Wed 28 Jun 2017
Archived Review: IVOR DRUMMOND – The Necklace of Skulls.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[3] Comments
IVOR DRUMMOND – The Necklace of Skulls. Jennifer Norrington, Alessandro di Ganzarello, Coleridge Tucker III #7. St. Martin’s Press, US, hardcover, 1977. Dell, US, paperback, 1980 (shown). First published in the UK by Michael Joseph, hardcover, 1977.
Even today India is large enough and mysterious enough to be the scene of a revived cult of religious fanatics called Thugs, whose sole mission of Earth is to kill other men on behalf of their goddess Kali. The three intrepid adventurers, Colly, Sandro and Jenny, stumble into the worst of what’s going on, and it takes many close calls before they manage their escape, but not before thousands of people in India die, nearly unnoticed in an impoverished land strangled by overpopulation.
Although the last true pulp magazines expired twenty or so years ago. the kind of breathless romantic adventure fiction that monopolized their now discolored and musty pages can obviously still be found. Modernized, of course, and told by authors with more skill and more time for polishing their work, but it can always be recognized whenever a story is told for the pure fun of it.
The Colly, Sandro and Jenny series —
1. The Man With The Tiny Head (1969)
2. The Priests Of The Abomination (1970)
3. The Frog In The Moonflower (1972)
4. The Jaws Of The Watchdog (1973)
5. The Power Of The Bug (1974)
6. Tank Of Sacred Eels (1976)
7. The Necklace Of Skulls (1977)
8. A Stench Of Poppies (1978)
9. The Diamonds Of Loretta (1980)
June 28th, 2017 at 9:28 pm
Information about this trio of adventurers is difficult to come by on the Internet, though I shouldn’t say anything, since this old review of mine didn’t either.
The place to go in a situation like this, and the only one I’ve found is the Spy Guys and Gals website:
http://spyguysandgals.com/sgShowChar.aspx?id=552
where we find that all three are young, dashing, and very rich. Their relationship is apparently platonic, and they go off on adventures such as the one I’ve just reviewed simply for the fun of it.
How they got together in the first place is apparently never gone into.
The proprietor of the Spy Guys/Gals site gives the series an “A Minus” rating, but on Goodreads most of the books have ratings in the 3 out of 5 range.
June 29th, 2017 at 6:41 pm
Drummond, who was also Frank Parrish of the Dan Mallet series was a favorite of mine. This series was well written and great fun with Sandro, Colly, and Lady Jenny all well drawn.
It’s a very consistent series with the characters developing over time. There is some sexual tension among the three, with Colly attracted to Jenny, she to Sandro, and Sandro feeling he is too old for her.
I found the series a mix of later Charteris and Fleming lite with an appeal all it’s own.
What little detail there is about them appears in THE MAN WITH THE TINY HEAD. For my own taste the first four books are the best.
June 29th, 2017 at 7:29 pm
The Dan Mallett books are also very good. You might think that because his primary vocation was as a poacher, the number of stories that could be told about him would be rather limited, but you’d be wrong. There were eight of them. I just looked it up and had to rewrite this comment.
I was also mistaken when I called the relationship between the three adventurers in the Drummond books platonic. Thanks for the correction. I am not surprised!