Night Boat to Paris

I've really enjoyed Stark House Press's recent spotlight on author Richard Jessup. He wrote over 60 novels, including the excellent five-book series of spy adventures starring Monty Nash. Additionally, Jessup experienced success with his western, The Cincinnati Kid, which was adapted into a Steve McQueen-led film. Along with reprinting Jessup's Port Angelique and Wolf Cop, Stark House Press also released the author's 1956 Dell paperback Night Boat to Paris as a Black Gat Book. 

Jessup's formula uses a familiar setup, often found in westerns, to drive the plot. The concept is the retired gunfighter, bandit, or bounty hunter wrangled back into “one more job”. By the mid 20th century, imaginative authors had transformed the idea into a more contemporary setting, often in crime fiction, as con-artists, heist specialists, and other seedy fellows are convinced “one more job” will score the grandest prize of all. Under the hands of thrilling writers like Lionel White and Dan J. Marlowe, those novels thrived with threads of desperation and treachery while the anti-hero judged his self-perception and worth.

Night Boat to Paris is unique in that it combines this same concept, the retired gunman back on the trail, with a sweeping European spy chase. Jessup's superb plot, melding heist and espionage, recalls the high-adventure cornerstones like Jack Higgins and Hammond Innes. Yet his prose is comparable to the conversational tone of Donald Hamilton's memorable Matt Helm novels. 

In the book's opener, Reece, a former British secret agent, is minding his own business running a small bar in England. His former boss calls him back into action to chase down a microfilm that every country in the world is clamoring for. While the details of the microfilm, its current owner, and the nefarious parties involved are all dense and too specific, the mission is simple: knock over a highly influential dinner party and steal the microfilm from the Russian. 

Reece and intelligence design a heist operation, one that is disguised as a simple hit and run, stealing money and jewelry from all the suits and ties. Under this operation, Reece hits the streets to recruit the best heist guys in the business. The lucrative payout is enticing, and soon Reece and his gang of thieves are training at a farmhouse in France. This is the best part of heist novels for me – the organization of who does what and where. I just love how these jobs come together in vintage paperbacks. Any author worth his salt can infuse so much characterization and subplots into this portion of the heist build-up. Jessup introduces a clever rivalry between the men and two Italian specialists. This will pay dividends in the book's stirring finale. 

Soon, Reece and the men are in full-swing and begin the heist. As always, complications ensue, and changes are made on the fly. The book's second half morphs into getaway mode as the team escapes into the French countryside to avoid the law. It's here that Jessup plays a few more wild cards by introducing a female character who will play a hand in Reece's escape strategy. Additionally, a surprise twist reveals that one of the men is a secret Russian operative.

Night Boat to Paris is the best book I've read thus far in 2026. Jessup was just a phenomenal storyteller, and his stand-alone crime-fiction, spy, and heist novels are top-shelf entertainment. This is an easy recommendation. Get on this Night Boat to Paris as soon as possible. 

Get the book HERE.

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet #01 - Stand by for Mars!

According to the Tom Corbett Website, Grosset & Dunlap began publishing the Tom Corbett Space Cadet juvenile novels in 1952. These were a tie-in to the established television character and the Rockhill Radio IP. There were eight books in the published series from 1952 to 1955, all using the house name Carey Rockwell. There has never been a definitive answer on who actually wrote the books, but speculation is that it could have been Richard Jessup or G&D editor Joe Green.

Tom Corbett first appeared on CBS television in 1950 before moving to ABC in 1951. The show remained on air, with various networks, through 1955. Corbett also appeared on the radio in 1952, in 14 Dell comics from 1952-1955, and in Sunday newspaper strips between 1951 to 1953. My only experience with the character, like most readers, is the G&D books, which I still see from time to time in used bookstores. 

I decided to try the character out with the series debut, Stand by for Mars!, originally published in 1952. 

The setting for the series is the 24th century, 2350. All of the inner planets have been colonized by humans. Earth is a commonwealth shared by Mars and Venus. Solar Guard units are stationed in different parts of the universe, each monitoring shipping and passenger commutes while conducting various experiments. Somewhere in the North American Midwest, there's an academy to train men and women vowing to join the Solar Guard. This is where we first meet Tom, on day one of his training as a cadet. 

Roger Manning, like Tom, is from Earth. As a fellow cadet, Roger is consistently tormenting Tom and a man from Venus named Astro. This conflict is the central plot of the book – the trio's ability to work together cohesively through training and actual operations. Roger seems to have a great burden on his shoulders, one that he distributes emotionally and physically to his cadet mates. At one point, Tom and Roger have a fistfight in the facility gym. Awkwardly, Roger strives for companionship, but simply doesn't know how to coexist with his teammates. This is a mystery that permeates the book's second half – Roger's secret. Fortunately, the reveal pays off in the book's emotional finale.

