Sun 27 Aug 2017
An Archived GOLD MEDAL Review: GORDON DAVIS – Ring Around Rosy.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[8] Comments
GORDON DAVIS – Ring Around Rosy. Gold Medal k1380, paperback original; 1st printing, January 1964. Cover art by Robert McGinnis. Also published as From Cuba, with Love, as by E. Howard Hunt. Pinnacle, paperback, 1974.
By 1964 the revolution in Cuba was solidly in place, but its aftermath was still a mass of recrimination and guilt. Dave Mallory is no PI, but when he’s hired by a beautiful Cuban exile to find the man who informed on her father, he jumps at the chance.
The man is also the foreman of the Cuban plantation her father once owned. Davis, a pen name of the notorious E. Howard Hunt, always surprises me how good a writer he is, no matter what byline he is using — mostly due, I am sure, to the feeling of the strong gritty authenticity that permeates his work.
Bibliographic Note: The Pinnacle reprint is exceedingly scarce. At the time this review was posted, no copies could be found offered for sale on line. Amazon has a page for it, however, along with a photo, so it does exist.
August 27th, 2017 at 4:04 pm
Some copies on abebooks.com!
August 27th, 2017 at 4:37 pm
I don’t know what’s going on. I must be doing something wrong. I’m still coming up dry.
August 27th, 2017 at 6:32 pm
Howard
Maybe this is the problem. The edition I can’t find a copy of online is the Pinnacle edition from 1974, retitled FROM CUBA, WITH LOVE, and by E. Hoawrd Hunt, not the original Gold Medal edition. That one may be pricey, but easily found.
August 27th, 2017 at 6:47 pm
Hunt was a born storyteller, which was probably, along with a reportorial eye for detail, what also made him a good agent, which he was save for his recruiting skills.
August 28th, 2017 at 4:17 pm
Apparently I also misunderstood what was rare! I’ll try to read these things more carefully in the future.
August 28th, 2017 at 8:27 pm
Whether it’s rare or not, Howard, I’m sure I’m the only one who cares anything about that old Pinnacle reprint. Why would anyone else be? The original is easy enough to find, and it has a nice McGinnis cover to boot.
August 28th, 2017 at 5:35 pm
I read several of his books published as David St. John, and they were very readable.
August 28th, 2017 at 10:39 pm
I enjoyed those St. John books, too, and that was well before anyone knew that Hunt was the one who was writing them.