Brannan's Chase

Brandon's Chase by Stephen Cord: Joe Brannan and his boat, the Betty, are hired by three university types to search for possible areas to create artificial reefs along Thailand’s coast; however, it turns out they are really CIA. The Navy has lost a super weapon, and it is thought to be somewhere near the coast of Pattaya. Problems arise when a local Korean smuggler steals the weapon before the team can retrieve it, and now it’s heading for China en route to North Korea.

There is lots of action from the very beginning, as the Koreans kill two CIA agents and capture the third, framing Brannan for the murders. Joe is forced to run before the Thai police can arrest him, and now he needs to take the CIA woman away from her Korean captors to prove his innocence, but that isn’t going to be easy.

The Brannan series is the best new men’s action novels I have read in a long time. The author’s writing is fast, and the story flows smoothly, with plenty of action and suspense to keep the reader on the edge of their seats. Even though it appears the author may have killed off one of the more interesting characters in this story, I’m not totally convinced we’ve seen the last of North Korea’s highly trained Korean agent, Sook-Ju. I would certainly like to see her return in a future story, as she almost took the story away from the lead character. The read is definitely fun, and highly recommended. 

Hang Me In Hong Kong

Rick Shaw #1: “Hang Me In Hong Kong” by Earl Norman (Norman Thompson). Private-eye, Rick Shaw, Asia’s answer to a combination of James Bond and Mike Hammer, that is, if these two gentlemen also knew kung fu. Rick is Oxford educated, and his actual name is Richard Shaw II (I’m not sure where the II comes from, his father’s name was James). He is the scion of a wealthy family, and provided he behaves himself, his mama gives him a cool million every birthday. Rick doesn’t need the money from his private eyeing, he does it as a hobby, and only if there’s a woman involved in the case. A young man of basic non-violence, Rick solves his cases as he delivers death and destruction with Oriental finesse and smooth action.

         Richard Shaw is the offspring of an English father, James Muir Shaw of Scotland Yard (now dead) and a Chinese mother, Li Kung-yah, daughter of merchant and opium distributor, who is autocratic and filthy rich. Richard quickly becomes Rick Shaw (a play on rickshaw) – playboy, lover, man-about-town and collector of erotica and beautiful women.

         The case begins when a nightclub stripper, Rococo Baroque, comes to his apartment for help, and then drugs him before he can seduce her. Police Superintendent, Claude Bawls shows up to warn Rick to stay off the case, but we know he won’t. In the meantime, billionaire mother is trying to find a girl to settle Rick down – in marriage. Mama knows best.

         At one point Rick Shaw mentions a previous case, “Dash Me In Bangla”, but this is the only novel in the series ever published. I’m sure the author planned others, however. The plot is evasive. The first half of the book is dedicated to Shaw’s extensive sexual escapades, which he finds colorful metaphors to describe, like baseball games, etc.

         The plot is a merry-go-round that doesn’t make any sense until the end. Rick Shaw comes across as a sexual predator more than a detective of any note. Nor do we see any kung fu or martial arts of any sort until the final chapters. But it does work in the end, and everything comes together nicely. Unfortunately, this is no Burns Bannion, and no rousing karate fights with the bad guys, but given time I think Norman could have improved on the character.

         The plot was two-fold, a blackmailer and a Chinese communist rebel escaping from China. It was the mysterious goings-on that brought Rick into the case in the beginning, and his mother, the Moon Princess who brings the case to a close. But Rick winds up with the girl, and I won’t reveal which one, as even I had my doubts with this one. A fun read, only lacking in the martial arts from his previous series. Norman Thompson was a black belt in karate, and his “Kill Me In …” series was filled with fight scenes. “Hang Me In Hong Kong” was not.

Killed At The Whim of A Hat

Jimm Juree #1: “Killed At The Whim of A Hat” by Colin Cotterill. Jimm Juree is an out of work reporter who has just moved with her family to the village of Maprao, on the coast of southern Thailand. There is a lot happening in this 374-page murder mystery, including skeletons discovered in a VW van buried on a farmer’s property, plus the murder of an abbot at the temple. Jimm’s mother’s dog has been poisoned, and renters have stolen everything out the room they were staying in. Wanting her name back in press, Jimm investigates the mysteries, while trying to stop her mother, Mair, from killing the person that killed her dog. In the first half of the book we not only learn about the two big mysteries, but we get to meet Jimm’s family and the town folks, as well as the local police. Although we don’t see a lot of action, this is more literary than noir, the writing is entertaining, and the characters are fun. Each chapter begins with a quote from President George W. Bush, taken from one of his speeches. Jimm’s dissertation at university was to select a famous speaker, and she was stuck with America’s ex-president (I loved the quotes). The murder of the abbot will take many turns, before the surprising case comes to a close. However, the mystery of the submerged VW van with two skeletons doesn’t truly end till the final pages and it, too, has a few surprises. A fun story, and highly recommended.

Paperback Parade #94

PAPERBACK PARADE #94, August 2016. $15.00 (U.S.A.), from Gary Lovisi, Gryphon Books, P.O. Box280209, Brooklyn, New York, 11228-0209. This 100-page issue contains articles by Gary Lovisi, Bill Crider, Richard A. Lupoff, Richard Greene, Tom Johnson, Richard L. Kellogg, Graham Andrews, and Philip Harbottle. With articles on King Kong, Milton K. Osaki, Matchless Paperbacks, Earl Norman Spy Series, Philip Wylie, PEC Sleaze Spy Series, Isaac Asimov, and much more. It is also filled with paperback covers in color. The is the issue that contains Tom Johnson’s 11 page coverage of the Earl Norman’s Burns Bannion paperback series.

Jade Lady Burning

Sueno & Bascom #1: “Jade Lady Burning” by Martin Limon. Army CID agents, Sgt. George Sueno and Sgt. Ernie Bascom work out of 8^th Army Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. When a young prostitute is found murdered, her body sexually brutalized, and the room set fire, the Korean National Police want an American GI blamed, though they seem to know who the killer really is. The American system wants to point to a young soldier, also. But CID agent Sgt. Sueno doesn’t like the smell, and thinks an American soldier is being set up to take the fall. Before the case is over, the investigation goes to the top command, and girls are killed, and Sueno and Bascom find themselves at the wrong end of the stick.

         In the end, Sueno and Bascom are split up, with Sueno shipped to the DMZ, and we’re told they never work together again. This should have been a stand-alone novel. Yet the book must have caught on, and the publisher asked for more, for they’re back in the next book, and the next, and next and next. I did thoroughly enjoy the story, though it was slow and could have used more action.

         Sgt. Sueno narrates the story and Bascom appears to merely be a sounding board. Or maybe he’s there just as a drinking partner. The best part about this book is its setting, South Korea. It’s a different world than anywhere else. It’s where crime starts from the top and works its way down, and when it’s too high, there is no way to police it. I was with the MPs in Korea, and knew many CID agents in Korea and elsewhere. Sueno and Bascom didn’t sound like any I had ever ran into. The CID I knew were always a tad above the rest of us GIs, and would not act in the manner these characters did. But this is fiction, and the characters are part fact and part false. They start sounding more like hard drinking private detectives after a while, not straight shooters trained by military intelligence. But I definitely plan on reading more stories featuring Sueno & Bascom.