SAXON ASHE

Saxon Ashe is an agent with British Intelligence.

For all of his work in the secret clandestine service, Ashe is one of the most recognized people in all of Europe in the late 30s, though in his normal persona, no one would notice him. Where he is instantly noticed and applauded is when he is decked out in the colorful greasepaint that is the primary attribute of his alter-ego, the famous and adored clown, Bibobi.

On walls and trees and fences and anything that can hold adhesive, pictures of the famous entertainer get plastered into place as the circus travels around the continent and long after the troupe has moved to other venues, the images remain for the elements to slowly, gradually tear away the paper but in the meanwhile, anytime people were out and about, they would get a glimpse of Bibobi and often smile when remembering his amazing performances.

At the same time as he tours and visits capitals and backwoods locales alike, without his face painted he can pass without notice which is just as he wants it. Collecting intelligence for the British government, he can legitimately provide a reason for his being just about anywhere and should a guard get too upset with his snooping, a couple of free tickets to the often sold-out performances usually placates the sentry enough for Ashe to go on his way.

As part of his highly entertaining act, Ashe/Bibobi uses a lot of props, including throwing knives, and his incredible dexterity comes in handy on many an occasion in the field where a split second hesitation can mean death to himself or someone he cares about. Even more important is his impressive skill with makeup and disguises for those times when it is vital he be someone else, occasionally at a moment's notice.

When I started this series, I had no idea what I would find. The covers were hardly informative. There was nothing of much use on the Internet. There were not real blurbs from the publisher. [I did find a review from the N.Y.Times from back then but they wanted me to pay to read it and I was too cheap.] All I really knew was that the main character was a clown with lots of tricks and he was a spy.

Did "clown" mean he was a bumbler or an actual grease-painted entertainer (yes to the latter). The reference to tricks could have meant anything and after reading it, I found it was accurate as Saxon Ashe does have a lot of tricks up his sleeves to get out of trouble. In fact one of the best parts of this series is the way he gets out of jams. The part about being a spy was so open-ended as to mean anything. Thus I entered with no notions of what I would find.

What I found was extremely good writing, fantastic character building, suspense and drama and lots more. The author got me hooked from the first pages and kept me hooked and for that I am grateful. I regret there were only two adventures but then again, "always leave 'em wanting more" may be at play and if so, it worked.