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SELENA MEAD

Mead_Selena2 ellery_queens_mystery_197808 Mead_Selena1 mead_selena_nv_hasrs ellery_queens_mystery_196806 ellery_queens_mystery_198412md ellery_queens_mystery_198401
 
Full Name: Selena Mead
Nationality: American
Organization: Section Q
Occupation Agent

Creator: Patricia McGerr
Time Span: 1963 - 1984

ABOUT THE SERIES

Selena Mead is an agent with Section Q.

She was born Selena Brennan, raised in the lap of luxury as the daughter of two parents who were each extremely wealthy. Her father, an ambassador, traveled extensively around the world and Selena saw most there was to see as she grew up and learned to feel comfortable in many unusual places. She attended the best schools and went to the best parties. She certainly didn't suffer from want as she grew up and she knew she would always have plenty of security. It was excitement that she had precious little of and no prospects of any.

As the series begins, Selena has just graduated from one of the Seven Sisters universities. Her marriage to Raymond, a scion of another rich and influential families, was set to take place six months after the Commencement ceremonies and her mother was making sure it was the event of the year. But for Selena the chance to do something interesting and unplanned was pulling on her/

She elected to take a cruise to Europe and then a series of visits to the places she knew growing up, a chance to meet old friends and reuse the many languages she had learned like French, Spanish, Italian, German, and even a dialect of Arabic spoken in North Africa. It was on the last leg of this trip, a stop in Berlin, that changed her life forever.

The events in the first book detail her foray into the world of espionage and how she came to become involved with the highly secret Intelligence bureau known only as Section Q, run by the personable Hugh Pierce. It also explains how she meets Simon Mead, an agent with Q, falls in loves with him, marries him, and settle down for a life together. It does so rather quickly, allowing eight years of marriage to pass in just a paragraph as the story moves to the death of her husband and her entry into the spy world herself to catch the killers.

Selena is highly intelligent and resourceful. She is also a wonderful example of the transition of the role of women in espionage. She does not shirk from danger or the threat of death and she is even willing, if it is absolutely necessary, to bed her quarry but she is abhorred that her reputation with the neighbors might be compromised.

It is interesting that if written five years earlier, she probably would never have thought of doing such things while five years later, she likely wouldn't care what the neighbors thought.

Note: The first book, while complete, is actually an apparent amalgam of stories from This Week and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. As such, it tends to jump a bit as the author quickly segued between what had been various short stores. The original stories from which the book was constructed were:

Legacy of Danger

View By Moonlight

Campaign Fever

Selena in Atlantic City

Selena Robs the White House

Ladies with a Past

Note: Two other stories which were not included in any book were Hide-and-Seek - Russian Style, published in 1976, and The Writing on the Wall, which came out in 1978. The former was published as one of the stories in an anthology called Cloak and Dagger in 1988.

Note: In 1964, one year after the first short story appeared, CBS announced that it had added Selena Mead to its drama schedule for the next year. The acclaimed actress Polly Bergen had agreed to play the espionage agent. The show was to have been a half hour long and would likely have been aired on Saturdays, later changed to Mondays. When, however, Ms. Bergen asked that filming be delayed so she might do a movie first, it was dropped.

BOOKS

Number of Books:2
First Appearance:1963
Last Appearance:1964

1 Legacy Of Danger Legacy Of Danger
Written by Patricia McGerr
Copyright: 1963

Selena Mead, while in Europe, falls in love with and marries an up-and-coming reporter. When she learns that her husband had been killed, she also learns that he had for many years been a top operative of Section Q. Now she decides to find and bring to justice her husband's killer, becoming an agent herself.

2 Is There A Traitor In The House Is There A Traitor In The House
Written by Patricia McGerr
Copyright: 1964

All evidence points to the young and upcoming Congressman as the source of secret leaks that are starting to greatly harm the security of the nation. Selena Mead is told to investigate him and his connection with the apparent suicide of a lovely young secretary who seemed to be the treasonous conduit.

NOVELLAS AND SHORT STORIES

Number of Stories:6
First Appearance:1968
Last Appearance:1984

1 Match Point in Berlin Match Point in Berlin
Written by Patricia McGerr
Copyright: 1968

First printed in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine June 1968 - [plot unknown]

2 Hide and Seek - Russian Style Hide and Seek - Russian Style
Written by Patricia McGerr
Copyright: 1976

First printed in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (US - Apr. 1976), then in Ellery Queen's Anthology #39 (Spring/Summer 1980). One of the stories in a collection Cloak and Dagger: A Treasury of 35 Great Espionage Stories, Edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg.
[plot unknown]


3 The Writing on the Wall The Writing on the Wall
Written by Patricia McGerr
Copyright: 1978

First printed in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine August 1978 - [plot unknown]

4 Caribbean Clues Caribbean Clues
Written by Patricia McGerr
Copyright: 1984

First printed in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine January 1984 - [plot unknown]

5 Numbers Game Numbers Game
Written by Patricia McGerr
Copyright: 1984

First printed in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine mid-December 1984 - [plot unknown]

MY COMMENTS

The two chronicled adventures of Selena Mead are easy to handle and were moderately fun to read. The character is interesting and certainly intrepid but the plots are a big weak and predictable.

That being said, I liked the fact that Mead is not a shrinking violet nor is she a femme fatale. She moves quickly from being a pampered rich girl with her life planned out for her to an independent, strong-minded woman who can take care of herself and does not need a man to protect her.

Having more books in the series like the second one would have been very welcome. I read, however, that Ms. McGerr had tired of the incredibly beautiful, wealthy, and popular agent and wanted to write about someone else. I also read that in her obituary she always considered Mead would marry her neighbor and Q controller, Hugh, shortly after the second book [unconfirmed].

GRADE

My Grade: C+

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