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Cabinet 12: War & Espionage

Dave Dodge, The Lights of Skaro. London ; Melbourne ; Sydney: Horwitz, 1961. Pulp Literature Special Collections PS3507.O248 L53

Barry Wynne, Count Five & Die. London ; Sydney: Horwitz, 1966. Pulp Literature Special Collections PR9611.W95 C68

Michael Owen, Jungle Red. 1st ed. Sydney: Horwitz, 1964. Pulp Literature Special Collections PR9610.O93 J87

American thriller writer David Francis Dodge (1910-1974) wrote the very successful To Catch a Thief. After buying in his novel, The Lights of Skaro, Horwitz made use of the previous title (somewhat confusingly) to entice potential buyers. Their cover is markedly unlike the first edition British one in that it depicts a member of the Secret Police in the People’s Free Federal Republic menacing Cora Lambert, ‘a high-voltage American newspaper woman’ (blurb).

Barry Wynne’s re-writing of Colonel William Eliscu’s account of ‘Operation Stampede’ forms Count Five & Die, a real life espionage plot that involved Hannie Herodsen, ‘one spy who came in from the cold.’ And it seems that the Aussie commandos in Jungle Red have more than the Japanese to worry about, with publicity blurbs such as ‘She advanced towards him, avoiding the bayonet, and pressed her warm honey-coloured body against his.’

Dave Dodge, The Lights of Skaro. London ; Melbourne ; Sydney: Horwitz, 1961. Pulp Literature Special Collections PS3507.O248 L53

Barry Wynne, Count Five & Die. London ; Sydney: Horwitz, 1966. Pulp Literature Special Collections PR9611.W95 C68

Michael Owen, Jungle Red. 1st ed. Sydney: Horwitz, 1964. Pulp Literature Special Collections PR9610.O93 J87