In the bay of Cienfuegos, a little Cuban town, the naked body of a D.C.I. officer was found floating one night. And the next, Captain North of the Army Intelligence was on his way there -- with orders to find the facts. The wolves of the naval powers were already gathering at Cienfuegos around a cashiered American naval officer who had developed a new and mysterious invention. And beside the agents were the great international criminals always drawn by such an affair. The first intimation of the sinister undercurrents North was facing came on the night train in Cuba -- when a drab-looking German was murdered almost before his eyes, with a glass dagger thrust into the heart. At Cienfuegos the real battle began, with danger lurking in the surrounding jungle, and within the house death striking with silent arrows -- so much quieter than automatics, so much easier to use from a distance than knives...

"Third machine gun gangster dies!" came the newsboy's cry through the window of Judge Mackaye's stately residence in Deptford. A group of men were gathered there -- powers in the life of the city, and before sundown two of them lay dead on the broad lawns of Deptford Manor, another was on the point of death, and Captain Hugh North of Army Intelligence was to take control. Murder stalked the quiet New England city -- murder whose roots lay in a strange, bizarre tangle. Murder dogged Judge Mackaye's footsteps, hounded his lovely daughter. And murder uncovered another, more terrible tragedy before it was finally checked!

Captain Hugh North, D.C.I., arrived at Fort Espato (in English, "Fort Terror") with no thought of treasure or tragedy -- but both awaited him there. An American army port superseded the old ruin now, but when the Spanish controlled the Philippines, it had been an ill-fated and much-used fort. Some legendary menace hung over its somber vaults and passages, but when two men vanished into its depths one evening and did not reappear, North saw only a living hand where others saw inexplicable terror. To track the killer who not only murdered but caused his victims to disappear completely baffled even Captain North, until he found the beads with the markings that did not match, and a bit of paper in a dead man's hand!

This is a critical history of spy fiction, film and television in the United States, with a particular focus on the American fictional spies that rivaled (and were often influenced by) Ian Fleming's James Bond. James Fenimore Cooper's Harvey Birch, based on a real-life counterpart, appeared in his novel The Spy in 1821. While Harvey Birch's British rivals dominated spy fiction from the late 1800s until the mid-1930s, American spy fiction came of age shortly thereafter. The spy boom in novels and films during the 1960s, spearheaded by Bond, heavily influenced the espionage genre in the United States for years to come, including series like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Matt Helm. The author demonstrates that, while American authors currently dominate the international spy fiction market, James Bond has cast a very long shadow, for a very long time.

A guide to series fiction lists popular series, identifies novels by character, and offers guidance on the order in which to read unnumbered series.

The Mystery Fancier, Volume 4 Number 6, November/December 1980, contains: "Spy Series Characters in Hardback, Part V," by Barry Van Tilburg, "Favorite Magazine Issues: Manhunt (3:6)," by Jeff Banks, "Old Time Radio Lives," by Carl Larsen, "Pow-Wo on the Potomac (Bouchercon)," by John Nieminski, and "Bouchercon Scrapbook," commentary by Guy M. Townsend.

A reference book for librarians and users of public libraries which provides easy access to information on good recreational reading. This revised edition features expanded coverage of mystery and science fiction. New indexes allow access by subject, genre and main characters.

A new edition of the who's who of over 1,400 fictional characters whose names are sometimes so familiar it's difficult to remember they're imaginary. Included in the biographical parade is Ben Casey, Casper, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a compendium of high, low, and no brow at all, each exactly recorded with a snippet of biographical anecdote. The reference is as equally useful for scholarly work as it is for killing time in aimless pursuits of information. Distributed by Ashgate. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR