Forgotten Books: THE SLAVERS -- Richard Telfair

I believe this is the fifth and final book in the Monty Nash spy series, but it might be the fourth. The last two were both published in 1961. Telfair was a pen name used by Richard Jessup for both westerns and crime novels from Gold Medal and Dell. I've read a lot of those novels and enjoyed most of them.

The Monty Nash books seem to annoy a lot of readers, but I get a kick out of them. I think Jessup deliberately set out to write an over-the-top spy series and have a good time doing it. Nash is so tough that he makes Matt Helm seem like a sentimentalist. Here's an example from The Slavers: "It takes a lot of man to shoot someone down in cold blood, especially a woman. I'm a lot of man."

These are Cold War thrillers:

"'We knew others were in on it."

"'Others?'"

"'The Reds.'"

"'Yes, there is only one enemy.'"

I'd go on to describe the plot, but the back cover blurb does a better job than I could, so you can just read it.  Note the reference to the "ladykiller with a Luger."  Nash is irresistible to women.  Would you have expected anything else?  The action's constant, and Nash's narration is amusing.  Throw in the Arab slavers, some Africans right out of Burroughs, and a bit of sentiment, and you have a pretty good idea of what's in the book.  I may be in the minority, but I had fun reading this one again.