Merit Badge Murder by Leslie Langtry--funny, really enjoyed this book! 1st in the Merry Wrath Mystery series. Merry is a CIA operative who has been "outed", and moves to her small, everybody knows everybody, hometown to hide out. While there, she helps out with a local scout troop, and on a camp-out discovers the body of an enemy agent. Then another enemy agent. Really loved this!
Housewife Assassin's Handbook by Josie Brown--a mystery, but more of a romance. It was okay. Donna Stone is the housewife assassin. Her husband had been a spy, and was killed, but she pretends he is just away (a lot) on business--for several years. To avenge him, she volunteers to be an assassin. Then, she is asked to allow another agent to take over her husband's identity, and move into her home with her and her children, to look for enemy agents in her neighborhood.
Murder as a Second Language by Joan Hess--featuring Claire Malloy,
now married to Peter Rosen. I enjoyed this as much as the other books
in the series. Claire, her daughter Caron, and Caron's friend Inez volunteer to teach English to immigrants--Caron and Inez because they think it will look good on their college applications, Claire because she is bored. Someone Claire has met is killed, and Claire gets involved in trying to solve the murder.
And there are a lot of Matt Helm books that I read while camping. My notes aren't very long, several of them were re-reads.
Matt Helm is a spy, but he is a lot different than James Bond. Helm is
rougher around the edges than Bond, and seems to have to deal with more
inter-agency problems that Bond seems to avoid most of the time. I
really enjoyed all of the Helm books, although some are a bit dated.
They also have a lot of killing in them, and other types of violence.
The Wrecking Crew by Donald Hamilton--1960--re-read. Helm is sent to Sweden to kill an enemy agent. There is a lot of violence in this one.
The Removers by Donald Hamilton--1961--re-read. Helm is called by his ex-wife to protect her and the children from mobsters, and discovers her new husband is a former mobster himself.
The Silencers by Donald Hamilton--1962--re-read.Helm is sent to Mexico to get a female agent out, but before he can, she is killed. Her sister ends up helping him when he has to protect a number of scientists and politicians.
Murderer's Row by Donald Hamilton--1962--(bought 09/29/2013) finished 08/2014 When Helm is assigned to beat a female agent to make her act as a disintegrating agent, drinking and disillusioned, more believable, she dies during the beating. Helm has to take over her assignment, while dealing with the woman's partner, who blames Helm for the death.
The Ambushers by Donald Hamilton--1963--(bought 10/08/2013) finished 08/2014 Helm is sent to South America to assassinate a man, and then gets caught up in a plot by an ex-Nazi to use a stolen nuclear missle to threaten the U.S.
The Shadowers by Donald Hamilton--1964--(bought 12/14/2013) finished 09/2014 Helm is assigned to take out Emil Taussig, who has a plan to eliminate top scientists and politicians world wide to make it easy for a Russian attack.
The Ravagers by Donald Hamilton--1964--An agent fails to report in, and Helm is sent to Canada to check it out. Helm finds the agent dead in a gruesome way, and is then assigned to protect a top scientist's wife (who's been having an affair with a Russian agent) and daughter--knowing that it is possible that the wife is the one to have killed the previous agent. I think this is one of my favorite Matt Helm books so far. The plot is tricky, and keeps you guessing throughout the story.
The Devastators by Donald Hamilton--1965--Helm is sent to London, and eventually ends up in Scotland, trying to prevent a madman from releasing a highly potent version of the Black Plague on the world.
The Betrayers by Donald Hamilton--1966--Helm has some vacation time, and decides to go to Hawaii. Before he leaves, Mac, his boss, mentions that another agent is in charge in Hawaii--an agent that doesn't like Helm, and who Helm has never been impressed with, as he enjoys blowing things up, even when it isn't necessary. Helm decides to go anyway, and Mac suggests that while he is there he find out what is going on with the Hawaii branch.
The Menacers by Donald Hamilton--1968--re-read. An interesting story, involving UFOs, and the people who see them. Helm's attitude toward UFO reflects what a lot of people think. I enjoyed this story as i re-read it, as it has been several years and I had forgotten a lot of the details.
Four of the books by Donald Hamilton count toward my Read it Again, Sam Challenge.
Three of the Donald Hamilton books also count towards my Mt. TBR Reading Challenge.
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