As I was reading Stand by for Mars!, I kept thinking of other series titles that shared similarities with the book. The trials and tribulations heaped on Tom during training reminded me of R.A. Salvatore's The Legend of Drizzt series of Forgotten Realms novels. That character is forced to make alliances while also combating other students during his training. The debut, Homeland, featured Drizzt's time in the Academy. Another similar title is the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, complete with the alliances and rivalries forged at Hogwarts, a school of magic. Like Stand by for Mars!, that series features a combat sport in which the students must rely on each other to score goals and win for their team (or house). 

Most of Stand by for Mars! features Tom, Roger, and Astro working as a trio to overcome mathematical and engineering problems during their training classes and final. However, their education pays off when they are thrust into a real scenario of answering a rescue beacon from another ship. The action also includes a shipwreck, an 8-day survival quest through a hot desert, and some intense battle planning as the trio is forced to make quick decisions to defend a faux invasion. 

Overall, this Tom Corbett debut was highly entertaining. I connected to the character, enjoyed Astro's comical scenes, and found Roger detestable. All three characters, and their emotional baggage, helped elevate the storytelling. I'm all in. Stand by for the next installment!

Get Stand by for Mars! HERE

Port Angelique

Richard Jessup authored over 60 novels over his three decades as a published novelist. His most popular literary contribution is the five-book spy-fiction series Monty Nash and his western novel The Cincinnati Kid, which was adapted to a film starring Steve McQueen. Stark House Press published the author's Night Boat to Paris as a Black Gat Book in 2025, and they followed with this twofer containing two of Jessup's 1961 novels, Wolf Cop and Port Angelique. I reviewed the former already (here), so this review addresses Port Angelique. 

Jessup's Port Angelique is an ambitious effort that features a variety of plots and over a dozen characters that fight for the reader's attention. Unlike Wolf Cop, or many of Jessup's fast-paced plot-propelled narratives, there isn't a main character or protagonist. Instead, this is an ensemble cast of islanders that each have their own life obstacles, challenges, and goals that share in the responsibility of maintaining the island and village.

The character I felt a closeness with is Stanley Fowler, the police commissioner of Port Angelique, a small fictitious Caribbean island in possession of the United States. Fowler's nemesis is a career criminal named Sabo de Chine, an islander that Fowler ran off years ago. However, Sabo has been spotted once again in Port Angelique and rumors abound that he's back with a new gang of criminals Hellbent on retrieving millions that Sabo left behind on his earlier departure. 

I'm convinced Jessup's goal was to make Port Angelique a sweeping epic, yet was bound by Fawcett's limitation on a thinner page count. If Jessup were to attempt the novel 15 years later, I can foresee a brick book swelling at 350+ pages. When Hemingway was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 (The Old Man and the Sea), his contemporary style affected a number of writers. He defined a new, unique place in adventure fiction that focused on the subtle nuances of foreign locales and a careful character study of the inhabitants. 

Jessup's conjuring of Hemingway, albeit with lesser poetic synergy, is a valiant effort to present this exotic culture rich with traditions, rituals, and customs. The author creates a fictional history of an Aztec adventurer named Xochimilco (named after the Aztec canal system) that battled Cortes in the early 1500s. Providing cultural texture to the region, Jessup includes narration on the island's fishing development, laborers, barkeeps, prostitutes, dime-store criminals, drug running, and political strife dominating the region. 

Port Angelique is a challenging narrative with many moving parts. There's a bit of dedication involved in remembering the alliances and characters involved in the crafty development. While it doesn't require a Game of Thrones org chart, you do need to read this in one or two sittings for full effect. As a character study, the novel simply wins. It doesn't pretend to be a high-octane treasure-hunting adventure novel, but part of me was still hopeful it would transition into that for the third act. 

Get the book HERE.

Wolf Cop

I enjoyed my experience with Richard Jessup's Monty Nash series of hard-hitting spy-fiction novels, a five-book run he published under the pseudonym Richard Telfair for Fawcett Gold Medal. In reading up on Jessup, he had a remarkable literary career that spanned three decades and more than 60 books. The Savannah, Georgia native spent his early years as a merchant seaman before transitioning into a career as a full-time novelist. Jessup wrote across many genres, including western, espionage, action-adventure, young adult, and crime-fiction.

