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CURT STONE

Stone_Curt4 Stone_Curt5 Stone_Curt3 Stone_Curt1 Stone_Curt2
 
Full Name: Curt Stone
Nationality: American
Organization: Far East Investigations
Occupation Agent

Creator: Jack Seward
Time Span: 1964 - 1969

ABOUT THE SERIES

Curt Stone is the founder and owner of Far East Investigations.

Located in Japan, it is a successful private eye firm able to merge in both the Eastern and Western worlds. Stone earned his qualifications while working as a combat Intelligence officer during WWII after being trained in Japanese language by the military. He interrogated Japanese prisoners on the front lines to provide on-the-spot intelligence. Remaining in the Army after the war, he served in Korea and rose to the rank of Major before retiring at the end of that conflict.

In 1955, roughly nine years before the start of the series, Stone began his own company which quickly gained a solid reputation. Much of the investigative work that his small company performs in on behalf of Western businesses seeking to establish relationships with Japanese firms and needing background information before making the first step. To do this, Stone employs four operatives part-time in addition to an assistant and a Eurasian secretary. The meatier cases Stone usually reserves for himself.

In addition to the success he was having in his business, Stone is said to have invested most of army pay in the Japanese real estate marked at the end of the world war, a move that has proven quite lucrative. Japan has become his home and he feels comfortable there even though he is a foreigner. He understands the culture, appreciates the beauty of much of what he sees, and can move about the island nation without drawing too much attention to himself. He speaks the language so well that on the telephone it is impossible to recognize he is not a native.

Successful in business and set for life, Stone faces one problem. He is 37 years old, modestly wealthy, successful, and too often bored.

Which is why he is willing to take assignments from the U.S. Government.

BOOKS

Number of Books:5
First Appearance:1964
Last Appearance:1969

1 The Cave Of The Chinese Skeletons The Cave Of The Chinese Skeletons
Written by Jack Seward
Copyright: 1964

A huge cache of loot and valuable documents hidden by the fleeing Japanese at the end of WWII is the target of Curt Stone on behalf of the U.S. government. He is not the only one seeking it or willing to kill for it.

2 Eurasian Virgins Eurasian Virgins
Written by Jack Seward
Copyright: 1968

Asked to rescue the daughter of a dead American pilot, held in Japan to be sold on the flesh market, Curt Stone soon decides he needs to strike hard against the entire trade.

3 The Frogman Assassination The Frogman Assassination
Written by Jack Seward
Copyright: 1968

Fanatics wanting to restart the war between the U.S. and Japan are plotting to have the Emperor killed and America blamed. To stop it, Curt Stone must catch a killer with the odd nickname of the Porcupine.

4 Chinese Pleasure Girl Chinese Pleasure Girl
Written by Jack Seward
Copyright: 1969

Curt Stone's investigation business was approached by an American bar owner who was having trouble with hoodlums at his places near an American naval base in Japan. Stone soon finds more than extortion at work as the Chinese want to use the bars as staging grounds for their subversive activities.

5 Assignment: Find Cherry Assignment: Find Cherry
Written by Jack Seward
Copyright: 1969

A Japanese stripper has the key to finding an ancient treasure worth millions. Curt Stone is hired to get the map from her, no matter the cost. Others want it, too, and are willing to pay a high price in blood.

MY COMMENTS

There are a few agents in the world with a license to kill, or its equivalent. There are not many with the grit to do it as Stone does at times in this series. Stone is said to not like many people so it is not hard for him to kill. He has his own code of justice and it doesn't have much mercy in it.

This series started in the mid 60's as hard-boiled detectives melded into hard-boiled spies. Stone was one of the first and remains one of the coarsest. Interesting reading. The world of Curt Stone is a conflicting one in which he has proved to be very successful at business but not so good at the personal aspects. He is not bitter, per se, just very hard.

GRADE

My Grade: B

Your Average Grade:   A+

YOUR OPINIONS

A+ 6/4/2014 5:47:37 AM

I only recently started reading the Curt Stone series. I agree, they are a lot of fun. But they are no Burns Bannion. Bannion was also a private eye in Japan who took some assignments from a mysterious newspaperman who was probably CIA. Karate and sex kept the reader turning the pages. Compared to Earl Norman's Burns Bannion, Curt Stone was slow and tame.


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