Lemmy Caution

In the first of the Lemmy Caution series, a group of organised gangsters are operating a 'snatch' racket, laying a plan - worked out in the minutest detail - to kidnap the daughter of an American millionaire while she is in England. And their plot must not only account for the actual luring of the victim into the snare and the collection of the ransom money, but also evade interference from the English police and rival gangs.

Operation 42-7-3-36. Special Agent Lemuel H. Caution will proceed to New York for the purpose of effecting under-cover contact with Federal Special Agent Myras Duncan, Chicago "G" Division, from whom further instructions will be obtained. Special Agent Caution will assume the identity of Perry Charles Rice, travelling bond salesman: home town Mason City, Iowa. Contact with Myras Duncan to be made casually at Moksie's Cafe, Waterfront, New York. Duncan will have assumed identity of Harvest V. Mellander, rich middle western manufacturer seeking good time in New York. He may be identified by top joint of little finger missing from right hand. Special Agent Caution will prove identity by razor cut scar running from lower wrist across left palm. Necessary funds available local "G" office. Take immediate action. Read, learn, destroy.

Is it hot! I ain't never been in Hell, but I'm tellin' you that I reckon it ain't any hotter than this Californian desert in July. Special agent Lemmy Caution is back to tell the story in his inimitable vernacular. This is a tale from the hard-boiled school, spiced with romance, murder, counterfeiting and mistaken identity, spanning the country from New York City to Palm Springs in its stormy passage. The careful reader will need to eliminate more than one red herring to keep the facts straight, but the solution is both ingenious and fair.

To The Director,Bureau of Investigation,U.S. Department of Justice, Washington. Dear Sir-After a great deal of thought I have finally decided to write to you. This letter probably sounds mysterious, but at the moment, mystery is necessary. During the last two or three months I have, by accident, obtained knowledge of certain matters which, I believe, should properly be dealt with by your department. These criminal matters are of a federal nature. I do not wish to say anything more at this moment, because I hope that further disclosure by me may be unnecessary. I have every hope that I may be able to write you more fully during the next ten days, or it may be that during the period 1st to 9th of this month events will justify my calling you on the long distance and clearing up this matter. But should you not hear from me by the 9th of this month I think it is imperative that you send a reliable operative from your department to contact me here on the afternoon of the 10th instant. If this becomes necessary I will make a full statement to him. Faithfully yours... Can Ladies Kill? was originally published in 1938.

Proceed with caution... to Mexico... 'Or as special agent Lemmy Caution sees it: 'It's hot as hell. Away down the dirt road some guy's playin' one of them wailin' Mexican fandangles, which give me that twilight feelin'... maybe it'd be a relief to start dyin'... 'Across the road some guy in a funny hat is handin' out a spiel to a dame about what a great bullfighter he used to be. Maybe she's his wife. If she is, then all I can say is she's a bad picker... Me, I'd have married the bull... 'A Lemmy Caution adventure south of the borders, packed with chills, spills, action and dames.

Some mug by the name of Confucius - who was a guy who was supposed to know his vegetables - once issued an edict that any time he saw a sap sittin' around bein' impervious to the weather an' anything else that was goin', an' lookin' like he had been hit in the kisser with a flat-iron, the said sap was suffering from woman trouble. I reckon Confucius musta been thinkin' of me. In his seventh adventure 'G' man Lemmy Caution is sent to investigate the murder of a female agent and the disappearance of a prominent scientist. His search leads Lemmy to notorious gangster Enrico Pranzetti, and straight into a trap... Your Deal, My Lovely was originally published in 1941.

Some wise guy - Confucius or somebody - said there was nothin' like the truth, which is a thing that I believe in - sometimes. Anyhow, I am goin' to try this nothin' but the truth stuff on this dame I spoke to. What can I lose, anyway?'When Julia Wayles is kidnapped in the US and taken to England, FBI agent Lemmy Caution finds himself caught up in a tangled web of intrigue and international espionage. Julia is being held by two American mobsters, who may or may not be who they say they are. And as usual it's the dames in the story who distract Lemmy from business.

I am thinkin' about Adolf Hitler. I am thinkin' that if it was not for this guy I would probably be kickin' around some swell place in the U.S. takin' things nice an' easy. Cara, Gayda, Pearl: three sizzling dames. Travis, Clemensky, Clansing: three desperate men. Add a set of secret papers. Bring in FBI man Lemmy Caution to recover the papers. Mix well and serve for another classic and fast-moving story of espionage, deception and double dealing. Lemmy Caution once again steers his way round the bodies of dead men and beautiful, very much alive, women to a successful conclusion. You Can Always Duck was originally published in 1942.

I'll Say She Does! is the result of a promise I made to two brave officers in the Australian Forces. Lieut.-Commander Al Palmer, D.S.C., and Major Brooke Moore. I told them I would do a Lemmy Caution novel especially for them and prisoners of war. This is it. In his tenth and final adventure, set just after the end of the Second World War, Lemmy Caution is in Paris investigating the theft of secret State Department documents. In the opinion of his chief, however, Lemmy has fallen down on the assignment given to him - to trail two suspected enemy agents, one a Frenchwoman and one an American - and he is ordered to bring them in. The trail leads from Paris to England, and a thrilling conclusion in the Surrey countryside.

Another Lemmy Caution detective story, this time taking him to Paris, packed with chills, spills, action and dames.