The Nazi Assassins (originally “The Secret Ministry”) by Desmond Cory

Prompted by Keith Phipps recent review of one of Johnny Fedora’s books (“The box of paperbacks book club: Johnny Goes South by Desmond Cory”), I decided to read another of his novels, and found myself quite hooked. I have now read a number of Fedora’s espionage assignments, and remain impressed by the quality of the writing and their enjoyment factor.

OK, they are clearly quite dated (who would call their main character “Johnny Fedora” these days?) but in many ways this is their appeal. Yet, as I will reveal, there is much about the espionage world of the 50s and 60s that still resonates with our current world of the early 21st century. Where these days we see Al-Qaeda and similar extremists as the major threat to our society, in those days it was the German Gestapo and the Communist Russians.

Here, I will focus on Johnny Fedora’s first novel. I read the 1970’s paperback version entitled “The Nazi Assassins”, but it was originally published in the 1950s as “The Secret Ministry”. My first surprise came in realizing that Johnny Fedora predates James Bond, and while there are many parallels between the two (such as being licenced to kill agents who travel the world), Desmond Cory’s Fedora has a flavour all of his own. My second surprise came in realizing that Fedora featured in over 15 novels, outlasting even James Bond to whom all fictional secret agents will inevitably be compared.

I actually read this novel just before Tom Clancy’s “The Teeth of the Tiger” published some 50 years after this novel, and despite the gulf of time between them, the plot is essentially the same. In Tom Clancy’s novel, a secret intelligence agency, called Hendley Associates set ups a professional team (the Caruso twins and Jack Ryan Junior) to assasinate suspicious terrorists. In Desmond Cory’s novel, a secret ministry (hence the book’s title) brings together a “team of seasoned assassins” that includes Fedora to eliminate “Gestapo men… and anybody consider better dead than alive”. So, while this book may be dated, it clearly draws parallels with its modern espionage equivalents.

Johnny Fedora – the character:
Sean (aka Johnny) O’Neill Fedora is first presented to the reader playing the piano “clean-shaven, with a cigarette slumping from his peculiarly mobile lips”. He is described as an unusual young man in his mid twenties with “the eyes of a killer with an incorrigible sense of humour”. Born of a Spanish father and Irish mother, he "got himself mixed up with the IRA on one side and the Spanish civil war on the other". Due to his father’s Republican tendencies, The Falangists killed both his parents. Johnny later immigrated to America where he became a professional pianist in Chicago, and also a gunman. He then left America in one hell of a hurry to France until its occupation by German forces. At this point he came to England and got into the Intelligence group. Later sent to the FBI for 2 years and the Marquis for one, the summation his superiors give of him is that the “only two things that really matter to Fedora.. is killing Nazis and .. playing music. At both of these things he has what amounts to genius”.

On the whole, Fedora is very much the 1960s secret agent, “good-looking” and of the “first-class sort”. Yet as the story develops, we find a maturity not found in many of the 1960s –1970s heroes and secret agents. For him it is not all fast-cars, lovely women, and the elimination of enemy agents. Fedora is a talented pianist, and through music he finds escape from the real and brutal world of the assassin. “Every time he played [the piano] Johnny found himself .. far removed from his existence where he handled a gun with an efficiency that was cold and hard and completely disillusioned”. This disillusionment is something you rarely see in this genre until the post-Bond era (or counter Fleming period) when authors such as Len Deighton and Le Carré showed the darker side of espionage work. In this respect, Cory was arguably ahead of other authors of his time.

The plot:
Fedora is one of several seasoned professionals rounded up by British Intelligence. Fedora’s superiors impress on him the fact that “there are still undiscovered German agents in almost every country, even England. The importance of finding these people and destroying them can not be overestimated”.

He is then sent off to Sussex to be briefed by a colleague (who is a bit like Lord Flashheart of BlackAdder) on suspicious German undercover work in that area. Before he can learn more from him, the colleague is suddenly drugged and bumped off in a automobile accident. At the centre of this story is the Three Diamonds, a nightclub where a number of interesting characters are introduced, including the sultry songstress, Davina. As with the other Fedora novels I read, the plot does not reveal itself until nearly the end, when Fedora has to take on trigger-happy German agents, uncover the real master-mind behind these drug-smuggling operations, and discover if the gorgeous Davina is on the side of the Germans, or against them. In the end, Fedora reveals that the nightclub is partially a front for Germans operating a drugs racket in order to bring chaos to Britain (by drugging pilots etc). Essentially, this is more a detective novel than an espionage thriller.

