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PETER LACEY

Lacey_Peter1 Lacey_Peter2 Lacey_Peter3
 
Full Name: Peter Lacey
Nationality: British
Organization: D14a
Occupation Agent

Creator: Denis Kilcommons
Time Span: 1987 - 1992

ABOUT THE SERIES

Peter Lacey is an agent with D14a.

This is a small member of the British Intelligence community, one which takes that jobs that MI-6 feels would not be prudent to take in case it became public. Those who work for this department do so in an office supposedly belonging to Barnaby and Robinson - Investments. The staff includes several analysts and a small group of field agents.

Lacey is one of those agents, having been just assigned to it a few months before. Prior to that, this man in his late 30's had worked for MI-6 but he propensity for danger and for responding to violence with greater violence left a bad taste in the mouth of that bureau's Director. With considerable sarcasm and a great deal of relief, that man told Lacey was headed somewhere more in tune with his unpleasant nature.

This suited Lacey fine as he had for some time felt alien in the glass and steel tower on the Thames and liked the idea of trying something different, this coming after a recuperate period from his final MI-6 asssignment which had gone far less than successfully.

Lacey is married and has been for seventeen years to a woman named Susan who ran a shop selling in bric-a-brac which "they pretended were antiques". The relationship the two have is a strange one in that there is still love of a sort for the other and the sex when Lacey returns from a long mission was something both greatly anticipated. Lately, though, as Lacey recovers from his injuries and suffers an unusually deep malaise, they have been on the out. Lacey moved out for a while and offered to give her a divorce but she replied that she would rather be married to a man who was seldom home than to be alone officially. Lacey in his own way understood and agreed.

In the field, Lacey is extremely conscientious and dependable but the same knack for violence that caused his transfer does not get reduced as the series progresses. He does not kill without purpose or cause but neither does he necessarily refrain from it. In one adventure he is sent to stop an agent who might be divulging classified information. When he asks if he is to kill the agent, Lacey is amused when his director responds, "we would like his discretion to be guaranteed." Nicely put.

Note: The first book in the series, The Dark Apostle, won the John Creasey award in 1987 for best first crime novel even though it was a spy novel.

Note: There is another book, Serpent's Tooth, published in 1989, that has been listed as one of the Peter Lacey novels but I have this book and Lacey is not in it. The book deals with a plan was to kill the U.S. President by capturing and brainwashing his own daughter into doing the job.

BOOKS

Number of Books:3
First Appearance:1987
Last Appearance:1992

1 The Dark Apostle The Dark Apostle
Written by Denis Kilcommons
Copyright: 1987

The man called Raul has taken credit for the assassination of a major black civil rights leader. Lacey is sent to Spain to interview him but the man's own murder sets the scene for a string of deadly encounters.

2 Blowback Blowback
Written by Denis Kilcommons
Copyright: 1990

The break in the investigation of a series of high-profile assassinations in Europe comes with the discovery of a roll of film in the possession of a murdered reporter. That is when Lacey is brought onboard.

3 Matilda's Game Matilda's Game
Written by Denis Kilcommons
Copyright: 1992

Peter Lacey is sent to Lisbon to get a secret file called the "Blunt Legacy" but death and danger seemed determined to distract him.

MY COMMENTS

There are three books in this exciting series. That is both the good news and the bad news. On the positive side, we have three terrific adventures, well written and captivating and so definitely worth the time spent reading them. On the negative, there are just three books. I so wished there were more.

Having thus praised this series, I will now add a bit of news which will not take away from the praise but will add a touch of "Huh?" to the equation. The author, the highly skilled pen named Denis Kilcommons, also wrote a couple of adventure novels about a former underworld enforcer who agrees to help people in trouble mainly to prove that after several years of retirement he still has it. The character is named Mordecai "Maudie" Morgan. The pen named used is Peter Lacey. See the interesting part? He writes a series about Peter Lacey under his own name and then writes another series under the character's name.

Mr. Kilcommons also has a website which has a set of blogs very worth the time as they are amusing, interesting, and compelling enough to keep reading on and on.

Back to the praise for this action-filled series, Lacey is not a man one should trifle with for he does not suffer fools well. He is a good guy and not a hooligan but he won't back down.

GRADE

My Grade: A-

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