Jessup has gained the attention of Stark House Press recently, with the stellar publishing company reprinting his 1956 novel Night Boat to Paris (Dell) as a Black Gat Book in 2025, and they followed a few months later with a beautiful twofer containing the author's 1961 offerings Wolf Cop and Port Angelique (Fawcett Gold Medal). This review focuses on Wolf Cop.

Unlike most mid-20th-century police procedurals, Jessup places Wolf Cop in an unnamed midwestern town, probably Cleveland, based on places featured in the narrative. The protagonist is Tony Serella, a police sergeant who has recently transitioned from robberies to homicide. This promotion opens up new cases for Serella, but also requires that he complete the remaining 14 robbery cases. It's a lot of work, but Serella prefers it that way. He's a career cop, focused on nothing more than the next case. He's single, void of any social pipelines, and has few aspirations for anything beyond the badge. 

Jessup's narrative is a winding plethora of unrelated cases, propelled by three rigorous crimes that compete for Serella's time. There's a case of three homicides that may feature the same killer, a narcotics bust that may stop an impending bank vault heist, and a large turf showdown of prime-time players that may bathe the city in blood. With the enormous pressure of working these investigations comes a complex judicial hearing regarding Serella's physical confrontation with a young assailant. Serella's emotional defense ties into his relationships with department heads – those supporting his decorated servitude and the bullheaded powerhouses wanting failure. The sprinkling of Serella's relationship with a young woman provides a unique look at a career investment plagued by loneliness.

While I haven't read many of Jessup's novels, I can't imagine any of his novels dethroning Wolf Cop as his best work. This is a powerhouse police procedural that presents so many facets of the job, some that are somewhat ignored by other notable authors dedicated to the procedural craft. The transition from departments is an elementary yet pivotal plot device that thrives under Jessup's clever imagination. With these cases comes an ensemble cast of pushers, users, tramps, and nefarious wiseguys all looking for deals to either bypass the law or simply upend it. Through these tense scenes, the bullets start to fly, elevating the narrative's most dramatic moments into a frenzy of violence. 

Wolf Cop is a stirring police novel that easily competes with the best of the business, Ed McBain's 87th Precinct and Frank E. Smith's Pete Selby. Highest possible recommendation. Get it HERE.

Monty Nash #01 - The Bloody Medallion

According to Spy Guys and Gals, Richard Telfair was a pseudonym used by Richard Jessup (1925-1982). Jessup authored westerns, pulp stories, and espionage, but was mostly known for his novel The Cincinnati Kid, which was adapted to film starring Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson. My first experience with Jessup is The Bloody Medallion. It was the first of five spy-fiction novels starring Montgomery Nash, a U.S. operative working for the Department of Counter Intelligence. The Bloody Medallion was originally published in 1959 by Fawcett Gold Medal and has since been reprinted in both digital and paperback versions. 

It is explained to readers that Nash works in the European section of the DCI and has a background as an attorney and WW2 veteran. This European section is made up of two-man teams that blanket the continent taking the war to the people who would make war with the US. His partner is a guy named Paul Austin. In the early pages, Nash receives a cryptic phone call from Austin with map coordinates and an odd message. Later, the DCI pulls Nash in and explains to him that Austin has changed sides and defected to the Soviet Union. As Nash digests this shocking news, he discovers that the agency has targeted him as a possible collaborator in Austin's defection. Grabbing a gun and a hostage, Nash escapes the agency to clear his name while also attempting to learn more about Austin's betrayal.

Nash tracks Austin's last known whereabouts to a mistress named Helga. With her, Nash learns of a secret society that fought the Nazis in Poland with the help of the Russian army. Each member of the society wears a special medallion that contains a piece of cloth that was dipped in the blood of their fallen comrades in a fateful battle. This secret society now fights international enemies of Russia, with America and other European allies being their chief targets. Just like Austin, Nash falls for Helga and decides to infiltrate the society to learn more about Austin's fate. Jessup's narrative is captivating as Nash learns the society's secrets while also agreeing to assist them in a plot to destroy a drug czar. But, to accomplish the mission he needs to dodge the DCI hitmen and place trust in Helga, a woman who holds a number of valuable secrets. 

I really enjoyed my first experience with Monty Nash. He writes in a hard-boiled, pulpy way which is unusual considering this is a spy-fiction novel. Nash is extremely violent, and I was left awe-inspired when he obliterated a maid's skull with a .45 bullet. His methods are heavy-handed, and not far removed from some of the savage tenacity possessed by Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm. If you love espionage thrillers with double-crosses, dastardly villains, sexy women, and Cold War hysteria, then the Monty Nash series is a mandatory read. I'm anxious to read the next installment. 

Buy a copy of this book HERE.