LITTLE AL OF THE SECRET SERVICE

Al Conway is an agent with the F.B.I.

He is also an agent with the Secret Service.

Dubbed 'Little Al' because of his short stature, no one who has had a run-in with Conway would ever make his height-challenge known out of embarrassment about being taken down so easily by a 'shrimp'. Conway definitely is of shorter elevation than most men and a lot shorter than his fellow agent and friend, Ox Collins, but with this impressive strength and his skills with hand-to-hand combat, he is a powerful opponent. As it is mentioned early on, he was not made captain of the jujitsu club at college for no reason.

Prior to becoming an agent with these two organizations, Conway attended Blakely College where he not only was an all-around athlete, becoming the record holder for the hurdles, he was also routinely bringing home top honors in Math, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. He knew he could easily write his own ticket just about anywhere but his hopes were with the Bureau.

Helping Little Al, as he calls himself as does his bosses, is Ox Collins, a fellow agent who stands more than head above the diminutive agent but who learned the hard way in a training exercise just how deadly Conway can be. Ox looks like a bit of a lummox but he is pretty sharp and capable of doing the job well, proving to be a valuable colleague.

Conway is engaged to the pretty but fiery Marcia Crane, a blonde with a mind of her own. We meet her in Conway's second adventure and she will be either involved in or at least mentioned in most of the other missions. She, too, makes no bones about his height, calling him at least once "little man". Marcia is frequently annoyed she is left out of his investigations, feeling she has a lot to contribute despite not being a trained agent.

The first six recorded adventures we have of Little Al Conway has him proudly working for the F.B.I., working on a mixture of criminal and espionage cases. Then both he and Ox Collins are suddenly working for the Secret Service, though several of the missions he performs for the latter are not typical for that organization and more in keeping with an Intelligence organization.

Conway is a big-time wise cracker, always having a clever line or three to annoy his adversaries. They do not appreciate his humor and seem to respond quickly with a sap to the back of his head. He gets knocked out a good number of times.

Ox Collins, at one point, says, "Gee, Little Al! You may be short but your brain sure is powerful big!"

The short (I had to say it, didn't I?) series about Little Al is interesting in several ways.

First, it made the attempt to give the character a life outside the work with not only introducing a fiancee for the man but also having her a part of many of the adventures. Even when she is not actually in the story, she is usually mentioned at least once.

Second, while the missions that Conway goes on are serious and the bad guys definitely bad and dangerous, the author would occasionally drop a moment or two of levity into things. This lightened the tales a touch without pushing them into the slapstick or farce category.

Third, with the introduction of a sidekick in Ox Collins, the writer(s) could have made him a buffoon, thus showing just how perfect Little Al was, especially when they dubbed him 'Ox' but they chose not to. Collins actually saves Little Al's life a time or two and not through a pratfall but through solid action.

I was actually impressed overall with this series and sorry that it did not last longer.

Little Al's sudden and unexplained switch from the F.B.I. to the Secret Service was an oddity, though.