Safari for Spies
Safari for Spies is the fourth novel in the long-running Nick Carter-Killmaster series.[1][2]
Publishing history
The book was first published in August 1964 (Number A114F) by Award Books part of the Beacon-Signal division of Universal Publishing and Distributing Corporation (New York, USA), part of the Conde Nast Publications Inc. The novel was written by Valerie Moolman.[3][4] Copyright was registered in the US on 25 August 1964.[5]
Tagline
Casablanca - international crossroads of sex and espionage - and a death trap for Nick Carter!
Plot summary
The story takes place in March 1964. The newly independent west African country of the Republic of Nyanga is on the verge of civil war. The country is closely allied to the USSR. The USSR embassy in Nyanga has been bombed and its foreign nationals are being harassed on the streets. The USSR blames the United States for orchestrating the bombing and harassment despite the fact that the US embassy itself has been bombed. Nick Carter is sent to Nyanga posing as a special US ambassador to investigate the true source of the destabilization efforts against Nyanga and its allies. Carter gets to work with the assistance of Liz Ashton, Second Secretary at the US Embassy. Immediately upon arrival he is shadowed by the mysterious Laszlo. The destabilization efforts continue as Julian Makombe, the President of Nyanga, is shot and badly wounded. The chief of police immediately makes a series of arrests and discovers that some of the suspects are drug addicts from Dakar, in neighboring Senegal. Carter travels to Dakar and investigates the Hop Club a sleazy nightclub that supplies heroin and discovers it is a front for Chinese agents. At the recommendation of Rufus Makombe, the President's brother, Carter also visits the Kilimanjaro nightclub in Dakar and has a liaison with the club's singer, Mirella. She lures Carter to a remote house in the countryside where an attempt is made on his life. Mirella falls into a spear-filled pit and is killed instead. Carter escapes and returns to Nyanga to find that Liz Ashton has been kidnapped. Carter, reinforced by the Nyanga police and army, discover her location and arrive just in time to save her. Rufus Makombe, supported by communist Chinese aid, has planned the assassination of his brother, the overthrow of the government, and the establishment of a communist Chinese foothold in Africa. Carter defeats Rufus in hand-to-hand combat and Rufus's supporters are arrested. Finally, Ten Wong, the Chinese paymaster of the entire operation is tracked down to Casablanca, Morocco. Carter breaks into Wong's fortified house and is nearly killed by triffid-like plants that guard the compound. Ten Wong is lured outside and killed by his own plants.
Main characters
- Nick Carter (agent N-3, AXE)
- Mr Hawk (Carter’s boss, head of AXE)
- Liz Ashton (Second Secretary, US Embassy, Republic of Nyanga)
- Mirella (nightclub singer in Dakar, Senegal)
- Abe Jefferson (Chief of Police, Abimako, Nyanga)
- Julian Makombe (President, Republic of Nyanga)
- Rufus Makombe (brother of Julian Makombe, Carter's adversary)
- Laszlo (henchman of Rufus Makombe/Ten Wong, Carter's adversary)
- Hakim Sadek (Egyptian policeman, lecturer at University of Cairo; Carter's ally)
- Ten Wong (organizer of the plot against Nyanga, Carter's adversary)
Trivia
- Carter poses as a US special ambassador using his own name - Nicholas J Huntington Carter.
- The story makes passing references to CLAW - the organisation mentioned in the second novel in the series The China Doll.
- Despite the claim in the tagline, only the last chapter of the book is set entirely in Casablanca. The rest of the book is set in Nyanga.
- In the novel, reference is made to Carter's basic skills in spoken Arabic, he also speaks French and Swahili; in previous novels Carter speaks fluent Russian, Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua), and Portuguese.
- As in earlier novels, other AXE agents are referred to by their code numbers. Agent P-4 is a mole in the Kremlin.
- Nyanga is a fictitious country in west Africa adjacent to Senegal. It is unclear if it neighbors Senegal like Guinea-Bissau or whether it is completely enclosed like the Gambia. In the novel, international visitors have to land at Dakar airport in Senegal in order to transit to Abimako - the capital city of Nyanga. Nyanga is also the name of a province in Gabon, west central Africa.
- Carter recalls Mirella's death in the spear-filled pit in Saigon when he saves his ally from a similar fate.
- Hakim Sadek returns to help Carter in The Weapon of Night
References
- ↑ http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/nick-carter/
- ↑ Serial Vigilantes of Paperback Fiction: An Encyclopedia from Able Team to Z-Comm. Bradley Mengel. 2009. ISBN 978-0-7864-4165-5
- ↑ http://www.spyguysandgals.com/sgShowAuthor.asp?ScanAuthor=Moolman_Valerie
- ↑ http://suspenseandmystery.blogspot.hk/search/label/Valerie%20Moolman
- ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1965: January–June By Library of Congress. Copyright Office. p816