Naked Ebony

Naked Ebony by Dan Cushman. Jim Crawford and his African assistant, the giant Botamba, are in a bar to meet Ed Foley. It seems Foley has a scheme to make some money, but wants Crawford’s strong arm to pull it off. He’s to meet a girl in the hotel and take a package to be delivered. However, another man, the Hammer is also after the package. The Hammer, Runkhammer, is a huge, muscular man of great strength, and Foley is afraid of him. Crawford receives the package, and then everything goes wrong. They lose the package, and the girl and her scientist husband disappear again with the package after Crawford removes it from the Hammer’s clutches. Cushman uses the same formula for all his stories, though this one is set in Africa, not Asia. The beautiful girl is Eurasian, a mix of French and Asian. She falls in love with Crawford, naturally. Still, the story could be set in any locale, and it would have worked. The author makes every story an adventure, and the characters are classics. The title may be a little misleading, but a fun read.