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PENELOPE STANDISH

standish_penelope_bk_sdib hamilton_lucas_bk_fd hamilton_lucas_bk_aib
 
Full Name: Penelope Standish
Nationality: British
Organization: MI6
Occupation Agent

Creator: Neil Maresca
Time Span: 2017 - 2022

ABOUT THE SERIES

Penelope Standish is an agent with MI6.

The action that we follow her on takes place during the second half of the 1950s. Our introduction to her comes in a set of adventures about an American agent with the CIA, Lucas Hamilton. In the first of those tales, her role is extremely small and if there was anything more to her than the fact she was "the long British Student Ambassador" on a sojourn to Berlin along with a small number of American college students, it was not even hinted at. In fact, when we first meet her the initial mention of her, other than the color of her hair, which is red, is that she was "talking non-stop" to a friend. That, and she seemed at times to just take up space, as if an extra in a motion picture.

Back then she was described by Hamilton as being "a little too plump, a little too talkative, a little too eager to make friends, with hair far too red." That changes drastically in the second Lucas adventure, taking place later that year, when we are told, again by him, that "She had changed a great deal, slimmed down, toned up, and let her hair return to its natural auburn color; and tonight, in her 'little black dress', she was quite alluring, but still, a little too friendly" (Hamilton being naturally suspicious of everyone.)

While she was largely backdrop in the first appearance, she plays a major role in the second and shows over and again that she is a very good, albeit still fairly new, operative. She shows her worth several times to Hamilton in that exciting escapade they had in South Africa, and he to her, including being able to put down an enemy quickly and efficiently when needed. Her professional star might have really shown as a result of their work had it not been for a misogynistic boss who had no use for women in MI6 and even less for those who "went around ... shooting people", even if said people were MI6 traitors. And being half Irish did not help matters as tensions between England and Ireland were again getting heated.

Where she really would come into her own, though, is in the solo adventure we are allowed to follow shortly thereafter. When she gets transferred to Berlin, her abilities as an operative really come out.

BOOKS

Number of Books:3
First Appearance:2017
Last Appearance:2022

1 Appointment In Berlin Appointment In Berlin
Written by Neil Maresca
Copyright: 2017

Book 1 in the Lucas Hamilton series.
As Lucas Hamilton gets involved in troubles in Berlin including a major tangle with the infamous Stasi, Penelope Standish plays a very small role, supposedly at the time as a British representative in Eisenhower's Student Ambassador program.
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2 Freedom's Dawn Freedom's Dawn
Written by Neil Maresca
Copyright: 2018

Book 2 in the Lucas Hamilton series.
"It’s 1957, and South Africa is set to explode as the white minority forces apartheid on the black majority.
Khrushchev’s chief mischief-maker, General Dunayevsky has decided to exploit the situation, and has charged Cornelis Bos, code-name “The Director,” to spark a revolution. As thousands of “Freedom Marchers” descend on South Africa’s capitol, Pretoria, The Director pits black militants against whites, and white extremists against blacks.
MI-6 is compromised, and the CIA has been sidelined. It seems that nothing can stop The Director from starting a bloodbath—nothing, that is, except, newly-minted CIA agent, Lucas Hamilton, and a pretty, green-eyed, half-Irish MI-6 agent, Penelope Standish. Together they fight assassins, seduction, betrayal—and each other—to avert disaster and save South Africa."
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3 Seven Days In Baghdad Seven Days In Baghdad
Written by Neil Maresca
Copyright: 2022

"MI6 agent Penelope Standish attracts danger faster than a fighter jet attracts a heat seeking missile— usually with the same explosive results. Before she is in Baghdad 24 hours, Penelope has witnessed the murder of a colleague, seen her new friend Beatrice Marston abducted, and spent a night in the custody of the notorious Iraqi Security Force (ISF). To make matters worse, she arrives at her new post just as British authority in the region is declining and Arab nationalism is on the rise. Inspired by Nasser’s success in Egypt, a secret organization within the military is planning to overthrow the British supported Hashemite monarchy."
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MY COMMENTS

I have not talked with the author to be able to ask about Penelope Standish in the first book; questions like was she a throw-away character or did he have something planned but did not go through with it or did he use her but then edit those pages out for some reason. As a nosy reader, I am kinda really curious because she is there in that book but served no real purpose other than being there. And yet in the second book, he molded her into someone quite interesting and fun to follow. And then, after another Lucas Hamilton book in which she was not present, other than being mentioned once, he goes on and writes a darn good thriller with her as the main character.

Whatever the reason, these action-packed books are fun to read.

GRADE

My Grade: B+

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