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MICHAEL KANE

quayle_peter_bk_darkduet_e quayle_peter_bk_darkduet_a quayle_peter_bk_darkduet_b quayle_peter_bk_darkduet quayle_peter_bk_darkduet_i
 
Full Name: Michael Kane
Nationality: British
Organization: British Secret Service
Occupation Agent

Creator: Peter Cheyney
Time Span: 1942 - 1942

ABOUT THE SERIES

Michael Kane is an agent with the British Secret Service.

He answers to a man we firmly believe is Peter Quayle though we only are told of that boss's first name. His ad hoc partner in the four recorded adventures we have of him, Ernie Guelvada, will later be shown to definitely work for Quayle but when we observe Kane in action, his director is unclear. What is not unclear is his determination to follow the instructions of this man to the best of his abilities and as we will observe, those abilities are impressive. Not the least of them, though, is the ability to keep Guelvada from unleashing his decidedly homicidal tendencies - well, most of the time.

A fascinating statement we are told right away says a good deal about Kane: "'The British, once they take the gloves off - once they forget to play cricket, to be English gentlemen - they are the toughest things on earth,' says one German espionage agent to another. And the trouble with Michael Kane is that he never plays cricket with Nazi spies . . ."

"He was tall and slim. But his shoulders were good and his hips very narrow. He appeared lithe. He moved as if he were putting very little energy into the process; as if he could produce much more vitality if necessary. His hands were peculiarly long, narrow and compact for so large a man, and his feet were small. He looked like a man who would be able to dance the tango very well . . . to do most things well . . . if he wanted to.

"The sensitive mouth, the humorous and Celtic cut of the cheekbones, the set of the lips, indicated that he was not wanting in humor. Yet this attribute stayed with the lower part of his face. Above the cheekbones and nose-which was long and quivered at the end when he smiled, so that you wanted to look at it all the time, especially if you were a woman - there appeared a peculiar indefinable grimness. Not a definite grimness associated with a heavy type of face, but something fleeting; certainly not permanent. Directly you had assured yourself that it was there it disappeared and the brow opened and the eyes smiled, and you believed you were wrong. You were . . . but not the way you thought."

"If you had been watching Kane you would have decided, if you were a man, that you liked him. And if you were a woman, that you liked him, but that you wouldn't take many chances about it. Not too many." If you were an enemy, you might not get long to come to an opinion.

It is interesting that at 38 years old, Kane is already pondering whether he had stayed in the kind of work he did too long. Then again, he thinks, what else would he do?


BOOKS

Number of Books:1
First Appearance:1942
Last Appearance:1942

1 Dark Duet Dark Duet
aka The Counterspy Murders
Written by Peter Cheyney
Copyright: 1942

The book contains four stories in adventures of counterespionage with two of Quayles' operatives, Michael Kane and Ernie Guelvada. The locations vary from the U.K. to Ireland and Lisbon, Portugal.
It Doesn't Hurt Much
Sweet Conga
You Can Always Duck
Souvenir
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NOVELLAS AND SHORT STORIES

Number of Stories:4
First Appearance:1942
Last Appearance:1942

1 It Doesn't Hurt Much It Doesn't Hurt Much
novelette
Written by Peter Cheyney
Copyright: 1942

1st of 4 adventures collected in Dark Duet.
The Norwegian rich woman named Mrs. Marques has just arrived in England as a refugee seeking asylum. She is most definitely not a couple of those things (Norwegian or rich or a refugee) but it will fall to Michael Kane and Ernie Guelvada to handle her. And by handle, they mean to kill her.
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2 Sweet Conga Sweet Conga
novelette
Written by Peter Cheyney
Copyright: 1942

2nd of 4 adventures collected in Dark Duet.
Michael Kane and Ernie Guelvada are in Lisbon. They have not been told why they have come to a city filled with German spies but they are certain at least one of those enemy agents is involved in something the pair of operatives are supposed to stop.
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3 You Can Always Duck You Can Always Duck
novella
Written by Peter Cheyney
Copyright: 1942

3rd of 4 adventures collected in Dark Duet.
The German SS is very upset as they lose more and more agents to Michael Kane and Ernie Guelvada. They have come up with a plan to use several imbedded spies in Ireland to go on the homicidal offensive.
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4 Souvenir Souvenir
short story
Written by Peter Cheyney
Copyright: 1942

4th of 4 adventures collected in Dark Duet.
Having stopped the German plan to kill the pair of them in the previous adventure, Michael Kane and Ernie Guelvada have hatched a plan to capture the high-ranking German liaison who had started the whole plan of elimination, someone that it turns out Guelvada has a particularly strong reason to kill the man.
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MY COMMENTS

The author, Peter Cheyney, came up with a fair number of different characters to be called into work by Quayle but my favorite was Michael Kane and unfortunately, except for the four shortish adventures we are given, Kane leaves our vision forever. Others take his place and are really fun to watch but they cannot replace him. I especially liked the interaction between he and the Nazi-hating Guelvada. Kane knows there are times when you have to be violent and times when you shouldn't and watching him deal with Guelvada - who has no such governor - is fun.

GRADE

My Grade: B

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