LADY FROM L.U.S.T.

       Eve Drum is an agent for L.U.S.T.
       As the West's love for spy fiction reached its highest point with James Bond on the screen and Napoleon Solo on the television, it was natural that publishers would branch out with series geared totally towards a love of down-and-dirty sex. The year 1967 was a heyday for such prurient entertainment as the Man from O.R.G.Y., first out in 1965, was joined by the Coxeman and the Man from T.O.M.C.A.T. They were accompanied by the Lady from L.U.S.T.
       Eve Drum works for the League of Undercover Spies and Terrorists. She fights against the Humanitarian Alliance of Total Espionage. Until you look at the acronyms, you'd have to be confused who were the good guys. On one side you have Terrorists against an Humanitarian Alliance. Then you look again to see it is Lust against Hate. Just shows something, I guess!
       The origin of L.U.S.T. is said to have been a 'natural child of the State Department by way of the CIA'. The task of the organization, run by the ever horny David Anderjanian, is 'to do those things that must be done to preserve peace throughout the world'.
       Its key agent is the delectable Drum, a woman determined to give her all again and again in the service of her country. For protection, she has a pair of 38's that will knock 'em dead every time. It is not revealed how many other agents L.U.S.T. has but perhaps with Drum other agents are really necessary.
       The first series ran for 18 books from 1967-1972. Eve came back for more action three years later and stayed for several adventures before leaving for good.

       There is confusion about the proper ordering of these books which results in the fact that the first series was published by Tower (1-13) and then Belmont (14-16 as well as 1-4 again) and then Belmont-Tower (17-18). A year or so later, Belmont-Tower re-ran the series but with many of the books in a different order. This information comes from a fun site on the series, Lady From Lust Checklist.
       The order I use herein is from the first set.

       As spy books, these adventures are a waste. As titillating books, these are almost a waste. The writing is deplorable, the action, other than sexual, is almost non-existant, the dialogue laughable, and everything else is bad, too.
       Apparently, however, they sold well enough to have the publisher come out with two different series. The first one sold good enough to go 18 books. That's a lot of books. I can't see why, and I am a guy who loves to read about a good romp. The trouble I saw was that there were none. But millions of copies seem to put me in the minority.

My Grade: D

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