Verdict:
Given its original publication date of 1951, I found this to be an interesting read. In the post 9/11 world we live in where it is not unfathomable to image covert government agencies eliminating Al-Qaeda extremists, it is interesting to enter a post second-world war world where the situation does not seem to have changed much. In this case, Germany is defeated but a select group of Hitler's henchmen continue to kill. Their hideout is England, and Fedora's assignment is to destroy them. An enjoyable romp into the world of the 1950’s political assassin. This is a “should read” for all fictional espionage aficionados. I count myself amongst the ashamed who did not know that before James Bond came Johnny Fedora.

Lucifer Box - a new breed of secret agent?

A new character is emerging that I think is worth mentioning in this blog-site dedicated to British fictional secret agents.

His name is Lucifer Box, a charismatic rogue who is described by his author as an “artist, bon-viveur, sexual athlete and wanted felon”.

I recently finished his 2nd adventure, entitled “The Devil in Amber”. When a novel starts with “He was American, so it seemed only fair to shoot him”, you know you are in for an entertaining read”. On the whole, Mark Gatiss does not disappoint, with the Wildean wit you have come to expect from the author of League of Gentlemen.

In Lucifer Box, we have a British secret agent with some notable differences. Whereas most secret agents are either rather macho, or certainly a lady’s man (a lá James Bond film), Box clearly has an eye for the male physique. Chapter 3 starts with:“At eight the next morning, I left the cosy embrace of young Rex (sucked off and buggered if you must know)..”, and later on, “he was a smasher with a cheeky grin and thighs upon which you could’ve landed a small aeroplane.”

Nor does he take too kindly to rescuing women in distress. Faced with the choice of leaving behind a woman who (like him) is trying to out-run the police armed with rifles, or fleeing the scene, Box chooses the latter, commenting that “chivalry’s all well and good but when a chap’s liberty at stake..”

There are also no hi-tech gadgets, KGB agents, or hard-hitting political dramas as found in most 20th century secret agent novels. Instead, Box’s 2nd novel takes place in the 1920s, some twenty years after the Edwardian adventures of `The Vesuvius Club' (Box’s first adventure) and follows the ominous rise of Trans-Atlantic Fascism, and Satanism.

Box is now middle aged and under threat from a new generation of younger secret agents. Assigned to observe the activities of a fascist leader, Olympus Mons, Box finds himself framed for a murder he did not commit, and fleeing the USA on a boat back to old Blighty.

In Mons, we find the sort of “over-the-top” baddy we often like to see in secret agent novels. He is a fascist Satanist who will stop at nothing to use the forces of darkness in his bid for world power. Prone to “Hitlerian rages”, Mons is portrayed as a psychotic, unhinged megalomaniac.

My favorite character in the book, however, is Mrs Croup, an aging, grotesque, and sex starved Australian obsessed with real life murders & collects newspaper cuttings to show it. She saves Box’s life a number a times ... but she never gets from him what she really wants (namely a night of unbridled passion).

The comic tone in `The Devil in Amber' runs throughout the novel, and many may describe the book as “a thoroughly ripping yarn”, but it has its sober moments too. Box is is a survivor of the First World War, and occasionally shows us moments of vulnerability and sadness - none more so than when he pays a visit to a lonely war memorial in the cold Swiss mountains.

The end of the book has too strong a flavour of the Occult for me (with Satan himself momentarily appearing), but if Gatiss continues to write more Lucifer Box novels of this quality, the charismatic Box might well joint the exalted few who make it as "Britain’s best fictional secret agents".

Book Review

The Swastika Hunt (first published as Johnny Goes North) by Desmond Cory

This book could be described as a cross between Jonathon Creek and a thinking man's version of James Bond. Like other Desmond Cory novels, it has an intriguing plot that keeps the reader guessing until the very end when all is revealed.

