Mr. Moto's Three Aces: Thank You Mr. Moto / Think Fast, Mr. Moto / Mr. Moto Is So Sorry
Author: John P. Marquand
Little Brown & Company
©1936/1937/1938 John P. Marquand
CAB Comment––Many associate the name “Mr. Moto” with the popular 1930s film series starring Peter Lorre. Although most of the films were only loosely based on the books, the Moto spy novels were far better than mere pulp fiction. The main reason for this is that the author was John Phillips Marquand, a skillful writer who would soon win a Pulitzer Prize for his 1938 novel “The Late George Apley”. If you haven’t seen the Mr. Moto films, check them out for some great old-movie entertainment (Pete Lorre always being an excellent Mr. Moto), and also enjoy the novels, three of which are collected in this vintage reprint edition from 1938: “Thank you, Mr. Moto”, “Think Fast, Mr. Moto”, and “Mr. Moto Is So Sorry”.
“Thank You, Mr. Moto”––GoodReads Synopses:
“Tom Nelson, cynical American expatriate "gone native" in China, stumbles into the path of the expansionist Japanese government's incursion into Northern China and is catapulted out of his world-weary apathy. Also, if not quite so innocently, caught in the gossamer but deadly web of Japanese plans is Eleanor Joyce, a woman on a mission, full of secrets, pure, bright, and lovely. Enter Mr. Moto, the suave and courageous Japanese agent - committed to serving his emperor yet "so very very sorry" that innocent lives must hang in the balance. It is he who brought Eleanor and Tom together––and now it is he who must try to save them.––Old fashioned excitement and vitality.”
“Think Fast, Mr. Moto”:
“Much more than a crooked roulette wheel is at stake at the Hitchings Plantation gambling house in Honolulu - and Japan's most clever, charming, and capable spy has arrived on the scene to protect the interests of his emperor. Wilson Hitchings, a solid young innocent, must make an ally of his renegade cousin, Eva of the violent eyes and flaming hair, if either is to survive their unwitting involvement in international intrigue. Without the help of Mr. Moto, they may still be lost…”
“Mr. Moto Is So Sorry”:
“Times were turbulent in the Orient. Japan, China and Russia were willing to go to any lengths to obtain their goals. The Japanese had their top Secret Agent, the super-polite, but super-deadly Mr. I.A. Moto, working night and day. Moto's prime objective was the safe delivery to Mongolia of a silver inlaid cigarette case...a very special case. To the uninformed it would appear to be a simple enough task, but you can be sure that whenever Mr. Moto is involved, nothing is what it seems.––“The ingredients of the usual international thriller are mixed with shrewd, grim humor here to make a good tale.”
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