MICHAEL THE O'KELLY

Michael The O'Kelly is a reporter for a major British newspaper.

This highly acclaimed journalist has as his beat all of Europe and the Middle East, an area he knows well from him many years as a seasoned operative for the British Secret Service in the decade leading up to and through World War II. When the hostilities ended, O'Kelly felt that his time in the clandestine world had as well and he chose a new career which gave him the same chance to travel and explore without so much danger. At least, that was what he told himself but after so long a time putting his life on the line for facts that others did not want him to know, changing his habits was too difficult.

This former agent has the most unusual middle name in all of spy fiction. Whether it is a holdover from his Irish heritage, a lineage he is quite proud of even as he holds British citizenship, or something else is not known. He freely uses it in the first adventure but by the fourth book, it is never mentioned. In fact, by then he was known to one and all as Mike O'Kelly, famed reporter and writer. He had by then decided to quit his newspaper job to concentrate full time on his writing but he maintained his connections just in case. Regarding his Irish roots, it is on his father's side with his mother being born and bred in Vermont, allowing him the opportunity to have yet another citizenship.

O'Kelly loves a mystery and loves to dig into a case to find out the truth, probably not so much to get the truth but to enjoy the digging. It is this love of the chase or hunt that keeps him constantly getting into situations that nearly cost him his life but which bring so much enjoyment. The fact that most of the plots and conspiracies that he discovers concern governments against governments or terrorists against everyone is the reason for his inclusion in this collection. If ever an international reporter deserved to be here, Mike O'Kelly is it.

Note: in 1956, the sixth recorded adventure of O'Kelly, Passport To Treason, was made into a movie starring Rod Cameron as O'Kelly and costarring the lovely Lois Maxwell a few years before she became the stalwart Miss Moneypenny. Though the main plot of the movie remained true to the book, O'Kelly was changed from being a reporter/writer to being a private investigator in London even though he was so obviously an American in voice and attitude.

Written during the time that hard-boiled detective stories were so very popular, the adventures of Michael O'Kelly fit that genre as well as it does the spy-fiction category, with the possible exception of the fact that O'Kelly is not yet quite so jaded. He is by no means naïve but he still wants to believe in others even when he knows he shouldn't. He likes to have a good time, too, which puts him in the company of the hard drinking detectives but again he has his differences in that he does not drink to forget but because he really enjoys it.

When you read these seven novels stretching 6 years of actual time and then read three books in the Mills series written from 69-75, you have to wonder if someone had borrowed the author's name for the latter because the books in the first series are upbeat and the hero is dashing and fun-loving and invited to all the great parties while the hero of the other is the last person you would invite. Mills is dour while O'Kelly is lively. Mills is jaded and O'Kelly is still hopeful (doubtful but hopeful). Quite a difference.

I liked the O'Kelly stories. The movie was fun to watch if for just Ms. Maxwell by herself but one should not watch it thinking it is like the books. It is dark and foggy and noir. The books are hard-fisted and adventurous.

O'Kelly is a good egg.