At a time when the old James Bond franchise (of beautiful women, locations, cars, hi-tech gadgetry) is being challenged (yes, even the new ROYAL CASINO film moves away from it), one can do worse than looking at alternative secret agents such as Johnny Fedora. Described by reviewers of the time as the "thinking man's James Bond", it certainly is a bit more thoughtful in the development of its plots. Although written in the 1960s (as the dialog shows all too well), it has many of the traits you might associate with modern fictional books. In Cory's novels, women have substantially more character and are far more intriguing. The secret agent (Johnny Fedora) also has a darker and more pensive side to him, seeing no real glory in involving himself in violence.

If anything, Johnny Fedora, in this novel, could do with a little more action-packed scenes (a lá Robert Ludlum), but on the whole this book is a good read.

This is Johnny Fedora's 7th assignment (novel), and as usual nothing is quite what it seems. Resigned from working for the British Intelligence Services, Fedora is enjoying some time off in Venice when suddenly he finds a friend of his murdered. The only clue seems to be his friend’s photo of an attractive woman.

From Venice, Fedora tracks the woman to Paris, Stockholm and Bohuslav (Sweden). In each location, another murder takes place, and slowly the true identity of the mysterious woman emerges.

Teaming up with Sebastian Trout (who appeared in Dead Man Falling, Intrigue) of the British Intelligence Services, Fedora finds himself in search of millions in hidden Nazi gold (hence the dubious title of the book).

The end scene (which I will not give away) is particularly clever and witty given the substance of the plot. Do read this book, and be prepared to be surprised in ways you could not suspect.

CONCLUSION: A recommended read for those who like thrillers full of surprises and with a decent plot.

Vote for favourite British Secret Agent

Who are our favourite British Secret Agents? Ian Fleming's James Bond, Len Deighton's Harry Palmer, or someone even more secretive? At its peak, the British Spy Novel genre sold several million books across the world, and was watched by even greater numbers on the Big Screen, due to the immense popularity of James Bond, as incarnated by the incomparable Sean Connery. Preceding the now legendary 007 was Desmond Cory's Johnny Fedora, "the thinking man's James Bond".

In this blog, I hope to introduce to the outside world the glory that is the 20th Century British Spy Novel, covering many of the great authors that contributed to it.

I start by listing the most successful fictional British Secret Agents. If there are others I have missed out, please let me know.

Below I list the candidates in alphabetical order, and their creators/authors:

Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Boysie Oakes - John Gardner
General Besserley - E. Phillips Oppenheim
Harry Palmer - Len Deighton
James Bond - Ian Fleming
John Brock - Desmond Skirrow
John Craig - James Munro
Johnny Fedora - Desmond Cory
Mr.Calder & Mr.Behrens - Michael Gilbert
Quiller - Adam Hall
Roger Brook - Dennis Wheatley
Tommy Hambledon - Manning Coles

To vote: send the name of your favourite secret agent to me, janhart1@planet.nl

In the following months I hope to comment on some of their works, especially those not covered by other web sites. Soon after, I will pool a team of reviewers known to be interested in this genre, and vote for Britain’s most popular fictional secret agent.

Welcome to Beyond Bond

Like many others, I find the topic of “spy fiction” fascinating. Fuelled by the spy fiction novels of the 60s and 70s, James Bond in the cinema, and even the Avengers on TV, I spent many an hour enwrapped in this exciting world of the secret agent.

Unfortunately, its popularity lapsed in the late 1980s following the end of the Cold War, but now the fictional secret agent seems to be as popular as before. Today we have films such as Mission Impossible, the Bourne Supremacy and Spy Kids being made into sequels, while the younger generation can watch popular secret agent cartoons such as Totally Spies.

Since little is publicly known about the real-life secret agent, my blog will focus on the secret agent as portrayed in 20th and 21st century literature and cinema. The Secret agent is generally regarded as a recluse, sometimes immoral, an existential hero operating outside the confines of our society. Ian Fleming’s James Bond is the most famous fictional secret agent of all.

Yet there are many others.

The intention of this blog is to show that there is life BEYOND BOND. New and young secret agents such as Alex Rider, created by Anthony Horowitz, are emerging both in novels and in the cinema. There are also equally glorious fictional secret agents such as Johnny Fedora and Harry Palmer.

This site will solely focus on the British secret agent- an important subject in its own right. For a number of reasons, Britain has been blessed with a wealth of successful writers in this genre (from John le Carre and Len Deighton, to Desmond Cory and Frederick Forsyth). These novelists and their works truly represent what is “Best of British”.
I encourage you to read on!