PAUL DONAVAN

Paul Donavan is an adventurer.

That is the best description for what the man does. He certainly does not work nor does he have a need to. His father, according to him, invented lots of things and those inventions not only made him a ton of money which he was kind enough to leave to his son on his passing, they continue to earn the younger man many millions each year.

So Donavan has no need to earn a living but something has to occupy a person's time and effort and if working doesn't qualify, perhaps getting into trouble does. Of course, that hardly makes sense to anyone except Donavan and even he sometimes has to shrug.

We never learn exactly how old Donavan is but he must be in his late 20s or early 30s (my guess) because he has been around enough to not be fooled by most people and he is athletic enough to get into and out of scrapes without complaining too loudly. He repeatedly catches the eye and interest of a plethora of gorgeous ladies who are also mature enough to know what they want and what to do with it when they get it. No blushing innocent maidens need apply for an adventure with Donavan.

Not that he would take advantage of them if they did. Donavan is a gentleman, or a boy scout as he is described once. He never takes what is not freely offered to him. He doesn't have to since it is offered so often it is amazing he does not get fatigued dressing and stripping. But like a good scout, he is always prepared.

Being the adventure lover that he is, Donavan routinely gets mixed up with a wide variety of unsavory sorts and many of them are interested in overthrowing governments or backing terrorists or just causing world-wide mischief because they can. He would like to claim that he never looks for trouble but that would be a bit of a fib. Donavan comes up with a plot or two of his own and some of them turn out to be explosive.

Aiding Donavan, because all good adventurers should have a sidekick, is Hicks. A British former soldier former mercenary former lots of things is in the employ of Donavan but even though he is a butler and chauffeur and sometimes valet, he is on a first name basis with his boss and will just as likely mix himself a drink along with Donavan's and sit next to him pondering the question more than once, "Are you crazy?" Hicks loves excitement and head-bashing more than most people but the sort of things Donavan gets him into are just a little (i.e. a whole lot) nuts.

I have read so very many times horrible things about the incredibly prolific Alan Yates, writting as Carter Brown. It is almost impossible to come across anything positive about the man except the volume of his output. His books are constantly villoried and defamed and completely dissed. Sure, critics say, he wrote a couple hundred short fast novels but none of them are worth the paper they use.

Me? I own over 130 of them.

That speaks volumes (pun intended) about me. Way too much, I fear.

First, the covers are almost all spectacular. Gorgeous women in an amazingly assorted ways of being largely unclad or just next to it. Many are far better than others but all seem to be worth owning and admiring.

Two, the characters in the books, be they the homicide detective Al Wheeler, the private detective Danny Boyd, the screenwriter Larry Baker, or the other private eye Rick Holman, are always, always, always coming across beauties who have major wardrobe malfunctions all the time. Clothes just keep falling off them.

Three, all these suddenly nude femmes invariably have either ginormous you-knows or those you-knows are just downright perky.

Four, these detectives or whatever are always ready to lend a hand or other parts to help out the poor dears. Always. Seldom a disappointed lady. These guys are troopers!

Five, there is Mavis Seidlitz who shows up more than a few times and is herself a private eye and she also has the more incredibly bizarre accidents and so often end up with her clothes destroyed she must go through a fortune getting restocked.

So, it is firmly established that I am a dirty old man. No argument except I've been this way for fifty years. So I guess I have no real excuse.

If you would like three or four hours of just plain "bang the gun spat a bullet and her bra fell off", this is a series for you.