BRIT SPY—COMMANDER SHAW
From 1960 to 1995, British Navy Commander Esmond Shaw carried
out daring missions against larger than life villains as an agent of Britain’s shadowy
Intelligence organization known as 6D2. While sharing the same rank as his much
better known counterpart, Commander James Bond, Shaw deserves to be read and
remembered in his own right. However, the novels detailing the adventures of
the resourceful and debonair Shaw are definitely in the realm of Fleming’s spy
fiction, as opposed to the darker espionage fiction of LeCarré.
Shaw was the creation of prolific English author Philip
McCutchan. After having served on various British war ships during WWII,
McCutchan left the navy to concentrated on writing. During his career, he
published more than 80 books, including fifteen books in his bestselling Halfhyde
series of naval warfare adventures.
In his first eight adventures, Shaw is assigned to the
Special Services Division of Defence Intelligence. He’s the Admiralty’s go-to
guy when action is need off the decks of sea bound ships. Eventually, Shaw
becomes disillusioned and comes in out of the cold and quits. The inevitable
spiral into alcohol and blondes and debauched behavior is brought to a halt
when he reluctantly is brought back into the fold by 6D2, a highly classified branch
of British Intelligence.
In Sunstrike, the 14th Shaw novel, Felicity Mandrake is
assigned as Shaw’s secretary. Unlike, Bond’s Moneypenny (at least in the
books), Felicity becomes Shaw’s partner, working alongside him in the field for
the rest of the series.
Shaw’s adversaries run the gamut of colorful (if standard)
villains from Russian spies to fanatical terrorists both domestic and international.
Shaw even had his own international criminal cartel to rival Specter, SMERSH,
or THRUSH. The oddly initialed WUSWIPP—World Union of Socialist Scientific
Workers for International Progress in Peace—like every other organization of
their ilk was dedicated to total world domination through any nefarious plots, weapons
of mass destructions, or government downfalls necessary.
McCutchan’s terrific James Ogilvie series (favorably comparable
in my opinion to Bernard Cornwell’s series featuring Richard Sharpe), his Donald
Cameron naval thrillers, and his critically acclaimed Halfhyde Adventures
(comparable to the naval adventures written by Douglas Reeman’s) are all
currently available in e-book format. Unfortunately, his Commander Shaw series
has not as yet received the same opportunity to find a new audience. This is a
definite shame as the Shaw books are well written, capture the spy fiction of
their time period perfectly, and deserve to be rediscovered.
COMMANDER SHAW
COUNTER SPY SERIES
#1 Gibraltar Road (1960)
#2 Red Cap (1961)
#3 Bluebolt One (1962)
#4 The Man from Moscow (1963)
#5 Warmaster (1963)
#6 Moscow Coach (1964)
#7 The Dead Line (1966)
#8 Skyprobe (1966)
#9 The Screaming Dead Balloons (1968)
#10 The Bright Red Businessman (1969)
#11 The All-Purpose Bodies (1969)
#12 Hartinger's Mouse (1970)
#13 This Drakotny (1971)
#14 Sunstrike (1973)
#15 Corpse (1980)
#16 Werewolf (1982)
#17 Rollerball (1983)
#18 Greenfly (1987)
#19 The Boy Who Liked Monsters (1989)
#20 The Spatchcock Plan (1990)
#21 Polecat Brennan (1994)
#22 Burn-Out (1995)
CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE
COMMANDER SHAW SERIES CHECK OUT THE SPY GUYS AND GALS WEBSITE
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