumb stunts that almost gets her killed, and the intrigue is definitely heavy. Not a bad story, regardless of the lack of action.