Fedora

No, not the hat. Johnny Fedora is a fictional British secret agent who features in 16 novels published between 1951 and 1984. They were written by Shaun Lloyd McCarthy, using the pseudonym Desmond Cory (he died in 2001).  Desmond Cory is one of Britain’s most prolific thriller writers; his writing spanned over 40 years; he used up to three different pen names, such was the demand for his work.

Literary critics dubbed Johnny Fedora ‘the thinking man’s James Bond’. Fedora was also a hired assassin, but for many readers the Fedora plots were more complex and intellectual than Fleming’s. Fedora made his debut in one of two Cory novels published in 1951, Secret Ministry (the other being a crime novel, Begin, Murderer!) Fedora’s initial outing beat James Bond into print by two years (Casino Royale, 1953).

Fedora was the son of a Spanish father and Irish mother; a fact that I’d forgotten when I began writing about my half English, half Spanish private eye, Leon Cazador (Spanish Eye). Fedora was a former Spanish Civil War combatant, Chicago gangster and FBI counter-espionage agent, (as well as being a talented piano player!) Like Ashenden before him, Fedora was freelance, hired by British Intelligence on a case-by-case basis – often assisted by Sebastian Trout of the Foreign Office. He was pitted against Nazi spies, trained killers and Soviet agents. He was driven as much by a need to avenge the death of his parents as by patriotism or loyalty to British Intelligence. His first adventures were written in a more light-hearted manner than the latter ones.

The final five books in the series (in bold below) featured his nemesis, Feramontov, a deadly and highly skilled Russian agent, whose ruthlessness went as far as trying to detonate a nuclear bomb.

1. Secret Ministry (1951) – republished in the US as The Nazi Assassins
2. This Traitor, Death (1952)
3. Dead Man Falling (1953)
4. Intrigue (1954)
5. Height of Day (1955)
6. High Requiem (1956)
7. Johnny Goes North (1956)
8. Johnny Goes East (1958)
9. Johnny Goes West (1959)
10. Johnny Goes South (1959)
11. The Head (1960)
12. Undertow (1962)
13. Hammerhead (1963) – republished in the US as Shockwave, probably as a book and film with the same title appeared by James Mayo about a secret agent called Charles Hood.*
14. Feramontov (1966)
15. Timelock (1967)
16. Sunburst (1971).

 

Official Desmond Cory website - http://www.desmondcory.com/

 
A 2012 review of Desmond Cory’s Fedora novels can be found at http://www.existentialennui.com/

* James Mayo was the penname of Stephen Coulter, a friend of Ian Fleming; apparently, he helped Fleming with some background on Casino Royale. According to Wikipedia, he was born in 1914 and is still alive, though his last book was published in 1988.

How could I be so low? - Solo-2

Interesting. I’ve been taken to task regarding a part of my review of Solo:

The first part is uneventful and is unlikely to hook modern-day thriller readers. The tone and style are leisurely, like some of the Bond works, but they held the attention, this barely does that. Apart from a bloody dream/risen memory of D-Day events in France, Bond is not involved in any action. He meets an attractive woman and inadvertently becomes a voyeur. Boyd’s writing a novel, it would seem, not a thriller. I’ve read Boyd’s books and they’re good. This is a disappointment, in contrast.

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, and not everyone is bound to agree with everyone else; reading – and writing – are inevitably subjective. Still, reviewing what I wrote, it seemed fair comment on my part. To paraphrase, the writer says that I was mistaken when stating ‘the first part is uneventful’, since there was 'heaps happening', adding that this section was setting up the story and Bond books shouldn’t be confused with the pyrotechnics of the cinema version. If I seem to yearn for the all-action scenes of the films, I fail to see where I do so in this review…

In truth, by showing the dream/flashback Boyd was attempting to provide a little background to his Bond, but it didn’t ring true. There was no event in the story to trigger the memory of so long ago. Yes, it was the first time he faced almost certain death. But he’d confronted death so many times since, that particular instance would pale into insignificance. There was no conflict, suspense, genuine intrigue or tension in the present (1969). Story without conflict of some kind is no story.
In Solo, Boyd finally links Bond to M in the third chapter (p32).

