ESMONDE SHAW

Full Name:	Esmonde Shaw
Nationality:	British
Organization:	6D2
Occupation	Agent

Creator:	Philip McCutchan
Time Span:	1960 - 1995

ABOUT THE SERIES

Esmonde Shaw is an agent for 6D2.

Fighting to preserve the British way of life against enemies both foreign and domestic is Commander Shaw, a highly resourceful, extremely debonaire operative who proves over again he is a good man to have on your side and a bad enemy.

Shaw initially works for the Special Services Division of Defence Intelligence. He is the first man the Admiralty thinks of when confidential investigations are needed or action is required where ships cannot go.

After his eighth documented adventure, Skyprobe, Shaw resigned his commission in frustration and just being tired. For several months he spent time with a lot of bottles and a fair number of women, letting himself become a wreck. Then the chance came to again make a difference, this time with the shadowy British Intelligence organization known as 6D2. He told them to take a hike.

Eventually he would reconsider and soon he would be considered their best operative. Several hair raising escapades would pass before he again tired of the killing and quit. That didn't last too long before circumstances brought him back.

In the 14th adventure, he returns to 6D2 and is given a secretary, although she really is a right-hand man. Felicity Mandrake was the young woman and she would stay with Shaw as his assistant and companion for the remaining adventures.

Shaw fought an wide range of adversaries from Soviet agents to crazed terrorists, both local and from outside, to a formidable organization devoted to total domination, WUSWIPP, World Union of Socialist Scientific Workers for International Progress in Peace.

BOOKS

Number of Books:	22
First Appearance:	1960
Last Appearance:	1995


1			Gibraltar Road Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1960 Inside the Rock of Gibraltar, a facility for creating nuclear fuel for the submarines stationed there has a major problem and the only man who can resolve is has gone missing. It is Shaw's job to find the scientist before a major meltdown occurs.

2			Redcap Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1961 Redcap is the acronym for a device at the center of an anti-nuclear agreement between the major powers. It is to be set up in the center of Australia's desert but a player from the Far East is determined to see it destroyed.

3			Bluebolt One Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1962 A murder in London is the first inkling of trouble that will lead Shaw of Naval Intelligence to West Africa and a joint British-American radio station, one of several controlling a nuclear missile satellite.

4			The Man From Moscow Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1963 Why word of impending doom would be passed to Shaw rather than normal channels is the first of many mysteries to be presented. A plan exists to create a huge nuclear explosion beneath the ocean to set off an earthquake capable of destroying England.

5			Warmaster Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1963 A new international organization has begun to gain power as it is possession of a secret that could destroy the current peace between major powers. Shaw's job is to find out more of this group and how to stop them from starting another world war.

6			Moscow Coach Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1964 A radical British communist in onboard a train headed to Moscow with the aim of killing the man next in line for leadership of the Soviet Union. Shaw's task is to stop him from creating an international incident.

7			The Dead Line Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1966 Why numerous corpses are being smuggled out of Britain to Communist China is a big mystery that Shaw is ordered to solve. When his identity is uncovered, Shaw becomes living cargo in this strange shipping business.

8			Skyprobe Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1966 The American spacecraft orbitting the planet has a British-born scientist onboard. That makes it a job for Shaw when work comes that there is a deadly threat to the craft.

9			The Screaming Dead Balloons Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1968 A crazed scientist with a bone to pick with Cambridge has devised a fungus that seems to have no way of being stopped as it continues to eat and multiply, threatening to wipe out England.

10			The Bright Red Businessman Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1969 The rain falling in a country section of England didn't run off what it landed on, it stuck. As more fell, Shaw encounters a man completely covered in a thin plastic coating. New to the 6D2 department, Shaw's assignment is to find the truth to the sticky rain.

11			The All-Purpose Bodies Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1969 The Australian Minister in charge of a nuclear facility called Lifeforce has been kidnapped. Shaw tracks the crime to an island off the Great Barrier Reef ruled by an evil genius named Doctor High.

12			Hartinger's Mouse Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1970 In different regions of Britain, a strange yellow-brown dust has fallen and shortly afterwards, a deadly disease breaks out. Shaw tracks the trouble to a NASA station in Houston, Texas, where part of an experiment has gone missing.

13			This Drakotny Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1971 6D2 has learned that a plan exists to kill the Acting Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia to cause Russian tanks to again invade that country. Shaw is sent to keep the man alive.

14			Sunstrike Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1973 Called back in from retirement, Shaw is offered a raise and a secretary if he will help on a serious matter concerning an old enemy, WUSWIPP, and their plans against a U.S. naval base in the Indian Ocean.

15			Corpse Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1980 The left-wing group WUSWIPP is in conflict with an ultra-right-wing group calling itself CORPSE. The latter is launching a plan to place vessels filled with nuclear waste at major ports in the U.K.

16			Werewolf Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1982 It sounded disgusting but it could have been true. A pickled brain supposedly that of Hitler has been found in the foothills of the Andes. Some people are using this gruesome trophy as a talisman to launch a new Reich in Germany.

17			Rollerball Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1983 The device is a flanged sphere of metal of enormous weight, twelve feet in diameter. As it rolls, it crushes everything in its path and seems virtually unstoppable. It also contains a bomb. That is the weapon that Shaw must find a way to destroy.

18			Greenfly Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1987 Shaw has a strange ally in a case where a group is plotting an attack on the Kremlin. The ally is Shaw's old nemesis, WUSWIPP, as they seek to stop a breakaway faction from ruining their own plans.

19			The Boy Who Liked Monsters Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1989 As vital peace talks seemed stalemated between the West and the Iron Curtain, the young son of one of the key U.S. delegates is kidnapped and it is Shaw's job to get him back unharmed.

20			The Spatchcock Plan Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1990 The beautiful and insouciant Miss Mandrake is kidnapped from her car by followers of a Libyan terrorist in prison, who hope to force the release of their leader. Knowing the goverment will never negotiate, Shaw must save her himself.

21			Polecat Brennan Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1994 The infamous member of WUSWIPP, Polecat Brennan, needs to keep Shaw from stopping the assassinations of two Foreign Ministers and hundreds of innocent people in the Chunnel. To do this, he first kidnaps Miss Mandrake.

22			Burn-Out Written by Philip McCutchan Copyright: 1995 A notorious terrorist has returned to British soil and is obviously planning some horrific crime. Shaw is alerted and soon finds that the terrorist is actually working as the right-hand man to an even nastier individual with an horrid agenda.

MY COMMENTS

Commander Shaw shared the same rank as James Bond and fought the same sort of enemies but never gained the same popularity as his rival. That is a pity as these are just darned good adventures. Shaw is a man of action who doesn't mince words. He likes to drink. He loves the ladies. He hates people out to hurt innocents. He is a good guy to have on your side and a bad guy to oppose.

The books about him deserve to be read. He sold well enough to keep the author writing him but he should have done better. He is good spy-fiction.

GRADE

My Grade: A-

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