Night Boat to Paris by Richard Jessup

Night Boat to Paris by Richard JessupNight Boat to Paris by Richard Jessup

 A very entertaining adventure story with great characters, plenty of action, and excellent writing. It is primarily a heist novel that’s wrapped inside a spy mission. Our hero, Duncan Reece, is pulled out of espionage retirement to serve his country just this one last time. The robbery’s spoils, which Reece will be allowed to keep, is cover for the real target, a microfilm of a Soviet blueprint for a military space station that could potentially end the cold war with Russia the victor.

Reece accepts the mission more for its massive payoff, than for his patriotic spirit, and begins assembling a ragtag team of outsiders, each with their own skillset and baggage. The team relocates to a remote farmhouse where Reece runs them through training exercises to ensure their success. Then it’s on to the mission itself, where of course, not everything occurs as intended.

Reece perseveres with complications as the tension and action continues with a chase adventures in the mountains of France.

All said, Night Boat to Paris is a terrific heist/spy/chase novel with near non-stop action. Originally published by Dell in 1956, it was Jessup’s fourth novel and already shows his command of the medium.

Freak Show by Jacquin Sanders

Freak Show by Jacquin Sanders

A deep-dive character study of a roughneck outsider and his serial attempts to find his place in a fickle world. As Jacquin Sanders’ (1922–2001) first novel begins, Bat Fidler drifts into a traveling carnival and takes…

Off Duty by Andrew Coburn

BG49: Off Duty by Andrew Coburn

Layered, noirish tale exposing the tangled pasts of two dirty cops from Beantown. One, the big shot, is entrenched in corruption and the abuse of power. The other, with a more centered compass, only dripped his…

The Fifth Grave by Jonathan Latimer

The Fifth Grave by Jonathan Latimer

Latimer wrote five detective novels about PI William Crane in the 1930s, prior to this standalone novel that was originally released in 1941 as Solomon’s Vineyard in the UK. Judged too graphic for the American market,…

Blonde Bait by Stephen Marlowe

Blonde Bait by Stephen Marlowe

Black Gat 47 Chuck Odlum has less excuse than many of his ilk for falling head-over-heels into the irresistible pull of the black hole that is noir. He married money, Inez Cameron, owner of the flourishing…

Three Aces from Stark House

Three Aces from Stark House

Stark House Press’ first foray into the library of Ace PBOs is their latest collection: Three Aces. It includes the following novels: The Gilded Hideaway by Peter Twist, In at the Kill by Emmett McDowell, and…

Stealing Through Life by Ernest Booth

Stealing Through Life by Ernest Booth

Staccato Crime 008 Long out of print, Stealing Through Life is the perfect complement to the earlier Staccato reprint, Grimhaven by Robert Joyce Tasker. Tasker and Booth were both inmates in San Quentin and became friends…