A hasty glance at Fleming’s books can be instructive.

Casino Royale (1953) begins with the mission already in flow, the intrigue spelled out, and we’re privy to spycraft techniques. M shows up in Chapter 2 (p14).

Live and Let Die (1954) thrusts Bond straight into a combined mission with the Americans against a certain Mr Big. The interview with M is in Chapter 2 (p11).

Moonraker (1955) does begin with a slight yet highly interesting departure from the previous two books. We glean more insight into the spy’s tradecraft and daily office routine, and there is no actual conflict, though a measure of intrigue. M is introduced in Chapter 2 (p12).

Diamonds are Forever (1956) begins not with Bond but the diamond smugglers, the death of a scorpion and intrigue. Bond and M are introduced in Chapter 2 (p12).

From Russia with Love (1957) again departs from the formula. The first part – some 70 pages – doesn’t actually feature Bond, though he is mentioned. Instead, we meet Red Grant in Chapter 1; it’s tension, character conflict, intrigue all the way, however, for the entire part. (A pedantic aside. Fleming gets it right. The book is separated in parts, but the chapter numbers continue throughout, from 1 through to 28. Boyd gets it wrong. He breaks up Solo into parts but begins each part with Chapter 1. If he had broken up Solo into Books, then yes, the chapters could begin with 1 for each ‘book’.) Bond finally meets M in Chapter 12 (p84).

Dr. No (1958) is back to the old routine and begins with the death of Strangways in Jamaica. In Chapter 2 (p12) M confronts Bond about his near fatal confrontation with Rosa Klebb in the previous assignment. (Boyd makes no mention of Bond’s previous assignments, ostensibly in You Only Live Twice). Then Bond is sent off to Jamaica on a ‘personnel problem’.

Goldfinger (1959) sees Bond again thrust into action straight away, combatting a drug smuggling Mexican and settling a score. We learn about Goldfinger in Chapter 2 (p20) and finally get to see M in Chapter 5 (p40).

Thunderball (1961) begins with just over six pages with M telling Bond he needs a rest at a health resort, Shrublands; conflict over his health. Intrigue about another attendee Count Lippe is raised in Chapter 2 and in the next chapter Bond is almost torn apart on the rack, thanks to Count Lippe… (p31).

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1963) again starts with threat and intrigue – Bond and his girl Tracy being abducted by armed men on the beach of Royale-les-Eaux. (Incidentally, here Fleming lets Bond visit the grave of Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale). While M doesn’t appear till p71, he is in Bond’s and our minds as 007 writes a letter of resignation, feeling he’s wasting his time hunting Blofeld and SPECTRE (Chapter 2, p17); again, there’s a reference to the preceding adventure).  

You Only Live Twice (1964) begins with Bond being entertained by Tiger Tanaka, head of the Japanese Secret Service and the chapter ends with Tiger warning Bond that the information he is about to glean is deadly serious. Then it’s a flashback to two months before, with Bond liable to get the sack as a result of the terrible trauma of the last episode, though M is inveigled by the service doctor to give Bond one last mission, in Japan (Chapter 3, p28).

As can be seen, for all the novels there is a formula that is hardly ever greatly altered: conflict either direct or implied, with M interviewing Bond early on. The biggest departure is in From Russia With Love, but there’s a good measure of intrigue and the promise of conflict to keep the pages turning. The rest tend to create conflict of one kind or another for Bond – not non-threatening flashbacks. The conflict can be physical, from criminals or villains, or psychological, due to his stress and health. In Solo, there is a plot reason for Bond getting involved with Bryce Fitzjohn, though it’s rather outlandish; but having him break into her empty house on the pretext given is very contrived. And that is the only actual event in the first Part (up to p30), if you discount Bond’s displeasure with the painters and decorators of his Chelsea home. [Throughout this and my earlier review I have been at pains not to provide any spoilers. This is my opinion, after all, and I have no wish to spoil another's reader enjoyment].

Solo, Chapter 2 (really the fourth chapter, p42) is titled ‘Homework’. Sadly, while I feel that Boyd did some homework on Bond, he didn’t do enough. And I see no reason to alter my review.